Abstract
Correlation and coherence analyses of multichannel electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings from 18 subjects (mean age 25 years) were used for investigating the reorganization of systemic interactions between bioelectric potentials of the cortical areas of both hemispheres (20 EEG derivations) during verbal-mental activity connected with generating verbal units from simpler components. When generating either words from aurally presented phonemes or sentences from a set of words, the subjects exhibited specific changes in the spatial structure of the statistical relationships in the EEG, with a significant increase in the interhemispheric interactions. During performance of both tasks, the changes in the interhemispheric interactions were most pronounced in the temporal, temporo-parieto-occipital (TPO), inferofrontal, and occipital areas of both hemispheres. Phonemic synthesis was associated with a more marked increase in the contralateral interactions in the left hemisphere, and generating sentences from words, in the right hemisphere. The coherence analysis of the EEG showed the greatest changes in the Δ, ϑ, and β frequency bands, with rather slight changes in the α frequency band. For all frequency bands, changes in the EEG coherences were the greatest in Wernicke’s and the TPO areas of the right and left hemispheres during the performance of both tasks, especially during the phonemic synthesis. These findings suggest that neurophysiological processes underlying mental generation of words and sentences require coordinated activity of the left and right hemispheres, which is accompanied by an increase in the interhemispheric interactions in the EEG, especially in the temporal, inferofrontal, and TPO areas.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Petersen, S.E., Fox, P.T., Mintun, M., et al., Positron Emission Tomographic Studies of the Cortical Anatomy of Single-Word Processing, Nature, 1988, vol. 331, no. 6157, p. 585.
Abdullaev, Y.G. and Bechtereva, N.P., Neuronal Correlate of the Higher-Order Semantic Code in Human Prefrontal Cortex in Language Tasks, Int. J. Psychophysiol., 1993, vol. 14, p. 167.
Hagoort, P., Brown, C.M., Swaab, T.Y., Lexical-Semantic Event-Related Potential Effects in Patients with Left hemisphere Lesions and Aphasia, and Patients with Right Hemisphere Lesions without Aphasia, Brain, 1996, vol. 119, no. 2, p. 627.
Medvedev, S.V., Bekhtereva, N.P., Vorob’ev, V.A., et al., Brain Processing of Visually Presented Verbal Stimuli at Different Levels of Their Integration. I. Semantic and Motor Aspects, Fiziol. Chel., 1997, vol. 23, no. 4, p. 9.
Vorob’ev, V.A., Korotkov, A.D., Pakhomov, S.V., et al., Brain Processing of Visually Presented Verbal Stimuli at Different Levels of Their Integration. II. The Orthographic and Syntactic Aspects, Fiziol. Chel., 1998, vol. 24, no. 4, p. 62.
Mesulam, M., From Sensation to Cognition, Brain, 1998, vol. 121, p. 1013.
Balonov, L.Ya., Deglin, V.L., and Chernigovskaya, T.V., Functional Brain Asymmetry in Organizing Verbal Activity, in Khrestomatiya po neiropsikhologii (Reader in Neuropsychology), Moscow, 1999, p. 312.
Vorob’ev, V.A., Medvedev, S.V., and Pakhomov, S.V., Study of the Brain Involuntary Syntactic Processing by Positron Emission Tomography, Fiziol. Chel., 2000, vol. 26, no. 4, p. 5.
Friederici, A.D., Rüschemeyer, Sh.-An., Hahne, A., and Fiebach, Ch. The Role of Left Inferior Frontal and Superior Temporal Cortex in Sentence Comprehension: Localizing Syntactic and Semantic Processes, J. Cerebr. Cortex, 2003, vol. 13, no. 2, p. 170.
Chernigovskaya, T., Davtyan, S., and Strelnikov, K., Prosody Perception in Schizophrenic Patients: Hemispheric Involvement, J. Int. Neuropsychol. Soc., 2003, vol. 9, no. 4, p. 553.
Mesulam, M., Imaging Connectivity in the Human Cerebral Cortex: The Next Frontier, Ann. Neurol., 2005, vol. 57, no. 1, p. 5.
Dan’ko, S.G., Bekhtereva, N.P., Kachalova, L.M., et al., Electroencephalographic Correlates of Brain States during Verbal Learning: II. Characteristics of EEG Spatial Synchronization, Fiziol. Chel., 2005, vol. 31, no. 6, p. 8.
Shepoval’nikov, A.N., Tsitseroshin, M.N., and Levinchenko, N.V., Age-Related Minimization of the Brain Systems Involved in Psychic Functions: Arguments For and Against, Fiziol. Chel., 1991, vol. 17, no. 5, p. 28.
Tsitseroshin, M.N., Pogosyan, A.A., Gal’perina, E.I., and Shepoval’nikov, A.N., Systemic Interaction of the Cortical Areas during Performance of Verbal-Mnestic Activity, Fiziol. Chel., 2000, vol. 26, no. 6, p. 21.
Panasevich, E.A. and Tsitseroshin, Specific Features of Spatiotemporal Organization of EEG during Performance of Verbal Tasks by Males and Females, Sensorn. Sist., 2004, vol. 18, no. 2, p. 150.
Shepoval’nikov, A.N. and Tsitseroshin, M.N., Formation of Interzonal Interaction of Cortical Fields during Verbal-Mental Activity, J. Evol. Biochem. Physiol., 2004, vol. 40, no. 5, p. 411.
Pavlova, L.P. and Romanenko, A.F., Sistemnyi podkhod k psikhofiziologicheskomu issledovaniyu (A Systemic Approach to Psychophysiological Study), Leningrad: Nauka, 1988.
Ivanitskii, G.A., Nikolaev, A.P., and Ivanitskii, A.M., Interaction of the Frontal and Left Parietotemporal Cortex in Verbal Thinking, Fiziol. Chel., 2002, vol. 28, no. 1, p. 5.
Tsaparina, D.M. and Shepoval’nikov, A.N., Role of Interhemispheric Interaction in the Recognition of Errors in Aurally Presented Verbal Material, Sensor. Sist., 2004, vol. 18, no. 2, p. 160.
Galunov, V.I., Koroleva, I.V., and Shurgaya, G.G., Interaction between Two Cerebral Hemispheres during Processing of Verbal Information, Akustika rechi i slukha: Sbornik nauchnykh rabot (Acoustics of Speech and Hearing: Collection of Papers), Chistovich, L.A., Ed., Leningrad: Nauka, 1986, p. 127.
Luria, A.R., Osnovy neiropsikhologii (Fundamentals of Neuropsychology), Moscow: Mosk. Gos. Univ., 1973.
Khomskaya, E.D., Neiropsikhologiya (Neuropsychology), Moscow: Mosk. Gos. Univ., 1987.
Frackowiak, R.S.J., Friston, K.J., Frith, C.D., et al., An Overview of Speech Comprehension and Production, Human Brain Function, 2nd Edition, London: Elsevier, 2004, p. 515.
Leff, A., Crinion, J., Scott, S., et al., A Physiological Change in the Homotropic Cortex Following Left Posterior Temporal Lobe Infarction, Ann. Neurol., 2002, vol. 51, no. 5, p. 553.
Dzugaeva, S.B., Provodyashchie puti golovnogo mozga cheloveka (v ontogeneze) (Pathways of Human Brain (in Ontogenesis)), Moscow: Meditsina, 1975.
Chomsky, N., Horizons in the Study of Language and Mind, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002.
Balonov, L.Ya. and Deglin, V.L., Hearing and Speech in Dominant and Nondominant Hemispheres, Leningrad: Nauka, 1976.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
Original Russian Text © D.M. Tsaparina, M.N. Tsitseroshin, A.N. Shepoval’nikov, 2007, published in Fiziologiya Cheloveka, 2007, Vol. 33, No. 1, pp. 15–26.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tsaparina, D.M., Tsitseroshin, M.N. & Shepoval’nikov, A.N. Reorganization of interhemispheric interactions during verbal-mental activity aimed at synthesis of words and sentences. Hum Physiol 33, 10–19 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119707010021
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119707010021