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Syntactic language processing: ERP lesion data on the role of the basal ganglia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 February 2004

SONJA A. KOTZ ,
STEFAN FRISCH ,
D. YVES VON CRAMON  and
ANGELA D. FRIEDERICI
SONJA A. KOTZ
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany Day Care Clinic of Cognitive Neurology, University of Leipzig, Germany
STEFAN FRISCH
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany Institute of Linguistics, University of Potsdam, Germany
D. YVES VON CRAMON
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany Day Care Clinic of Cognitive Neurology, University of Leipzig, Germany
ANGELA D. FRIEDERICI
Affiliation:
Max-Planck-Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig, Germany
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Abstract

The role of the basal ganglia in syntactic language processing was investigated with event-related brain potentials in fourteen neurologically impaired patients. Seven of these patients had basal ganglia lesions while 7 other patients primarily had lesions of the left temporo–parietal region excluding the basal ganglia. All patients listened to sentences that were either correct or included a verb argument structure violation. In previous experiments this type of violation elicited a biphasic pattern of an N400–P600 complex in young healthy participants. While the N400 may result from incorrect semantic-thematic role assignment, the P600 reflects the fact that verb information does not license the syntactic structure at present. Results of the patient experiment revealed a double dissociation: patients with left temporo–parietal lesions only show a P600, whereas patients with lesions of the basal ganglia showed no P600, but a negativity with extended duration that resembled an N400. The latter pattern not only confirms previous reports that the basal ganglia modulate the P600 but extends these results by showing that the N400 as a late semantic–thematic integration process appears partially modulated by the basal ganglia. (JINS, 2003, 9, 1053–1060.)

Keywords

Basal gangliaEvent-related brain potentials (ERPs)E(L)ANP600N400
Type
THEMATIC ARTICLES
Information
Journal of the International Neuropsychological Society , Volume 9 , Issue 7 , November 2003 , pp. 1053 - 1060
Copyright
© 2003 The International Neuropsychological Society

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