Form and content: Dissociating syntax and semantics in sentence comprehension

The distinction between syntax (sentence form) and semantics (sentence mean ing) is fundamental to our thinking about language. Whether and where this distinction is represented at the neural level is still a matter of conside rable debate. In the present fMRI study, we examined the neural correlates of syntactic and semantic functions using an innovative activation paradigm specifically designed to unequivocally disentangle syntactic from lexicose mantic aspects of sentence processing. Our findings strongly indicate that a part of Broca's area (BA 44, pars opercularis) is critically implicated i n processing syntactic information, whereas the lower portion of the left i nferior frontal gyrus (BA 47, pars orbitalis) is selectively involved in pr ocessing the semantic aspects of a sentence.