Browsing by Author "Hsu, Chun-Hsien"

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Early MEG markers for reading Chinese phonograms: Evidence from radical combinability and consistency effects
(2014-12-01)
Hsu, Chun-Hsien
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Lee, Chia-Ying
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Tzeng, Ovid J. -L.
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生物科技學系
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Department of Biological Science and Technology
Studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging have indicated that activities in the left inferior frontal cortex and left temporoparietal regions are associated with orthographic neighborhood size. To elucidate the temporal dynamics of reading-related cortical activities, we manipulated two types of neighborhood properties for Chinese phonograms, phonetic combinability and consistency. By using source analysis techniques in combination with magnetoencephalography, the results demonstrated a combinability effect in the right fusiform gyrus at similar to 170 ms, which may reflect perceptual expertise in processing Chinese orthography. During 200 ms to 250 ms, the left anterior insula showed larger activity in reading small combinability characters than in reading large combinability characters, and the left inferior parietal cortex showed greater activity in reading low consistency characters than in reading high consistency characters. These results indicate that the left anterior insula cortex and left inferior parietal cortex may play important roles in the early stages of reading Chinese phonograms. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning transforms functional organization for Mandarin lexical tone discrimination in the brain: Evidence from a MEG experiment on second language learning
(2017-05-01)
Lee, Rose Ru-Whui
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Hsu, Chun-Hsien
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Lin, Sheng-Kai
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Wu, Denise Hsien
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Tzeng, Ovid Jyh-Lang
Brain neuroplasticity refers to anatomical changes and functional reorganization in the brain as the results of daily experience and new learning, and thus, should have profound implications for the changes in brain processing during and after bilingual learning. By using a MEG experiment of magnetic mismatch negativity (MMN)/magnetic mismatch field (MMNm) paradigm, the present study examined the brain wave patterns of beginning learners of learning Chinese as a second language (CSL), who enrolled in a short term digital learning program, and were found to have improved sensitivity in discrimination for lexical tones by developing a left lateralized dominance for processing Chinese lexical tones, just like native Mandarin speakers. In the experiment, the measurements of MMNm, with the contrast between large deviant T3/T1 and between small deviant T3/T2, were computed to index the changed patterns of brain processing before and after learning. Results of the MMNm data indicated that activation for large deviant contrast T3/T1 elicited earlier and significantly larger MMN than that of the small deviant contrast T3/T2, which is in line with previous studies done on native Chinese speakers. More importantly, in the comparison of pre-test and post-test time course, the amplitude of MMNm showed a significant increase in the left hemisphere after learning. The evidence indicated clearly a learning effect in the perception of linguistic features and a left lateralized neural network of processing Mandarin lexical tones. Moreover, in the source analysis, the left lateralized patterns of prefrontal generator (i.e., insula) and generator of auditory cortex (i.e., Heschl's Gyrus) changed after learning, which is also consistent with the native Mandarin speaker's response patterns. In sum, the present study provides neural evidence for a functional reorganization in the brains of second language learners, transforming the CSL learners to behave like native speakers in the perception of lexical tones even after just a short-term and non-specific training program. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Learning transforms functional organization for Mandarin lexical tone discrimination in the brain: Evidence from a MEG experiment on second language learning (vol 42, pg 124, 2017)
(2017-11-01)
Lee, Rose Ru-Whui
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Hsu, Chun-Hsien
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Lin, Sheng-Kai
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Wu, Denise Hsien
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Tzeng, Ovid Jyh-Lang