Competitive mechanisms in sentence processing

Context

Combining individual words into larger linguistic expressions is a unique characteristic of the human brain underpinning complex thoughts' communication. Examining how our brains implement language production and comprehension is essential to understand human-specific brain characteristics and reveal healthy brain functions that might be impaired in language disorders and stroke.

The research

The study asked whether reading comprehension and production of sentences recruit similar brain mechanisms and connectivity patterns, despite involving distinct input and out networks (vision in reading and motor planning in speech). We found that each production and comprehension recruits partially different networks that share competitive mechanisms modulated by the prefrontal cortex.

Featured publications

• Competitive mechanisms in sentence processing: Common and distinct production and reading comprehension networks linked to the prefrontal cortex