The role of the temporal lobe in contextual sentence integration: A single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation study

Abstract

Neuroimaging studies have shown the left temporal lobe to be important for contextual sentence integration. This study used single-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to establish stronger causal evidence for the role of this brain region and also explored the involvement of the same cortical region in the right hemisphere (RH). In a semantic decision task, sentences with different cloze probability endings (highly expected, unexpected, and semantically anomalous) were presented to 59 participants. Single-pulse TMS was applied to the left or the right posterior temporal lobe. Vertex stimulation served as a baseline. Left temporal stimulation decelerated responses to expected and unexpected endings in a sentence-integration task. RH stimulation did not affect the responses. These results support the causal role of the left temporal lobe in semantic integration. Single-pulse TMS can contribute to a better understanding of language organization at a sentence level.

Keywords:

• Transcranial magnetic stimulation
• Contextual sentence integration
• Semantics
• Cerebral hemispheres
• Temporal lobe

Acknowledgments

Imke Franzmeier was supported by a Ph.D. fellowship by the Ev. Studienwerk e.V. Villigst. Imke Franzmeier and Evelyn Ferstl are now based at the University of Freiburg, Germany.