Neural Correlates of Morphological Decomposition in a Morphologically Rich Language: An fMRI Study

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Bibliographic Details
Title: Neural Correlates of Morphological Decomposition in a Morphologically Rich Language: An fMRI Study
Language: English
Authors: Lehtonen, Minna, Vorobyev, Victor A., Hugdahl, Kenneth
Source: Brain and Language. Aug 2006 98(2):182-193.
Availability: Elsevier. 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, FL 32887-4800. Tel: 877-839-7126; Tel: 407-345-4020; Fax: 407-363-1354; e-mail: usjcs@elsevier.com; Web site: http://www.elsevier.com.
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 12
Publication Date: 2006
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Language Processing, Finno Ugric Languages, Word Recognition, Neurolinguistics, Diagnostic Tests
DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2006.04.011
ISSN: 0093-934X
Abstract: By employing visual lexical decision and functional MRI, we studied the neural correlates of morphological decomposition in a highly inflected language (Finnish) where most inflected noun forms elicit a consistent processing cost during word recognition. This behavioral effect could reflect suffix stripping at the visual word form level and/or subsequent meaning integration at the semantic-syntactic level. The first alternative predicts increased activation for inflected vs. monomorphemic words in the left occipitotemporal cortex while the second alternative predicts left inferior frontal gyrus and/or left posterior temporal activation increases. The results show significant activation effects in the latter areas. This provides support for the second alternative, i.e., that the morphological processing cost stems from the semantic-syntactic level.
Abstractor: Author
Entry Date: 2006
Accession Number: EJ740387
Database: ERIC
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