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Abstract:
Abstract: In previous study, we reported that the activity in
the left perisylvian area was reduced by word repetition but not by
nonword repetition, suggesting that this area is related to lexical
processing. In the present study, we investigated whether
phonological repetition modulates the activity in the perisylvian
area using magnetoencephalography (MEG). Subjects were 12 Japanese
volunteers (right-handed). Recordings were taken over the bilateral
temporal sites of the brain. Stimuli were the pairs of
orthographically dissimilar homophones written in two Kanji
characters. Every one member of the pairs was followed by its
homophone (i.e., phonological repetition). In both hemispheres, the
magnetic responses to the words were reduced by immediate
phonological repetition (lag 0) in the latency range of 300-600 ms
after stimulation, but not by delayed phonological repetition (lag
8). The sources of the responses were located in the bilateral
perisylvian areas (mostly adjacent to the auditory area) and the
parietal areas. The source strength of the perisylvian areas was
reduced by phonological repetition. This result suggests that the
activity in the perisylvian areas is associated with the
phonological access to the mental lexicon.
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