Neural activity associated with metaphor comprehension: spatial analysis

Though neuropsychological data indicate that the right hemisphere (RH) plays a major role in metaphor processing, other studies suggest that, at least during some phases of this processing, a RHadvantage may not exist. The present study explores, through a temporally agile neural signal¿the event-re...

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Detalhes bibliográficos
Autores: Sotillo, María, Carretié, Luis, Hinojosa, José Antonio, Tapia, Manuel, Mercado, Francisco, López, Sara, Albert, Jacobo
Formato: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2005
País:España
Recursos:Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Repositorio:BURJC-Digital. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
OAI Identifier:oai:burjcdigital.urjc.es:10115/3086
Acesso em linha:http://hdl.handle.net/10115/3086
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palavra-chave:Psicología
2411.11 Neurofisiología
Descrição
Resumo:Though neuropsychological data indicate that the right hemisphere (RH) plays a major role in metaphor processing, other studies suggest that, at least during some phases of this processing, a RHadvantage may not exist. The present study explores, through a temporally agile neural signal¿the event-related potentials (ERPs)¿, and through source-localization algorithms applied to ERP recordings, whether the crucial phase of metaphor comprehension presents or not a RH advantage. Participants (n = 24) were submitted to a S1¿S2 experimental paradigm. S1 consisted of visually presented metaphoric sentences (e.g., ¿Green lung of the city¿), followed by S2, which consisted of words that could (i.e., ¿Park¿) or could not (i.e., ¿Semaphore¿) be defined by S1. ERPs elicited by S2 were analyzed using temporal principal component analysis (tPCA) and source-localization algorithms. These analyses revealed that metaphorically related S2 words showed significantly higher N400 amplitudes than non-related S2 words. Source-localization algorithms showed differential activity between the two S2 conditions in the right middle/superior temporal areas. These results support the existence of an important RH contribution to (at least) one phase of metaphor processing and, furthermore, implicate the temporal cortex with respect to that contribution.