Uni¢ed in£ectional processing of regular and irregular verbs: a PETstudy

Psycholinguistic theories propose di¡erent models of in£ectional processing of regular and irregular verbs: dual mechanism models assume separate modules with lexical frequency sensitivity for irregular verbs. In contradistinction, connectionist models propose a uni¢ed process in a single module. We conducted a PET study using a 2 2 design with verb regularity and frequency.We found signi¢cantly shorter voice onset times for regular verbs and high frequency verbs irrespective of regularity. The PET data showed activations in inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45), nucleus lentiformis, thalamus, and superior medial cerebellum for both regular and irregular verbs but no dissociation for verb regularity. Our results support common processing components for regular and irregular verb in£ection. NeuroReport 15:533^537 c 2004 Lippincott Williams &Wilkins.

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