CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
J Cogn Neurosci. 2022 Jan 5;34(2):236-257. doi: 10.1162/jocn_a_01793.
Although prediction plays an important role in language comprehension, its precise neural basis remains unclear. This fMRI study investigated whether and how semantic-category-specific and common cerebral areas are recruited in predictive semantic processing during sentence comprehension. We manipulated the semantic constraint of sentence contexts, upon which a tool-related, a building-related, or no specific category of noun is highly predictable. This noun-predictability effect was measured not only over the target nouns but also over their preceding transitive verbs. Both before and after the appearance of target nouns, left anterior supramarginal gyrus was specifically activated for tool-related nouns and left parahippocampal place area was activated specifically for building-related nouns. The semantic-category common areas included a subset of left inferior frontal gyrus during the anticipation of incoming target nouns (activity enhancement for high predictability) and included a wide spread of areas (bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, left superior/middle temporal gyrus, left medial pFC, and left TPJ) during the integration of actually perceived nouns (activity reduction for high predictability). These results indicated that the human brain recruits fine divisions of cortical areas to distinguish different semantic categories of predicted words, and anticipatory semantic processing relies, at least partially, on top-down prediction conducted in higher-level cortical areas.
虽然预测在语言理解中起着重要作用，但它的确切神经基础仍不清楚。这项 fMRI 研究调查了在句子理解过程中进行预测性语义处理时，是否以及如何招募语义类别特异性和共同的大脑区域。我们操纵了句子上下文的语义约束，在这些约束下，工具相关、建筑相关或没有特定类别的名词具有高度的可预测性。不仅在目标名词上，而且在它们之前的及物动词上，都测量了这种名词可预测性效应。在目标名词出现之前和之后，左前上缘回都专门针对工具相关名词而被激活，而左旁海马体位置区域则专门针对建筑相关名词而被激活。语义类别共同区域包括在预期传入目标名词期间左额下回的一个子集（高可预测性时活动增强），并在实际感知名词的整合期间包括更广泛的区域（双侧额下回、左颞上/中回、左内侧前额叶皮质和左颞顶联合区）（高可预测性时活动减少）。这些结果表明，人类大脑会招募大脑区域的精细划分来区分预测单词的不同语义类别，并且预测性语义处理至少部分依赖于在更高层次的大脑区域进行自上而下的预测。
