Orthographic and Phonological Effects in the Picture–word Interference Paradigm: Evidence From a Logographic Language

One important finding with the picture–word interference paradigm is that picture-naming performance is facilitated by the presentation of a distractor (e.g., CAP) formally related to the picture name (e.g., “cat”). In two picture-naming experiments we investigated the nature of such form facilitation effect with Mandarin Chinese, separating the effects of phonology and orthography. Significant facilitation effects were observed both when distractors were only orthographically or only phonologically related to the targets. The orthographic effect was overall stronger than the phonological effect. These findings suggest that the classic form facilitation effect in picture–word interference is a mixed effect with multiple loci: it cannot be attributed merely to the nonlexical activation of the target phonological segments from the visual input of the distractor. It seems instead that orthographically only related distractors facilitate the lexical selection process of picture naming, and phonologically only related distractors facilitate the retrieval of target phonological segments.Psycholog

Reading Without Speech Sounds: VWFA and its Connectivity in the Congenitally Deaf

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A Tri-network Model of Human Semantic Processing

Humans process the meaning of the world via both verbal and nonverbal modalities. It has been established that widely distributed cortical regions are involved in semantic processing, yet the global wiring pattern of this brain system has not been considered in the current neurocognitive semantic models. We review evidence from the brain-network perspective, which shows that the semantic system is topologically segregated into three brain modules. Revisiting previous region-based evidence in light of these new network findings, we postulate that these three modules support multimodal experiential representation, language-supported representation, and semantic control. A tri-network neurocognitive model of semantic processing is proposed, which generates new hypotheses regarding the network basis of different types of semantic processes

Distinct Regions of Right Temporal Cortex Are Associated with Biological and Human-Agent Motion: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Neuropsychological Evidence

In human lateral temporal cortex, some regions show specific sensitivity to human motion. Here we examine whether such effects reflect a general biological-nonbiological organizational principle or a process specific to human-agent processing by comparing processing of human, animal, and tool motion in a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment with healthy participants and a voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) study of patients with brain damage (77 stroke patients). The fMRI experiment revealed that in the lateral temporal cortex, the posterior superior temporal sulcus shows a preference for human and animal motion, whereas the middle part of the right superior temporal sulcus/gyrus (mSTS/STG) shows a preference for human and functional tool motion. VLSM analyses also revealed that damage to this right mSTS/STG region led to more severe impairment in the recognition of human and functional tool motion relative to animal motion, indicating the causal role of this brain area in human-agent motion processing. The findings for the right mSTS/STG cannot be reduced to a preference for articulated motion or processing of social variables since neither factor is involved in functional tool motion recognition. We conclude that a unidimensional biological-nonbiological distinction cannot fully explain the visual motion effects in lateral temporal cortex. Instead, the results suggest the existence of distinct components in right posterior temporal cortex and mSTS/STG that are associated, respectively, with biological motion and human-agent motion processing.Psycholog

Tool Selectivity in Left Occipitotemporal Cortex Develops without Vision

Previous studies have provided evidence for a tool-selective region in left lateral occipitotemporal cortex (LOTC). This region responds selectively to pictures of tools and to characteristic visual tool motion. The present human fMRI study tested whether visual experience is required for the development of tool-selective responses in left LOTC. Words referring to tools, animals, and nonmanipulable objects were presented auditorily to 14 congenitally blind and 16 sighted participants. Sighted participants additionally viewed pictures of these objects. In whole-brain group analyses, sighted participants showed tool-selective activity in left LOTC in both visual and auditory tasks. Importantly, virtually identical tool-selective LOTC activity was found in the congenitally blind group performing the auditory task. Furthermore, both groups showed equally strong tool-selective activity for auditory stimuli in a tool-selective LOTC region defined by the picture-viewing task in the sighted group. Detailed analyses in individual participants showed significant tool-selective LOTC activity in 13 of 14 blind participants and 14 of 16 sighted participants. The strength and anatomical location of this activity were indistinguishable across groups. Finally, both blind and sighted groups showed significant resting state functional connectivity between left LOTC and a bilateral frontoparietal network. Together, these results indicate that tool-selective activity in left LOTC develops without ever having seen a tool or its motion. This finding puts constraints on the possible role that this region could have in tool processing and, more generally, provides new insights into the principles shaping the functional organization of OTC.Psycholog

Ultrastructural insights into cellular organization, energy storage and ribosomal dynamics of an ammonia-oxidizing archaeon from oligotrophic oceans

IntroductionNitrososphaeria, formerly known as Thaumarchaeota, constitute a diverse and widespread group of ammonia-oxidizing archaea (AOA) inhabiting ubiquitously in marine and terrestrial environments, playing a pivotal role in global nitrogen cycling. Despite their importance in Earth’s ecosystems, the cellular organization of AOA remains largely unexplored, leading to a significant unanswered question of how the machinery of these organisms underpins metabolic functions.MethodsIn this study, we combined spherical-chromatic-aberration-corrected cryo-electron tomography (cryo-ET), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) to unveil the cellular organization and elemental composition of Nitrosopumilus maritimus SCM1, a representative member of marine Nitrososphaeria.Results and DiscussionOur tomograms show the native ultrastructural morphology of SCM1 and one to several dense storage granules in the cytoplasm. STEM-EDS analysis identifies two types of storage granules: one type is possibly composed of polyphosphate and the other polyhydroxyalkanoate. With precise measurements using cryo-ET, we observed low quantity and density of ribosomes in SCM1 cells, which are in alignment with the documented slow growth of AOA in laboratory cultures. Collectively, these findings provide visual evidence supporting the resilience of AOA in the vast oligotrophic marine environment

Early language exposure affects neural mechanisms of semantic representations

One signature of the human brain is its ability to derive knowledge from language inputs, in addition to nonlinguistic sensory channels such as vision and touch. How does human language experience modulate the mechanism by which semantic knowledge is stored in the human brain? We investigated this question using a unique human model with varying amounts and qualities of early language exposure: early deaf adults who were born to hearing parents and had reduced early exposure and delayed acquisition of any natural human language (speech or sign), with early deaf adults who acquired sign language from birth as the control group that matches on nonlinguistic sensory experiences. Neural responses in a semantic judgment task with 90 written words that were familiar to both groups were measured using fMRI. The deaf group with reduced early language exposure, compared with the deaf control group, showed reduced semantic sensitivity, in both multivariate pattern (semantic structure encoding) and univariate (abstractness effect) analyses, in the left dorsal anterior temporal lobe (dATL). These results provide positive, causal evidence that language experience drives the neural semantic representation in the dATL, highlighting the roles of language in forming human neural semantic structures beyond nonverbal sensory experiences

A Tale of Two Frequencies: Determining the Speed of Lexical Access in Mandarin Chinese and English Compounds

Two picture naming experiments show that compound word production in Mandarin Chinese and in English is determined by the compound's whole-word frequency, and not by its constituent morpheme frequency. Four control experiments rule out that these results are caused by recognition or articulatory processes. These results are consistent with models of lexical access that assume compounds are stored in their full-form and that frequency affects the retrieval of whole words. The present results corroborate the results from previous studies that have investigated compound word production in Mandarin Chinese, but also differ from those previously reported on compound word production in Dutch. The possibility that this inconsistency arises due to cross-linguistic, or task differences is discussed.Psycholog