AUTHOR=Brouwer Harm , Hoeks John C.

TITLE=A time and place for language comprehension: mapping the N400 and the P600 to a minimal cortical network

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Human Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 7 - 2013

YEAR=2013

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/human-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00758

DOI=10.3389/fnhum.2013.00758

ISSN=1662-5161

ABSTRACT=We propose a new functional-anatomical mapping of the N400 and the P600 to
a minimal cortical network for language comprehension.  Our work is an
example of a recent research strategy in cognitive neuroscience, where
researchers attempt to align data regarding the nature and time-course of
cognitive processing (from ERPs) with data on the cortical organization
underlying it (from fMRI).  The success of this `alignment' approach
critically depends on the functional interpretation of relevant ERP
components.  Models of language processing that have been proposed thus far
do not agree on these interpretations, and present a variety of complicated
functional architectures. We put forward a very basic functional-anatomical
mapping based on the recently developed Retrieval-Integration account of
language comprehension (Brouwer, Fitz, & Hoeks, 2012). In this mapping, the left
posterior part of the Middle Temporal Gyrus (BA 21) serves as an
epicenter (or hub) in a neurocognitive network for the
retrieval of word meaning, the ease of which is reflected in N400 amplitude.
The left Inferior Frontal Gyrus (BA 44/45/47), in turn, serves a network
epicenter for the integration of this retrieved meaning with the word's
preceding context, into a mental representation of what is being
communicated; these semantic and pragmatic integrative processes are
reflected in P600 amplitude. We propose that our mapping describes the core
of the language comprehension network, a view that is parsimonious, has
broad empirical coverage, and can serve as the starting point for a more
focused investigation into the coupling of brain anatomy and
electrophysiology.