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Wu W, Hoffman P. Verbal semantic expertise is associated with reduced functional connectivity between left and right anterior temporal lobes. Cereb Cortex 2024; 34:bhae256. [PMID: 38897815 PMCID: PMC11186671 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhae256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/11/2024] [Revised: 05/30/2024] [Accepted: 06/04/2024] [Indexed: 06/21/2024] Open
Abstract
The left and right anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) encode semantic representations. They show graded hemispheric specialization in function, with the left ATL contributing preferentially to verbal semantic processing. We investigated the cognitive correlates of this organization, using resting-state functional connectivity as a measure of functional segregation between ATLs. We analyzed two independent resting-state fMRI datasets (n = 86 and n = 642) in which participants' verbal semantic expertise was measured using vocabulary tests. In both datasets, people with more advanced verbal semantic knowledge showed weaker functional connectivity between left and right ventral ATLs. This effect was highly specific. It was not observed for within-hemisphere connections between semantic regions (ventral ATL and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), though it was found for left-right IFG connectivity in one dataset). Effects were not found for tasks probing semantic control, nonsemantic cognition, or face recognition. Our results suggest that hemispheric specialization in the ATLs is not an innate property but rather emerges as people develop highly detailed verbal semantic representations. We speculate that this effect is a consequence of the left ATL's greater connectivity with left-lateralized written word recognition regions, which causes it to preferentially represent meaning for advanced vocabulary acquired primarily through reading.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Wu
- School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, United Kingdom
- Department of Music, Durham University, Palace Green, Durham DH1 3RL, United Kingdom
| | - Paul Hoffman
- School of Philosophy, Psychology & Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, 7 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JZ, United Kingdom
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Gonzalez Alam TRJ, Cruz Arias J, Jefferies E, Smallwood J, Leemans A, Marino Davolos J. Ventral and dorsal aspects of the inferior frontal-occipital fasciculus support verbal semantic access and visually-guided behavioural control. Brain Struct Funct 2024; 229:207-221. [PMID: 38070006 PMCID: PMC10827863 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-023-02729-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2022] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 01/31/2024]
Abstract
The Inferior Frontal Occipital Fasciculus (IFOF) is a major anterior-to-posterior white matter pathway in the ventral human brain that connects parietal, temporal and occipital regions to frontal cortex. It has been implicated in a range of functions, including language, semantics, inhibition and the control of action. The recent research shows that the IFOF can be sub-divided into a ventral and dorsal branch, but the functional relevance of this distinction, as well as any potential hemispheric differences, are poorly understood. Using DTI tractography, we investigated the involvement of dorsal and ventral subdivisions of the IFOF in the left and right hemisphere in a response inhibition task (Go/No-Go), where the decision to respond or to withhold a prepotent response was made on the basis of semantic or non-semantic aspects of visual inputs. The task also varied the presentation modality (whether concepts were presented as written words or images). The results showed that the integrity of both dorsal and ventral IFOF in the left hemisphere were associated with participants' inhibition performance when the signal to stop was meaningful and presented in the verbal modality. This effect was absent in the right hemisphere. The integrity of dorsal IFOF was also associated with participants' inhibition efficiency in difficult perceptually guided decisions. This pattern of results indicates that left dorsal IFOF is implicated in the domain-general control of visually-guided behaviour, while the left ventral branch might interface with the semantic system to support the control of action when the inhibitory signal is based on meaning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tirso R J Gonzalez Alam
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, York, UK.
- School of Psychology, Bangor University, Bangor, UK.
| | | | - Elizabeth Jefferies
- Department of Psychology and York Neuroimaging Centre, University of York, York, UK
| | | | - Alexander Leemans
- Image Sciences Institute, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Sasaki T, Makris N, Shenton ME, Savadjiev P, Rathi Y, Eckbo R, Bouix S, Yeterian E, Dickerson BC, Kubicki M. Structural connectivity of cytoarchitectonically distinct human left temporal pole subregions: a diffusion MRI tractography study. Front Neuroanat 2023; 17:1240545. [PMID: 38090110 PMCID: PMC10713846 DOI: 10.3389/fnana.2023.1240545] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2023] [Accepted: 10/09/2023] [Indexed: 02/01/2024] Open
Abstract
The temporal pole (TP) is considered one of the major paralimbic cortical regions, and is involved in a variety of functions such as sensory perception, emotion, semantic processing, and social cognition. Based on differences in cytoarchitecture, the TP can be further subdivided into smaller regions (dorsal, ventrolateral and ventromedial), each forming key nodes of distinct functional networks. However, the brain structural connectivity profile of TP subregions is not fully clarified. Using diffusion MRI data in a set of 31 healthy subjects, we aimed to elucidate the comprehensive structural connectivity of three cytoarchitectonically distinct TP subregions. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) analysis suggested that major association fiber pathways such as the inferior longitudinal, middle longitudinal, arcuate, and uncinate fasciculi provide structural connectivity to the TP. Further analysis suggested partially overlapping yet still distinct structural connectivity patterns across the TP subregions. Specifically, the dorsal subregion is strongly connected with wide areas in the parietal lobe, the ventrolateral subregion with areas including constituents of the default-semantic network, and the ventromedial subregion with limbic and paralimbic areas. Our results suggest the involvement of the TP in a set of extensive but distinct networks of cortical regions, consistent with its functional roles.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takeshi Sasaki
- Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Center for Morphometric Analysis, Department of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Radiology Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, United States
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Tokyo Medical and Dental University Graduate School, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Nikos Makris
- Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Center for Morphometric Analysis, Department of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Radiology Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, United States
| | - Martha E. Shenton
- Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Peter Savadjiev
- Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Yogesh Rathi
- Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Ryan Eckbo
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, United States
| | - Sylvain Bouix
- Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Software Engineering and Information Technology, École de Technologie Supérieure, Montréal, QC, Canada
| | - Edward Yeterian
- Department of Psychology, Colby College, Waterville, ME, United States
| | - Bradford C. Dickerson
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, United States
| | - Marek Kubicki
- Psychiatry Neuroimaging Laboratory, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Center for Morphometric Analysis, Department of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Radiology Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA, United States
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Rahimi S, Farahibozorg SR, Jackson R, Hauk O. Task modulation of spatiotemporal dynamics in semantic brain networks: An EEG/MEG study. Neuroimage 2022; 246:118768. [PMID: 34856376 PMCID: PMC8784826 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.118768] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/30/2021] [Revised: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 11/29/2021] [Indexed: 11/02/2022] Open
Abstract
How does brain activity in distributed semantic brain networks evolve over time, and how do these regions interact to retrieve the meaning of words? We compared spatiotemporal brain dynamics between visual lexical and semantic decision tasks (LD and SD), analysing whole-cortex evoked responses and spectral functional connectivity (coherence) in source-estimated electroencephalography and magnetoencephalography (EEG and MEG) recordings. Our evoked analysis revealed generally larger activation for SD compared to LD, starting in primary visual area (PVA) and angular gyrus (AG), followed by left posterior temporal cortex (PTC) and left anterior temporal lobe (ATL). The earliest activation effects in ATL were significantly left-lateralised. Our functional connectivity results showed significant connectivity between left and right ATL, PTC and right ATL in an early time window, as well as between left ATL and IFG in a later time window. The connectivity of AG was comparatively sparse. We quantified the limited spatial resolution of our source estimates via a leakage index for careful interpretation of our results. Our findings suggest that the different demands on semantic information retrieval in lexical and semantic decision tasks first modulate visual and attentional processes, then multimodal semantic information retrieval in the ATLs and finally control regions (PTC and IFG) in order to extract task-relevant semantic features for response selection. Whilst our evoked analysis suggests a dominance of left ATL for semantic processing, our functional connectivity analysis also revealed significant involvement of right ATL in the more demanding semantic task. Our findings demonstrate the complementarity of evoked and functional connectivity analysis, as well as the importance of dynamic information for both types of analyses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Setareh Rahimi
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, United Kingdom.
| | - Seyedeh-Rezvan Farahibozorg
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Nuffield Department of Neurosciences, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Rebecca Jackson
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, United Kingdom
| | - Olaf Hauk
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, 15 Chaucer Road, Cambridge CB2 7EF, United Kingdom
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Shao X, Mckeown B, Karapanagiotidis T, Vos de Wael R, Margulies DS, Bernhardt B, Smallwood J, Krieger-Redwood K, Jefferies E. Individual differences in gradients of intrinsic connectivity within the semantic network relate to distinct aspects of semantic cognition. Cortex 2022; 150:48-60. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.01.019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/22/2021] [Revised: 12/20/2021] [Accepted: 01/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Gonzalez Alam TRDJ, Mckeown BLA, Gao Z, Bernhardt B, Vos de Wael R, Margulies DS, Smallwood J, Jefferies E. A tale of two gradients: differences between the left and right hemispheres predict semantic cognition. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 227:631-654. [PMID: 34510282 PMCID: PMC8844158 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02374-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2021] [Accepted: 08/27/2021] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Decomposition of whole-brain functional connectivity patterns reveals a principal gradient that captures the separation of sensorimotor cortex from heteromodal regions in the default mode network (DMN). Functional homotopy is strongest in sensorimotor areas, and weakest in heteromodal cortices, suggesting there may be differences between the left and right hemispheres (LH/RH) in the principal gradient, especially towards its apex. This study characterised hemispheric differences in the position of large-scale cortical networks along the principal gradient, and their functional significance. We collected resting-state fMRI and semantic, working memory and non-verbal reasoning performance in 175 + healthy volunteers. We then extracted the principal gradient of connectivity for each participant, tested which networks showed significant hemispheric differences on the gradient, and regressed participants’ behavioural efficiency in tasks outside the scanner against interhemispheric gradient differences for each network. LH showed a higher overall principal gradient value, consistent with its role in heteromodal semantic cognition. One frontotemporal control subnetwork was linked to individual differences in semantic cognition: when it was nearer heteromodal DMN on the principal gradient in LH, participants showed more efficient semantic retrieval—and this network also showed a strong hemispheric difference in response to semantic demands but not working memory load in a separate study. In contrast, when a dorsal attention subnetwork was closer to the heteromodal end of the principal gradient in RH, participants showed better visual reasoning. Lateralization of function may reflect differences in connectivity between control and heteromodal regions in LH, and attention and visual regions in RH.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Zhiyao Gao
- Department of Psychology, University of York, York, UK
| | - Boris Bernhardt
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Reinder Vos de Wael
- McConnell Brain Imaging Centre, Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Daniel S Margulies
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) and Université de Paris, INCC UMR 8002, Paris, France
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