Where and how does grammatically geared processing take place—and why is Broca’s area often involved. A coordinated fMRI/ERBP study of language processing

• Published in: Brain and language Vol. 89; no. 2; pp. 337 - 345
• Main Authors: Dogil, Grzegorz, Frese, Inga, Haider, Hubert, Röhm, Dietmar, Wokurek, Wolfgang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: San Diego, CA Elsevier Inc 01-05-2004; Elsevier
• Subjects: Adult; Anatomical correlates of behavior; Attention - physiology; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Brain Mapping; Combined fMRI/EEG; Comprehension - physiology; Diagnostic Tests; Dominance, Cerebral - physiology; Electroencephalography; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Female; Frontal Lobe - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Grammar; Humans; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; Imaging, Three-Dimensional; Language Processing; Language-induced brain dynamics; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medicine; Phrase structure; Psycholinguistics; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Reading; Regional Blood Flow - physiology; Research Design; Semantics; Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; Phrase structure; Combined fMRI/EEG; Language-induced brain dynamics; Human; Central nervous system; Cognition; Electroencephalography; Grammar; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Area Broca; Encephalon; Electrodiagnosis; Language; Functional imaging
• ISSN: 0093-934X; 1090-2155
• DOI: 10.1016/S0093-934X(03)00354-7

We address the possibility of combining the results from hemodynamic and electrophysiological methods for the study of cognitive processing of language. The hemodynamic method we use is Event-Related fMRI, and the electrophysiological method measures Event-Related Band Power (ERBP) of the EEG signal. The experimental technique allows us to approach the relation between cortical structure and cognitive function in a sophisticated way. In particular, we can formulate original working hypotheses about the language-induced changes in the ongoing brain dynamics. We show, on the basis of electrophysiological data collected in an experiment on language production, that synchronized cortical networks code cognitive processes induced by language in form of power modulations of specific frequency bands. The hemodynamic (fMRI) data collected in the same task point to the existence of a central processor for the phrase structure assignment. We conceptualize such a central processor as a
frequency scanner, a cortical device designed to pick up synchronized brain activity over a specific range of frequencies. We discuss the experimental designs which result from this set of hypotheses and show their relevance for the models of language processing.