Word Movies (Past Tense Comprehension)

PI Name: Jennifer Vannest Jennifer.Vannest@cchmc.org

Areas: ?????

Program: DirectRT

Durations: 6 min. 30 sec

Special Equipment: Headphones, Visual presentation system

Description: A block paradigm mapping verb tense processing, contrasts between the following conditions: regular past tense verb (looked), irregular past tense verb (took), overregular past tense verb (taked), present tense (smile) and rest. Visual stimulus of a speaker is presented. The rest condition is a still frame of the speaker. The subject is prompted to judge whether the verb is correct (a happy face) or incorrect (a silly face) via a button push after each verb presentation. The paradigm is presented in three “sets”. Each begins with a 10 sec. rest period followed by five blocks of conditions. Each block has six, 4 sec. stimulus each: 1.25 sec. of stimulus, 2.25 sec. of response and .5 sec. of trial delay. Each block has a single stimulus (nonword) not matching the condition to avoid predictability artifact. This results in 390 sec. of scanning and 195 volumes at a TR of 2 sec. Behavioral data is used for additional analysis.