Incremental Language Comprehension Difficulty Predicts Activity in the Language Network but Not the Multiple Demand Network.
Cereb Cortex
; 31(9): 4006-4023, 2021 07 29.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-33895807
ABSTRACT
What role do domain-general executive functions play in human language comprehension? To address this question, we examine the relationship between behavioral measures of comprehension and neural activity in the domain-general "multiple demand" (MD) network, which has been linked to constructs like attention, working memory, inhibitory control, and selection, and implicated in diverse goal-directed behaviors. Specifically, functional magnetic resonance imaging data collected during naturalistic story listening are compared with theory-neutral measures of online comprehension difficulty and incremental processing load (reading times and eye-fixation durations). Critically, to ensure that variance in these measures is driven by features of the linguistic stimulus rather than reflecting participant- or trial-level variability, the neuroimaging and behavioral datasets were collected in nonoverlapping samples. We find no behavioral-neural link in functionally localized MD regions; instead, this link is found in the domain-specific, fronto-temporal "core language network," in both left-hemispheric areas and their right hemispheric homotopic areas. These results argue against strong involvement of domain-general executive circuits in language comprehension.
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MEDLINE
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Compreensão
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Rede Nervosa
Tipo de estudo:
Prognostic_studies
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Risk_factors_studies
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Adult
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Female
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Humans
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Male
Idioma:
En
Ano de publicação:
2021
Tipo de documento:
Article