The Neural Bases of Text and Discourse Processing

Handbook of the Neuroscience of Language

Volumn , Issue , 2008, Pages 165-174

  Perfetti, Charles A ^a   Frishkoff, Gwen A ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF OREGON   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84882885982     PISSN: None     EISSN: None     Source Type: Book    
DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-08-045352-1.00016-1     Document Type: Chapter

References (34)

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19. Perfetti C., Landi N., Oakhill J. The acquisition of reading comprehension skill. The science of reading: A handbook 2005, 227-247. Blackwell, Oxford. M.J. Snowling, C. Hulme (Eds.).
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23. Schmalhofer, F., & Perfetti (2007). Neural and behavioral indicators of integration processes across sentence boundaries. In F. Schmalhofer &C.A. Perfetti (Eds.), Higher level language processes in the brain: Inference and comprehension processes (pp. 161-188). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
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27. Yang C.L., Perfetti C.A., Schmalhofer F. Event-related potential indicators of text integration across sentence boundaries. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 2007, 33(1):55-89.
28. Givón, T. (2005). Grammar as an adaptive evolutionary product. In T. Givón (Ed.), Context as other minds: The pragmatics of sociality, cognition and communication (Chapter 4, pp. 91-123). Amsterdam: J. Benjamins.This chapter considers how grammatical structures may be related to a variety of cognitive and communicative functions. Givón proposes that major subsystems in language are linked to different memory systems. These cognitively based processes provide basic tools for establishing discourse coherence. Givón also provides numerous examples of what he terms "discourse-pragmatic" markers in language, including morphosyntactic devices for establishing discourse coherence. The perspective represented here is one that shows how linguistic markers can be linked to specific socio-pragmatic goals that motivate human discourse, and communication.
29. Perfetti C., Landi N., Oakhill J. The acquisition of reading comprehension skill. The science of reading: A handbook 2005, 227-247. Blackwell, Oxford, This chapter provides a thorough introduction to Kintsch's Construction Integration Theory, and discusses the cognitive and linguistic mechanisms that are implicated in reading comprehension. Individual differences in cognitive and linguistic skills are also linked to individual differences in discourse comprehension, and to a theory of reading development. M.J. Snowling, C. Hulme (Eds.).
30. Ferstl, E.C. (2007). The functional neuroanatomy of text comprehension: What's the story so far? In F. Schmalhofer & C.A. Perfetti (Eds.), Higher level language processes in the brain: Inference and comprehension processes (pp. 53-102). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.This is a rich and highly informative chapter that reviews the state-of-the art in neuroimaging of discourse functions. Note that the studies cited involve primarily healthy adult subjects, and the discussion is focused on studies that have specifically attempted to isolate particular cognitive and brain functions in discourse comprehension.
31. Mason R.A., Just M.A. How the brain processes causal inferences in text. Psychological Science 2004, 15(1):1-7. Replicating previous findings from behavioral studies, in an fMRI study the authors show that (1) subjects are slower to encode inferences that are more distantly related to a particular outcome and (2) subsequent recall is strongest for causal inferences that are moderately related to the outcome sentence. The authors discuss these results in the context of a two-stage theory of inferencing, which posits separate processes related to inference generation and memory integration.
32. Beeman M.J., Bowden E.M., Gernsbacher M.A. Right and left hemisphere cooperation for drawing predictive and coherence inferences during normal story comprehension. Brain and Language 2000, 71(2):310-336. This study provides important evidence on right versus left hemisphere contributions to discourse processing, using the divided visual field method. Results suggest a right hemisphere advantage in priming of forward (predictive) inferences, and a left hemisphere advantage in priming of backward (bridging) inferences. The authors relate these patterns to Beeman's right hemisphere "coarse coding" hypothesis.
33. Beeman M.J., Bowden E.M., Gernsbacher M.A. Right and left hemisphere cooperation for drawing predictive and coherence inferences during normal story comprehension. Brain and Language 2000, 71(2):310-336. This study provides important evidence on right versus left hemisphere contributions to discourse processing, using the divided visual field method. Results suggest a right hemisphere advantage in priming of forward (predictive) inferences, and a left hemisphere advantage in priming of backward (bridging) inferences. The authors relate these patterns to Beeman's right hemisphere "coarse coding" hypothesis.
34. Robertson D.A., Gernsbacher M.A., Guidotti S.J., Robertson R.R., Irwin W., Mock B.J., Campana M.E. Functional neuroanatomy of the cognitive process of mapping during discourse comprehension. Psychological Science 2000, 11(3):255-260. In an fMRI study the authors found greater right hemisphere BOLD activation for lists of sentences that used definite articles rather than indefinite articles to anaphorically relate the nouns in a text. These findings are particularly impressive, given that subjects were not instructed to try to make coherence links across the individual sentences that were presented on each trial.