Están los procesos cognitivos implicados en la comprensión del discurso influidos por el tipo de lengua (inglés vs. español)?: un estudio translingüístico basado en la generación de influencias elaborativas

The aim of this study was to determine whether discourse comprehension processes, focusing on the type of inferences activated during reading, would be influenced by the language (English and Spanish) as supported by linguistic relativity theories. 20 U.S. and 20 Spanish undergraduates took part in this study using a think-aloud task. The results suggest that inference generation was not restricted by language differences. In contrast, these data support the idea that inference activation reflects a universal cognitive processes patternEl objetivo de este trabajo es determinar si los procesos de comprensión del discurso, en especial los diversos tipos de inferencias que se activan durante la lectura, están o no influidos por la lengua materna (inglés vs. español), tal y como apuntan algunas teorías sobre el relativismo lingüístico. En este estudio, consistente en una tarea de pensamiento en voz alta, participaron 20 estudiantes universitarios norteamericanos y 20 españoles. Los resultados obtenidos sugieren que la activación de inferencias no está restringida a las diferencias idiomáticas. Por el contrario, los datos apoyan la idea de que la activación de inferencias refleja un patrón universal en los procesos cognitivosThis research was partly supported by a faculty research grant from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology (PSI2009-13932

Are Sensory-Motor Relationships Encoded ad hoc or by Default?: An ERP Study

Published: 03 May 2019In this event-related potentials study we tested whether sensory-motor relations between concrete words are encoded by default or only under explicit ad hoc instructions. In Exp. 1, participants were explicitly asked to encode sensory-motor relations (e.g., “do the following objects fit in a pencil-cup?”), while other possible semantic relations remained implicit. In Exp. 2, using the same materials other group of participants were explicitly asked to encode semantic relations (e.g., “are the following objects related to a pencil-cup?”), and the possible sensory-motor relations remained implicit. The N400 component was sensitive to semantic relations (e.g., “desk” related to “pencil-cup”) both under implicit (Exp. 1) and explicit instructions (Exp. 2). By contrast, most sensory-motor relations (e.g., “pea” fitting in “pencil-cup”) were encoded ad hoc under explicit instructions (Exp. 1). Interestingly some sensory-motor relations were also encoded implicitly, but only when they corresponded to “functional” actions associated with high-related objects (e.g., “eraser” fitting in “pencil-cup”) and occurring at a late time window (500–650 ms; Exp. 2), suggesting that this type of sensory-motor relations were encoding by default.This research was supported by the Spanish MINECO (Grant Nos. PSI2015-66277-R to MdV and PSI2016-79624-P to HB) and the European Regional Development Funds

¿Están los procesos cognitivos implicados en la comprensión del discurso influidos por el tipo de lengua (inglés vs español)? Un estudio translingüístico basado en la generación de inferencias elaborativas

El objetivo de este trabajo es determinar si los procesos de comprensión del discurso, en especial los diversos tipos de inferencias que se activan durante la lectura, están o no influidos por la lengua materna (inglés vs. español), tal y como apuntan algunas teorías sobre el relativismo lingüístico. En este estudio, consistente en una tarea de pensamiento en voz alta, participaron 20 estudiantes universitarios norteamericanos y 20 españoles. Los resultados obtenidos sugieren que la activación de inferencias no está restringida a las diferencias idiomáticas. Por el contrario, los datos apoyan la idea de que la activación de inferencias refleja un patrón universal en los procesos cognitivos.The aim of this study was to determine whether discourse comprehension processes,  focusing on the type of inferences activated during reading, would be influenced by the language (English and Spanish) as supported by linguistic relativity theories. 20 U.S. and 20 Spanish undergraduates took part in this study using a think-aloud task. The results suggest that inference generation was not restricted by language differences. In contrast, these data support the idea that inference activation reflects a universal cognitive processes patter

Brain Inhibitory Mechanisms Are Involved in the Processing of Sentential Negation, Regardless of Its Content. Evidence From EEG Theta and Beta Rhythms

The two-step process account of negation understanding posits an initial representation of the negated events, followed by a representation of the actual state of events. On the other hand, behavioral and neurophysiological studies provided evidence that linguistic negation suppresses or reduces the activation of the negated events, contributing to shift attention to the actual state of events. However, the specific mechanism of this suppression is poorly known. Recently, based on the brain organization principle of neural reuse (Anderson, 2010), it has been proposed that understanding linguistic negation partially relies upon the neurophysiological mechanisms of response inhibition. Specifically, it was reported that negated action-related sentences modulate EEG signatures of response inhibition (de Vega et al., 2016; Beltrán et al., 2018). In the current EEG study, we ponder whether the reusing of response inhibition processes by negation is constrained to action-related contents or consists of a more general-purpose mechanism. To this end, we employed the same dual-task paradigm as in our prior study-a Go/NoGo task embedded into a sentence comprehension task-but this time including both action and non-action sentences. The results confirmed that the increase of theta power elicited by NoGo trials was modulated by negative sentences, compared to their affirmative counterparts, and this polarity effect was statistically similar for both action- and non-action-related sentences. Thus, a general-purpose inhibitory control mechanism, rather than one specific for action language, is likely operating in the comprehension of sentential negation to produce the transition between alternative representations.Spanish Government (PSI2015-66277-R)Cabildo Insular de TenerifeCOP of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria2.988 JCR (2019) Q2, 45/138 Psychology, MultidisciplinaryNo data IDR 20190.914 SJR (2019) Q1, 65/264 Psychology (miscellaneous)UE

Negation markers inhibit motor routines during typing of manual action verbs

We explored whether negation markers recruit inhibitory mechanisms during keyboard-based action-verb typing. In each trial, participants read two sentences: the first featured a context (There is a contract) and the second ended with a relevant verb which had to be immediately typed. Crucially, the verb could describe manual actions, non-manual actions or non-motor processes, with either affirmative (You do sign it) or negative (You don?t sign it) polarity. We assessed the impact of verb type and polarity on two typing dimensions: motor programming (lapse between target onset and first keystroke) and motor execution (lapse between first and last keystroke). Negation yielded no effect on motor planning, but it selectively delayed typing execution for manual-action verbs, irrespective of the subjects? typing skills. This suggests that processing negations during comprehension of manual-action sentences recruits inhibitory mechanisms acting on same-effector movements. Our novel finding extends embodied models of language and effector-specific motor-language integration.Fil: García Marco, Enrique. Universidad de La Laguna; EspañaFil: Morera, Yurena. Universidad de La Laguna; EspañaFil: Beltrán, David. Universidad de La Laguna; EspañaFil: de Vega, Manuel. Universidad de La Laguna; EspañaFil: Herrera, Eduar. Universidad Icesi; ColombiaFil: Sedeño, Lucas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva y Traslacional. Fundación Ineco Rosario Sede del Incyt | Instituto de Neurología Cognitiva. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva y Traslacional. Fundación Ineco Rosario Sede del Incyt | Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva y Traslacional. Fundación Ineco Rosario Sede del Incyt; ArgentinaFil: Ibanez Barassi, Agustin Mariano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva y Traslacional. Fundación Ineco Rosario Sede del Incyt | Instituto de Neurología Cognitiva. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva y Traslacional. Fundación Ineco Rosario Sede del Incyt | Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva y Traslacional. Fundación Ineco Rosario Sede del Incyt; Argentina. Universidad Autónoma del Caribe; Colombia. Universidad Adolfo Ibañez; ChileFil: García, Adolfo Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva y Traslacional. Fundación Ineco Rosario Sede del Incyt | Instituto de Neurología Cognitiva. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva y Traslacional. Fundación Ineco Rosario Sede del Incyt | Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva y Traslacional. Fundación Ineco Rosario Sede del Incyt; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo; Argentin

Multidimensional inhibitory signatures of sentential negation in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia

Background: Processing of linguistic negation has been associated to inhibitory brain mechanisms. However, no study has tapped this link via multimodal measures in patients with core inhibitory alterations, a critical approach to reveal direct neural correlates and potential disease markers. Methods: Here we examined oscillatory, neuroanatomical, and functional connectivity signatures of a recently reported Go/No-go negation task in healthy controls and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) patients, typified by primary and generalized inhibitory disruptions. To test for specificity, we also recruited persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD), a disease involving frequent but nonprimary inhibitory deficits. Results: In controls, negative sentences in the No-go condition distinctly involved frontocentral delta (2-3 Hz) suppression, a canonical inhibitory marker. In bvFTD patients, this modulation was selectively abolished and significantly correlated with the volume and functional connectivity of regions supporting inhibition (e.g. precentral gyrus, caudate nucleus, and cerebellum). Such canonical delta suppression was preserved in the AD group and associated with widespread anatomo-functional patterns across non-inhibitory regions. Discussion: These findings suggest that negation hinges on the integrity and interaction of spatiotemporal inhibitory mechanisms. Moreover, our results reveal potential neurocognitive markers of bvFTD, opening a new agenda at the crossing of cognitive neuroscience and behavioral neurology.Fil: Díaz Rivera, Mariano Nicolás. Universidad de San Andrés; ArgentinaFil: Birba, Agustina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; ArgentinaFil: Fittipaldi, Sol. Universidad de San Andrés; ArgentinaFil: Mola, Débora Jeanette. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas. - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Psicológicas; ArgentinaFil: Morera Cáceres, Yurena. Universidad de La Laguna; EspañaFil: de Vega, Manuel. Universidad de La Laguna; EspañaFil: Moguilner, Sebastián. Universidad Adolfo Ibañez; ChileFil: Lillo, Patricia. Universidad de Chile; ChileFil: Slachevsky, Andrea. No especifíca;Fil: Gonzalez Campo, Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva. Fundación Favaloro. Instituto de Neurociencia Cognitiva; ArgentinaFil: Ibañez, Agustin Mariano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de San Andrés; Argentina. University of California; Estados Unidos. Universidad Adolfo Ibañez; ChileFil: García, Adolfo Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de Cuyo. Facultad de Educación Elemental y Especial; Argentina. Universidad de San Andrés; Argentin