Skeide Michael A, Brauer Jens, Friederici Angela D
Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1a, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Stephanstraße 1a, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Neuroimage. 2014 Oct 15;100:106-11. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.05.080. Epub 2014 Jun 10.
An essential computational component of the human language faculty is syntax as it regulates how words are combined into sentences. Although its neuroanatomical basis is well-specified in adults, its emergence in the maturing brain is not yet understood. Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a cross-sectional design, we discovered, that in contrast to what is known about adults 3-to-4- and 6-to-7-year-old children do not process syntax independently from semantics at the neural level already before these two types of information are integrated for the interpretation of a sentence. It is not until the end of the 10th year of life that children show a neural selectivity for syntax, segregated and gradually independent from semantics, in the left inferior frontal cortex as in the adult brain. Our results indicate that it takes until early adolescence for the domain-specific selectivity of syntax within the language network to develop.
人类语言能力的一个重要计算组成部分是句法，因为它规定了单词如何组合成句子。虽然其神经解剖学基础在成年人中已得到明确，但在发育中的大脑中它是如何出现的尚不清楚。我们采用横断面设计，利用事件相关功能磁共振成像（fMRI）发现，与成年人不同，3至4岁以及6至7岁的儿童在对句子进行解释时，在这两种信息整合之前，在神经层面上并不会独立于语义来处理句法。直到生命的第10年末，儿童才会像成人大脑一样，在左下额叶皮质表现出对句法的神经选择性，与语义分离并逐渐独立。我们的研究结果表明，语言网络中句法的领域特异性选择性要到青春期早期才会发展形成。
