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Neural Correlates of Syntax and Proto-Syntax: Evolutionary Dimension

The present fMRI study tested predictions of the evolution-of-syntax framework which analyzes certain structures as remnants (“fossils”) of a non-hierarchical (non-recursive) proto-syntactic stage in the evolution of language (Progovac, 2015, 2016). We hypothesized that processing of these structure...

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Autores principales: Progovac, Ljiljana, Rakhlin, Natalia, Angell, William, Liddane, Ryan, Tang, Lingfei, Ofen, Noa
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6302005/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30618908
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02415
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author Progovac, Ljiljana
Rakhlin, Natalia
Angell, William
Liddane, Ryan
Tang, Lingfei
Ofen, Noa
author_facet Progovac, Ljiljana
Rakhlin, Natalia
Angell, William
Liddane, Ryan
Tang, Lingfei
Ofen, Noa
author_sort Progovac, Ljiljana
collection PubMed
description The present fMRI study tested predictions of the evolution-of-syntax framework which analyzes certain structures as remnants (“fossils”) of a non-hierarchical (non-recursive) proto-syntactic stage in the evolution of language (Progovac, 2015, 2016). We hypothesized that processing of these structures, in comparison to more modern hierarchical structures, will show less activation in the brain regions that are part of the syntactic network, including Broca’s area (BA 44 and 45) and the basal ganglia, i.e., the network bolstered in the line of descent of humans through genetic mutations that contributed to present-day dense neuronal connectivity among these regions. Fourteen healthy native English-speaking adults viewed written stimuli consisting of: (1) full sentences (FullS; e.g., The case is closed); (2) Small Clauses (SC; e.g., Case closed); (3) Complex hierarchical compounds (e.g., joy-killer); and (4) Simple flat compounds (e.g., kill-joy). SC (compared to FullS) resulted in reduced activation in the left BA 44 and right basal ganglia. Simple (relative to complex) compounds resulted in increased activation in the inferior temporal gyrus and the fusiform gyrus (BA 37/19), areas implicated in visual and semantic processing. We discuss our findings in the context of current theories regarding the co-evolution of language and the brain.
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spelling pubmed-63020052019-01-07 Neural Correlates of Syntax and Proto-Syntax: Evolutionary Dimension Progovac, Ljiljana Rakhlin, Natalia Angell, William Liddane, Ryan Tang, Lingfei Ofen, Noa Front Psychol Psychology The present fMRI study tested predictions of the evolution-of-syntax framework which analyzes certain structures as remnants (“fossils”) of a non-hierarchical (non-recursive) proto-syntactic stage in the evolution of language (Progovac, 2015, 2016). We hypothesized that processing of these structures, in comparison to more modern hierarchical structures, will show less activation in the brain regions that are part of the syntactic network, including Broca’s area (BA 44 and 45) and the basal ganglia, i.e., the network bolstered in the line of descent of humans through genetic mutations that contributed to present-day dense neuronal connectivity among these regions. Fourteen healthy native English-speaking adults viewed written stimuli consisting of: (1) full sentences (FullS; e.g., The case is closed); (2) Small Clauses (SC; e.g., Case closed); (3) Complex hierarchical compounds (e.g., joy-killer); and (4) Simple flat compounds (e.g., kill-joy). SC (compared to FullS) resulted in reduced activation in the left BA 44 and right basal ganglia. Simple (relative to complex) compounds resulted in increased activation in the inferior temporal gyrus and the fusiform gyrus (BA 37/19), areas implicated in visual and semantic processing. We discuss our findings in the context of current theories regarding the co-evolution of language and the brain. Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-12-14 /pmc/articles/PMC6302005/ /pubmed/30618908 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02415 Text en Copyright © 2018 Progovac, Rakhlin, Angell, Liddane, Tang and Ofen. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychology
Progovac, Ljiljana
Rakhlin, Natalia
Angell, William
Liddane, Ryan
Tang, Lingfei
Ofen, Noa
Neural Correlates of Syntax and Proto-Syntax: Evolutionary Dimension
title Neural Correlates of Syntax and Proto-Syntax: Evolutionary Dimension
title_full Neural Correlates of Syntax and Proto-Syntax: Evolutionary Dimension
title_fullStr Neural Correlates of Syntax and Proto-Syntax: Evolutionary Dimension
title_full_unstemmed Neural Correlates of Syntax and Proto-Syntax: Evolutionary Dimension
title_short Neural Correlates of Syntax and Proto-Syntax: Evolutionary Dimension
title_sort neural correlates of syntax and proto-syntax: evolutionary dimension
topic Psychology
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6302005/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30618908
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02415
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