The Role of the Left Middle Temporal Gyrus in the Semantic Processing of Nouns and Verbs in Chinese: A Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Study

Abstract

Vocabulary processing is an important cognitive function of human beings. Nouns and verbs are core word classes that support languages, and the differences in neural mechanisms of semantic processing between the two word classes have received a lot of attention. An important language processing area, left middle temporal gyrus (LMTG), has attracted a lot of attention because of its significant role in language processing. However, there is controversy about the role of LMTG in the semantic processing of nouns and verbs, and few related studies were based on Chinese, an ideological language. With the aid of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), the current study investigated the role of LMTG in the semantic processing of Chinese nouns and verbs. Results showed that after receiving anodal-tDCS stimulation over LMTG, participants’ semantic processing performance of Chinese verbs was significantly promoted. At the same time, such changes were not observed in the noun and number processing. Meanwhile, compared with concrete verbs, participants’ semantic processing performance of abstract verbs was improved more. We concluded that LMTG played an important role in the semantic processing of Chinese verbs, especially abstract verbs.