Friederici, A.

Goucha, T.

Hartwigsen, G.

Kreitewolf, J.

van der Burght, C.

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Introduction4DiscussionIntonation guides sentence processing in the left inferior frontal gyrus Constantijn L. van der Burght 1, Tomás Goucha 1, Angela D. Friederici 1, Jens Kreitewolf 2, Gesa Hartwigsen 1 1 Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany  2 University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany   Organization for Human Brain Mapping, 2019vanderburght@cbs.mpg.de | @StanvdBurghtReferences 1. Friederici, A. D. (2011) Physiol rev 2. Belyk, M. et al. (2014) SCAN 3. Van der Burght, C.L., Goucha, T., et al. (2019) Cortex 4. Van Lancker, D. (1980) Paper in Linguistics  5. Kreitewolf, J. et al. (2014)  NeuroImageEmail vanderburght@cbs.mpg.de for a PDF version of the paper, or scan the QR-codeB35GramOnly >BL_GramOnly  Syntactic cue builds sentence structure14AProsOnly >BL_ProsOnly  Prosodic cue builds sentence structure5.193.16T-valueEOI [–57, –13, 2][–57, 11, 11][–54, 26, 8]Conditions–0.41 2 3 4 5 6–0.200.20.4Contrast estimates (a.u.)ProsOnly 1ProsOnly 2GramOnly BL ProsOnly BL GramOnly BL ProsNoChoiceConditions–0.41 2 3 4 5 6–0.200.20.4Contrast estimates (a.u.)ProsOnly 1ProsOnly 2GramOnly BL ProsOnly BL GramOnly BL ProsNoChoiceConditions–0.41 2 3 4 5 6–0.200.20.4Contrast estimates (a.u.)ProsOnly 1ProsOnly 2GramOnly BL ProsOnly BL GramOnly BL ProsNoChoiceProsodic cue builds sentence structureAProsodyOnly1 > BL ProsodyOnly14T-value5.233.16[-45, 29, -4] [- 1, 1, 8 [-57, -16, 2]Figure 4: Univariate contrasts and contrast estimates at cluster peaks (all peaks: p<.001 uncorrected; clusters: p<.05 FWE corrected). BL stands for baseline. Lateralisation analysis Prosodic cue superfluous for sentence structureB(ProsodyOnly1 vs BL ProsodyOnly normal orientation )  vs (ProsodyOnly1 vs BL ProsodyOnly flipped orientation )Prosodic cue builds sentence structureA14T-value7.243.45(BL ProsodyNoChoice vs ProsodyOnly2 normal orientation )  vs  (BL ProsodyNoChoice vs ProsodyOnly2 flipped orientation ) 5***0.51.01.52.0ProsOnly1ProsOnly2BL GramOnlyGramOnlyBL ProsOnlyBL ProsNoChoiceconditionsMean Reaction times (s)Reaction timesA***20406080100ProsOnly1ProsOnly2GramOnlyBL ProsOnlyBL GramOnlyBL ProsNoChoiceconditionsMean accuracy (% correct)AccuracyBProcedure - 26 healthy, right-handed participants - 3T fMRI (Siemens) - Analysis in SPM12 (1st level: GLM; 2nd: one-way ANOVA)1. How does the presence of prosodic and grammatical cues inﬂuence sentence processing? 2. When sentence structure is established by prosodic cues only, where is this processed? 3. When sentence  structure is established by grammatical cues only, where is this processed? 4. Does the role of the intonational cue in establishing the sentence structure determine the lateralisation of brain areas involved in intonation processing?In speech, the structure of a sentence can be established by Grammatical cues - what is said - E.g. the word form used (“she” or “her”)  Prosodic cues - how it is said - E.g. the intonation of speech (changes in pitch) and pauses Grammatical information is predominantly processed in the left hemisphere1 Prosodic information has been thought to be processed in the right hemisphere, but its lateralisation is debated2Research questionsstimulusFigure 2: Overview of an experimental trial+“Peter beﬁehlt sie darum zu bitten”comprehension questionresponseTime21. Having multiple cues facilitates sentence comprehension; having only 1 cue increases processing demands (Fig 3) 2. The left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) plays a key role in sentence processing when only intonation (prosodic information) conveys the structure of the sentence (Fig 4A) 3. Activity in the left IFG overlapped with the region that was active when the sentence structure was established by a grammatical cue, i.e., word form (Fig 4B) 4. Lateralisation of intonation processing depends on whether intonation is critical for understanding a sentence structure (Fig  5A) or not (Fig  5B), supporting the notion that processing of prosodic information is lateralised in function of its linguistic role4,5Cue establishingCondition Sentence  sentence structure1 ProsodyOnly1[Peter verspricht Nick # [dafür zu bezahlen]]prosodic           [Peter promises Nick # [to pay for it]]          2 ProsodyOnly2[Peter verspricht # [Nick dafür zu bezahlen]]prosodic        [Peter promises # [to pay Nick for it]]3 Grammatical Only[Peter verspricht [sie dafür zu bezahlen]]grammatical         [Peter promises [to pay her for it]]4 BL ProsodyOnly[Peter verspricht Nick # [sie zu bezahlen]]multiple           [Peter promises Nick # [to pay her for it]]5 BL Grammatical Only[Peter verspricht # [sie dafür zu bezahlen]]multiple        [Peter promises # [to pay her for it]]6 BL Prosody NoChoice[Peter verspricht # [heute dafür zu bezahlen]]cue redundant         [Peter promises # [to pay for it today]]T-value7.243.45Figure 5: Lateralisation analysis. All peaks: p<.001 unc.; clusters: p<.05 FWE corr.prosodic cue:grammatical cueIntonational Phrase Boundary (pitch rise§, syllable lengthening§, pause§§): word form75 Hz200 Hz0 Hz5000 Hz    Peter             verspricht+dat               #             sieacc     dafür        zu      bezahlen+acc2.2s0s § §§1Figure 1: In this study3, the sentences “A promises B, to pay for it” and “A promises, to pay B for it” were not distinguished by word order, but the location of a prosodic boundary (“#”, see 1 and 2 in Table A). However, word form could also establish the structure: in the above example stimulus (3 in Table A), “sie” (her) can only belong to “bezahlen” (to pay), not “verspricht” (promises), because of the accusative case marking.ATable A: Each condition has an unambiguous sentence structure, established by different types of cues. BL: baseline. Grammatical cue builds sentence structureB35GrammaticalOnly > BL GrammaticalOnly3***1.52.0ProsOnly1ProsOnly2BL GramOnlyGramOnlyBL ProsOnlyBL ProsNoChoiceconditionsMean Reaction times (s) Reaction times***6080100ProsOnly1ProsOnly2GramOnlyBL ProsOnlyBL GramOnlyBL ProsNoChoiceconditionsMean accuracy (% correct) AccuracyFigure 3: RT  (A) and accuracy (B) differed depending on condition (χ2(5)=75.87, p<.001; χ2(5)=50.41,  p<.001). Asterisks mark pair-wise comparisons with  p-values smaller than .0033 (Bonferroni-corrected).A B62Results“Peter promises, to pay her for it”Methods

Intonation guides sentence processing in the left inferior frontal gyrus

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