An fMRI Study of L2 Processing of Korean Scrambling by Native E nglish Speakers

Haeil Park(Haeil Park) 한국영어학학회 2024 영어학연구 Vol.30 No.1

This study investigates neural correlates of L2 sentence comprehension, focusing on a particular syntactic operation of Korean scrambling and using a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Korean scrambled sentences known to undergo syntactic movement are presented to native English speakers who are highly proficient in L2 Korean in a visual comprehension task and compared to carefully matched control sentences. I found that scrambled sentences as compared with canonical sentences elicited increased activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus(or Broca’s area) and dorsal prefrontal cortex, which was consistent with a previous study utilizing a native Japanese visual comprehension task. This finding suggests that increased proficiency leads to native-like syntactic processing.

Neural correlates of the phonological complexity of Korean vowels

Park, Haeil 한국언어학회 2019 언어 Vol.44 No.1

This paper aims to explore how phonological complexity is neurally realized in an overt production task of Korean vowels. Another aim was to find out whether brain activation signals can be a potential measure of phonological complexity. Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanning was conducted on 10 native Korean speakers as they repeated acoustically presented non-lexical bisyllabic speech sounds beginning with ti- in which I manipulated articulatory complexity measured by vocalic durations (i.e., Complex 1: /ye/ >> Complex 2: /we/ >> Simple: /i/). Greater activity in the left inferior frontal gyrus (or Broca’s area) was found for Complex 1 stimuli relative to Complex 2 stimuli as well as for the Complex 2 utterances relative to Simple utterances. Given that Broca’s area is responsible for articulatory planning and/or phonological processing, more phonologically complex syllables will demand more articulo-phonological planning or rehearsal, these findings suggest that phonological complexity is mirrored in the neural processing of different phonological representations. Also, the articulation of relatively longer y-onglides than w-onglides were found to elicit more Broca’s area activation, which is in support of the hypothesis that fMRI signals can be an alternative complexity measure.

Age-specific Reference Intervals for Anti-Müllerian Hormone

Park Haeil 대한진단검사의학회 2022 Annals of Laboratory Medicine Vol.42 No.6

Age-related differences in the perception of Korean laryngeal contrasts

Haeil Park 한국음운론학회 2010 음성·음운·형태론 연구 Vol.16 No.1

This study aims to investigate whether there is any difference in the neural correlate of the comprehension of Korean laryngeal contrasts between younger and older Korean adults, and more specifically, to test if the increasingly popular “tonogenesis” hypothesis that Koreans may be undergoing a shift in Korean stop system can be supported by the neural findings of the present study. Five younger and five older Koreans were scanned while performing the auditory identification task of word-initial stops. The fMRI results revealed that there is a significant difference in activation between younger and older subjects. Specific activities unique to younger speakers were observed in the right Superior Temporal Gyrus, an area of the brain associated with pitch perception, while those unique to older speakers in the left Superior Temporal Gyrus, an area responsible for Voice Onset Time (VOT) perception. The results of this study uphold the claim that the laryngeal contrasts of Korean are increasingly distinguished less by VOT differences than by their effect on pitch in the following vowel.

Reorganization of neural circuits in the blind on diffusion direction analysis

Park, Hae-Jeong,Jeong, Seok-Oh,Kim, Eung Yeop,Kim, Joong il,Park, Haeil,Oh, Maeng-Keun,Kim, Dae-Jin,Kim, Sei Young,Lee, Sung Chul,Lee, Jong Doo Lippincott Williams Wilkins, Inc. 2007 NEUROREPORT - Vol.18 No.17

The neural reorganization of the visual cortex of early blind individuals was evaluated using voxel-by-voxel analysis of diffusion tensor images with regard to the diffusion direction, diffusion anisotropy and diffusivity. Reduced anisotropy and increased diffusivity was found mainly in the visual pathways of 18 early blind individuals as opposed to 25 sighted individuals. Alteration of the diffusion direction was detected not only in the visual pathways but also in nonvisual pathways such as the u fibers of the parietal lobe, the sagittal striatum, the pulvinar and the inferior and superior longitudinal fasciculi. The alteration of regional diffusion direction, reduced anisotropy and increased diffusivity in early blind individuals imply the neural reorganization for functional adaptation to the loss of visual input during the early development period.

The frontal and temporal lobe in the identification of laryngeal contrasts :

Park, Haeil,Park, Hae-Jeong,Iverson, Gregory K. Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer) - Lippincott Wi 2010 NEUROREPORT - Vol.21 No.6

<P>To investigate neuroanatomical correlates of the categorization of laryngeally contrastive phonemes, an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed during an auditory identification task in which 10 participants were distinguished among the three types of word-initial stop phonemes, either lax, tense, or aspirated. Perception of the aspirated consonant series elicited significantly higher activation in the inferior frontal gyrus as compared with both the lax and tense series, and the tense series showed significantly higher activation in the left superior temporal gyrus in comparison with either the lax or the aspirated series. The results show differential involvement of frontal and temporal lobe language areas for distinct phonemic contrasts, supporting a linguistic feature formulation model that posits variably specified phonological representations for the three-way distinctions.</P>

Anti-inflammatory activity of the synthetic C-C biflavonoids

Park, Haeil,Kim, Young Hoon,Chang, Hyeun Wook,Kim, Hyun Pyo Wiley (Blackwell Publishing) 2006 Journal of pharmacy and pharmacology Vol.58 No.12

Internal Quality Control Data of Urine Reagent Strip Tests and Derivation of Control Rules Based on Sigma Metrics

Park Haeil,Ko Younsuk 대한진단검사의학회 2021 Annals of Laboratory Medicine Vol.41 No.5

Background: Urine reagent strip test (URST) results are semi-quantitative; therefore, the precision of URSTs is evaluated as the proportion of categorical results from repeated measurements of a sample that are concordant with an expected result. However, URSTs have quantitative readout values before ordinal results challenging statistical monitoring for internal quality control (IQC) with control rules. This study aimed to determine the sigma metric of URSTs and derive appropriate control rules for IQC. Methods: The URiSCAN Super Plus fully automated urine analyzer (YD Diagnostics, Yongin, Korea) was used for URSTs. Change in reflectance rate (change %R) data from IQC for URSTs performed between November 2018 and May 2020 were analyzed. Red blood cells, bilirubin, urobilinogen, ketones, protein, glucose, leukocytes, and pH were measured from 2–3 levels of control materials. The total allowable error (TEa) for a grade was the difference in midpoints of a predefined change %R range between two adjacent grades. The sigma metric was calculated as TEa/SD. Sigma metric-based control rules were determined with Westgard EZ Rules 3 software (Westgard QC, Madison, WI, USA). Results: Seven out of the eight analytes had a sigma metric >4 in the control materials with a negative grade (−), which were closer to the cut-offs. Corresponding control rules ranged from 12.5s to 13.5s. Conclusions: Although the URST is a semi-quantitative test, statistical IQC can be performed using the readout values. According to the sigma metric, control rules recommended for URST IQC in routine clinical practice are 12.5s to 13.5s.

The Production of English Lexical Levels: An fMRI Study

Haeil Park 한신대학교 신학사상연구소 2012 신학사상 Vol.0 No.158

The present study aimed to investigate whether and, if so, how the production of English lexical levels is differentially processed in the brain using an functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging(fMRI) technique. Native English speakers’ word generation task involving level 1 suffixed words and level 2 suffixed ones elicited greater effects in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the left superior temporal gyrus (STG) in the production of level 2 words relative to their level 1 counterparts while the left IFG was not activated for the level 1 forms. Given that the left IFG is known for its role in a rule-based, morphological analysis and the STG plays an important part in lexical retrieval, the results suggest that level 2 words are produced through a recognition of their stem + suffix configuration, while level 1 words are generated as a whole with little access to their internal structure, consistent with the dual-system (OS) model. These are also comparable to our previous perception study results, which lends support to the Motor Theory of Speech Perception postulating that perception mirrors production.

Synthesis of Heterocyclic Substituted Pyridine Analogs as Potential Therapeutics for Neurodegenerative Diseases

(Haeil Park),(Peter A . Crooks) 한국응용약물학회 1999 학술대회 Vol.1999 No.1