According to the correlated transmitter-receptor based structure of the inferior parietal cortex (IPC), this brain area is divided into three clusters, namely, the caudal, the middle and the... Show moreAccording to the correlated transmitter-receptor based structure of the inferior parietal cortex (IPC), this brain area is divided into three clusters, namely, the caudal, the middle and the rostral. Nevertheless, in associating different cognitive functions to the IPC, previous studies considered this part of the cortex as a whole and thus inconsistent results have been reported. Using multiband EPI, we investigated the connectivity profile of the middle IPC while forty-five participants performed a task requiring cognitive control. The middle IPC demonstrated functional associations which do not have similarities to a contributing part in the frontoparietal network, in processing cognitive control. At the same time, this cortical area showed negative functional connectivity with both the precuneus cortex, which is resting- state related, and brain areas related to general cognitive functions. That is, the functions of the middle IPC are not accommodated by the traditional categorization of different brain areas i.e. resting state-related or task-related networks and this advanced our hypothesis about modulating cortical areas. Such brain areas are characterized by their negative functional connectivity with parts of the cortex involved in task performance, proportional to the difficulty of the task; yet, their functional associations are inconsistent with the resting state-related cortical areas. Show less
Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn, S.; Pablos Robles, L.; Schiller, N.O. 2022
Cross-linguistic influence (CLI) and typological similarity are key features in multilingual language processing. Here, we study whether CLI effects in language production are more pronounced in... Show moreCross-linguistic influence (CLI) and typological similarity are key features in multilingual language processing. Here, we study whether CLI effects in language production are more pronounced in typologically similar vs. dissimilar languages in late language learners. In a picture-naming task, we manipulated gender congruency and cognate status as indices for CLI in a group of Italian learners of Spanish and a group of German learners of Spanish. Further, we explored modulations of P300 amplitudes indexing inhibitory control. Behaviourally, we observed effects of CLI, but not of typological similarity. At the neural level, P300 amplitudes were modulated by CLI effects. However, we did not find evidence for a typological similarity effect on P300 amplitudes. Therefore, our results suggest a limited role of typological similarity. This study has crucial implications for nonnative language production mechanisms in light of the similarity between the native and the non-native language. Show less
The cytoarchitectonically tripartite organization of the inferior parietal cortex (IPC) into the rostral, the middle and the caudal clusters has been generally ignored when associating different... Show moreThe cytoarchitectonically tripartite organization of the inferior parietal cortex (IPC) into the rostral, the middle and the caudal clusters has been generally ignored when associating different functions to this part of the cortex, resulting in inconsistencies about how IPC is understood. In this study, we investigated the patterns of functional connectivity of the caudal IPC in a task requiring cognitive control, using multiband EPI. This part of the cortex demonstrated functional connectivity patterns dissimilar to a cognitive control area and at the same time the caudal IPC showed negative functional associations with both task-related brain areas and the precuneus cortex, which is active during resting state. We found evidence suggesting that the traditional categorization of different brain areas into either task-related or resting state-related networks cannot accommodate the functions of the caudal IPC. This underlies the hypothesis about a new brain functional category as a modulating cortical area proposing that its involvement in task performance, in a modulating manner, is marked by deactivation in the patterns of functional associations with parts of the brain that are recognized to be involved in doing a task, proportionate to task difficulty; however, its patterns of functional connectivity in some other respects do not correspond to the resting state-related parts of the cortex. Show less
Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn, S.; Pablos Robles, L.; Schiller, N.O. 2021
Characterising the time course of non-native language production is critical in understanding the mechanisms behind successful communication. Yet, little is known about the modulating role of cross... Show moreCharacterising the time course of non-native language production is critical in understanding the mechanisms behind successful communication. Yet, little is known about the modulating role of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) on the temporal unfolding of non-native production and the locus of target language selection. In this study, we explored CLI effects on non-native noun phrase production with behavioural and neural methods. We were particularly interested in the modulation of the P300 as an index for inhibitory control, and the N400 as an index for co-activation and CLI. German late learners of Spanish overtly named pictures while their EEG was monitored. Our results indicate traceable CLI effects at the behavioural and neural level in both early and late production stages. This suggests that speakers faced competition between the target and non-target language until advanced production stages. Our findings add important behavioural and neural evidence to the underpinnings of non-native production processes, in particular for late learners. Show less
The objective of this paper was to study the cognitive processes underlying cross-dialectal novel word borrowing and loanword establishment in a Standard-Chinese-to-Shanghainese (SC-SH) auditory... Show moreThe objective of this paper was to study the cognitive processes underlying cross-dialectal novel word borrowing and loanword establishment in a Standard-Chinese-to-Shanghainese (SC-SH) auditory lexical learning and borrowing experiment. To investigate these underlying cognitive processes, SC-SH bi-dialectals were compared with SC monolectals as well as bi-dialectals of SC and other Chinese dialects (OD) to investigate the influence of short-term and long-term linguistic experience. Both comprehension and production borrowings were tested. This study found that early and proficient bi-dialectism, even if it is not directly related to the recipient dialect of lexical borrowing, has a protective effect on the ability of cross-dialectal lexical borrowing in early adulthood. Bi-dialectals tend to add separate lexical representations for incidentally encountered dialectal variants, while monolectals tend to assimilate dialectal variants to standard forms. Bi-dialectals, but not monolectals, use etymologically related morphemes between the source and recipient dialects to create nonce-borrowing compounds. Dialectal variability facilitates lexical borrowing via enriching instead of increasing the short-term lexical experience of learners. The long-term bi-dialectal experience of individuals, as well as their short-term exposure to each specific loanword, may collectively shape the route of lexical evolution of co-evolving linguistic varieties. Show less
Von Grebmer Zu Wolfsthurn, S.; Pablos Robles, L.; Schiller, N.O. 2021
In Chinese, when objects are named with their quantity, a numeral classifier must be inserted between the quantifier and the noun to produce a grammatically correct quantifier + classifier + noun... Show moreIn Chinese, when objects are named with their quantity, a numeral classifier must be inserted between the quantifier and the noun to produce a grammatically correct quantifier + classifier + noun phrase. In this study, we adopted the picture-word interference paradigm to examine participants’ naming latencies for multiple objects and their electroencephalogram in four conditions by manipulating two factors, i.e. semantic relatedness and classifier congruency. Results show that in noun phrase production, naming latencies are significantly longer in classifier-incongruent and semantically related conditions than in classifier-congruent and semantically unrelated conditions. Also, an N400-like effect was observed and found to be stronger in classifier-incongruent and semantically unrelated conditions. Together, the behavioral data and event-related potential analyses suggest that the use of classifiers as lexico-syntactic features in Mandarin Chinese takes place via a competitive selection process in noun phrase production. Show less
In tonal languages such as Mandarin, both lexical tone and sentence intonation are primarily signaled by F0. Their F0 encodings are sometimes in conflict and sometimes in congruency. The present... Show moreIn tonal languages such as Mandarin, both lexical tone and sentence intonation are primarily signaled by F0. Their F0 encodings are sometimes in conflict and sometimes in congruency. The present study investigated how tone and intonation, with F0 encodings in conflict or in congruency, are processed and how semantic context may affect their processing. To this end, tone and intonation identification experiments were conducted in both semantically neutral and constraining contexts. Results showed that the overall performance of tone identification was better than that of intonation. Specifically, tone identification was seldom affected by intonation information irrespective of semantic contexts. However, intonation identification, particularly question intonation, was susceptible to the final lexical tone identity and affected by the semantic context. In the semantically neutral context, questions ending with a rising tone and a falling tone were equally difficult to identify. In the semantically constraining context, questions ending with a falling tone were much better identified than those ending with a rising tone. This perceptual asymmetry suggests that top-down information provided by the semantically constraining context can play a facilitating role for listeners to disentangle intonational information from tonal information, but mainly in sentences with the lexical falling tone in the final position. Show less
Resting state functional connectivity can be leveraged to investigate bilingual individual differences in cognitive control of language; however, thus far no report is provided on how the... Show moreResting state functional connectivity can be leveraged to investigate bilingual individual differences in cognitive control of language; however, thus far no report is provided on how the connectivity profiles of brain functional networks at rest point to different language control behavior in bilinguals. In order to address this gap in state-of-the-art research we did a functional connectivity analysis on the resting state data acquired via multiband EPI to investigate three resting state networks of interest namely, the frontoparietal network (FPN), the salience network (SN), and the default mode network (DMN), which are related to cognitive control, between two groups of Dutch–English bilinguals based on how they performed in a language switching task. Results demonstrated that there is the increased coupling of the left primary somatosensory cortex with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the group with better performance in cognitive control of language and the increased coupling of the right primary somatosensory cortex with the inferior parietal cortex in the group with poorer performance in this executive function. As regards these results, we claim that the primary somatosensory cortex has a dual func- tion in coupling with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the inferior parietal cortex in the FPN, and in fact, in what characterizes bilingual individual differences in cognitive control of language in healthy participants. The results of this study provide a model for future research in cognitive control of language and may serve as a ref- erence in clinical neuroscience when bilinguals are diagnosed with dysfunction in cognitive control. Show less
Schiller, N.O.; Boutonnet, B.P.-A.; De Heer Kloots, M.L.S.; Meelen, M.; Ruijgrok, B.J.; Cheng, L.L.-S. 2020
This study examines the effect of foreign-accented speech on the predictive ability of our brain. Listeners actively anticipate upcoming linguistic information in the speech signal so as to... Show moreThis study examines the effect of foreign-accented speech on the predictive ability of our brain. Listeners actively anticipate upcoming linguistic information in the speech signal so as to facilitate and reduce processing load. However, it is unclear whether or not listeners also do this when they are exposed to speech from non-native speakers. In the present study, we exposed native Dutch listeners to sentences produced d non-native speakers while measuring their brain activity using electroencephalography. We found that listeners’ brain activity differed depending on whether they listened to native or non- native speech. However, participants’ overall performance as measured by word recall rate was unaffected. We discussed the results in relation to previous findings as well as the automaticity of anticipation. Show less
Wang, M.; Chen, Y.; Jiang, M.; Schiller, N.O. 2020
Most psycholinguistic models of speech production agree on an earlier semantic processing stage and a later word-form encoding stage. Using a logographic language, Mandarin Chinese, Zhang and... Show moreMost psycholinguistic models of speech production agree on an earlier semantic processing stage and a later word-form encoding stage. Using a logographic language, Mandarin Chinese, Zhang and Weekes [2009. Orthographic facilitation effects on spoken word production: Evidence from Chinese. Language and Cognitive Processes, 24(7–8), 1082–1096. https://doi.org/10.1080/ 01690960802042133] reported an early effect of orthography in a picture-word-interference study and suggested orthography affects speech production via a lexical-semantic pathway at an early stage. This early orthographic effect without co-occurrence of phonological effect, however, was not replicated [Zhao, La Heij, & Schiller, 2012. Orthographic and phonological facilitation in speech production: New evidence from picture naming in Chinese. Acta Psychologica, 139(2), 272–280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.actpsy.2011.12.001]. The present study aimed to dissociate further the semantic and phonological representations from orthography by using simplex Chinese characters. The results of Experiment 1 and 2 revealed an orthographic effect but only at a similar point in time as the phonological effect, both of which followed the semantic effect. Our results thus raise further doubts about the role of orthography at the conceptual level of speech planning and lend new evidence to a two-step model of speech production. Show less
Neurolinguistic approaches to morphology include the main theories of morphological representation and processing in the human mind, such as full-listing, full-parsing, and hybrid dual-route models... Show moreNeurolinguistic approaches to morphology include the main theories of morphological representation and processing in the human mind, such as full-listing, full-parsing, and hybrid dual-route models, and how the experimental evidence that has been acquired tosupport these theories uses different neurolinguistic paradigms (visual and auditory prim ing, violation, long-lag priming, picture-word interference, etc.) and methods (electroen cephalography [EEG]/event-related brain potential [ERP], functional magnetic resonance imaging [fMRI], neuropsychology, and so forth). Show less
One long-neglected fact in linguistic research on Standard Chinese (SC) is that most speakers of SC also speak a local dialect, which may share phonological features with SC. Tonal information can... Show moreOne long-neglected fact in linguistic research on Standard Chinese (SC) is that most speakers of SC also speak a local dialect, which may share phonological features with SC. Tonal information can be a determinant of the phonological similarities or differences between some Chinese dialects and SC, yet relatively little empirical research has been conducted on the tonal system of other language varieties in Chinese aside from SC. Among these dialects, Xi’an Mandarin (XM) is particularly interesting for the seemingly simple, yet intricate mapping between its lexical tones with those in SC. In this study, the tonal systems of XM and SC were compared empirically. Tones with similar contours from XM and SC were paired, and both tone production and perception experiments were car- ried out on bidialectal speakers of XM and SC. The two experiments together showed that there is indeed systematic mapping of tones between XM and SC. The degree of similarity of the mapped tone pair in tone perception was largely dependent on the acoustic phonetic similarity between the tones in tone production, with a phonological rule playing a role in the tone pair of low contour. Show less
In this commentary, I would like to support Goad and White’s (2019, henceforth G&W) claim that the morphosyntactic feature system in the L2 does not have to be defective due to certain... Show moreIn this commentary, I would like to support Goad and White’s (2019, henceforth G&W) claim that the morphosyntactic feature system in the L2 does not have to be defective due to certain syntactic features not being activated in the L1. I will base my point on the example of grammatical gender. Moreover, I would like to stress the importance of developing processing models for lexico-syntactic features in bilingual speakers. Processing models may be able to account for why L2 learners behave in a particular way. For instance, G&W (p. 791) refer to a study by Goad et al. (2011), suggesting that “beginners fluctuate between deletion of the plural and resorting to the structure for verbal inflection”. However, they do not provide an answer as to why L2 learners behave in that way. In other words, a processing account is missing. A comprehensive (neuro-)cognitive model of grammatical feature representation and processing may help understand error patterns in L2 production. Show less
Self-perceived word-finding difficulties are common in aging individuals as well as in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Language and speech deficits are difficult to objectify with neuropsychological... Show moreSelf-perceived word-finding difficulties are common in aging individuals as well as in Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Language and speech deficits are difficult to objectify with neuropsychological assessments. We therefore aimed to investigate whether amyloid, an early AD pathological hallmark, is associated with speech-derived semantic complexity. We included 63 individuals with subjective cognitive decline (age 64 ± 8, MMSE 29 ± 1), with amyloid status (positron emission tomography [PET] scans n = 59, or Aβ1-42 cerebrospinal fluid [CSF] n = 4). Spontaneous speech was recorded using three open-ended tasks (description of cookie theft picture, abstract painting and a regular Sunday), transcribed verbatim and subsequently, linguistic parameters were extracted using T-scan computational software, including specific words (content words, frequent, concrete and abstract nouns, and fillers), lexical complexity (lemma frequency, Type-Token-Ratio) and syntactic complexity (Developmental Level scale). Nineteen individuals (30%) had high levels of amyloid burden, and there were no differences between groups on conventional neuropsychological tests. Using multinomial regression with lin- guistic parameters (in tertiles), we found that high amyloid burden is associated with fewer concrete nouns (ORmiddle (95%CI): 7.6 (1.4–41.2), ORlowest: 6.7 (1.2–37.1)) and content words (ORlowest: 6.3 (1.0–38.1). In addition, we found an interaction for education between high amyloid burden and more abstract nouns. In conclusion, high amyloid burden was modestly associated with fewer specific words, but not with syntactic complexity, lexical complexity or conventional neuropsychological tests, suggesting that subtle spontaneous speech deficits might occur in preclinical AD. Show less
Previous work suggests that infant cry perception is supported by an evolutionary old neural network consisting of the auditory system, the thalamocingulate circuit, the frontoinsular system, the... Show morePrevious work suggests that infant cry perception is supported by an evolutionary old neural network consisting of the auditory system, the thalamocingulate circuit, the frontoinsular system, the reward pathway and the medial prefrontal cortex. Furthermore, gender and parenthood have been proposed to modulate processing of infant cries. The present meta-analysis (N = 350) confirmed involvement of the auditory system, the thalamocingulate circuit, the dorsal anterior insula, the pre-supplementary motor area and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and the inferior frontal gyrus in infant cry perception, but not of the reward pathway. Structures related to motoric processing, possibly supporting the preparation of a parenting response, were also involved. Finally, females (more than males) and parents (more than non-parents) recruited a cortico-limbic sensorimotor integration network, offering a neural explanation for previously observed enhanced processing of infant cries in these sub-groups. Based on the results, an updated neural model of infant cry perception is presented. Show less
Grammatical gender agreement has been well addressed in language comprehension but less so in language production. The present article discusses the arguments derived from the most prominent... Show moreGrammatical gender agreement has been well addressed in language comprehension but less so in language production. The present article discusses the arguments derived from the most prominent language production models on the representation and processing of the grammatical gender of nouns in language production and then reviews recent empirical studies that provide some answers to these arguments. Show less
