Brain and LanguagePub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-08-12DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105631
LaReina Hingson, Jeffrey J. Green, Brooklyn Lorenc
{"title":"Categorical perception of the index finger as an American Sign Language phonological construct","authors":"LaReina Hingson, Jeffrey J. Green, Brooklyn Lorenc","doi":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105631","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105631","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In American Sign Language, specific handshapes found in the manual alphabet and/or numbering system (such as the pointed index finger—the number “1”—and its bent counterpart—the letter “x”) are assumed to be phonologically distinct under the rationale that bentness of the finger(s) constitutes a phonemic distinctive feature. This study investigates this notion, building on previous behavioral studies of American Sign Language categorical perception of bentness of the index finger. We examined varying levels of bentness between 180° and 90° using a scale ranging from the signs BLACK and SUMMER in the standard dialect. Experiment 1 found that when presented with all levels of bentness, signing participants identified a categorical boundary around 130°. Experiment 2 used EEG to investigate vMMN and P300 responses to within-category and between-category oddballs. This is the first study to our knowledge to use EEG to investigates categorical perception in ASL. The results of Experiment 2 indicated that signing participants did not consistently agree on the 130° boundary, citing a “lack of context” to identify the sign. However, those signing participants who consistently categorized signs according to the boundary determined in Experiment 1 showed stronger P300 responses to between-category differences than to within-category differences. However, even these participants showed no CP effects in the vMMN. This, combined with individual variation in where the category boundary lies, suggests that CP bentness may be a weaker phonological feature in ASL than spoken phonemic features, or may instead be a phonetic, not phonological, feature.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55330,"journal":{"name":"Brain and Language","volume":"270 ","pages":"Article 105631"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144826631","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Neural substrates for the encoding of the contextual tonal alternation: An fNIRS study of Mandarin third-tone sandhi in word production","authors":"Xiaocong Chen , Tai Yuan , Yiya Chen , Fumo Huang , Caicai Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105636","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105636","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Phonological alternations are common in speech, but the neurocognitive mechanisms for their encoding during word production remain unclear. Mandarin Tone 3 sandhi is an example of phonological alternation, whereby the Tone 3 (T3), a low-dipping tone, changes to a Tone 2 (T2)-like rising tone when followed by another T3. Previous research indicates that both the underlying tonal category and the surface tonal variant are activated during T3 sandhi word production, but the neural substrates of these sub-processes remain unclear. Using Mandarin T3 sandhi as a case study, we employed functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to better understand the neural bases of phonological alternations. Participants completed a phonologically-primed picture naming task, with different tonal relationships between monosyllabic primes and T3 sandhi words manipulated. Behaviorally, we replicated the facilitatory effects of T3 and T2 primes on the naming latencies of T3 sandhi words, confirming the activation of both underlying and surface tonal information. Compared to control primes, the fNIRS data revealed reduced activation in left temporal and bilateral frontal regions during T3 sandhi word production following T3 primes, indicating facilitation in retrieving the underlying tonal category and/or the wordform of T3 sandhi words, which may proceed to the downstream articulatory planning and execution of the context-specific tonal contour. Conversely, increased activation in left temporal regions but decreased activation in frontal regions was found during T3 sandhi word production following T2 primes, implying higher lexical-phonological competition in the wordform retrieval but facilitation in articulatory planning. Our findings offer implications for understanding the neural encoding of phonological alternations.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55330,"journal":{"name":"Brain and Language","volume":"270 ","pages":"Article 105636"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144988430","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain and LanguagePub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-08-30DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105637
Gaelle E. Doucet , Jordanna A. Kruse , Nichole M. Eden , Lisa Goffman , Karla K. McGregor
{"title":"Initial evidence of altered functional network connectivity in children with developmental language disorder","authors":"Gaelle E. Doucet , Jordanna A. Kruse , Nichole M. Eden , Lisa Goffman , Karla K. McGregor","doi":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105637","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105637","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Developmental Language Disorder (DLD) is a common neurodevelopmental condition characterized by not only significant difficulty with language learning, comprehension, and expression but also with executive, procedural and/or motor functions. The understanding of the brain abnormalities in DLD remains largely unclear and functional MRI (fMRI) studies have largely focused on the language network. Using resting-state fMRI, we investigated whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) in 22 children with DLD and 23 with typical language development (TD), aged 7-to-13-years. Using a non-parametric network-based statistics approach, we found that children with DLD had an extensive network of lower FC across the whole brain, compared to the TD children. In particular, the sensorimotor (SM), cognitive control (CC) and default-mode (DM) networks included the largest amounts of altered FC. In detail, FC links within the DM network and between the SM and DM networks, and between the SM and CC networks were the most altered. No FC was found to be significantly higher in the children with DLD than in their peers with TD. To our knowledge, this is the first investigation of resting-state FC in children with DLD, showing widespread functional brain abnormalities that are not limited to the language network, but rather involve networks supporting other cognitive and motor functions. Such extensive functional abnormalities offer a potential explanation for the other cognitive and motor impairments characterizing DLD.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55330,"journal":{"name":"Brain and Language","volume":"270 ","pages":"Article 105637"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144918880","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain and LanguagePub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-08-26DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105635
Arianna N. LaCroix , Corianne Rogalsky
{"title":"An exploratory study and new model of the role of implicit timing in sentence comprehension","authors":"Arianna N. LaCroix , Corianne Rogalsky","doi":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105635","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105635","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Linguistic prosody is essential for language comprehension, but our recent findings suggest that some people with stroke (PWS) comprehend sentences better when typical prosodic contours are replaced with list-like prosody. We investigated this surprising behavioral finding by examining the neural basis of list prosody using fMRI in neurotypical controls, finding increased activation in the bilateral posterior superior temporal gyri, regardless of sentence structure. In PWS, lesion-symptom mapping revealed distinct effects: those with left posterior superior temporal gyrus and left striatum damage showed slower response times with list prosody for simple sentences and faster but less accurate responses for complex sentences. Conversely, PWS with left globus pallidus damage benefitted from list prosody, showing faster responses for simple sentences and slower but more accurate responses for complex ones. These findings inform a neuroanatomical model of the role of implicit timing in auditory sentence comprehension, providing a framework for future research.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55330,"journal":{"name":"Brain and Language","volume":"270 ","pages":"Article 105635"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144895507","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain and LanguagePub Date : 2025-11-01Epub Date: 2025-08-13DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105620
Şeyda Özçalışkan , Susan Goldin-Meadow
{"title":"Does gesture follow speech in describing metaphorical motion events over developmental time?","authors":"Şeyda Özçalışkan , Susan Goldin-Meadow","doi":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105620","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105620","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Children learning structurally different languages display variability in the way they package semantic elements of a physical motion event in gesture, mirroring the patterns found in speech for the same events. In this study, we ask whether these differences extend to metaphorical motion events and, if so, when in development the patterns become evident. We studied the speech and gestures produced by 100 children learning English or Turkish (n = 50/language)—equally divided into 5 age groups: 3–4, 5–6, 7–8, 9–10, 11–12 years—when describing metaphorical motion events (e.g., idea runs out of the mind). We compared the patterns to previously reported findings on the same children describing physical motion (e.g., girl runs out of the house). Our results showed evidence for cross-linguistic differences in the expression of metaphorical motion events in both speech and gesture, akin to cross-linguistic differences observed in the expression of physical motion events. But language-specific patterns emerged later in metaphorical than in physical motion descriptions, both in speech and in co-speech gesture. Our results suggest that gesture and speech form tightly integrated systems in the expression of metaphorical concepts, as they do for the expression of physical events, by children learning structurally different languages.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55330,"journal":{"name":"Brain and Language","volume":"270 ","pages":"Article 105620"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144828132","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain and LanguagePub Date : 2025-10-01Epub Date: 2025-07-26DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105621
Daisy Lei , Yuka Tatsumi , Erica Hsieh , Cristal Giorio , Janet G. van Hell
{"title":"Neural mechanisms of face cue predictability and the integration of facial and acoustic cues in native- and nonnative-accented words","authors":"Daisy Lei , Yuka Tatsumi , Erica Hsieh , Cristal Giorio , Janet G. van Hell","doi":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105621","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105621","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examined the integration of face cue and native- and nonnative-accented English speech by manipulating the face cue predictability of a speaker’s accent (predictable: one accent (American-accent or Chinese-accented), not predictable: two accents (American-accented and Chinese-accented). Monolingual listeners were first familiarized with each speaker’s number and type of accent(s). Then, they completed an EEG-recorded auditory go/no-go animal decision task where the no-go items were critical words and nonwords. Listeners saw a face cue (speaker image) before speech onset and concurrently with the speech. Pre-speech ERP results revealed that listeners processed face cues differently based on face cue predictability. Post-speech ERP analyses revealed N400 lexicality effects for native-accented speech, and face cue predictability effects for nonnative-accented speech. No N400 effects were found for an audio-only experiment. This indicates that the monolingual listeners integrate face cues and auditory cues during real-time nonnative-accented speech processing, but not during native-accented speech processing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55330,"journal":{"name":"Brain and Language","volume":"269 ","pages":"Article 105621"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144710993","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain and LanguagePub Date : 2025-10-01Epub Date: 2025-07-24DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105616
Aviva Lerman , Alina Bihovsky , Natalia Meir , Michal Ben-Shachar , Mira Goral
{"title":"Language mixing in people with aphasia: A cross-linguistic analysis using the 4M model","authors":"Aviva Lerman , Alina Bihovsky , Natalia Meir , Michal Ben-Shachar , Mira Goral","doi":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105616","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105616","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Language mixing (LM) is common among individuals who speak two or more languages. LM in healthy multilingual individuals has been studied extensively, often by applying the Matrix Language Frame (MLF) and the 4M model, both developed by Myers-Scotton and colleagues. Our study examined LM in multilingual people with aphasia (PWA), to determine: (1) frequency of LM in the first-acquired language (L1) and later-acquired languages (L2/L3); (2) whether the 4M model accounts for LM patterns; and (3) how language-specific characteristics affect LM.</div><div>Narratives produced by 18 multilingual PWA (English-Hebrew; English-Spanish, English-Hebrew-Spanish and Russian-Hebrew speakers) with and without agrammatism were analyzed using the 4M model. More LM was observed in L2 contexts compared to L1 in participants with agrammatism, yet in participants without agrammatism no differences were found between L1 and L2. The patterns of LM in target and non-target languages were similar across L1 and L2: content morphemes were more likely to be embedded into the matrix language, aligning with previous research on healthy multilingual controls. Differences were found between the types of LM across the four studied languages.</div><div>Our findings indicate that multilingual PWA mix languages in a typical manner, similar to neurotypical multilingual individuals, aligning with the predictions of the 4M model. Furthermore, in multilingual PWA, as in healthy multilingual people, differences in LM across languages are related to the morphological richness of the matrix language and the congruency of the languages involved in LM. Clinically, based on our results, LM can be encouraged as a communication aid.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55330,"journal":{"name":"Brain and Language","volume":"269 ","pages":"Article 105616"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144694471","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain and LanguagePub Date : 2025-10-01Epub Date: 2025-07-14DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105611
Jinfeng Yang , Dandan Wu , Keya Ding , Xinyi Dong , Jinwen Li , Hui Li
{"title":"Distinct and overlapping neural correlates of English L2 and coding learning in Chinese preschoolers: An fNIRS study","authors":"Jinfeng Yang , Dandan Wu , Keya Ding , Xinyi Dong , Jinwen Li , Hui Li","doi":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105611","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105611","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This fNIRS study investigated the neural correlates of English L2 vocabulary and coding learning in 51 Chinese-speaking preschoolers (28 boys; <em>M <sub>age</sub></em> = 5.78 years, <em>SD <sub>age</sub></em> = 0.92). We hypothesized that L2 vocabulary learning would engage language-related brain regions while Coding would activate visuospatial areas. Results revealed distinct activation patterns: L2 vocabulary learning elicited decreased activation in right prefrontal regions (BA10, BA46), potentially reflecting increased neural efficiency, while coding increased activation in left prefrontal and premotor areas (BA6, BA9, BA44), consistent with visuospatial and planning demands. Functional connectivity analyses revealed stronger interhemispheric connectivity during word learning. Chinese literacy skills negatively correlated with brain activation during L2 word learning, suggesting greater neural efficiency in children with stronger L1 skills. This relationship was less robust for Coding. These findings elucidate the distinct neural substrates of early language and coding acquisition and inform educational strategies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55330,"journal":{"name":"Brain and Language","volume":"269 ","pages":"Article 105611"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144623859","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain and LanguagePub Date : 2025-10-01Epub Date: 2025-07-29DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105629
Wenjia Zhang , Jie Dong , Genyi Feng , Gang Wang , Zongwen Gu , Xu Gao , Xinyi Liu , Hao Yan
{"title":"The neural mechanisms underlying semantic unification and semanteme integration","authors":"Wenjia Zhang , Jie Dong , Genyi Feng , Gang Wang , Zongwen Gu , Xu Gao , Xinyi Liu , Hao Yan","doi":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105629","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105629","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The basic composition processing of human language (at least) contains semantic unification and semanteme integration. However, previous researchers only focused on the neural mechanism underlying semantic unification. In the current study, participants were asked to complete both the semantic unification and semanteme integration tasks while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. In each task, the violated and congruent conditions were constructed. The regional activation analyses showed that the violation effect (violated > congruent) elicited more activation in the right anterior temporal lobe (RATL) in the semantic unification task and more widespread activation in the semanteme integration task. Moreover, the results of psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses showed that the violation effect elicited significant connectivity such as between RATL and bilateral angular gyrus (AG) only in the semanteme integration task. Altogether, these results suggested that semanteme integration elicited more activation and functional connectivity compared with semantic unification.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55330,"journal":{"name":"Brain and Language","volume":"269 ","pages":"Article 105629"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144724102","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain and LanguagePub Date : 2025-10-01Epub Date: 2025-08-02DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105630
Leah Urwicz, Silvia Marchesotti, Adrian G. Guggisberg
{"title":"The effects on tACS and tRNS on language function: A literature review","authors":"Leah Urwicz, Silvia Marchesotti, Adrian G. Guggisberg","doi":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105630","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.bandl.2025.105630","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) techniques are promising noninvasive tools for modulating language-related neural processes. While transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been well studied, transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) and transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) remain less characterized. This review synthesizes findings from 11 studies (394 participants) investigating the effects of tACS and tRNS on language processing in neurotypical individuals. Both techniques significantly enhance phonological and semantic processing, with a moderate overall effect size, and with outcomes varying according to stimulation parameters and target regions. The effect remained significant after adjusting for potential publication bias, supporting the robustness of the findings. Prefrontal stimulation was preferentially used for enhancing phonological skills, while stimulation of both temporal and prefrontal areas influenced semantic processing. Future research would benefit from examining network-level effects, developing personalized stimulation protocols, and assessing long-term outcomes − areas that remain underexplored − to advance theoretical understanding and clinical applications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":55330,"journal":{"name":"Brain and Language","volume":"269 ","pages":"Article 105630"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144763609","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}