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  Continuous theta-burst stimulation demonstrates language-network-specific causal effects on syntactic processing

Gao, C., Wu, J., Cheng, Y., Ke, Y., Qu, X., Yang, M., et al. (2025). Continuous theta-burst stimulation demonstrates language-network-specific causal effects on syntactic processing. NeuroImage, 306: 121014. doi:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121014.

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 Creators:
Gao, Chenyang1, Author
Wu, Junjie2, Author
Cheng, Yao3, Author
Ke, Yuming2, Author
Qu, Xingfang3, Author
Yang, Mingchuan3, Author
Hartwigsen, Gesa4, 5, Author                 
Chen, Luyao3, 6, Author           
Affiliations:
1School of Global Education and Development, University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Peking, China, ou_persistent22              
2Key Research Base of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education, Academy of Psychology and Behavior, Tianjin Normal University, China, ou_persistent22              
3Max Planck Partner Group, School of International Chinese Language Education, Beijing Normal University, China, ou_persistent22              
4Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Max Planck Society, ou_3025665              
5Cognitive and Biological Psychology, Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, University of Leipzig, Germany, ou_persistent22              
6Department Neuropsychology, MPI for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Max Planck Society, Leipzig, DE, ou_634551              

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Free keywords: Continuous theta-burst stimulation; Function word; Language network; Representational similarity analysis; Syntactic processing
 Abstract: Hierarchical syntactic structure processing is proposed to be at the core of the human language faculty. Syntactic processing is supported by the left fronto-temporal language network, including a core area in the inferior frontal gyrus as well as its interaction with the posterior temporal lobe (i.e., "IFG + pTL"). Moreover, during complex syntactic processes, left IFG also interacts with executive control regions, such as the superior parietal lobule (SPL). However, the functional relevance of these network interactions is largely unclear. In particular, it remains to be demonstrated whether the language network plays a specific causal role in comparatively challenging syntactic processes, separable from the interaction between IFG and other general cognitive regions (i.e., "IFG + SPL" in the present study). The present study was designed to address this question. Thirty healthy adult Chinese native speakers underwent four continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) sessions: stimulation over IFG, stimulation over IFG + pTL, stimulation over IFG + SPL, and sham stimulation over IFG + irrelevant region in a pseudo-randomized order. In each session, participants were required to label the syntactic categories of jabberwocky sequences retaining real Chinese function words (e.g., "ムウ" is labeled as a verb phrase (VP): "[VP [V]N]", similar to "ziff-ed a wug", where "ziff" and "wug" are nonsense pseudowords, and the whole phrase is a VP). Contrasted with sham cTBS, change percentage of accuracy rates (ΔACCR%), reaction times (ΔRT%), and coefficient of variation (ΔCV%) were calculated and compared across conditions. First-order behavioral results showed a significantly higher ΔCV% after stimulating IFG + pTL compared to stimulating the IFG + SPL, indicating that syntactic processing became more unstable. Second-order representational similarity analysis (RSA) results revealed that cTBS effects on IFG + pTL selectively depended on the hierarchical embedding depth, a key measure of syntactic hierarchical complexity, whereas the effects on IFG + SPL were sensitive to the dependency length, a crucial index reflecting the working memory load. Collectively, these findings reveal the specific causal relevance of the language areas for hierarchical syntactic processing, separable from other general cognitive (such as working memory) capacities. These results shed light on the uniqueness and the specific causal role of the language network for the human language faculty, further supporting the causally separable view of the functional dissociation between the language network and the domain-general/multiple-demand network.

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Language(s): eng - English
 Dates: 2025-01-072024-10-182025-01-082025-01-092025-02-01
 Publication Status: Issued
 Pages: -
 Publishing info: -
 Table of Contents: -
 Rev. Type: -
 Identifiers: DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121014
Other: epub 2025
PMID: 39793638
 Degree: -

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Project name : -
Grant ID : 22CYY017
Funding program : -
Funding organization : National Social Science Foundation of China
Project name : -
Grant ID : 2021ZD0200500
Funding program : -
Funding organization : STI 2030—Major Projects+
Project name : -
Grant ID : 2019YFA0709503
Funding program : -
Funding organization : National Key R&D Program of China
Project name : -
Grant ID : ERC-COG-2021-101043747
Funding program : -
Funding organization : European Research Council (ERC)
Project name : -
Grant ID : HA 6314/4-2; HA 6314/10-1
Funding program : -
Funding organization : German Research Foundation (DFG)
Project name : -
Grant ID : 20230075
Funding program : -
Funding organization : University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

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Title: NeuroImage
Source Genre: Journal
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Publ. Info: Orlando, FL : Academic Press
Pages: - Volume / Issue: 306 Sequence Number: 121014 Start / End Page: - Identifier: ISSN: 1053-8119
CoNE: https://pure.mpg.de/cone/journals/resource/954922650166