Processing lexical semantic and syntactic information in first and second language: fMRI evidence from German and Russian

• Published in: Human brain mapping Vol. 25; no. 2; pp. 266 - 286
• Main Authors: Rüschemeyer, Shirley-Ann, Fiebach, Christian J., Kempe, Vera, Friederici, Angela D.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hoboken Wiley Subscription Services, Inc., A Wiley Company 01.06.2005; Wiley-Liss
• Subjects: Adult; basal ganglia; Basal Ganglia - anatomy & histology; Basal Ganglia - physiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain - anatomy & histology; Brain - physiology; Brain Mapping; Cerebral circulation. Blood-brain barrier. Choroid plexus. Cerebrospinal fluid. Circumventricular organ. Meninges; Cerebrovascular Circulation - physiology; Female; fMRI; Frontal Lobe - anatomy & histology; Frontal Lobe - physiology; Functional Laterality - physiology; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Germany; Humans; inferior frontal gyrus; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Language; Language Tests; lexical semantic information; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical sciences; Miscellaneous; Nerve Net - anatomy & histology; Nerve Net - physiology; Nervous system; Perception; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Radiodiagnosis. Nmr imagery. Nmr spectrometry; Russia; Semantics; Speech Perception - physiology; superior temporal gyrus; syntactic information; Temporal Lobe - anatomy & histology; Temporal Lobe - physiology; Verbal Behavior - physiology; Vertebrates: nervous system and sense organs; Germany; Russia; Nervous system diseases; basal ganglia; Radiodiagnosis; inferior frontal gyrus; Central nervous system; syntactic information; German; Basal ganglion; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Encephalon; fMRI; Language; Semantics; Information processing; Frontal; lexical semantic information; superior temporal gyrus
• ISSN: 1065-9471; 1097-0193
• DOI: 10.1002/hbm.20098

We introduce two experiments that explored syntactic and semantic processing of spoken sentences by native and non‐native speakers. In the first experiment, the neural substrates corresponding to detection of syntactic and semantic violations were determined in native speakers of two typologically different languages using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The results show that the underlying neural response of participants to stimuli across different native languages is quite similar. In the second experiment, we investigated how non‐native speakers of a language process the same stimuli presented in the first experiment. First, the results show a more similar pattern of increased activation between native and non‐native speakers in response to semantic violations than to syntactic violations. Second, the non‐native speakers were observed to employ specific portions of the frontotemporal language network differently from those employed by native speakers. These regions included the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), superior temporal gyrus (STG), and subcortical structures of the basal ganglia. Hum Brain Mapp 25:266–286, 2005. © 2005 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.