Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV, United States of America.
Independent Researcher, Silver Spring, MD, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2019 Jan 10;14(1):e0208318. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0208318. eCollection 2019.
Lexical embedding is common in all languages and elicits mutual orthographic interference between an embedded word and its carrier. The neural basis of such interference remains unknown. We employed a novel fMRI prime-target embedded word paradigm to test for involvement of a visual word form area (VWFA) in left ventral occipitotemporal cortex in co-activation of embedded words and their carriers. Based on the results of related fMRI studies we predicted either enhancement or suppression of fMRI responses to embedded words initially viewed as primes, and repeated in the context of target carrier words. Our results clearly showed enhancement of fMRI responses in the VWFA to embedded-carrier word pairs as compared to unrelated prime-target pairs. In contrast to non-visual language-related areas (e.g., left inferior frontal gyrus), enhanced fMRI responses did not occur in the VWFA when embedded-carrier word pairs were restricted to the left visual hemifield. Our finding of fMRI enhancement in the VWFA is novel evidence of its involvement in representational rivalry between orthographically similar words, and the co-activation of embedded words and their carriers.
词汇嵌入在所有语言中都很常见，会引起嵌入词与其载体之间的相互正字法干扰。这种干扰的神经基础尚不清楚。我们采用了一种新的 fMRI 启动-目标嵌入词范式，以测试左腹侧枕颞叶皮层中的视觉词形区 (VWFA) 是否参与嵌入词及其载体的共同激活。基于相关 fMRI 研究的结果，我们预测最初作为启动词呈现的嵌入词的 fMRI 反应会增强或抑制，并且在目标载体词的上下文中重复出现。我们的结果清楚地表明，与不相关的启动-目标对相比，VWFA 中嵌入-载体词对的 fMRI 反应增强。与非视觉语言相关区域（例如左额下回）相反，当嵌入-载体词对仅限于左视觉半视野时，VWFA 中不会出现 fMRI 反应增强。我们在 VWFA 中发现的 fMRI 增强是其参与正字法相似词之间的表示竞争以及嵌入词及其载体的共同激活的新证据。
