Neural systems for phonology differentially contribute to the act of writing

Poster No:

1026 

Submission Type:

Abstract Submission 

Authors:

Mio Yokoi1,2, Kouji Takano1, Tomoki Uno1,2, Kimihiro Nakamura1

Institutions:

1National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, Tokorozawa, Japan, 2Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan

First Author:

Mio Yokoi  
National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities|Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Tokorozawa, Japan|Tokyo, Japan

Co-Author(s):

Kouji Takano  
National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities
Tokorozawa, Japan
Tomoki Uno  
National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities|Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Tokorozawa, Japan|Tokyo, Japan
Kimihiro Nakamura  
National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities
Tokorozawa, Japan

Introduction:

Phonological knowledge plays a pivotal role in most aspects of language processing, but it remains unclear whether it is required for writing. This is especially the case for phonologically opaque writing systems, e.g., Japanese logograms (kanji), where each character represents several different sounds. The present study used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to investigate whether left-hemisphere neural systems associated with phonology contribute to the act of writing.

Methods:

Eighteen right-handed participants orally named target pictures ('naming') or wrote down their names ('writing') while they received single-pulse TMS at the ventral premotor cortex (PMv) associated with articulatory codes, supramarginal gyrus (SMG) associated with letter-to-sound translation or superior temporal gyrus (STG) associated with speech perception. Each target was preceded by a syllabic character (kana) prime which represented the initial syllable of the target name or a different syllable. We manipulated the phonological overlap between primes and targets and measured written or oral naming latency to assess the impact of TMS on phonological priming for each task for each site.

Results:

In preliminary analyses, we found that TMS of SMG, but not that of PMv and STG, disrupted phonological priming during oral naming. By contrast, phonological priming was disrupted only by TMS of PMv during kana writing and by TMS of PMv and STG during kanji writing, respectively.

Conclusions:

These findings suggest that neural systems for phonology contribute to word production differentially according to the functional demands of tasks and support the view that phonology plays a non-specific modulatory role to enhance neurocognitive systems involved in reading and writing.

Brain Stimulation:

TMS

Language:

Reading and Writing 1
Speech Production 2

Keywords:

Language
Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

1|2Indicates the priority used for review

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