Neural networks for sentence comprehension and production: an ALE-based meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies
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1
Northwestern University, United States
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2
Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, United States
Introduction. Comprehending and producing sentences is a complex endeavor that requires the coordinated activity of multiple brain regions. A key question for the neurocognitive basis of sentence comprehension is whether (and to what extent) the brain structures that subserve syntactic decoding for sentence comprehension are shared in common with those engaged in the encoding processes underlying sentence production. Our goal in this project was to use meta-analysis to merge findings from imaging studies to examine the neural networks involved in sentence comprehension and production in healthy individuals.
Method. Literature searches revealed 443 imaging studies (FMRI, PET) of sentence comprehension and 145 on production published between 1992 and 2016. Studies were considered eligible for inclusion in our analyses if they reported whole-brain 3-D coordinates for two or more activation foci in a standard space (Talairach, MNI) from healthy, right-handed, monolingual adults. Of the eligible studies, we examined those that reported contrasts for sentence comprehension against a low-level baseline (e.g., backwards speech, nonsense fonts). For production, we only included studies that required overt production, for example, sentence generation tasks, in which participants generate syntactically structured sentences based on a prompt consisting of words (single words or an unstructured list), pictures, or both.
We performed an automated estimation likelihood analysis on the published coordinates using the GingerAle software package, with a cluster level inference thresholding method and false discovery rate correction for multiple comparisons.
Results. For comprehension, the analysis included 346 foci from 478 unique participants in 26 studies of auditory or visual sentence comprehension. The results (Figure 1a) indicated a large significant cluster in left temporal and inferior parietal cortex, with extrema in the temporal pole, anterior and posterior middle temporal gyri, angular gyrus, and posterior supramarginal gyrus. Additional significant clusters were found in left inferior frontal gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus, left precentral gyrus, left supplementary motor area, right middle temporal gyrus, and finally in the posterior division of left temporal fusiform cortex.
For production, a total of 127 foci from 11 studies and 182 unique participants were included. The results (Figure 1b) indicated only two significant clusters, one in the temporooccipital portion of left middle temporal gyrus and one in left superior frontal gyrus.
To examine the overlap between comprehension and production, we conducted a conjunction analysis on these comprehension and production results. The analysis (Figure 1c) yielded two overlapping clusters, one in the temporooccipital portion of left middle temporal gyrus; the second in left superior frontal gyrus extending into supplementary motor area.
Conclusions. The meta-analysis revealed a fronto-temporal network of brain regions subserving language that was bilateral for sentence comprehension and left lateralized for production. The implicated regions for comprehension and production were largely consistent with existing models of sentence processing, though regions expected to contribute to sentence production (e.g., left inferior frontal cortex) were not found, likely due to limitations of the included tasks. Nevertheless, the results were overall consistent with the hypothesis that brain regions are shared in common across domains.
Keywords:
ALE,
Meta-analysis,
Language,
sentence production,
fMRI
Conference:
Academy of Aphasia 56th Annual Meeting, Montreal, Canada, 21 Oct - 23 Oct, 2018.
Presentation Type:
poster presentation
Topic:
not eligible for a student prize
Citation:
Thompson
CK,
Walenski
M,
Europa
E and
Caplan
D
(2019). Neural networks for sentence comprehension and production: an ALE-based meta-analysis of neuroimaging studies.
Conference Abstract:
Academy of Aphasia 56th Annual Meeting.
doi: 10.3389/conf.fnhum.2018.228.00076
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Received:
30 Apr 2018;
Published Online:
22 Jan 2019.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Matthew Walenski, Northwestern University, Evanston, United States, mwalenski@gmail.com