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Keywords

Syntactic Networks, Brain, fixation, fMRI

Abstract

Humans comprehend language at varying levels of complexity. Syntax, in particular, deals with the arrangement of words and phrases into meaningful sentences. For instance, in English we expect most sentences to follow some variation of the order "Subject-Verb-Object: such as "The boy (Subject) ate (Verb) cake (Object)." On the surface, such grammatical rules seem simple. However, our understanding of how the brain implements these rules to understand sentences is incomplete.

Syntax appears to be associated with Broca's area in the frontal lobe and various regions of the left temporal lobe. However, recent research has provided controversial data suggesting that the viewpoint of a specific "syntactic center" of the brain is oversimplified. In fact, when processing syntax, the brain appears to activate multiple areas not specific to syntactic tasks alone. The primary purpose of this study was to determine the network for neural syntactic processing via fixation-related fMRI and syntactic predictability.

Description

The Annual Mary Lou Fulton Mentored Research Conference showcases some of the best student research from the College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences. The mentored learning program encourages undergraduate students to participate in hands-on and practical research under the direction of a faculty member. Students create these posters as an aide in presenting the results of their research to the public, faculty, and their peers.

Document Type

Poster

Publication Date

2017-05-01

Language

English

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Neuroscience

Additional Files
Submission License_Brent Foster Signed.pdf (148 kB)
Fixation-Related fMRI and Syntactic Networks in the Brain

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