Search

The main purpose of the present study was to investigate how proper and common nouns are represented in the brain independent of memory retrieval processes. Participants were instructed to perform a lexical decision task while dense-array EEG was continuously recorded. Both ERP components (namely N400 and P300) and swLORETA suggested that proper name processing engaged a more widespread neural network and required more cognitive resources than common noun processing. Overall, our results come down in favor of the hypothesis that specific effects of proper vs. common noun processing exist, and they suggest a possible neuro-functional segregation of proper vs. common noun processing. The difference in proper and common noun processing seems to emerge at the level of storage or representation of lexical knowledge, and it may crucially depend on their semantic characteristics., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The aim of the study was to investigate the effect of both word age of acquisition (AoA) and frequency of occurrence on the timing and topographical distribution of ERP components. The processing of early- versus late-acquired words was compared with that of high-frequency versus low-frequency words. Participants were asked to perform an orthographic task while EEG was recorded from 128 sites. RTs showed an effect of both word AoA and lexical frequency. ERPs revealed a neuro-functional dissociation between AoA and frequency effects in early word processing. AoA modulated the amplitude of left occipito-temporal selection-negativity, suggesting an effect of AoA on early orthographic and lexical access and revealing the crucial role of AoA in determining how words are neurally represented in the ventral pathway. Lexical frequency modulated the amplitude of left anterior negativity, providing evidence for the involvement of the left inferior frontal cortex in the processing of low-frequency words., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The recent neuroimaging literature gives conflicting evidence about whether the left fusiform gyrus (FG) might recognize words as unitary visual objects. The sensitivity of the left FG to word frequency might provide a neural basis for the orthographic input lexicon theorized by reading models [Patterson, K., Marshall, J. C., & Coltheart, M. (1985). Surface dyslexia: Cognitive and neuropsychological studies of phonological reading. London: Lawrence Erlbaum]. The goal of this study was to investigate the time course and neural correlates of word processing in right-handed readers engaged in an orthographic decision task. Three hundred and twenty Italian words of high and low written frequency and 320 non-derived legal pseudo-words were presented for 250ms in the central visual field. ERPs were recorded from 128 scalp sites in 10 Italian University students. Behavioural data showed a word superiority effect, with faster RTs to words than pseudo-words. Left occipito/temporal N2 (240ms) was greater to high-frequency than low-frequency words and pseudo-words. According to the swLORETA inverse solution, the underlying neural source of this effect was located in the left fusiform gyrus of the occipital lobe (X=-29, Y=-66, Z=-10, BA19) and the right superior temporal gyrus (X=51, Y=6, Z=-5, BA22), which are probably involved in word recognition and semantic representation, respectively. Later frontal ERP components, LPN (300-350) and P3 (400-500), also showed strong lexical sensitivity, thus suggesting implicit semantic processes. The results shed some light on the possible neural substrate of visual reading disabilities such as developmental surface dyslexia or pure alexia.

It is known that early sensory deprivation modifies brain functional structure and connectivity. The aim of the present study was to investigate the neuro-functional organization of reading in a patient with profound congenital unilateral deafness. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we compared cortical networks supporting the processing of written words in patient RA (completely deaf in the right ear since birth) and in a group of control volunteers. We found that congenital unilateral hearing deprivation modifies neural mechanisms of word reading. Indeed, while written word processing was left-lateralized in controls, we found a strong right lateralization of the fusiform and inferior occipital gyri activation in RA. This finding goes in the same direction of recent proposals that the ventral occipito-temporal activity in word reading seem to lateralize to the same hemisphere as the one involved in spoken language processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: It is known that early music learning (playing of an instrument) modifies functional brain structure (both white and gray matter) and connectivity, especially callosal transfer, motor control/coordination and auditory processing. We compared visual processing of notes and words in 15 professional musicians and 15 controls by recording their synchronized bioelectrical activity (ERPs) in response to words and notes. We found that musical training in childhood (from age ∼8 years) modifies neural mechanisms of word reading, whatever the genetic predisposition, which was unknown. While letter processing was strongly left-lateralized in controls, the fusiform (BA37) and inferior occipital gyri (BA18) were activated in both hemispheres in musicians for both word and music processing. The evidence that the neural mechanism of letter processing differed in musicians and controls (being absolutely bilateral in musicians) suggests that musical expertise modifies the neural mechanisms of letter reading. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]