The human thalamus processes syntactic and semantic language violations

Wahl, M., Marzinzik, F., Friederici, A.D., Hahne, A., Kupsch, A., Schneider, G.H., Saddy, D. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8501-6076, Curio, G. and Klostermann, F. (2008) The human thalamus processes syntactic and semantic language violations. Neuron, 59 (5). pp. 695-707. ISSN 0896-6273 doi: 10.1016/j.neuron.2008.07.011

Abstract/Summary

Numerous linguistic operations have been assigned to cortical brain areas, but the contributions of subcortical structures to human language processing are still being discussed. Using simultaneous EEG recordings directly from deep brain structures and the scalp, we show that the human thalamus systematically reacts to syntactic and semantic parameters of auditorily presented language in a temporally interleaved manner in coordination with cortical regions. In contrast, two key structures of the basal ganglia, the globus pallidus internus and the subthalamic nucleus, were not found to be engaged in these processes. We therefore propose that syntactic and semantic language analysis is primarily realized within cortico-thalamic networks, whereas a cohesive basal ganglia network is not involved in these essential operations of language analysis.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/13836
Item Type	Article
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Integrative Neuroscience and Neurodynamics (CINN) Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Neuroscience Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Clinical Language Sciences Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Language and Cognition
Uncontrolled Keywords	EVENT-RELATED POTENTIALS, BASAL GANGLIA, SUBCORTICAL APHASIA, BRAIN POTENTIALS, SENTENCE COMPREHENSION, SUBTHALAMIC NUCLEUS, HUNTINGTONS-DISEASE, AMBIGUITY-RESOLUTION, PARKINSONS-DISEASE, DECLARATIVE MEMORY
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