RT Journal Article
T1 Negation and social avoidance in language recruits the right inferior frontal gyrus: a tDCS study
A1 García Marco, Enrique
A1 Nuez Trujillo, Aarón
A1 Padrón González, Iván
A1 Ravelo González, Yennifer
A1 Fu, Yang
A1 Marrero Hernández, Hipólito
AB Introduction: In the process of comprehension, linguistic negation inducesinhibition of negated scenarios. Numerous studies have highlighted the role ofthe right Inferior Frontal Gyrus (rIFG) - a key component of the inhibitory network- in negation processing. Social avoidance can be linguistically portrayed usingattitudinal verbs such as “exclude” vs. “include”, which inherently carry negativeconnotations. Consequently, we hypothesize that the interplay between explicitnegation and the implicit negativity of avoidance verbs can be modulated viatranscranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) targeting the rIFG.Methods: In our study, sixty-four participants read approach/avoidancesentences, which were either affirmative or negative, such as “Anne included(did not include) meat in her diet” vs. “Anne excluded (did not exclude) meat inher diet”. This reading task followed a 20-minute tDCS session. The sentenceswere sequentially displayed, and at 1500 ms post-sentence, a verb was shown– either the one previously mentioned or its semantic alternative counterpart(e.g., included vs. excluded).Results: Findings revealed that anodal stimulation intensifies the inhibitoryimpact of negation during sentence comprehension. Under anodal conditions,negative sentences led to extended reading times for the mentioned verbscompared to their affirmative counterparts, suggesting an increased inhibitoryeffect on the verb. Furthermore, in avoidance sentences, anodal stimulationresulted in reduced reading times for alternative verbs (e.g. “included”) innegative sentences compared to alternative verbs (e.g. “excluded”) in negatedapproach sentences.Discussion: As “avoidance” is semantically equivalent to “non-approach”,the inhibitory effect of negation is primarily applied to the implicit negation:NOT EXCLUDED = NOT→NOT (INCLUDED), which consequently activates therepresentation of the alternative verb making it more available. We further discussthese findings in light of the rIFG’s pivotal role in processing attitudinal verbs andlinguistic negation. This discussion is framed within the overarching context ofthe two-step model of negation processing, highlighting its significance in therealm of social communication.
PB Frontiers Media
SN 1664-1078 (electrónico)
YR 2024
FD 2024-05
LK https://hdl.handle.net/10272/25319
UL https://hdl.handle.net/10272/25319
LA eng
NO García-Marco, E., Nuez Trujillo, A., Padrón, I., Ravelo, Y., Fu, Y., & Marrero, H. (2024). Negation and social avoidance in language recruits the right inferior frontal gyrus: a tDCS study. In Frontiers in Psychology (Vol. 15). Frontiers Media SA. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1356030
NO This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (Grants PSI2017-84527-P and PDC2021-121850-I00. Concept test projects 2021).
DS Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Huelva
RD 1 jun 2026