Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39505932›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2024

Syntactic and semantic specialization in 9- to 10-year-old children during auditory sentence processing.

Jin Wang, Neelima Wagley, Mabel Rice, Nadine Gaab, James R Booth

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

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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

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Neuro-cognitive development of semantic and syntactic bootstrapping in 7- to 9-year-old children.Cortex; a journal devoted to the study of the nervous system and behavior · 2025
    Article
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.

Jin WangSchool of Education and Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA. jwang@seis.ucla.edu.
Neelima WagleySpeech and Hearing Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA.
Mabel RiceChild Language Doctoral Program, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA.
Nadine GaabGraduate School of Education, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA.
James R BoothDepartment of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.

Funding

Overall: Eunice Kennedy Shriver Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center at VanderbiltP50HD103537 · NICHD · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER · PI Jeffrey L Neul · 2020 to 2026
$10.3M
Interactive Specialization in Language ImpairmentR01DC013274 · NIDCD · VANDERBILT UNIVERSITY · PI BOOTH, JAMES R · 2014 to 2018
$3.2M
NICHD NIH HHS P50 HD103537NIDCD NIH HHS R01 DC013274
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Prior literature has debated whether syntax is separable from semantics in the brain. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and multi-voxel pattern analysis, our previous studies investigated brain activity during morpho-syntactic versus semantic processing. These studies only detected semantic specialization in activation patterns and no syntactic specialization in 5- to 6-year-old and 7- to 8-year-old children. To examine if older children who have mastered morpho-syntactic skills would show specialization for syntax, the current study examined 64 9- to 10-year-old children using the same design and analyses. We observed that only the left IFG pars opercularis was sensitive to syntactic but not semantic information, supporting the hypothesis that this region serves as a core region for syntax. In addition, the left STG which has been implicated in the integration of semantics and syntax, as well as the left MTG and IFG pars triangularis which have been implicated in semantics, were sensitive to both semantic and syntactic information with no evidence of specialization. These findings suggest a lexicalized view of syntax, which argues that semantically sensitive regions are also critical regions for syntactic processing during language comprehension.

Indexed as

Brain MappingMagnetic Resonance ImagingSemanticsBrainChildComprehensionFemaleHumansLanguageMaleSpeech PerceptionDevelopmentalMulti-voxel pattern analysisSemanticsSentence processingSyntax

Identifiers

PMID39505932
PMCPMC11541780

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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.