Neuroimaging studies of coherence processes
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Evelyn C. Ferstl
Abstract
Text comprehension involves linking the current sentence or utterance to the previous discourse context. This process of coherence building might be aided by linguistic markers, such as cohesive ties and direct anaphora. However, when the explicitly mentioned information does not provide unambiguous and consistent cues to coherence, as for example in the case of indirect anaphora, the comprehender draws on general background knowledge for inferring plausible links. In this chapter, we summarize neuroimaging studies that shed light on the interplay between cognitive and linguistic components of text comprehension. The results indicate that the anterior temporal lobes and the left fronto-medial cortex are particularly important for coherence building.
Abstract
Text comprehension involves linking the current sentence or utterance to the previous discourse context. This process of coherence building might be aided by linguistic markers, such as cohesive ties and direct anaphora. However, when the explicitly mentioned information does not provide unambiguous and consistent cues to coherence, as for example in the case of indirect anaphora, the comprehender draws on general background knowledge for inferring plausible links. In this chapter, we summarize neuroimaging studies that shed light on the interplay between cognitive and linguistic components of text comprehension. The results indicate that the anterior temporal lobes and the left fronto-medial cortex are particularly important for coherence building.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Anaphors in text – Introduction vii
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Anaphors in Cognitive, Text- and Discourse Linguistics
- Indirect anaphora in text 3
- Indirect pronominal anaphora in English and French 21
- Lexical anaphors in Danish and French 37
- Referential collaboration with computers 49
- Reflexivity and temporality in discourse deixis 69
- The function of complex anaphors in texts 81
- Metaphorical anaphors 103
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The Syntax and Semantic of Anaphors
- Accessibility and definite noun phrases 123
- The non-subject bias of German demonstrative pronouns 145
- Anaphoric properties of German right dislocation 165
- Antecedents of diverse types 183
- Corpus-based and machine learning approaches to anaphora resolution 207
-
Neurolinguistic Studies
- Neuroimaging studies of coherence processes 225
- Reference assignment in the absence of sufficient semantic content 241
- Resolving complex anaphors 259
- Index 279
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Anaphors in text – Introduction vii
-
Anaphors in Cognitive, Text- and Discourse Linguistics
- Indirect anaphora in text 3
- Indirect pronominal anaphora in English and French 21
- Lexical anaphors in Danish and French 37
- Referential collaboration with computers 49
- Reflexivity and temporality in discourse deixis 69
- The function of complex anaphors in texts 81
- Metaphorical anaphors 103
-
The Syntax and Semantic of Anaphors
- Accessibility and definite noun phrases 123
- The non-subject bias of German demonstrative pronouns 145
- Anaphoric properties of German right dislocation 165
- Antecedents of diverse types 183
- Corpus-based and machine learning approaches to anaphora resolution 207
-
Neurolinguistic Studies
- Neuroimaging studies of coherence processes 225
- Reference assignment in the absence of sufficient semantic content 241
- Resolving complex anaphors 259
- Index 279
