| 1. |
- Horne, Merle, et al.
(författare)
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Timing restrictions on prosodic phrasing
- 2006
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Ingår i: Nordic Prosody IX. ; , s. 117-126
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Prosodic evidence for the existence of isochronal 2-2.5 sec speech production units is presented. Factors such as F0-declination patterns defined over these 2-2.5 sec. units, as well as boundary tones at the edges of these assumed planning units give support to the idea that prosodic structure serves as an important planning framework for an utterance. The findings provide support for the assumption of a ’Prosodic Planning Hypothesis’ such as that proposed by Shattuck-Hufnagel and Turk (1996) and Shattuck-Hufnagel (2000: 222), who assume that an utterance-specific frame ‘‘independent of its contents plays a role in production processing, and prosodic structure is a natural candidate for this structural frame’’. Similar ideas have also been presented by Wheeldon and Lahiri (1997: 377) who claim that ‘‘articulation is preceded by the generation of an abstract prosodic representation of an utterance’’. Breathing is assumed to play an important role in delimitation of the production units: Inspirations only occur at edges and can thus function as anchors for the grouping of speech into 2-2.5 sec speech chunks. Local prosodic information (pauses, boundary tones (H%/L%) and the timing restriction, can be used to make a further segmentation of spontaneous speech into 2-2.5 sec production units. The existence of such a timing restriction on speech planning can be used in the design of algorithms for the automatic segmentation of speech.
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| 2. |
- Blomberg, Frida, et al.
(författare)
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The role of affective meaning, semantic associates, and orthographic neighbours in modulating the N400 in single words
- 2020
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Ingår i: The Mental Lexicon. - : John Benjamins Publishing Company. - 1871-1340 .- 1871-1375. ; 15:2, s. 161-188
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The N400 has been seen to be larger for concrete than abstract words, and for pseudowords than real words. Using a word vector analysis to calculate semantic associates (SA), as well as ratings for emotional arousal (EA), and a measure of orthographic neighbourhood (ON), the present study investigated the relation between these factors and N400 amplitudes during a lexical decision task using Swedish word stimuli. Four noun categories differing in concreteness: specific (squirrel), GENERAL (animal) emotional (happiness) and abstract (tendency) were compared with pseudowords (danalod). Results showed that N400 amplitudes increased in the order emotional < abstract < GENERAL < specific < PSEUDOWORD. A regression analysis showed that the amplitude of the N400 decreased the more semantic associates a word had and the higher the rating for emotional arousal it had. The N400 also increased the more orthographic neighbours a word had. Results provide support for the hierarchical organisation of concrete words assumed in lexical semantics. They also demonstrate how affective information facilitates meaning processing.
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| 3. |
- Roll, Mikael, et al.
(författare)
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Pre-activation negativity (PrAN) : A neural index of predictive strength of phonological cues
- 2023
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Ingår i: Laboratory Phonology. - : Open Library of the Humanities. - 1868-6354. ; 14:1, s. 1-28
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We propose that a recently discovered event-related potential (ERP) component—the pre-activation negativity (PrAN)—indexes the predictive strength of phonological cues, including segments, word tones, and sentence-level tones. Specifically, we argue that PrAN is a reflection of the brain’s anticipation of upcoming speech (segments, morphemes, words, and syntactic structures). Findings from a long series of neurolinguistic studies indicate that the effect can be divided into two time windows with different possible brain sources. Between 136 and 200 ms from stimulus onset, it indexes activity mainly in the primary and secondary auditory cortices, reflecting disinhibition of neurons sensitive to the expected acoustic signal, as indicated by the brain regions’ response to predictive certainty rather than sound salience. After ~200 ms, PrAN is related to activity in Broca’s area, possibly reflecting inhibition of irrelevant segments, morphemes, words, and syntactic structures.
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| 4. |
- Grönholm, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Predominance of caudate nucleus lesions in acute ischemic stroke patients with impairments in language and speech
- 2016
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Ingår i: European Journal of Neurology. - : Wiley. - 1351-5101 .- 1468-1331. ; 23:1, s. 148-153
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background and purpose. Whereas traditional views of language processing in the brain have assumed that the language function is concentrated to a limited number of cortical areas (Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas), current knowledge points at a much more complex system of language and speech processing involving many brain areas, both cortical and subcortical. The purpose of the current study was to make an unbiased assessment of which cerebral areas are affected in first-ever acute ischemic stroke patients identified as having language and speech impairments according to the National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). Methods. Data from thirty-four patients with language and speech impairments, with a score of 1-3 on item 9 on the NIHSS, following ischemic stroke was collected from the Lund Stroke Register. MRI images acquired up to 20 days after stroke onset were used to create an overlap lesion image using MRIcron software. Results. The classical language areas, Wernicke’s and Broca’s area, were affected in less than one fourth of the patients. The most frequently affected region was a subcortical region - the left caudate nucleus and the adjacent corona radiata. Conclusions. These findings contribute to the growing body of evidence that the basal ganglia have a crucial role in the control over language and speech processing.
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| 5. |
- Gosselke Berthelsen, Sabine, et al.
(författare)
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Different neural mechanisms for rapid acquisition of words with grammatical tone in learners from tonal and non-tonal backgrounds : ERP evidence
- 2020
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Ingår i: Brain Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-8993. ; 1729
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Initial second language acquisition proceeds surprisingly quickly. Foreign words can sometimes be used within minutes after the first exposure. Yet, it is unclear whether such rapid learning also takes place for more complex, multi-layered properties like words with complex morphosyntax and/or tonal features, and whether it is influenced by transfer from the learners’ native language. To address these questions, we recorded tonal and non-tonal learners’ brain responses while they acquired novel tonal words with grammatical gender and number on two consecutive days. Comparing the novel words to repeated but non-taught pseudoword controls, we found that tonal learners demonstrated a full range of early and late event-related potentials in novel tonal word processing: an early word recognition component (~50 ms), an early left anterior negativity (ELAN), a left anterior negativity (LAN), and a P600. Non-tonal learners exhibited mainly late processing when accessing the meaning of the tonal words: a P600, as well as a LAN after an overnight consolidation. Yet, this group displayed correlations between pitch perception abilities and ELAN, and between acquisition accuracy and LAN, suggesting that certain features may lead to facilitated processing of tonal words in non-tonal learners. Furthermore, the two groups displayed indistinguishable performance at the behavioural level, clearly suggesting that the same learning outcome may be achieved through at least partially different neural mechanisms. Overall, the results suggest that it is possible to rapidly acquire words with grammatical tone and that transfer plays an important role even in very early second language acquisition.
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| 6. |
- Mårtensson, Frida, et al.
(författare)
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Sensory-specific anomic aphasia following left occipital lesions : Data from free oral descriptions of concrete word meanings
- 2014
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Ingår i: Neurocase. - : Informa UK Limited. - 1355-4794 .- 1465-3656. ; 20:2, s. 192-207
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present study investigated hierarchical lexical semantic structure in oral descriptions of concrete word meanings produced by a subject (ZZ) diagnosed with anomic aphasia due to left occipital lesions. The focus of the analysis was production of a) nouns at different levels of semantic specificity (e.g., "robin"-"bird"-"animal") and b) words describing sensory or motor experiences (e.g., "blue," "soft," "fly"). Results show that in contrast to healthy and aphasic controls, who produced words at all levels of specificity and mainly vision-related sensory information, ZZ produced almost exclusively nouns at the most non-specific levels and words associated with sound and movement.
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| 7. |
- Novén, Mikael, et al.
(författare)
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Cortical thickness of Broca's area and right homologue is related to grammar learning aptitude and pitch discrimination proficiency
- 2019
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Ingår i: Brain and Language. - : Elsevier BV. - 0093-934X. ; 188, s. 42-47
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Aptitude for and proficiency in acquiring new languages varies in the human population but their neural bases are largely unknown. We investigated the influence of cortical thickness on language learning predictors measured by the LLAMA tests and a pitch-change discrimination test. The LLAMA tests are first language-independent assessments of language learning aptitude for vocabulary, phonetic working memory, sound-symbol correspondence (not used in this study), and grammatical inferencing. Pitch perception proficiency is known to predict aptitude for learning new phonology. Results show a correlation between scores in a grammatical meaning-inferencing aptitude test and cortical thickness of Broca's area (r(30) = 0.65, p = 0.0202) and other frontal areas (r(30) = 0.66, p = 0.0137). Further, a correlation was found between proficiency in discriminating pitch-change direction and cortical thickness of the right Broca homologue (r(30) = 0.57, p = 0.0006). However, no correlations were found for aptitude for vocabulary learning or phonetic working memory. Results contribute to locating cortical regions important for language-learning aptitude.
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| 8. |
- Roll, Mikael, et al.
(författare)
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Atypical associations to abstract words in Broca's aphasia
- 2012
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Ingår i: Cortex. - : Elsevier BV. - 1973-8102 .- 0010-9452. ; 48:8, s. 1068-1072
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Introduction Left frontal brain lesions are known to give rise to aphasia and impaired word associations. These associations have previously been difficult to analyze. We used a semantic space method to investigate associations to cue words. The degree of abstractness of the generated words and semantic similarity to the cue words were measured. Method Three subjects diagnosed with Broca’s aphasia and twelve control subjects associated freely to cue words. Results were evaluated with latent semantic analysis (LSA) applied to the Swedish Parole corpus. Results The aphasic subjects could be clearly distinguished from controls by a lower degree of abstractness in the words they generated. The aphasic group’s associations showed a negative correlation between semantic similarity to cue word and abstractness of cue word. Conclusions By developing novel semantic measures, we showed that Broca’s aphasic subjects’ word production was characterized by a low degree of abstractness and low degree of coherence in associations to abstract cue words. The results support models where meanings of concrete words are represented in neural networks involving perceptual and motor areas, whereas the meaning of abstract words is more dependent on connections to other word forms in the left frontal region. Semantic spaces can be used in future developments of evaluative tools for both diagnosis and research purposes.
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| 9. |
- Roll, Mikael, et al.
(författare)
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Word tones cueing morphosyntactic structure: Neuroanatomical substrates and activation time-course assessed by EEG and fMRI.
- 2015
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Ingår i: Brain and Language. - : Elsevier BV. - 1090-2155 .- 0093-934X. ; 150, s. 14-21
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Previous studies distinguish between right hemisphere-dominant processing of prosodic/tonal information and left-hemispheric modulation of grammatical information as well as lexical tones. Swedish word accents offer a prime testing ground to better understand this division. Although similar to lexical tones, word accents are determined by words' morphosyntactic structure, which enables listeners to use the tone at the beginning of a word to predict its grammatical ending. We recorded electrophysiological and hemodynamic brain responses to words where stem tones matched or mismatched inflectional suffixes. Tones produced brain potential effects after 136ms, correlating with subject variability in average BOLD in left primary auditory cortex, superior temporal gyrus, and inferior frontal gyrus. Invalidly cued suffixes activated the left inferior parietal lobe, arguably reflecting increased processing cost of their meaning. Thus, interaction of word accent tones with grammatical morphology yielded a rapid neural response correlating in subject variability with activations in predominantly left-hemispheric brain areas.
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| 10. |
- Söderström, Pelle, et al.
(författare)
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Pre-activation negativity (PrAN) in brain potentials to unfolding words
- 2016
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Ingår i: Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. - : Frontiers Media SA. - 1662-5161. ; 10:512
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- We describe an ERP effect termed the ‘pre-activation negativity’ (PrAN), which is proposed to index the degree of pre-activation of upcoming word-internal morphemes in speech processing. Using lexical competition measures based on word-initial speech fragments (WIFs), as well as statistical analyses of ERP data from three experiments, it is shown that the PrAN is sensitive to lexical competition and that it reflects the degree of predictive certainty: the negativity is larger when there are fewer upcoming lexical competitors.
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