ABSTRACT

Higher cognitive functions such as linguistic comprehension must ultimately relate to perceptual systems in the brain, though how and why this forms remains unclear. Different brain networks that mediate perception when hearing have recently been proposed to respect a taxonomic neurobiological model for the processing of different acoustic-semantic categories of real-world natural sounds. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with Chinese/English bilingual listeners, the present study explored whether reception of short spoken phrases that described corresponding natural sounds, in both Chinese (Mandarin) and English, would engage overlapping brain regions at a semantic category level. The results revealed a double-dissociation of cortical regions that were preferential for representing knowledge of human versus environmental action events, whether conveyed through natural sounds or the corresponding spoken phrases depicted by either comprehended language. These findings of cortical hubs exhibiting linguistic-perceptual knowledge links at a semantic category level should help to advance neurocomputational models of the neurodevelopment of language systems.

摘要

语言理解等高级认知功能最终必须与大脑中的感知系统相关，尽管这种形式如何以及为何形成仍不清楚。最近提出了在听觉时调节感知的不同大脑网络，以尊重分类神经生物学模型，以处理现实世界自然声音的不同声学语义类别。本研究使用功能性磁共振成像 (fMRI) 与中英双语听众一起，探讨接收描述相应自然声音的简短口语短语，无论是中文（普通话）还是英文，是否会在语义类别水平上参与重叠的大脑区域. 结果揭示了皮质区域的双重分离，无论是通过自然声音还是通过任何一种可理解的语言描述的相应口语短语，这些区域都优先代表人类与环境行动事件的知识。这些在语义类别水平上表现出语言 - 感知知识联系的皮质中心的发现应该有助于推进语言系统神经发育的神经计算模型。