Abstract
Although composing two words into a complex representation (e.g., “coffee cake”) is conceptually different from forming associations between a pair of words (e.g., “coffee, cake”), the brain regions supporting semantic composition have also been implicated for associative encoding. Here, we adopted a two-word magnetoencephalography (MEG) paradigm which varies compositionality (“French/Korean cheese” vs “France/Korea cheese”) and strength of association (“France/French cheese” vs “Korea/Korean cheese”) between the two words. We collected MEG data while 42 English speakers (24 females) viewed the two words successively in the scanner, and we applied both univariate regression analyses and multivariate pattern classification to the source estimates of the two words. We show that the left anterior temporal lobe (LATL) and left middle temporal lobe (LMTL) are distinctively modulated by semantic composition and semantic association. Specifically, the LATL is mostly sensitive to high-association compositional phrases, while the LMTL responds more to low-association compositional phrases. Pattern-based directed connectivity analyses further revealed a continuous information flow from the anterior to the middle temporal region, suggesting that the integration of adjective and noun properties originated earlier in the LATL is consistently delivered to the LMTL when the complex meaning is newly encountered. Taken together, our findings shed light into a functional dissociation within the left temporal lobe for compositional and distributional semantic processing.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Prior studies on semantic composition and associative encoding have been conducted independently within the subfields of language and memory, and they typically adopt similar two-word experimental paradigms. However, no direct comparison has been made on the neural substrates of the two processes. The current study relates the two streams of literature, and appeals to audiences in both subfields within cognitive neuroscience. Disentangling the neural computations for semantic composition and association also offers insight into modeling compositional and distributional semantics, which has been the subject of much discussion in natural language processing and cognitive science.
Highlights
When we hear a pair of words such as “coffee” and “cake,” we could form a complex meaning of a coffee-flavored cake, or recall an experience where coffee and cake occurred together
To further understand the information flow between the active brain regions, we conducted a directed connectivity analysis using the representational dissimilarity matrices (RDMs) of the MEG data within the functional regions of interest derived from the regression and the classification analyses. With this combination of methods, we show that the left anterior temporal lobe (LATL) is more sensitive to the contrast between high and low associative compositional phrases, while the left middle temporal gyrus (LMTG) is mainly driven by the distinction between low-association compositional phrases and low-association lists
Number of words is significant for reaction time, such that single word conditions are faster than two-word conditions (t = 6.55, Cohen’s d = 1.01, p = 0; see Fig. 3B)
Summary
When we hear a pair of words such as “coffee” and “cake,” we could form a complex meaning of a coffee-flavored cake, or recall an experience where coffee and cake occurred together. These two processes, though conceptually different, have been. A minimal adjective-noun phrase such as “red boat” elicits increased activity in the left anterior temporal lobe (LATL) compared with non-compositional word lists such as “cup, boat” (Bemis and Pylkkänen, 2011, 2013), and a similar effect has been observed for a language with the reverse word order (Westerlund et al, 2015) and for American sign language (Blanco-Elorrieta et al, 2018), suggesting a role of the LATL in conceptual combination.
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