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ERIC Number: EJ969903
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Aug
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0090-6905
EISSN: N/A
Neural Correlates of Bridging Inferences and Coherence Processing
Kim, Sung-il; Yoon, Misun; Kim, Wonsik; Lee, Sunyoung; Kang, Eunjoo
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, v41 n4 p311-321 Aug 2012
We explored the neural correlates of bridging inferences and coherence processing during story comprehension using Positron Emission Tomography (PET). Ten healthy right-handed volunteers were visually presented three types of stories (Strong Coherence, Weak Coherence, and Control) consisted of three sentences. The causal connectedness among sentences in the Strong Coherence story was strong that readers would not have to generate bridging inferences, whereas the causal antecedent of the last sentence in the Weak Coherence story was not explicitly stated so that readers should draw bridging inferences to fill the gap between sentences. It was found that the left middle temporal gyrus was activated while participants read the Weak Coherence stories. In contrast, the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and posterior cingulate cortex were activated only in the Strong Coherence condition. This suggests that the dmPFC was involved in coherence processing whereas bridging inference was mediated by the left middle temporal gyrus. It was also found that anterior temporal pole and the temporo-parietal junction mediated general semantic processing.
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A