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Tomasino B, Pellitteri G, Bax F, Marini A, Surcinelli A, Gigli GL, Valente M. Multisensory mental representation in covid-19 patients and the possibility of long-lasting gustatory and olfactory dysfunction in the CNS. Sci Rep 2022; 12:7340. [PMID: 35513422 PMCID: PMC9069215 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-11119-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2021] [Accepted: 04/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Gustatory (GD) and olfactory (OD) dysfunctions are the most frequent neurological manifestations of COVID-19. We used mental imagery as an experimental psychological paradigm to access olfactory and gustatory brain representations in 80 Italian COVID-19 adult patients (68.75% reported both OD and GD). COVID-19 patients with OD + GD have a significantly and selectively decreased vividness of odor and taste imagery, indicating that COVID-19 has an effect on their chemosensory mental representations. OD + GD length and type influenced the status of mental chemosensory representations. OD + GD were become all COVID-19 negative at the time of testing. Data suggest that patients are not explicitly aware of long-term altered chemosensory processing. However, differences emerge when their chemosensory function is implicitly assessed using self-ratings. Among patients developing OD + GD, self-ratings of chemosensory function (taste, flavor) were significantly lower as compared to those who did not. At the level of mental representation, such differences can be further detected, in terms of a reduced ability to mentally activate an odor or taste mental image. Our study shows that COVID-19 infection not only frequently causes hyposmia and dysgeusia, but that may also alter the mental representations responsible for olfactory and gustatory perception.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Tomasino
- Scientific Institute IRCCS "Eugenio Medea", Polo Regionale del Friuli Venezia Giulia, Via della Bontà, 7, 33078, San Vito Al Tagliamento, PN, Italy.
| | - Gaia Pellitteri
- Clinical Neurology, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.,Neurology Unit, Department of Medicine (DAME), University of Udine, Udine, Italy
| | - Francesco Bax
- Clinical Neurology, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.,Neurology Unit, Department of Medicine (DAME), University of Udine, Udine, Italy
| | - Alessandro Marini
- Clinical Neurology, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.,Neurology Unit, Department of Medicine (DAME), University of Udine, Udine, Italy
| | - Andrea Surcinelli
- Clinical Neurology, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.,Neurology Unit, Department of Medicine (DAME), University of Udine, Udine, Italy
| | - Gian Luigi Gigli
- Clinical Neurology, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.,Neurology Unit, Department of Medicine (DAME), University of Udine, Udine, Italy
| | - Mariarosaria Valente
- Clinical Neurology, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Udine, Italy.,Neurology Unit, Department of Medicine (DAME), University of Udine, Udine, Italy
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2
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Real-Time Neuropsychological Testing of sensorimotor cognition during awake surgery in pre-central and post-somatosensory areas. World Neurosurg 2022; 164:e599-e610. [DOI: 10.1016/j.wneu.2022.05.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2022] [Revised: 05/04/2022] [Accepted: 05/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022]
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3
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Tomasino B, Del Negro I, Garbo R, Gigli GL, D'Agostini S, Valente MR. Multisensory mental imagery of fatigue: Evidence from an fMRI study. Hum Brain Mapp 2022; 43:3143-3152. [PMID: 35315967 PMCID: PMC9189079 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25839] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/21/2022] [Accepted: 03/08/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
Functional imaging experimental designs measuring fatigue, defined as a subjective lack of physical and/or mental energy characterizing a wide range of neurologic conditions, are still under development. Nineteen right‐handed healthy subjects (9 M and 10 F, mean age 43.15 ± 8.34 years) were evaluated by means of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), asking them to perform explicit, first‐person, mental imagery of fatigue‐related multisensory sensations. Short sentences designed to assess the principal manifestations of fatigue from the Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory were presented. Participants were asked to imagine the corresponding sensations (Sensory Imagery, SI). As a control, they had to imagine the visual scenes (Visual Imagery, VI) described in short phrases. The SI task (vs. VI task) differentially activated three areas: (i) the precuneus, which is involved in first‐person perspective taking; (ii) the left superior temporal sulcus, which is a multisensory integration area; and (iii) the left inferior frontal gyrus, known to be involved in mental imagery network. The SI fMRI task can be used to measure processing involved in mental imagery of fatigue‐related multisensory sensations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Tomasino
- Scientific Institute IRCCS "Eugenio Medea", Polo FVG, Pasian di Prato (UD), Italy
| | - Ilaria Del Negro
- Clinical Neurology, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Presidio Ospedaliero Santa Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy
| | - Riccardo Garbo
- Clinical Neurology, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Presidio Ospedaliero Santa Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy
| | - Gian Luigi Gigli
- Clinical Neurology, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Presidio Ospedaliero Santa Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy.,Neurology Unit, Department of Medicine (DAME), University of Udine, Udine, Italy
| | - Serena D'Agostini
- Neuroradiology, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Presidio Ospedaliero Santa Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy
| | - Maria Rosaria Valente
- Clinical Neurology, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale, Presidio Ospedaliero Santa Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy.,Neurology Unit, Department of Medicine (DAME), University of Udine, Udine, Italy
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4
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Guarracino I, Ius T, Skrap M, Tomasino B. Meningioma can lead to pre-operative cognitive alterations even if localized in sensorimotor areas: A multimodal MRI-neuropsychological study in a series of 46 patients. Neuropsychologia 2020; 137:107288. [PMID: 31790726 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.107288] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2019] [Revised: 11/07/2019] [Accepted: 11/28/2019] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
Abstract
Brain tumors are generally associated with cognitive changes. Little is known about cognition in patients with meningioma - a lesion that usually shifts and compresses the brain parenchyma with a low probability of infiltrate it. We investigated the cognitive functioning in a consecutive series of 46 patients with a meningioma in the sensorimotor area in the left (LH, N = 27) or in the right (RH, N = 19) hemisphere. All the patients underwent a pre-operative neuropsychological assessment and structural MRI. Clinical symptoms varied between LH and RH meningioma patients. Impaired performance was seen in naming (19.23% noun and 35% verb naming), short-term (18.18%) and working (14.24%) memory in the LH group, and in visuo-spatial tasks (25% neglect, 21.42% visuospatial planning) in the RH group. Both groups were impaired on a sensorimotor mental imagery task (LH, 66.66% of the LH 70% of the RH meningioma patients), while only the RH meningioma group was impaired on the visuo-spatial mental imagery task. The lesion MRI maximum overlap occurred in the postcentral and paracentral lobules. Edema was maximally localized on the left superior longitudinal fasciculus and the superior part of the right superior corona radiata. We found that only the meningioma mass, and not the edema, is a predictive variable in determining patients' performance. Patients with meningioma could present with cognitive alterations at pre-surgical evaluation even if the meningioma occurs in sensorimotor areas. In the present series, a large meningioma vs. a large edema is more relevant for cognitive performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ilaria Guarracino
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, San Vito al Tagliamento, Pordenone, Italy
| | - Tamara Ius
- Unità Operativa di Neurochirurgia, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Integrata S. Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy
| | - Miran Skrap
- Unità Operativa di Neurochirurgia, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Integrata S. Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy
| | - Barbara Tomasino
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, San Vito al Tagliamento, Pordenone, Italy.
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5
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Argiris G, Budai R, Maieron M, Ius T, Skrap M, Tomasino B. Neurosurgical lesions to sensorimotor cortex do not impair action verb processing. Sci Rep 2020; 10:523. [PMID: 31949237 PMCID: PMC6965077 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-57361-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/23/2019] [Accepted: 12/23/2019] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
There is ongoing debate regarding the role that sensorimotor regions play in conceptual processing, with embodied theories supporting their direct involvement in processing verbs describing body part movements. Patient lesion studies examining a causal role for sensorimotor activation in conceptual task performance have suffered the caveat of lesions being largely diffuse and extensive beyond sensorimotor cortices. The current study addresses this limitation in reporting on 20 pre-operative neurosurgical patients with focal lesion to the pre- and post-central area corresponding to somatotopic representations. Patients were presented with a battery of neuropsychological tests and experimental tasks tapping into motor imagery and verbal conceptual verb processing in addition to neurophysiological measures including DTI, fMRI, and MEP being measured. Results indicated that left tumor patients who presented with a lesion at or near somatotopic hand representations performed significantly worse on the mental rotation hand task and that performance correlated with MEP amplitudes in the upper limb motor region. Furthermore, performance on tasks of verbal processing was within the normal range. Taken together, while our results evidence the involvement of the motor system in motor imagery processes, they do not support the embodied view that sensorimotor regions are necessary to tasks of action verb processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgette Argiris
- Scientific Institute IRCCS "Eugenio Medea", Polo FVG, San Vito al Tagliamento, PN, Italy.
- Columbia University Medical Center, Neurological Institute, 710 West 168th Street, New York, NY, 10032, USA.
| | - Riccardo Budai
- Unità Operativa di Neurologia, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Integrata S. Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy
| | - Marta Maieron
- Fisica Medica, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Integrata S. Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy
| | - Tamara Ius
- Unità Operativa di Neurochirurgia, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Integrata S. Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy
| | - Miran Skrap
- Unità Operativa di Neurochirurgia, Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Integrata S. Maria della Misericordia, Udine, Italy
| | - Barbara Tomasino
- Scientific Institute IRCCS "Eugenio Medea", Polo FVG, San Vito al Tagliamento, PN, Italy
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6
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Akinina Y, Dragoy O, Ivanova MV, Iskra EV, Soloukhina OA, Petryshevsky AG, Fedinа ON, Turken AU, Shklovsky VM, Dronkers NF. Grey and white matter substrates of action naming. Neuropsychologia 2019; 131:249-265. [PMID: 31129278 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2019.05.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2018] [Revised: 04/26/2019] [Accepted: 05/14/2019] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Despite a persistent interest in verb processing, data on the neural underpinnings of verb retrieval are fragmentary. The present study is the first to analyze the contributions of both grey and white matter damage affecting verb retrieval through action naming in stroke. We used voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) with an action naming task in 40 left-hemisphere stroke patients. Within the grey matter, we revealed the critical involvement of the left precentral and inferior frontal gyri, insula, and parts of basal ganglia. An overlay of white matter tract probability masks on the VLSM lesion map revealed involvement of left-hemisphere long and short association tracts with terminations in the frontal areas; and several projection tracts. The involvement of these structures is interpreted in the light of existing picture naming models, semantic control processes, and the embodiment cognition framework. Our results stress the importance of both cortico-cortical and cortico-subcortical networks of language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yu Akinina
- National Research University Higher School of Economics, Center for Language and Brain, 21/4 Staraya Basmannaya Street, Office 510, 105066, Moscow, Russia; University of Groningen, Graduate School for the Humanities, P.O. Box 716, NL-9700, AS Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands.
| | - O Dragoy
- National Research University Higher School of Economics, Center for Language and Brain, 21/4 Staraya Basmannaya Street, Office 510, 105066, Moscow, Russia; Federal Center for Cerebrovascular Pathology and Stroke, Department of Medical Rehabilitation, 1/10 Ostrovityanova Street, 117342, Moscow, Russia
| | - M V Ivanova
- National Research University Higher School of Economics, Center for Language and Brain, 21/4 Staraya Basmannaya Street, Office 510, 105066, Moscow, Russia; University of California, Berkeley, Dept. of Psychology, 2121 Berkeley Way, 94704, Berkeley, CA, USA; Center for Aphasia and Related Disorders, VA Northern California Health Care System, 150 Muir Road 126R, 94553, Martinez, CA, USA
| | - E V Iskra
- National Research University Higher School of Economics, Center for Language and Brain, 21/4 Staraya Basmannaya Street, Office 510, 105066, Moscow, Russia; Center for Speech Pathology and Neurorehabilitation, 20 Nikoloyamskaya Street, 109240, Moscow, Russia
| | - O A Soloukhina
- National Research University Higher School of Economics, Center for Language and Brain, 21/4 Staraya Basmannaya Street, Office 510, 105066, Moscow, Russia
| | - A G Petryshevsky
- Center for Speech Pathology and Neurorehabilitation, 20 Nikoloyamskaya Street, 109240, Moscow, Russia
| | - O N Fedinа
- Center for Speech Pathology and Neurorehabilitation, 20 Nikoloyamskaya Street, 109240, Moscow, Russia; Medicine and Nuclear Technology Ltd., 1/133 Akademika Kurchatova Street, 123182, Moscow, Russia
| | - A U Turken
- Center for Aphasia and Related Disorders, VA Northern California Health Care System, 150 Muir Road 126R, 94553, Martinez, CA, USA
| | - V M Shklovsky
- Center for Speech Pathology and Neurorehabilitation, 20 Nikoloyamskaya Street, 109240, Moscow, Russia
| | - N F Dronkers
- University of California, Berkeley, Dept. of Psychology, 2121 Berkeley Way, 94704, Berkeley, CA, USA; Center for Aphasia and Related Disorders, VA Northern California Health Care System, 150 Muir Road 126R, 94553, Martinez, CA, USA; University of California, Davis, Dept. of Neurology, Sacramento, CA, USA
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7
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Facing the experience of pain: A neuropsychological perspective. Phys Life Rev 2014; 11:540-52. [DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2013.12.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2013] [Accepted: 12/17/2013] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
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8
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Anderson AJ, Murphy B, Poesio M. Discriminating Taxonomic Categories and Domains in Mental Simulations of Concepts of Varying Concreteness. J Cogn Neurosci 2014; 26:658-81. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00508] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Most studies of conceptual knowledge in the brain focus on a narrow range of concrete conceptual categories, rely on the researchers' intuitions about which object belongs to these categories, and assume a broadly taxonomic organization of knowledge. In this fMRI study, we focus on concepts with a variety of concreteness levels; we use a state of the art lexical resource (WordNet 3.1) as the source for a relatively large number of category distinctions and compare a taxonomic style of organization with a domain-based model (an example domain is Law). Participants mentally simulated situations associated with concepts when cued by text stimuli. Using multivariate pattern analysis, we find evidence that all Taxonomic categories and Domains can be distinguished from fMRI data and also observe a clear concreteness effect: Tools and Locations can be reliably predicted for unseen participants, but less concrete categories (e.g., Attributes, Communications, Events, Social Roles) can only be reliably discriminated within participants. A second concreteness effect relates to the interaction of Domain and Taxonomic category membership: Domain (e.g., relation to Law vs. Music) can be better predicted for less concrete categories. We repeated the analysis within anatomical regions, observing discrimination between all/most categories in the left mid occipital and left mid temporal gyri, and more specialized discrimination for concrete categories Tool and Location in the left precentral and fusiform gyri, respectively. Highly concrete/abstract Taxonomic categories and Domain were segregated in frontal regions. We conclude that both Taxonomic and Domain class distinctions are relevant for interpreting neural structuring of concrete and abstract concepts.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Brian Murphy
- 2Carnegie Mellon University
- 4Queen's University, Belfast
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Pulvermüller F. Semantic embodiment, disembodiment or misembodiment? In search of meaning in modules and neuron circuits. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2013; 127:86-103. [PMID: 23932167 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2013.05.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 82] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2012] [Revised: 03/01/2013] [Accepted: 05/23/2013] [Indexed: 06/02/2023]
Abstract
"Embodied" proposals claim that the meaning of at least some words, concepts and constructions is grounded in knowledge about actions and objects. An alternative "disembodied" position locates semantics in a symbolic system functionally detached from sensorimotor modules. This latter view is not tenable theoretically and has been empirically falsified by neuroscience research. A minimally-embodied approach now claims that action-perception systems may "color", but not represent, meaning; however, such minimal embodiment (misembodiment?) still fails to explain why action and perception systems exert causal effects on the processing of symbols from specific semantic classes. Action perception theory (APT) offers neurobiological mechanisms for "embodied" referential, affective and action semantics along with "disembodied" mechanisms of semantic abstraction, generalization and symbol combination, which draw upon multimodal brain systems. In this sense, APT suggests integrative-neuromechanistic explanations of why both sensorimotor and multimodal areas of the human brain differentially contribute to specific facets of meaning and concepts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Friedemann Pulvermüller
- Brain Language Laboratory, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany; Medical Research Council, Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge CB2 7EF, UK.
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10
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Wu H, Mai X, Tang H, Ge Y, Luo YJ, Liu C. Dissociable somatotopic representations of Chinese action verbs in the motor and premotor cortex. Sci Rep 2013; 3:2049. [PMID: 23787364 PMCID: PMC6504820 DOI: 10.1038/srep02049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2013] [Accepted: 06/03/2013] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
The embodied view of language processing holds that language comprehension involves the recruitment of sensorimotor information, as evidenced by the somatotopic representation of action verbs in the motor system. However, this review has not yet been examined in logographic scripts such as Chinese, in which action verbs can provide explicit linguistic cues to the effectors (arm, leg, mouth) that conduct the action (hit, jump, drink). We compared the somatotopic representation of Chinese verbs that contain such effector cues and those that do not. The results showed that uncued verbs elicited similar somatotopic representation in the motor and premotor cortex as found in alphabetic scripts. However, effector-cued verbs demonstrated an inverse somatotopic pattern by showing reduced activation in corresponding motor areas, despite that effector-cued verbs actually are rated higher in imageability than uncued verbs. Our results support the universality of somatotopic representation of action verbs in the motor system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Haiyan Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China
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11
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Maieron M, Marin D, Fabbro F, Skrap M. Seeking a bridge between language and motor cortices: a PPI study. Front Hum Neurosci 2013; 7:249. [PMID: 23761753 PMCID: PMC3675382 DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2013.00249] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/10/2012] [Accepted: 05/20/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
The relation between the sensorimotor cortex and the language network has been widely discussed but still remains controversial. Two independent theories compete to explain how this area is involved during action-related verbs processing. The embodied view assumes that action word representations activate sensorimotor representations which are accessed when an action word is processed or when an action is observed. The abstract hypothesis states that the mental representations of words are abstract and independent of the objects' sensorimotor properties they refer to. We combined neuropsychological and fMRI-PPI connectivity data, to address action-related verbs processing in neurosurgical patients with lesions involving (N = 5) or sparing (N = 5) the primary motor cortex and healthy controls (N = 12). A lack of significant changes in the functional coupling between the left M1 cortex and functional nodes of the linguistic network during the verb generation task was found for all the groups. In addition, we found that the ability to perform an action verb naming task was not related to a damaged M1. These data showed that there was not a task-specific functional interaction active between M1 and the inferior frontal gyrus. We will discuss how these findings indicate that action words do not automatically activate the M1 cortex; we suggest rather that its enrolment could be related to other not strictly linguistic processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marta Maieron
- Fisica Medica, Azienda Ospedaliero Universitaria Santa Maria Della MisericordiaUdine, Italy
| | - Dario Marin
- IRCCS “E. Medea”San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy
| | - Franco Fabbro
- IRCCS “E. Medea”San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy
- Dipartimento di Scienze Umane, Università degli Studi di UdineUdine, Italy
| | - Miran Skrap
- Unità Operativa di Neurochirurgia, AOUD Santa Maria della MisericordiaUdine, Italy
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12
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Tomasino B, Rumiati RI. At the mercy of strategies: the role of motor representations in language understanding. Front Psychol 2013; 4:27. [PMID: 23382722 PMCID: PMC3562995 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2012] [Accepted: 01/10/2013] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Classical cognitive theories hold that word representations in the brain are abstract and amodal, and are independent of the objects’ sensorimotor properties they refer to. An alternative hypothesis emphasizes the importance of bodily processes in cognition: the representation of a concept appears to be crucially dependent upon perceptual-motor processes that relate to it. Thus, understanding action-related words would rely upon the same motor structures that also support the execution of the same actions. In this context, motor simulation represents a key component. Our approach is to draw parallels between the literature on mental rotation and the literature on action verb/sentence processing. Here we will discuss recent studies on mental imagery, mental rotation, and language that clearly demonstrate how motor simulation is neither automatic nor necessary to language understanding. These studies have shown that motor representations can or cannot be activated depending on the type of strategy the participants adopt to perform tasks involving motor phrases. On the one hand, participants may imagine the movement with the body parts used to carry out the actions described by the verbs (i.e., motor strategy); on the other, individuals may solve the task without simulating the corresponding movements (i.e., visual strategy). While it is not surprising that the motor strategy is at work when participants process action-related verbs, it is however striking that sensorimotor activation has been reported also for imageable concrete words with no motor content, for “non-words” with regular phonology, for pseudo-verb stimuli, and also for negations. Based on the extant literature, we will argue that implicit motor imagery is not uniquely used when a body-related stimulus is encountered, and that it is not the type of stimulus that automatically triggers the motor simulation but the type of strategy. Finally, we will also comment on the view that sensorimotor activations are subjected to a top-down modulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Barbara Tomasino
- Istituto di Ricovero e Cura a Carattere Scientifico "Eugenio Medea" San Vito al Tagliamento, Italy
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13
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Fabbro F, Tomasino B. A nice theory has probably more to do with aesthetics than reality. Phys Life Rev 2012; 9:215-6. [DOI: 10.1016/j.plrev.2012.05.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2012] [Accepted: 05/15/2012] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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