eprintid: 2881
rev_number: 6
eprint_status: archive
userid: 69
dir: disk0/00/00/28/81
datestamp: 2015-11-10 13:05:06
lastmod: 2016-09-13 09:51:33
status_changed: 2015-11-10 13:05:06
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Romagno, Domenica
creators_name: Rota, Giuseppina
creators_name: Ricciardi, Emiliano
creators_name: Pietrini, Pietro
creators_id: 
creators_id: 
creators_id: emiliano.ricciardi@imtlucca.it
creators_id: pietro.pietrini@imtlucca.it
title: Where the brain appreciates the final state of an event: The neural correlates of telicity
ispublished: pub
subjects: RC0321
divisions: CSA
full_text_status: none
keywords: Telicity, Event knowledge, Verb processing, Left middle temporal gyrus, Semantics, fMRI
abstract: In this study we investigated whether the human brain distinguishes between telic events that necessarily entail a specified endpoint (e.g., reaching), and atelic events with no delimitation or final state (e.g., chasing). We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to explore the patterns of neural response associated with verbs denoting telic and atelic events, and found that the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG), an area consistently engaged by verb processing tasks, showed a significantly higher activation for telic compared with atelic verbs. These results provide the first evidence that the human brain appreciates whether events lead to an end or a change of state. Moreover, they provide an explanation for the long-debated question of which verb properties modulate neural activity in the left pMTG, as they indicate that, independently of any other semantic property, verb processing and event knowledge in this area are specifically related to the representation of telicity.
date: 2012
date_type: published
publication: Brain and Language
volume: 123
number: 1
publisher: Elsevier
pagerange: 68 - 74
id_number: 10.1016/j.bandl.2012.06.003
refereed: TRUE
issn: 0093-934X
official_url: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0093934X12001083
citation:   Romagno, Domenica and Rota, Giuseppina and Ricciardi, Emiliano and Pietrini, Pietro  Where the brain appreciates the final state of an event: The neural correlates of telicity.  Brain and Language, 123 (1).  68 - 74.  ISSN 0093-934X      (2012)