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Abstract:
Abstract: In the course of language acquisition, subjects
became progressively attuned to the phonology, lexicon, and syntax
of their maternal language. We used event-related fMRI to identify
brain areas that, in adults, have become sensitive to the maternal
language. French volonteers were scanned while listening to
sentences recorded in 4 different languages: French, Corean,
Japanese and Polish (the last three languages being completly
foreign for the participants). For each one of the languages, three
different female speakers were used for the recordings. The stimuli
were controlled across languages for duration and loudness. To
ensure that the subjects paid attention to the stimuli, a short
excerpt was played after each sentence, and the subject had to
decide whether or not it originated from the stimulus s/he had just
heard. Comprehension was ensured by presenting each stimulus during
a noiseless period (read-out gradients turned off), followed by the
acquisition of 6 whole-brain volumes (TR=2.4s). For each subject,
the comparison between maternal and foreign languages reveals a
consistent pattern of activation, with multiple active clusters
along the banks of the left superior temporal sulcus, and smaller
activations in homologous right hemispheric regions. The robustness
of the event-related paradigm opens new vistas for the study of
language processing.
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