A FUNCTIONAL NEUROIMAGING INVESTIGATION OF THE ROLES OF STRUCTURAL COMPLEXITY AND TASK-DEMAND DURING AUDITORY SENTENCE PROCESSING

摘要: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), this study directly examined an issue that bridges the potential language processing and multi-modal views of role Broca's area: effects task-demands in comprehension studies. We presented syntactically simple complex sentences for auditory under three different (differentially complex) task-demand conditions: passive listening, probe verification, theme judgment. Contrary to many findings, we found both syntactic structures activated left inferior frontal cortex (L-IFC). Critically, activation these regions increased together with task-demands. Specifically, tasks required greater manipulation comparison linguistic material recruited L-IFC more strongly; independent structure complexity. argue much presumed previously sentence studies may, among other things, reflect employed is a region underlying mnemonic integrative functions, on which may rely.