@PHDTHESIS{ 2019:2132866326,
 	title = {Syntactic processing of predicate argument structure in brazilian portuguese : a behavioral and neuroimaging study with healthy individuals},
 	year = {2019},
 	url = "http://tede2.pucrs.br/tede2/handle/tede/8483",
 	abstract = "Background Verbs have a crucial role in sentence production and connected speech. They carry both syntactic and semantic information. Different verb types show varying degrees of complexity, which have to do with their predicate argument structure (PAS). Several neuroimaging and behavioral studies have investigated the neural correlates of PAS in populations of individuals with aphasia and healthy subjects, both at single word and at sentence levels, with inconclusive results. Aims The present study aimed at investigating the neural correlates of PAS in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) (Study 1), as well as PAS production and comprehension at sentence level (Study 2). The underlying purpose was to understand the neurobiology of syntactic processing and lexical access in a sample of healthy highlyeducated adult native speakers of BP, and possibly contribute to language assessment and rehabilitation of Brazilian clinical populations with atypical language, such as people with dementia types such as Alzheimer?s Disease and Primary Progressive Aphasia, and language impairment following a stroke. Method This dissertation was organized into two separate studies. The participants were 16 (Study 1) and 21 (Study 2) healthy individuals, mean age 62.06 years (Study 1) and 60.95 years (Study 2), with high educational levels. Study 1 collected functional neuroimaging data (fMRI) during a computerized lexical decision task including four verb types (nonalternating unaccusatives, transitives, alternating unaccusatives, unergatives), and pseudoverbs. Three effects were calculated: effect of number of thematic roles, of number of thematic options, and of unaccusativity. Study 2 included a computerized sentence comprehension task, and an oral sentence production task, both motivated by pictures and the same four verb types as in the lexical decision task of Study 1. Results The results of Study 1 revealed clusters of activation in the left fusiform gyrus, left paracentral lobule, left supplementary motor area, and left superior temporal pole for the effect of number of thematic roles. There was activation in the left lingual gyrus for the effect of number of thematic options. Finally, for the effect of unaccusativity, there were clusters of activation in the left cuneus, left supplementary motor area, left precentral gyrus, and in the right middle frontal gyrus, right superior frontal gyrus, and right medial frontal gyrus. Regarding the speed of lexical access, no differences were found among verb types, only between verbs and pseudoverbs, and both number of letters and of syllables 
 impacted the overall reaction times (RTs). The results of Study 2 showed no significant differences among verb types in RTs for sentence comprehension, and no impact from either number of letters or of syllables on overall RTs. The production task, on the other hand, showed that healthy individuals with high educational levels also have difficulties following the instructions to a task, retrieving words, and may present a variety of nontarget responses that would be typical of populations with brain lesions. Conclusion This dissertation promoted a reflection on specific features of PAS that may characterize PAS processing and lexical access in BP, both behaviorally and from a neurolinguistic perspective. Our data also contributed in the sense of highlighting the dynamic nature of language, indicating that a plurality of responses should be expected from healthy samples of populations, even in groups with high educational levels. Such findings might guide clinicians to better assess lexical access, sentence comprehension and production in clinical groups, including brain-lesioned individuals.",
 	publisher = {Pontif?cia Universidade Cat?lica do Rio Grande do Sul},
 	scholl = {Programa de P?s-Gradua??o em Letras},
 	note = {Escola de Humanidades}
}