Semantic and phonological processing in Chinese character reading: a fMRI study (original) (raw)

NeuroImage, 2001

Abstract

Brain activity during Chinese character reading was investigated in the present study using fMRI. Seven healthy, right-handed, and native mandarin speaking participants were instructed to perform a semantic task (abstract/concrete judgement) or a phonological task (same./different tone judgement). Two Chinese characters were presented visually at the centre of the screen. Chinese nouns were used in semantic task, and two characters whose combination can be associated with a sound but which do not make a word were used in phonological task. Three contrasts were involved: semantic task vs. fixation, phonological task vs. fixation, and semantic vs. phonological task. Both the semantic task minus fixation task and the phonological task minus fixation task showed activations in visual (bilateral fusiform gyms, BA 18/19), frontal (left inferior frontal gyms, BA 9, 44/45, 47), temporal (middle temporal and superior temporal gyri, BA 21, 22), and parietal (bilateral superior parietal lobule, BA 7; bilateral inferior parietal lobule, BA 40) cortex. The direct comparison between the semantic and the phonological tasks showed significant activation differences in the bilateral middle and superior temporal gyri (BA 21, 22), bilateral angular gyms (BA 39), bilateral insula, and bilateral middle and superior frontal gyri @A 8, 9) were observed in semantic minus phonological task. On the other hand, the phonological minus semantic task shows activations in the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (near BA 44/45), bilateral middle frontal gyms (BA 9/46), left superior parietal lobule (BA 7), and bilateral inferior parietal lobule (BA 40). The results suggest that although a common brain network might be activated in both semantic and phonological tasks, which is caused by the automatic/strategic processing of phonology in semantic task and the automatic processing of semantic meaning in phonological task, different brain areas might be involved with different weights in processing specifically the semantic or phonological components of tbe Chinese language.

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