The Semantics of Syntax: The Grounding of Transitive and Intransitive Constructions Wessel O. van Dam and Rutvik H. Desai Abstract ■ Embodied theories of language maintain that brain areas as- sociated with perception and action are also involved in the processing and representation of word meaning. A number of studies have shown that sentences with action verbs elicit ac- tivation within sensory–motor brain regions, arguing

Near-optimal Integration of Magnitude in the Human Parietal Cortex Hannah Tickle1, Maarten Speekenbrink1, Konstantinos Tsetsos2, Elizabeth Michael2, and Christopher Summerfield2 Abstract ■ Humans are often observed to make optimal sensorimotor decisions but to be poor judges of situations involving explicit estimation of magnitudes or numerical quantities. Per esempio, when drawing conclusions from data, humans tend to neglect the size of the sample from which it

Disruption of Broca’s Area Alters Higher-order Chunking Processing during Perceptual Sequence Learning Andrea Alamia1*, Oleg Solopchuk1*, Alessandro D’Ausilio2, Violette Van Bever1, Luciano Fadiga2,3, Etienne Olivier1,2, and Alexandre Zénon1 Abstract ■ Because Broca’s area is known to be involved in many cognitive functions, including language, music, and action pro- cessazione, several attempts have been made to propose a unify- ing theory of its role that emphasizes

Hemispheric Specialization within the Superior Anterior Temporal Cortex for Social and Nonsocial Concepts Gorana Pobric1, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph1, and Roland Zahn1,2 Abstract ■ Studies of semantic dementia, imaging, and repetitive TMS have suggested that the bilateral anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) underpin a modality-invariant representational hub within the semantic system. Questions remain, Tuttavia, regarding func- tional specialization across a variety of knowledge domains within the

Pupil Diameter Tracks the Exploration–Exploitation Trade-off during Analogical Reasoning and Explains Individual Differences in Fluid Intelligence Taylor R. Hayes and Alexander A. Petrov Abstract ■ The ability to adaptively shift between exploration and exploi- tation control states is critical for optimizing behavioral perfor- mance. Converging evidence from primate electrophysiology and computational neural modeling has suggested that this ability may be mediated by the broad norepinephrine

Motor System Interactions in the Beta Band Decrease during Loss of Consciousness Nicole C. Swann1, Coralie de Hemptinne1, Ryan B. Maher2, Catherine A. Stapleton3, Lingzhong Meng1, Adrian W. Gelb1, and Philip A. Starr1 Abstract ■ Communication between brain areas and how they are influ- enced by changes in consciousness are not fully understood. One hypothesis is that brain areas communicate via oscillatory processes, utilizing network-specific

Task-positive Functional Connectivity of the Default Mode Network Transcends Task Domain Amanda Elton and Wei Gao* Abstract ■ The default mode network (DMN) was first recognized as a set of brain regions demonstrating consistently greater activity during rest than during a multitude of tasks. Originally, this net- work was believed to interfere with goal-directed behavior based on its decreased activity during many such tasks. More

Attentional Capacity Limits Gap Detection during Concurrent Sound Segregation Ada W. S. Leung1,2, Pierre Jolicoeur3,4,5,6, and Claude Alain2,7 Abstract ■ Detecting a brief silent interval (cioè., a gap) is more difficult when listeners perceive two concurrent sounds rather than one in a sound containing a mistuned harmonic in otherwise in- tune harmonics. This impairment in gap detection may reflect the interaction of low-level encoding or

Dopamine and Consolidation of Episodic Memory: Timing Is Everything John Grogan1, Rafal Bogacz2, Demitra Tsivos3, Alan Whone1,3, and Elizabeth Coulthard1,3 Abstract ■ Memory consolidation underpins adaptive behavior and do- paminergic networks may be critical for prolonged, selective in- formation storage. To understand the time course of the dopaminergic contribution to memory consolidation in hu- mans, here we investigate the effect of dopaminergic medica- tion on

Medial Prefrontal Cortex: Adding Value to Imagined Scenarios Wen-Jing Lin, Aidan J. Horner, James A. Bisby, and Neil Burgess Abstract ■ The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is consistently impli- cated in the network supporting autobiographical memory. Whereas more posterior regions in this network have been re- lated to specific processes, such as the generation of visuospa- tial imagery or the association of items and contexts,

Flexible Coding of Task Rules in Frontoparietal Cortex: An Adaptive System for Flexible Cognitive Control Alexandra Woolgar, Soheil Afshar, Mark A. Williams, and Anina N. Rich Abstract ■ How do our brains achieve the cognitive control that is re- quired for flexible behavior? Several models of cognitive control propose a role for frontoparietal cortex in the structure and representation of task sets or rules. For

Brain Circuit for Cognitive Control Is Shared by Task and Language Switching Wouter De Baene1,2,3, Wouter Duyck1, Marcel Brass1, and Manuel Carreiras2,4 Abstract ■ Controlling multiple languages during speech production is believed to rely on functional mechanisms that are (at least partly) shared with domain-general cognitive control in early, highly proficient bilinguals. Recent neuroimaging results have indeed suggested a certain degree of neural overlap between

Attention and Temporal Expectations Modulate Power, Not Phase, of Ongoing Alpha Oscillations Rosanne M. van Diepen1, Michael X Cohen2, Damiaan Denys1,3, and Ali Mazaheri4 Abstract ■ The perception of near-threshold visual stimuli has been shown to depend in part on the phase (cioè., time in the cycle) of ongoing alpha (8–13 Hz) oscillations in the visual cortex relative to the onset of that stimulus. Tuttavia,

The Timing of Anterior Temporal Lobe Involvement in Semantic Processing Rebecca L. Jackson, Matthew A. Lambon Ralph, and Gorana Pobric Abstract ■ Despite indications that regions within the anterior tempo- ral lobe (ATL) might make a crucial contribution to pan-modal semantic representation, to date there have been no investiga- tions of when during semantic processing the ATL plays a crit- ical role. To test the

The Default Mode of Human Brain Function Primes the Intentional Stance Robert P. Spunt1, Meghan L. Meyer2, and Matthew D. Lieberman2 Abstract ■ Humans readily adopt an intentional stance to other people, comprehending their behavior as guided by unobservable mental states such as belief, desire, and intention. We used fMRI in healthy adults to test the hypothesis that this stance is primed by the de-

Patterns of Modulation in the Activity and Connectivity of Motor Cortex during the Repeated Generation of Movement Sequences Ella Gabitov1, David Manor1,2, and Avi Karni1,2 Abstract ■ It is not clear how the engagement of motor mnemonic processes is expressed in online brain activity. We scanned par- ticipants, using fMRI, during the paced performance of a finger- to-thumb opposition sequence (FOS), intensively trained a day

Structural Similarity Exerts Opposing Effects on Perceptual Differentiation and Categorization: An fMRI Study Christian Gerlach1, Xun Zhu2, and Jane E. Joseph2 Abstract ■ We manipulated the degree of structural similarity between objects that had to be matched either according to whether they represented the same object (perceptual matching) or belonged to the same category (conceptual matching). Behaviorally, per- formance improved as a linear function of

Semantic Advantage for Learning New Phonological Form Representations Erin Hawkins1, Duncan E. Astle2, and Kathleen Rastle1 Abstract ■ Learning a new word requires discrimination between a novel sequence of sounds and similar known words. We inves- tigated whether semantic information facilitates the acquisition of new phonological representations in adults and whether this learning enhancement is modulated by overnight consolidation. Participants learned novel spoken words either