Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31210568›Full record

ArticleCognitive neuropsychology

Direct electrical stimulation of the left frontal aslant tract disrupts sentence planning without affecting articulation.

Benjamin L Chernoff, Max H Sims, Susan O Smith, Webster H Pilcher, Bradford Z Mahon

Open access · greenAbstract readCase Reports
In one paragraph

Article in Cognitive neuropsychology. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
3.1field-weighted citation impact, top 8% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

23 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 48 citations in OpenAlex.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Benjamin L ChernoffDepartment of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh , PA , USA.
Max H SimsDepartment of Neurology, University of Rochester , Rochester , NY , USA.
Susan O SmithDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of Rochester Medical Center , Rochester , NY , USA.
Webster H PilcherDepartment of Neurosurgery, University of Rochester Medical Center , Rochester , NY , USA.
Bradford Z MahonDepartment of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University , Pittsburgh , PA , USA.ORCID 0000-0002-2018-4797
University of Rochester Medical Center · USCarnegie Mellon University · USUniversity of Rochester · US

Funding

VISUAL SCIENCE RESEARCH CTR SUPPORTP30EY001319 · NEI · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · PI Susana Marcos · 1985 to 2026
$17.5M
Representational Similarity Spaces for Objects and Actions Before and After Brain Tumor SurgeryR01NS089609 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · PI Constantinos George Hadjipanayis, BRADFORD Zack MAHON · 2015 to 2026
$3.3M
Access to parietal action representations after stroke lesions in visual cortexR01EY028535 · NEI · CARNEGIE-MELLON UNIVERSITY · PI MAHON, BRADFORD ZACK, SAHIN, BOGACHAN · 2019 to 2022
$1.7M
Cortical organization of object knowledge before and after brain surgeryR21NS076176 · NINDS · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · PI MAHON, BRADFORD ZACK · 2012 to 2013
$410k
NEI NIH HHS P30 EY001319NEI NIH HHS R01 EY028535NINDS NIH HHS R01 NS089609NINDS NIH HHS R21 NS076176
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Sentence production involves mapping from deep structures that specify meaning and thematic roles to surface structures that specify the order and sequencing of production ready elements. We propose that the frontal aslant tract is a key pathway for sequencing complex actions with deep hierarchical structure. In the domain of language, and primarily with respect to the left FAT, we refer to this as the 'Syntagmatic Constraints On Positional Elements' (SCOPE) hypothesis. One prediction made by the SCOPE hypothesis is that disruption of the frontal aslant tract should disrupt sentence production at grammatical phrase boundaries, with no disruption of articulatory processes.  We test this prediction in a patient undergoing direct electrical stimulation mapping of the frontal aslant tract during an awake craniotomy to remove a left frontal brain tumor. We found that stimulation of the left FAT prolonged inter-word durations at the start of grammatical phrases, while inter-word durations internal to noun phrases were unaffected, and there was no effect on intra-word articulatory duration. These results provide initial support for the SCOPE hypothesis, and motivate novel directions for future research to explore the functions of this recently discovered component of the language system.

Indexed as

Brain MappingElectric StimulationFrontal LobeHumansLanguageMaleMiddle Agedaphasiadiffusion MRIdirect electrical stimulationFrontal aslant tractsentence production

Identifiers

PMID31210568
PMCPMC6744286
OpenAlexW2953376748

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.