Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Volume 6, Issue 8, 1 August 2002, Pages 350-356
Journal home page for Trends in Cognitive Sciences

Review
The brain circuitry of syntactic comprehension

https://doi.org/10.1016/S1364-6613(02)01947-2Get rights and content

Abstract

Syntactic comprehension is a fundamental aspect of human language, and has distinct properties from other aspects of language (e.g. semantics). In this article, we aim to identify if there is a specific locus of syntax in the brain by reviewing imaging studies on syntactic processing. We conclude that results from neuroimaging support evidence from neuropsychology that syntactic processing does not recruit one specific area. Instead a network of areas including Broca's area and anterior, middle and superior areas of the temporal lobes is involved. However, none of these areas appears to be syntax specific.

Section snippets

Evidence from brain lesions

Research on the relationship between brain and language dates back to the mid- to late-1800s when Paul Broca and Karl Wernicke linked specific lesions in the brain to specific language deficits known as aphasia. Broca identified patients with problems in speech production, linking this to damage in the left ventral lateral frontal cortex. Wernicke identified patients with comprehension problems associated with damage in the left posterior temporal cortex. A century later, studies in these types

Neuroimaging studies of syntactic processing

To date, almost all neuroimaging studies of syntax have relied on the assumption of ‘pure insertion’. That is, researchers have tried to identify the optimal contrast between a set of two or more conditions that are designed to differ only with respect to the process(es) of interest. There are some inherent problems with this logic [18] but nevertheless such research has led to some interesting results that can point to the brain areas involved in syntactic processing. The brain imaging studies

Where is syntax in the brain?

Is there a specific area in the brain that is specialized for syntax alone? The neuroimaging results described earlier correspond with recent insights from aphasia suggesting that Broca's area (BA 44/45) is not necessarily involved in syntactic processing. Broca's area is only systematically activated when processing demands increase due to working memory demands or task requirements. Broca's area is also not the only area involved in syntax: other areas include the anterior temporal lobe (BA

Conclusion

Syntactic processing, as investigated by the contrasts reviewed here, recruits not one brain region but multiple areas that are not each uniquely involved in syntactic tasks. This is inconsistent with a strict modular view of syntactic processing. However, it remains unclear how modularity might be instantiated in the brain. One possibility is that there is a dissociation at the level of cellular networks within these areas that cannot currently be differentiated with functional imaging

Questions for future research

  • How can we further specify the relationship between specific syntactic operations and certain areas of the brain and the connections between those brain areas?

  • What is the connection of syntax with non-linguistic processes (e.g. general working memory)?

  • Are there individual differences in the brain circuitry of syntax?

Acknowledgements

E.K. is supported by JSMF grant 2000-2044, T.Y.S. is supported by SES-0074634. We would like to thank Roberto Cabeza, Sherry Hubbard and Ron Mangun.

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