Conversational content is organized across multiple timescales in the brain

IF 21.4 1区 心理学 Q1 MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES
Masahiro Yamashita, Rieko Kubo, Shinji Nishimoto
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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The evolution of conversation facilitates the exchange of intricate thoughts and emotions. The meaning is progressively constructed by integrating both produced and perceived speech into hierarchical linguistic structures across multiple timescales, including words, sentences and discourse. However, the neural mechanisms underlying these interactive sense-making processes remain largely unknown. Here we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure brain activity during hours of spontaneous conversations, modelling neural representations of conversational content using contextual embeddings derived from a large language model (GPT) at varying timescales. Our results reveal that linguistic representations are both shared and distinct between production and comprehension, distributed across various functional networks. Shared representations, predominantly localized within language-selective regions, were consistently observed at shorter timescales, corresponding to words and single sentences. By contrast, modality-specific representations exhibited opposing timescale selectivity: shorter for production and longer for comprehension, suggesting that distinct mechanisms are involved in contextual integration. These findings suggest that conversational meaning emerges from the interplay between shared linguistic codes and modality-specific temporal integration, facilitating context-dependent comprehension and adaptive speech production.

Abstract Image

会话内容在大脑中被组织成多个时间尺度
对话的演变促进了复杂思想和情感的交流。意义是通过将产生的和感知到的言语整合成多层次的语言结构,跨越多个时间尺度,包括单词、句子和话语,逐步构建的。然而,这些相互作用的感知过程背后的神经机制在很大程度上仍然未知。在这里,我们使用功能性磁共振成像来测量几个小时的自发对话期间的大脑活动,在不同的时间尺度上,使用来自大型语言模型(GPT)的上下文嵌入来模拟对话内容的神经表征。我们的研究结果表明,语言表征在生产和理解之间既共享又不同,分布在不同的功能网络中。共同表征主要局限于语言选择区域,在较短的时间尺度上一致地被观察到,对应于单词和单句。相比之下,模态特定表征表现出相反的时间尺度选择性:生产时间较短,理解时间较长,这表明语境整合涉及不同的机制。这些发现表明,会话意义产生于共享语言代码和情态特定时间整合之间的相互作用,促进了语境依赖的理解和适应性语音的产生。
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来源期刊
Nature Human Behaviour
Nature Human Behaviour Psychology-Social Psychology
CiteScore
36.80
自引率
1.00%
发文量
227
期刊介绍: Nature Human Behaviour is a journal that focuses on publishing research of outstanding significance into any aspect of human behavior.The research can cover various areas such as psychological, biological, and social bases of human behavior.It also includes the study of origins, development, and disorders related to human behavior.The primary aim of the journal is to increase the visibility of research in the field and enhance its societal reach and impact.
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