TY - JOUR A1 - Yue, Jinxing A1 - Bastiaanse, Roelien A1 - Alter, Kai T1 - Cortical plasticity induced by rapid Hebbian learning of novel tonal word-forms: Evidence from mismatch negativity JF - Brain & language : a journal of the neurobiology of language N2 - Although several experiments reported rapid cortical plasticity induced by passive exposure to novel segmental patterns, few studies have devoted attention to the neural dynamics during the rapid learning of novel tonal word-forms in tonal languages, such as Chinese. In the current study, native speakers of Mandarin Chinese were exposed to acoustically matched real and novel segment-tone patterns. By recording their Mismatch Negativity (MMN) responses (an ERP indicator of long-term memory traces for spoken words), we found enhanced MMNs to the novel word-forms over the left-hemispheric region in the late exposure phase relative to the early exposure phase. In contrast, no significant changes were identified in MMN responses to the real word during familiarisation. Our results suggest a rapid Hebbian learning mechanism in the human neocortex which develops long-term memory traces for a novel segment-tone pattern by establishing new associations between the segmental and tonal representations. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. KW - Language KW - Rapid learning KW - Hebbian learning KW - Event-related potential KW - Novel word KW - Mismatch Negativity (MMN) KW - Oddball paradigm KW - Lexical tone KW - Mandarin Chinese Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2014.09.007 SN - 0093-934X SN - 1090-2155 VL - 139 SP - 10 EP - 22 PB - Elsevier CY - San Diego ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Schoknecht, Pia A1 - Roehm, Dietmar A1 - Schlesewsky, Matthias A1 - Bornkessel-Schlesewsky, Ina T1 - The interaction of predictive processing and similarity-based retrieval interference BT - an ERP study JF - Language, cognition and neuroscience N2 - Language processing requires memory retrieval to integrate current input with previous context and making predictions about upcoming input. We propose that prediction and retrieval are two sides of the same coin, i.e. functionally the same, as they both activate memory representations. Under this assumption, memory retrieval and prediction should interact: Retrieval interference can only occur at a word that triggers retrieval and a fully predicted word would not do that. The present study investigated the proposed interaction with event-related potentials (ERPs) during the processing of sentence pairs in German. Predictability was measured via cloze probability. Memory retrieval was manipulated via the position of a distractor inducing proactive or retroactive similarity-based interference. Linear mixed model analyses provided evidence for the hypothesised interaction in a broadly distributed negativity, which we discuss in relation to the interference ERP literature. Our finding supports the proposal that memory retrieval and prediction are functionally the same. KW - Language KW - memory retrieval KW - interference KW - prediction KW - predictive KW - processing KW - interaction KW - ERP Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2022.2026421 SN - 2327-3798 SN - 2327-3801 VL - 37 IS - 7 SP - 883 EP - 901 PB - Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group CY - Abingdon ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Rossi, Sonja A1 - Telkemeyer, Silke A1 - Wartenburger, Isabell A1 - Obrig, Hellmuth T1 - Shedding light on words and sentences near-infrared spectroscopy in language research JF - Brain & language : a journal of the neurobiology of language N2 - Investigating the neuronal network underlying language processing may contribute to a better understanding of how the brain masters this complex cognitive function with surprising ease and how language is acquired at a fast pace in infancy. Modern neuroimaging methods permit to visualize the evolvement and the function of the language network. The present paper focuses on a specific methodology, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), providing an overview over studies on auditory language processing and acquisition. The methodology detects oxygenation changes elicited by functional activation of the cerebral cortex. The main advantages for research on auditory language processing and its development during infancy are an undemanding application, the lack of instrumental noise, and its potential to simultaneously register electrophysiological responses. Also it constitutes an innovative approach for studying developmental issues in infants and children. The review will focus on studies on word and sentence processing including research in infants and adults. KW - Language KW - Language acquisition KW - Word processing KW - Sentence processing KW - Lateralization KW - Optical imaging (OI) KW - Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) KW - Electroencephalography (EEG) Y1 - 2012 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bandl.2011.03.008 SN - 0093-934X VL - 121 IS - 2 SP - 152 EP - 163 PB - Elsevier CY - San Diego ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Nazir, Tatjana A. A1 - Hrycyk, Lianna A1 - Moreau, Quentin A1 - Frak, Victor A1 - Cheylus, Anne A1 - Ott, Laurent A1 - Lindemann, Oliver A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Paulignan, Yves A1 - Delevoye-Turrell, Yvonne T1 - A simple technique to study embodied language processes BT - the grip force sensor JF - Behavior research methods : a journal of the Psychonomic Society N2 - Research in cognitive neuroscience has shown that brain structures serving perceptual, emotional, and motor processes are also recruited during the understanding of language when it refers to emotion, perception, and action. However, the exact linguistic and extralinguistic conditions under which such language-induced activity in modality-specific cortex is triggered are not yet well understood. The purpose of this study is to introduce a simple experimental technique that allows for the online measure of language-induced activity in motor structures of the brain. This technique consists in the use of a grip force sensor that captures subtle grip force variations while participants listen to words and sentences. Since grip force reflects activity in motor brain structures, the continuous monitoring of force fluctuations provides a fine-grained estimation of motor activity across time. In other terms, this method allows for both localization of the source of language-induced activity to motor brain structures and high temporal resolution of the recorded data. To facilitate comparison of the data to be collected with this tool, we present two experiments that describe in detail the technical setup, the nature of the recorded data, and the analyses (including justification about the data filtering and artifact rejection) that we applied. We also discuss how the tool could be used in other domains of behavioral research. KW - Grip-force sensor KW - Embodiment KW - Language KW - Motor system Y1 - 2015 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-015-0696-7 SN - 1554-351X SN - 1554-3528 VL - 49 SP - 61 EP - 73 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Myachykov, Andriy A1 - Scheepers, Christoph A1 - Fischer, Martin H. A1 - Kessler, Klaus T1 - TEST: A tropic, embodied, and situated theory of cognition JF - Topics in cognitive science N2 - TEST is a novel taxonomy of knowledge representations based on three distinct hierarchically organized representational features: Tropism, Embodiment, and Situatedness. Tropic representational features reflect constraints of the physical world on the agent's ability to form, reactivate, and enrich embodied (i.e., resulting from the agent's bodily constraints) conceptual representations embedded in situated contexts. The proposed hierarchy entails that representations can, in principle, have tropic features without necessarily having situated and/or embodied features. On the other hand, representations that are situated and/or embodied are likely to be simultaneously tropic. Hence, although we propose tropism as the most general term, the hierarchical relationship between embodiment and situatedness is more on a par, such that the dominance of one component over the other relies on the distinction between offline storage versus online generation as well as on representation-specific properties. KW - Cognitive tropism KW - Embodiment KW - Groundedness KW - Situatedness KW - Language KW - Number processing KW - Perspective taking Y1 - 2014 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1111/tops.12024 SN - 1756-8757 SN - 1756-8765 VL - 6 IS - 3 SP - 442 EP - 460 PB - Wiley-Blackwell CY - Hoboken ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Langus, Alan A1 - Höhle, Barbara T1 - Object individuation and labelling in 6-month-old infants JF - Infant behavior & development N2 - The ability to determine how many objects are involved in physical events is fundamental for reasoning about the world that surrounds us. Previous studies suggest that infants can fail to individuate objects in ambiguous occlusion events until their first birthday and that learning words for the objects may play a crucial role in the development of this ability. The present eye-tracking study tested whether the classical object individuation experiments underestimate young infants’ ability to individuate objects and the role word learning plays in this process. Three groups of 6-month-old infants (N = 72) saw two opaque boxes side by side on the eye-tracker screen so that the content of the boxes was not visible. During a familiarization phase, two visually identical objects emerged sequentially from one box and two visually different objects from the other box. For one group of infants the familiarization was silent (Visual Only condition). For a second group of infants the objects were accompanied with nonsense words so that objects’ shape and linguistic labels indicated the same number of objects in the two boxes (Visual & Language condition). For the third group of infants, objects’ shape and linguistic labels were in conflict (Visual vs. Language condition). Following the familiarization, it was revealed that both boxes contained the same number of objects (e.g. one or two). In the Visual Only condition, infants looked longer to the box with incorrect number of objects at test, showing that they could individuate objects using visual cues alone. In the Visual & Language condition infants showed the same looking pattern. However, in the Visual vs Language condition infants looked longer to the box with incorrect number of objects according to linguistic labels. The results show that infants can individuate objects in a complex object individuation paradigm considerably earlier than previously thought and that linguistic cues enforce their own preference in object individuation. The results are consistent with the idea that when language and visual information are in conflict, language can exert an influence on how young infants reason about the visual world. KW - Object individuation KW - Object labelling KW - Cognitive development KW - Language KW - development Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infbeh.2021.101627 SN - 0163-6383 SN - 1879-0453 VL - 65 PB - Elsevier CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Czerwon, Beate A1 - Hohlfeld, Annette A1 - Wiese, Heike A1 - Werheid, Katja T1 - Syntactic structural parallelisms influence processing of positive stimuli evidence from cross-modal ERP priming JF - International journal of psychophysiology N2 - Language can strongly influence the emotional state of the recipient. In contrast to the broad body of experimental and neuroscientific research on semantic information and prosodic speech, the emotional impact of grammatical structure has rarely been investigated. One reason for this might be, that measuring effects of syntactic structure involves the use of complex stimuli, for which the emotional impact of grammar is difficult to isolate. In the present experiment we examined the emotional impact of structural parallelisms, that is, repetitions of syntactic features, on the emotion-sensitive "late positive potential" (LPP) with a cross-modal priming paradigm. Primes were auditory presented nonsense sentences which included grammatical-syntactic parallelisms. Visual targets were positive, neutral, and negative faces, to be classified as emotional or non-emotional by the participants. Electrophysiology revealed diminished LPP amplitudes for positive faces following parallel primes. Thus, our findings suggest that grammatical structure creates an emotional context that facilitates processing of positive emotional information. KW - Language KW - Emotion KW - Priming KW - ERP KW - Late positive potential KW - Structural parallelisms Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2012.10.014 SN - 0167-8760 SN - 1872-7697 VL - 87 IS - 1 SP - 28 EP - 34 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER -