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Abstract:
Abstract: The situation model refers to the mental
representation of the people, setting, and events described in
language. Brain regions associated with reader generation of
situation models were identified using fMRI with 14 normal adults.
Stimuli consisted of pairs of 15 word sentences displayed in rapid
serial visual presentation format at 267 ms/word. Sentences
described everyday physical, nonemotional situations. Participants
judged whether the second sentence in a pair a) causally followed
from the first sentence (inference condition), b) meant the same as
the first sentence (gist condition), or c) was identical to the
first sentence (literal condition). Experimental conditions versus
a passive reading condition were analyzed across subjects for both
unique and shared (i.e. conjunction) areas of activation. Shared
regions of activation were found in the bilateral anterior
cingulate and bilateral prefrontal cortex (left > right).
For the inference condition, unique areas of activation were found
in the bilateral medial frontal cortex, bilateral cerebellum, and
right supramarginal gyrus. These results were confirmed by direct
subtraction of experimental conditions. Based on studies of story
comprehension, self-generated thought, and induction, we
hypothesize that the medial frontal cortex plays a central role in
the neural representation of the situation model.
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