Neural Correlates of Processing Syntax in Music and ... - PubMan

Language Perception 68
interaction between two syntactic anomalies (violation of either word-category or morphosyntax)
in the early time range (i.e., for the early negativity vs. the LAN), whereas
interactive effects are found in a late time range (for the P600).
Phase 3: Syntactic reanalysis and repair
Secondary syntactic processes are assumed to take place in Phase 3. These may be reflected
in a P600 which is usually elicited by processes of reanalysis and repair
(Friederici & Mecklinger, 1996), or, in a more broad sense, of syntactic integration
(Kaan, Harris, Gibson, & Holcomb, 2000). Although the P600 is mainly elicited by
syntactic anomalies (Hagoort, Brown, & Groothusen, 1993; Osterhout & Holcomb,
1992), there is some evidence strengthening the interpretation of the P600 as reflecting
processes of syntactic reanalysis and repair: The P600 varied as a function of the difficulty
of syntactic integration (Kaan et al., 2000), and as a function of the difficulty of
semantic integration in syntactically incorrect sentences (Gunter, Friederici, &
Schriefers, 2000). Using an artificial grammar task, Bahlmann, Gunter, and Friederici
(2006) found an ERP response that was comparable to the P600 in response to violations
of the rules of the learned artificial grammar (for both grammar types – a finitestate
and a phrase-structure grammar). Further, they demonstrated a posteriorly distributed
negativity (around 300 to 400 ms) for the recognition of an unfulfilled expectation
in the finite-state grammar.
Friederici et al. (2003) proposed the posterior portion of the STG, in addition to the left
basal ganglia (BG), to contribute to the late integration processes underlying the P600,
since this region was activated in response to both semantic and syntactic violations
(Friederici et al., 2003; Newman, Just, Keller, Roth, & Carpenter, 2003). Likewise,
evidence from lesion studies demonstrated a lack of a P600 in patients with lesions in
the left BG while patients with lesions in the right anterior temporal lobe and the right
BG demonstrated a reduced left-lateralized P600 effect (Friederici et al., 1999; Kotz,
Frisch et al., 2003; Kotz, von Cramon et al., 2003).
Anatomical correlates of language processing
Two brain regions that are involved in almost all processing phases that are described in
the model of Friederici and Kotz (2003) will be discussed in more detail in the next two
sections. These brain regions are also main sites of syntactic processing, e.g., the
sources of the ELAN were localized in these regions.