Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh , PA , USA.
Department of Neurology, University of Rochester , Rochester , NY , USA.
Cogn Neuropsychol. 2019 May-Jun;36(3-4):178-192. doi: 10.1080/02643294.2019.1619544. Epub 2019 Jun 18.
Sentence production involves mapping from deep structures that specify meaning and thematic roles to surface structures that specify the order and sequencing of production ready elements. We propose that the frontal aslant tract is a key pathway for sequencing complex actions with deep hierarchical structure. In the domain of language, and primarily with respect to the left FAT, we refer to this as the 'Syntagmatic Constraints On Positional Elements' (SCOPE) hypothesis. One prediction made by the SCOPE hypothesis is that disruption of the frontal aslant tract should disrupt sentence production at grammatical phrase boundaries, with no disruption of articulatory processes. We test this prediction in a patient undergoing direct electrical stimulation mapping of the frontal aslant tract during an awake craniotomy to remove a left frontal brain tumor. We found that stimulation of the left FAT prolonged inter-word durations at the start of grammatical phrases, while inter-word durations internal to noun phrases were unaffected, and there was no effect on intra-word articulatory duration. These results provide initial support for the SCOPE hypothesis, and motivate novel directions for future research to explore the functions of this recently discovered component of the language system.
句子产生涉及从指定意义和主题角色的深层结构到指定生产准备元素的顺序和序列的表层结构的映射。我们提出额前斜束是用深层层次结构对复杂动作进行排序的关键途径。在语言领域，主要是针对左侧额前斜束，我们将其称为“位置元素的组合限制”（SCOPE）假设。SCOPE 假设的一个预测是，额前斜束的破坏应该会破坏语法短语边界处的句子产生，而不会破坏发音过程。我们在一名接受清醒开颅术以切除左额叶脑肿瘤期间直接对额前斜束进行电刺激映射的患者中测试了这一预测。我们发现，刺激左侧额前斜束延长了语法短语开头的单词之间的间隔，而名词短语内部的单词之间的间隔不受影响，并且对单词内的发音持续时间没有影响。这些结果初步支持了 SCOPE 假设，并为未来探索语言系统中这一最近发现的成分的功能的研究提供了新的方向。
