Virtue Sandra, Haberman Jason, Clancy Zoe, Parrish Todd, Jung Beeman Mark
Department of Psychology, 2219 North Kenmore Ave., DePaul University, Chicago, IL 60614, USA.
Brain Res. 2006 Apr 21;1084(1):104-14. doi: 10.1016/j.brainres.2006.02.053. Epub 2006 Mar 29.
In this event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, participants listened to and comprehended short stories implying or explicitly stating inference events. The aim of this study was to examine the neural mechanisms that underlie inference generation, a process essential to successful comprehension. We observed distinct patterns of increased fMRI signal for implied over explicit events at two critical points during the stories: (1) within the right superior temporal gyrus when a verb in the text implied the inference; and (2) within the left superior temporal gyrus at the coherence break or when participants need to generate an inference to understand the story. To find the most compelling evidence of neural activity during inference generation, we examined fMRI signal at these two critical points separately for people with high working memory capacity (i.e., those individuals who are most likely to draw inferences during text comprehension). Interestingly, high working memory individuals showed greater fMRI signal for implied than explicit events in the left inferior frontal gyrus at the coherence break compared to low working memory individuals. This present study provides evidence that areas within the superior temporal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus are heavily recruited when individuals generate inferences, even during ongoing comprehension that demands many cognitive processes. In addition, the data suggest that the right hemisphere superior temporal gyrus is particularly involved during early inferential processing, whereas the left hemisphere superior temporal gyrus is particularly involved during later inferential processing in story comprehension.
在这项与事件相关的功能磁共振成像（fMRI）研究中，参与者聆听并理解了暗示或明确陈述推理事件的短篇小说。本研究的目的是探究推理生成背后的神经机制，这是成功理解所必需的过程。我们观察到，在故事中的两个关键点上，与明确事件相比，隐含事件的fMRI信号增强模式不同：（1）当文本中的动词暗示推理时，右侧颞上回内；（2）在连贯性中断时或参与者需要进行推理以理解故事时，左侧颞上回内。为了找到推理生成过程中神经活动最有力的证据，我们分别在这两个关键点上检查了高工作记忆能力者（即那些在文本理解过程中最有可能进行推理的个体）的fMRI信号。有趣的是，与低工作记忆个体相比，高工作记忆个体在连贯性中断时，左侧额下回中隐含事件的fMRI信号比明确事件更强。本研究提供了证据，表明当个体进行推理时，即使是在需要许多认知过程的持续理解过程中，颞上回和额下回内的区域也会大量被激活。此外，数据表明，在故事理解的早期推理过程中，右半球颞上回特别活跃，而在后期推理过程中，左半球颞上回特别活跃。
