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Query: UMLS:C0235108 (tense)
2,176 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

As the neural substrates of second language (L2) acquisition are largely unknown, they may or may not be similar to those of first language (L1) representation. We used functional imaging to examine whether training in the conjugation of English verbs from present to past tense alters brain activations in 13-year-old twins. A novel experimental design contrasted past tense verb identification and verb matching, which were tested in either English (L2) or Japanese (L1). After 2 month classroom training in the past tense using bingo games, the two individuals in each pair exhibited significantly correlated performances. When pre- and post-scanning sessions were compared with each other for L2, the left dorsal inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) exhibited significantly correlated activation increases within each pair of twins and the increases were positively correlated with individual performance improvements. Moreover, the cortical plasticity for L2 acquisition was guided toward the L1 specialization of the left dorsal IFG, in spite of notable differences between L1 and L2 in the students' linguistic knowledge and in their performance in making past tense forms. These findings suggest a cortical mechanism underlying L2 acquisition, which critically depends on shared genetic and environmental factors for each twin in a surprisingly predictive manner.
Cereb Cortex 2004 Nov
PMID:Correlated functional changes of the prefrontal cortex in twins induced by classroom education of second language. 1514 62

There is growing evidence from patient and neuroimaging studies that the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) should be considered a crucial part of the neural network that underpins language. Specifically, this region supports semantic representations that play a key role in various aspects of language processing. In this study, we tested the critical importance of this region for language processing in normal participants by applying repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation over the left ATL semantic region. The ability to generate the past tense of English verbs has often been used as a test case for neurocognitive models of language. Accordingly, we used this aspect of language to investigate the impact of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the left ATL. As predicted by single mechanism accounts of past-tense generation, ATL rTMS had a selective impact on participants' ability to generate the past tense of irregular verbs. When combined with other evidence, these results confirm that the ATL semantic hub is a key component of the neural network for language.
Cereb Cortex 2010 Dec
PMID:The anterior temporal lobe semantic hub is a part of the language neural network: selective disruption of irregular past tense verbs by rTMS. 2022 8

The position of any event in time could be in the present, past, or future. This temporal discrimination is vitally important in our daily conversations, but it remains elusive how the human brain distinguishes among the past, present, and future. To address this issue, we searched for neural correlates of presentness, pastness, and futurity, each of which is automatically evoked when we hear sentences such as "it is raining now," "it rained yesterday," or "it will rain tomorrow." Here, we show that sentences that evoked "presentness" activated the bilateral precuneus more strongly than those that evoked "pastness" or "futurity." Interestingly, this contrast was shared across native speakers of Japanese, English, and Chinese languages, which vary considerably in their verb tense systems. The results suggest that the precuneus serves as a key region that provides the origin (that is, the Now) of our time perception irrespective of differences in tense systems across languages.
Cereb Cortex 2020 Nov 05
PMID:Neural Correlates of Temporal Presentness in the Precuneus: A Cross-linguistic fMRI Study based on Speech Stimuli. 3315 51