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Abstract
The use of syntactic structures on a sentence level is a unique human ability. Functional
imaging studies have usually investigated syntax comprehension. However, language
production may be performed by different neuronal resources. We have investigated
syntax generation on a sentence level with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
BOLD contrast was measured while subjects articulated utterances aloud. In the active
condition 'sentence generation' (SG), subjects had to produce subject verb object
(SVO) sentences (e.g. "The child throws the ball") according to syntactically incomplete
stimuli (e.g. "throw ball child") presented visually. In the control condition 'word
reading' (WR), subjects had to read identical stimuli without completing the syntactic
structure, while in a second control condition 'sentence reading' (SR), subjects had
to read complete sentences. The semantic meaning of all expressions was obvious despite
the syntactically incomplete structure in conditions SG and WR. In both contrasts,
SG minus WR and SG minus SR, activation was mainly present in the left inferior frontal
(BA 44/45) and medial frontal (BA 6) gyri, the superior parietal lobule (BA 7) and
the right insula (BA 13). A region of interest analysis revealed significantly stronger
left-dominant activation in BA 45 compared to BA 44. Our data illustrates the crucial
involvement of the left BA 45 in syntactic encoding and is in line with more recent
imaging and brain lesion data on syntax processing on a sentence level, emphasizing
the involvement of a distributed left and right hemispheric network in syntax generation.