Poster E30, Thursday, August 22, 2019, 3:45 – 5:30 pm, Restaurant Hall
Discourse management during speech perception – towards a cognitive-neuroanatomical model
Susanne Dietrich1, Ingo Hertich1, Verena Seibold1, Bettina Rolke1;1University of Tübingen
The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study addresses context-dependent auditory speech comprehension. Specifically, we manipulated discourse coherence by using presupposition (PSP) phrases triggered by an indefinite or definite determiner that either corresponded or failed to correspond to items in a preceding context sentence. Our aim was to investigate how the cognitive operations required for PSP processing, such as reference processing and eventual handling of violation, can be assigned to neuroanatomical structures of the language network in the brain. The stimulus materials comprised pairs of context and test sentences including definite determiners (“the”) presupposing uniqueness and existence or indefinite (“a”) determiners suggesting non-uniqueness or novelty of an item. Each subject performed an acceptability rating during fMRI scanning. Hemodynamic responses were modelled at PSP onset. Discourse violations yielded bilateral hemodynamic activation within angular gyrus (AG), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), and basal ganglia (BG). These findings suggest different cognitive aspects of PSP processing: (i) a reference process requiring working memory (IFG), retrieval, and integration of semantic/pragmatic information (AG), and (ii) cognitive control for inconsistency management (pre-SMA/BG) in terms of “successful” comprehension despite PSP violations at the surface. These results provide first fMRI evidence toward a functional neuroanatomical model for context-dependent speech comprehension based on the example of PSPs.
Themes: Meaning: Discourse and Pragmatics, Speech Perception
Method: Functional Imaging