An event-related brain potential analysis of the use of temporal connectives in language production

IF 2.4 4区医学 Q3 NEUROSCIENCES

Neuroscience Research Pub Date : 2025-03-01 DOI:10.1016/j.neures.2024.12.007

Thomas F. Münte , Annette Marek , Marcus Heldmann , Bernadette M. Jansma

{"title":"An event-related brain potential analysis of the use of temporal connectives in language production","authors":"Thomas F. Münte , Annette Marek , Marcus Heldmann , Bernadette M. Jansma","doi":"10.1016/j.neures.2024.12.007","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in the linearization of events during language production, focusing on the processing of temporal conjunctions \"before\" and \"after.\" While natural language typically presents events in chronological order, non-chronological sequences, as required by \"before\" sentences, impose additional cognitive demands. Using an adapted network task, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) in 24 healthy German speaking participants to examine the brain activity associated with these demands. Results showed that \"before\" sentences elicited early positivity and later negativity in ERPs, particularly over left temporal and frontocentral regions, suggesting increased working memory requirements for reordering events. These findings align with previous behavioral and neuroimaging studies, indicating that both language production and comprehension of \"before\" sentences necessitate more complex cognitive processing than \"after\" sentences. This research highlights the significant role of working memory during the conceptualization stage of language production exemplified by the brain’s handling of non-chronological sequences.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19146,"journal":{"name":"Neuroscience Research","volume":"212 ","pages":"Pages 69-74"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4000,"publicationDate":"2025-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Neuroscience Research","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168010224001615","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"NEUROSCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

Abstract

This study investigates the cognitive and neural mechanisms involved in the linearization of events during language production, focusing on the processing of temporal conjunctions "before" and "after." While natural language typically presents events in chronological order, non-chronological sequences, as required by "before" sentences, impose additional cognitive demands. Using an adapted network task, we recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) in 24 healthy German speaking participants to examine the brain activity associated with these demands. Results showed that "before" sentences elicited early positivity and later negativity in ERPs, particularly over left temporal and frontocentral regions, suggesting increased working memory requirements for reordering events. These findings align with previous behavioral and neuroimaging studies, indicating that both language production and comprehension of "before" sentences necessitate more complex cognitive processing than "after" sentences. This research highlights the significant role of working memory during the conceptualization stage of language production exemplified by the brain’s handling of non-chronological sequences.

查看原文本刊更多论文

语言生成中时间连接词使用的事件相关脑电位分析。

本研究探讨了语言产生过程中事件线性化的认知和神经机制，重点研究了时间连词“before”和“after”的加工。虽然自然语言通常按时间顺序呈现事件，但非时间顺序，如“before”句子所要求的，会施加额外的认知要求。使用适应性网络任务，我们记录了24名健康的德语参与者的事件相关电位（ERPs），以检查与这些需求相关的大脑活动。结果显示，“之前”的句子在erp中引发了早期的积极和后来的消极，特别是在左颞叶和额中央区域，这表明重新排序事件的工作记忆需求增加。这些发现与之前的行为和神经影像学研究相一致，表明语言的产生和对“之前”句子的理解都需要比“之后”句子更复杂的认知处理。这项研究强调了工作记忆在语言产生的概念化阶段的重要作用，以大脑对非时间序列的处理为例。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Neuroscience Research 医学-神经科学

CiteScore

5.60

自引率

3.40%

发文量

136

审稿时长

28 days

期刊介绍： The international journal publishing original full-length research articles, short communications, technical notes, and reviews on all aspects of neuroscience Neuroscience Research is an international journal for high quality articles in all branches of neuroscience, from the molecular to the behavioral levels. The journal is published in collaboration with the Japan Neuroscience Society and is open to all contributors in the world.