Cortical Organization of Action and Object Naming in Turkish: A Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study

Yıl 2024, Cilt: 44 Sayı: 2, 235 - 254, 14.08.2024

Talat Bulut , Gülkader Temiz

https://doi.org/10.26650/SP2023-1279982

Öz

It is controversial whether the linguistic distinction between nouns and verbs is reflected in the cortical organization of the lexicon. Neuropsychological studies of aphasia and neuroimaging studies have associated the left prefrontal cortex, particularly Broca’s area, with verbs/actions, and the left posterior temporal cortex, particularly Wernicke’s area, with nouns/objects. However, more recent research has revealed that evidence for this distinction is inconsistent. Against this background, the present study employed low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to investigate the dissociation of action and object naming in Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas in Turkish. Thirty-six healthy adult participants took part in the study. In two experiments, low-frequency (1 Hz) inhibitory rTMS was administered at 100% of motor threshold for 10 minutes to suppress the activity of the left prefrontal cortex spanning Broca’s area or the left posterior temporal cortex spanning Wernicke’s area. A picture naming task involving objects and actions was employed before and after the stimulation sessions to examine any pre- to post-stimulation changes in naming latencies. Linear mixed models that included various psycholinguistic covariates including frequency, visual and conceptual complexity, age of acquisition, name agreement and word length were fitted to the data. The findings showed that conceptual complexity, age of acquisition of the target word and name agreement had a significant effect on naming latencies, which was consistent across both experiments. Critically, the findings significantly associated Broca’s area, but not Wernicke’s area, in the distinction between naming objects and actions. Suppression of Broca’s area led to a significant and robust increase in naming latencies (or slowdown) for objects and a marginally significant, but not robust, reduction in naming latencies (or speedup) for actions. The findings suggest that actions and objects in Turkish can be dissociated in Broca’s area.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Nouns, verbs, object naming, action naming, Broca’s area, Wernicke’s area

Proje Numarası

121S573

Türkçede Eylem ve Nesne Adlandırmanın Kortikal Organizasyonu: Transkraniyal Manyetik Uyarım Çalışması

Öz

Adlar ve eylemler arasındaki dilbilimsel ayrımın zihinsel sözlüğün kortikal temsilinde de geçerli olup olmadığı tartışma konusudur. Afaziye ilişkin nöropsikolojik araştırmalar ve nörogörüntüleme çalışmaları sol prefrontal korteksi, özellikle Broca alanını eylem/hareket belirten sözcüklerle ve sol posterior temporal korteksi, özellikle Wernicke alanını adlar/nesneler ile ilişkilendirmiştir. Bununla birlikte yakın zamanda gerçekleştirilen çalışmalar, bu ayrıma ilişkin kanıtlarının tutarsız olduğunu ortaya koymuştur. Mevcut çalışma Türkçede Broca ve Wernicke alanlarının nesne ve eylemlerin işlemlenmesindeki rolünü araştırmak amacıyla düşük frekanslı tekrarlayan transkraniyal manyetik uyarım (tTMU) yöntemi kullanılarak gerçekleştirilmiştir. Çalışmaya otuz altı sağlıklı yetişkin katılmıştır. Gerçekleştirilen iki deneyde Broca alanını içeren sol prefrontal korteks veya Wernicke alanını içeren sol posterior temporal korteks aktivitesini baskılamak amacıyla düşük frekanslı (1 Hz) inhibitör tTMU motor eşiğin \%100’ü şiddetinde ve 10 dakika süreyle uygulanmıştır. Nesneleri ve eylemleri içeren resim adlandırma görevi kullanılarak uyarım öncesi ve sonrası adlandırma gecikmesindeki (latansındaki) değişiklik incelenmiştir. Adlandırma gecikmesi, resmin ekrana gelmesinden itibaren katılımcının resme karşılık olarak bir sözcük üretmeye başladığı zamana kadar geçen süre olarak hesaplanmıştır. Verilerin analizinde sabit etkiler olarak sıklık, görsel ve kavramsal karmaşıklık, edinim yaşı, adlandırma uyumu ve sözcük uzunluğu dahil olmak üzere çeşitli psikodilbilimsel değişkenleri ve rastgele etkiler olarak da katılımcılar ve uyaranları içeren doğrusal karışık etki modelleri kullanılmıştır. Bulgular, kavramsal karmaşıklık, hedef sözcüğün edinim yaşı ve adlandırma uyumunun adlandırma gecikmesi üzerinde anlamlı bir etkiye sahip olduğunu göstermiştir. Ayrıca bulgular, nesne ve eylem adlandırma ayrımının Broca alanıyla ilişkili olduğunu, Wernicke alanının ise böyle bir ayrım sergilemediğini göstermiştir. Broca alanının baskılanması, nesnelerin adlandırılmasında anlamlı bir yavaşlamaya, eylemlerin adlandırılmasında ise marjinal olarak anlamlı bir hızlanmaya neden olmuştur. Bulgular, Türkçede eylem ve nesnelerin Broca alanında ayrıştığına, Wernicke alanında ise böyle bir ayrışma olmadığına işaret etmektedir.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Adlar, eylemler, nesne adlandırma, eylem adlandırma, Broca alanı, Wernicke alanı

Destekleyen Kurum

TÜBİTAK

Proje Numarası

121S573

Kaynakça

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