Translational Neuroimaging Marburg, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039, Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior (CMBB), University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany.
Translational Neuroimaging Marburg, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Rudolf-Bultmann-Straße 8, 35039, Marburg, Germany; Center for Mind, Brain, and Behavior (CMBB), University of Marburg and Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany.
Neuropsychologia. 2021 Jan 22;151:107725. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107725. Epub 2020 Dec 30.
The processing of semantically complex speech is a demanding task which can be facilitated by speech-associated arm and hand gestures. However, the role of age concerning the perception of semantic complexity and the influence of gestures in this context remains unclear. The goal of this study was to investigate if age-related differences are already present in early adulthood during the processing of semantic complexity and gestures. To this end, we analyzed fMRI images of a sample of 38 young and middle-aged participants (age-range: 19-55). They had the task to listen and to watch a narrative. The narrative contained segments varying in the degree of semantic complexity, and they were spontaneously accompanied by gestures. The semantic complexity of the story was measured by the idea density. Consistent with previous findings in young adults, we observed increased activation for passages with lower compared to higher complexity in bilateral temporal areas and the precuneus. BOLD signal in the left frontal and left parietal regions correlated during the perception of complex passages with increasing age. This correlation was reduced for passages presented with gestures. Median-split based post-hoc comparisons confirmed that group differences between younger (19-23 years) and older adults within the early adult lifespan (24-55 years) were significantly reduced in passages with gestures. Our results suggest that older adults within early adulthood adapt to the requirements of highly complex passages activating additional regions when no gesture information is available. Gestures might play a facilitative role with increasing age, especially when speech is complex.
语义复杂的言语处理是一项艰巨的任务，言语伴随的手臂和手部动作可以帮助处理。然而，关于年龄对语义复杂性感知的影响以及在这种情况下手势的作用仍不清楚。本研究的目的是调查在语义复杂性和手势处理过程中，早期成年期是否已经存在与年龄相关的差异。为此，我们分析了 38 名年轻和中年参与者（年龄范围：19-55 岁）的 fMRI 图像。他们的任务是听和看一个叙述。叙述中包含不同语义复杂度的片段，并且它们自发地伴随着手势。故事的语义复杂性通过思想密度来衡量。与年轻成年人的先前发现一致，我们观察到双侧颞区和楔前叶的激活增加，与低复杂度相比，与高复杂度相比。在感知复杂段落期间，左额叶和左顶叶区域的 BOLD 信号与年龄呈正相关。在呈现手势的段落中，这种相关性降低。基于中位数分割的事后比较证实，在有手势的段落中，年轻（19-23 岁）和年龄较大的成年人（24-55 岁）之间的组间差异显著降低。我们的研究结果表明，在早期成年期，年龄较大的成年人在没有手势信息的情况下，通过激活额外的区域来适应高度复杂的段落的要求。手势可能会随着年龄的增长而发挥促进作用，尤其是在言语复杂的情况下。
