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Fahey D, Fridriksson J, Hickok G, Matchin W. Lesion-symptom Mapping of Acceptability Judgments in Chronic Poststroke Aphasia Reveals the Neurobiological Underpinnings of Receptive Syntax. J Cogn Neurosci 2024; 36:1141-1155. [PMID: 38437175 PMCID: PMC11095916 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2024]
Abstract
Disagreements persist regarding the neural basis of syntactic processing, which has been linked both to inferior frontal and posterior temporal regions of the brain. One focal point of the debate concerns the role of inferior frontal areas in receptive syntactic ability, which is mostly assessed using sentence comprehension involving complex syntactic structures, a task that is potentially confounded with working memory. Syntactic acceptability judgments may provide a better measure of receptive syntax by reducing the need to use high working memory load and complex sentences and by enabling assessment of various types of syntactic violations. We therefore tested the perception of grammatical violations by people with poststroke aphasia (n = 25), along with matched controls (n = 16), using English sentences involving errors in word order, agreement, or subcategorization. Lesion data were also collected. Control participants performed near ceiling in accuracy with higher discriminability of agreement and subcategorization violations than word order; aphasia participants were less able to discriminate violations, but, on average, paralleled control participants discriminability of types of violations. Lesion-symptom mapping showed a correlation between discriminability and posterior temporal regions, but not inferior frontal regions. We argue that these results diverge from models holding that frontal areas are amodal core regions in syntactic structure building and favor models that posit a core hierarchical system in posterior temporal regions.
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2
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Barbieri E, Thompson CK, Higgins J, Caplan D, Kiran S, Rapp B, Parrish T. Treatment-induced neural reorganization in aphasia is language-domain specific: Evidence from a large-scale fMRI study. Cortex 2023; 159:75-100. [PMID: 36610109 PMCID: PMC9931666 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2022.11.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/01/2021] [Revised: 08/14/2022] [Accepted: 11/29/2022] [Indexed: 12/23/2022]
Abstract
Studies investigating the effects of language intervention on the re-organization of language networks in chronic aphasia have resulted in mixed findings, likely related to-among other factors-the language function targeted during treatment. The present study investigated the effects of the type of treatment provided on neural reorganization. Seventy individuals with chronic stroke-induced aphasia, recruited from three research laboratories and meeting criteria for agrammatism, anomia or dysgraphia were assigned to either treatment (N = 51) or control (N = 19) groups. Participants in the treatment group received 12-weeks of language intervention targeting sentence comprehension/production, naming, or spelling. At baseline and post-testing, all participants performed an fMRI story comprehension task, with blocks of auditorily-presented stories alternated with blocks of reversed speech. Participants in the treatment, but not control, group significantly improved in the treated language domain. FMRI region-of-interest (ROI) analyses, conducted within regions that were either active (or homologous to active) regions in a group of 22 healthy participants on the story comprehension task, revealed a significant increase in activation from pre-to post-treatment in right-hemisphere homologues of these regions for participants in the sentence and spelling, but not naming, treatment groups, not predicted by left-hemisphere lesion size. For the sentence (but not the spelling) treatment group, activation changes within right-hemisphere homologues of language regions were positively associated with changes in measures of verb and sentence comprehension. These findings support previous research pointing to recruitment of right hemisphere tissue as a viable route for language recovery and suggest that sentence-level treatment may promote greater neuroplasticity on naturalistic, language comprehension tasks, compared to word-level treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Barbieri
- Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, School of Communication, Northwestern University, 70 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, IL 60208, USA.
| | - Cynthia K Thompson
- Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, School of Communication, Northwestern University, 70 Arts Circle Drive, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Neurology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 303 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
| | - James Higgins
- Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Radiology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 737 N Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
| | - David Caplan
- Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 15 Parkman Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Swathi Kiran
- Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Speech, Language, And Hearing, College of Health & Rehabilitation, Boston University, 635 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Brenda Rapp
- Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Cognitive Science, Krieger School of Arts & Sciences, Johns Hopkins Univeristy, 3400 N Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Todd Parrish
- Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Northwestern University, 2240 Campus Drive, Evanston, IL 60208, USA; Department of Radiology, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 737 N Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
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3
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Nieberlein L, Rampp S, Gussew A, Prell J, Hartwigsen G. Reorganization and Plasticity of the Language Network in Patients with Cerebral Gliomas. Neuroimage Clin 2023; 37:103326. [PMID: 36736198 PMCID: PMC9926312 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2023.103326] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2022] [Revised: 12/15/2022] [Accepted: 01/16/2023] [Indexed: 01/19/2023]
Abstract
Language is organized in large-scale networks in the human brain that show a strong potential for flexible interactions and adaptation. Neuroplasticity is the central mechanism that allows such dynamic modulation to changing conditions across the life span and is particularly important for network reorganization after brain lesions. Most studies on language reorganization focused on language recovery after stroke. Yet, a strong degree of adaptive neuroplasticity can also be observed in patients with brain tumors in language-eloquent brain areas. This review discusses key mechanisms for neural reorganization in patients with brain tumors. Our main aim is to elucidate the underlying mechanisms for intra- and interhemispheric plasticity in the language network in these patients. The following reorganization patterns are discussed: 1) Persisting function within the tumor; 2) Reorganization in perilesional regions; 3) Reorganization in a distributed network of the affected hemisphere; 4) Reorganization to the contralesional hemisphere. In this context, we shed light on language-related reorganization patterns in frontal and temporo-parietal areas and discuss their functional relevance. We also address tumor-related changes in structural and functional connectivity between eloquent brain regions. Thereby, we aim to expand the general understanding of the plastic potential of the neural language network and facilitate clinical decision-making processes for effective, function-preserving tumor treatment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laura Nieberlein
- Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Stefan Rampp
- Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Halle (Saale), Germany; Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Erlangen, Germany
| | - Alexander Gussew
- Department of Medical Physics, University Hospital Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Julian Prell
- Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Halle (Saale), Germany
| | - Gesa Hartwigsen
- Lise Meitner Research Group Cognition and Plasticity, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Wilhelm Wundt Institute for Psychology, Leipzig University, Germany
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4
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Cao Y, Oostenveld R, Alday PM, Piai V. Are alpha and beta oscillations spatially dissociated over the cortex in context-driven spoken-word production? Psychophysiology 2022; 59:e13999. [PMID: 35066874 PMCID: PMC9285923 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.13999] [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: 05/06/2021] [Revised: 10/19/2021] [Accepted: 12/06/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Decreases in oscillatory alpha‐ and beta‐band power have been consistently found in spoken‐word production. These have been linked to both motor preparation and conceptual‐lexical retrieval processes. However, the observed power decreases have a broad frequency range that spans two “classic” (sensorimotor) bands: alpha and beta. It remains unclear whether alpha‐ and beta‐band power decreases contribute independently when a spoken word is planned. Using a re‐analysis of existing magnetoencephalography data, we probed whether the effects in alpha and beta bands are spatially distinct. Participants read a sentence that was either constraining or non‐constraining toward the final word, which was presented as a picture. In separate blocks participants had to name the picture or score its predictability via button press. Irregular‐resampling auto‐spectral analysis (IRASA) was used to isolate the oscillatory activity in the alpha and beta bands from the background 1‐over‐f spectrum. The sources of alpha‐ and beta‐band oscillations were localized based on the participants’ individualized peak frequencies. For both tasks, alpha‐ and beta‐power decreases overlapped in left posterior temporal and inferior parietal cortex, regions that have previously been associated with conceptual and lexical processes. The spatial distributions of the alpha and beta power effects were spatially similar in these regions to the extent we could assess it. By contrast, for left frontal regions, the spatial distributions differed between alpha and beta effects. Our results suggest that for conceptual‐lexical retrieval, alpha and beta oscillations do not dissociate spatially and, thus, are distinct from the classical sensorimotor alpha and beta oscillations. It remains unclear whether the consistently found alpha‐ and beta‐band power decreases in spoken‐word production support a single operation or contribute independently. Using novel methodology, we probed whether the alpha and beta bands are distinct from an anatomical perspective. We found anatomical overlap in the left posterior temporal and inferior parietal cortex, whereas for the left frontal region, the spatial overlap was limited. Our results suggest that for conceptual‐lexical retrieval, alpha and beta oscillations do not dissociate and, thus, are distinct from the classical sensorimotor alpha and beta.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yang Cao
- Donders Centre for Cognition, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Robert Oostenveld
- Donders Centre for Cognitive Neuroimaging, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,NatMEG, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Phillip M Alday
- Max-Planck-Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
| | - Vitória Piai
- Donders Centre for Cognition, Radboud University, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,Donders Centre for Medical Neuroscience, Department of Medical Psychology, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
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5
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Gleichgerrcht E, Roth R, Fridriksson J, den Ouden D, Delgaizo J, Stark B, Hickok G, Rorden C, Wilmskoetter J, Hillis A, Bonilha L. Neural bases of elements of syntax during speech production in patients with aphasia. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2021; 222:105025. [PMID: 34555689 PMCID: PMC8546356 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2021.105025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/18/2020] [Revised: 09/08/2021] [Accepted: 09/08/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The ability to string together words into a structured arrangement capable of conveying nuanced information is key to speech production. The assessment of the neural bases for structuring sentences has been challenged by the need of experts to delineate the aberrant morphosyntactic structures in aphasic speech. Most studies have relied on focused tasks with limited ecological validity. We characterized syntactic complexity during connected speech produced by patients with chronic post-stroke aphasia. We automated this process by employing Natural Language Processing (NLP). We conducted voxel-based and connectome-based lesion-symptom mapping to identify brain regions crucially associated with sentence production and syntactic complexity. Posterior-inferior aspects of left frontal and parietal lobes, as well as white matter tracts connecting these areas, were essential for syntactic complexity, particularly the posterior inferior frontal gyrus. These findings suggest that sentence structuring during word production depends on the integrity of Broca's area and the dorsal stream of language processing.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Rebecca Roth
- Department of Neurology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
| | - Julius Fridriksson
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Dirk den Ouden
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - John Delgaizo
- Department of Neurology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
| | - Brielle Stark
- Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
| | - Chris Rorden
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Janina Wilmskoetter
- Department of Neurology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA
| | - Argye Hillis
- Department of Neurology, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Leonardo Bonilha
- Department of Neurology, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA.
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6
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Abstract
Syntax, the structure of sentences, enables humans to express an infinite range of meanings through finite means. The neurobiology of syntax has been intensely studied but with little consensus. Two main candidate regions have been identified: the posterior inferior frontal gyrus (pIFG) and the posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG). Integrating research in linguistics, psycholinguistics, and neuroscience, we propose a neuroanatomical framework for syntax that attributes distinct syntactic computations to these regions in a unified model. The key theoretical advances are adopting a modern lexicalized view of syntax in which the lexicon and syntactic rules are intertwined, and recognizing a computational asymmetry in the role of syntax during comprehension and production. Our model postulates a hierarchical lexical-syntactic function to the pMTG, which interconnects previously identified speech perception and conceptual-semantic systems in the temporal and inferior parietal lobes, crucial for both sentence production and comprehension. These relational hierarchies are transformed via the pIFG into morpho-syntactic sequences, primarily tied to production. We show how this architecture provides a better account of the full range of data and is consistent with recent proposals regarding the organization of phonological processes in the brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- William Matchin
- Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, 29208, USA
| | - Gregory Hickok
- Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA.,Department of Language Science, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, 92697, USA
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7
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Choi HS, Marslen-Wilson WD, Lyu B, Randall B, Tyler LK. Decoding the Real-Time Neurobiological Properties of Incremental Semantic Interpretation. Cereb Cortex 2021; 31:233-247. [PMID: 32869058 PMCID: PMC7727355 DOI: 10.1093/cercor/bhaa222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/10/2020] [Revised: 07/21/2020] [Accepted: 07/22/2020] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Communication through spoken language is a central human capacity, involving a wide range of complex computations that incrementally interpret each word into meaningful sentences. However, surprisingly little is known about the spatiotemporal properties of the complex neurobiological systems that support these dynamic predictive and integrative computations. Here, we focus on prediction, a core incremental processing operation guiding the interpretation of each upcoming word with respect to its preceding context. To investigate the neurobiological basis of how semantic constraints change and evolve as each word in a sentence accumulates over time, in a spoken sentence comprehension study, we analyzed the multivariate patterns of neural activity recorded by source-localized electro/magnetoencephalography (EMEG), using computational models capturing semantic constraints derived from the prior context on each upcoming word. Our results provide insights into predictive operations subserved by different regions within a bi-hemispheric system, which over time generate, refine, and evaluate constraints on each word as it is heard.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hun S Choi
- Centre for Speech, Language and the Brain, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0DX, UK
| | - William D Marslen-Wilson
- Centre for Speech, Language and the Brain, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0DX, UK
| | - Bingjiang Lyu
- Centre for Speech, Language and the Brain, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0DX, UK
| | - Billi Randall
- Centre for Speech, Language and the Brain, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0DX, UK
| | - Lorraine K Tyler
- Address correspondence to Lorraine K. Tyler, Centre for Speech, Language and the Brain, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK.
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8
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Wilson SM, Schneck SM. Neuroplasticity in post-stroke aphasia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of functional imaging studies of reorganization of language processing. NEUROBIOLOGY OF LANGUAGE (CAMBRIDGE, MASS.) 2021; 2:22-82. [PMID: 33884373 PMCID: PMC8057712 DOI: 10.1162/nol_a_00025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/23/2023]
Abstract
Recovery from aphasia is thought to depend on neural plasticity, that is, functional reorganization of surviving brain regions such that they take on new or expanded roles in language processing. We carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of all articles published between 1995 and early 2020 that have described functional imaging studies of six or more individuals with post-stroke aphasia, and have reported analyses bearing on neuroplasticity of language processing. Each study was characterized and appraised in detail, with particular attention to three critically important methodological issues: task performance confounds, contrast validity, and correction for multiple comparisons. We identified 86 studies describing a total of 561 relevant analyses. We found that methodological limitations related to task performance confounds, contrast validity, and correction for multiple comparisons have been pervasive. Only a few claims about language processing in individuals with aphasia are strongly supported by the extant literature: first, left hemisphere language regions are less activated in individuals with aphasia than neurologically normal controls, and second, in cohorts with aphasia, activity in left hemisphere language regions, and possibly a temporal lobe region in the right hemisphere, is positively correlated with language function. There is modest, equivocal evidence for the claim that individuals with aphasia differentially recruit right hemisphere homotopic regions, but no compelling evidence for differential recruitment of additional left hemisphere regions or domain-general networks. There is modest evidence that left hemisphere language regions return to function over time, but no compelling longitudinal evidence for dynamic reorganization of the language network.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen M. Wilson
- Address for correspondence: Stephen M. Wilson, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1215 21st Ave S, MCE 8310, Nashville, TN 37232. Phone: 615-936-5810.
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9
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Amoruso L, Geng S, Molinaro N, Timofeeva P, Gisbert-Muñoz S, Gil-Robles S, Pomposo I, Quiñones I, Carreiras M. Oscillatory and structural signatures of language plasticity in brain tumor patients: A longitudinal study. Hum Brain Mapp 2020; 42:1777-1793. [PMID: 33368838 PMCID: PMC7978121 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.25328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2020] [Revised: 12/12/2020] [Accepted: 12/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Recent evidence suggests that damage to the language network triggers its functional reorganization. Yet, the spectro‐temporal fingerprints of this plastic rearrangement and its relation to anatomical changes is less well understood. Here, we combined magnetoencephalographic recordings with a proxy measure of white matter to investigate oscillatory activity supporting language plasticity and its relation to structural reshaping. First, cortical dynamics were acquired in a group of healthy controls during object and action naming. Results showed segregated beta (13–28 Hz) power decreases in left ventral and dorsal pathways, in a time‐window associated to lexico‐semantic processing (~250–500 ms). Six patients with left tumors invading either ventral or dorsal regions performed the same naming task before and 3 months after surgery for tumor resection. When longitudinally comparing patients' responses we found beta compensation mimicking the category‐based segregation showed by controls, with ventral and dorsal damage leading to selective compensation for object and action naming, respectively. At the structural level, all patients showed preoperative changes in white matter tracts possibly linked to plasticity triggered by tumor growth. Furthermore, in some patients, structural changes were also evident after surgery and showed associations with longitudinal changes in beta power lateralization toward the contralesional hemisphere. Overall, our findings support the existence of anatomo‐functional dependencies in language reorganization and highlight the potential role of oscillatory markers in tracking longitudinal plasticity in brain tumor patients. By doing so, they provide valuable information for mapping preoperative and postoperative neural reshaping and plan surgical strategies to preserve language function and patient's quality of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucia Amoruso
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL), San Sebastian, Spain.,IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Shuang Geng
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL), San Sebastian, Spain.,University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Nicola Molinaro
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL), San Sebastian, Spain.,IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Polina Timofeeva
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL), San Sebastian, Spain.,University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Sandra Gisbert-Muñoz
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL), San Sebastian, Spain.,University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain
| | - Santiago Gil-Robles
- Department of Neurosurgery, Hospital Quiron, Madrid, Spain.,BioCruces Research Institute, Bilbao, Spain
| | | | - Ileana Quiñones
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL), San Sebastian, Spain
| | - Manuel Carreiras
- Basque Center on Cognition, Brain and Language (BCBL), San Sebastian, Spain.,IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, Bilbao, Spain.,University of the Basque Country, UPV/EHU, Bilbao, Spain
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10
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Reifegerste J, Estabrooke IV, Russell LE, Veríssimo J, Johari K, Wilmarth B, Pagan FL, Moussa C, Ullman MT. Can sex influence the neurocognition of language? Evidence from Parkinson's disease. Neuropsychologia 2020; 148:107633. [PMID: 32971096 PMCID: PMC8613481 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2020.107633] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2018] [Revised: 06/28/2020] [Accepted: 09/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Parkinson's disease (PD), which involves basal ganglia degeneration, affects language as well as motor function. However, which aspects of language are impaired in PD and under what circumstances remains unclear. We examined whether lexical and grammatical aspects of language are differentially affected in PD, and whether this dissociation is moderated by sex as well as the degree of basal ganglia degeneration. Our predictions were based on the declarative/procedural model of language. The model posits that grammatical composition, including in regular inflection, depends importantly on left basal ganglia procedural memory circuits, whereas irregular and other lexicalized forms are memorized in declarative memory. Since females tend to show declarative memory advantages as compared to males, the model further posits that females should tend to rely on this system for regulars, which can be stored as lexicalized chunks. We tested non-demented male and female PD patients and healthy control participants on the intensively studied paradigm of English regular and irregular past-tense production. Mixed-effects regression revealed PD deficits only at regular inflection, only in male patients. The degree of left basal ganglia degeneration, as reflected by right-side hypokinesia, predicted only regular inflection, and only in male patients. Left-side hypokinesia did not show this pattern. Past-tense frequency effects suggested that the female patients retrieved regular as well as irregular past-tense forms from declarative memory, whereas the males retrieved only irregulars. Sensitivity analyses showed that the pattern of findings was robust. The results, which are consistent with the declarative/procedural model, suggest a grammatical deficit in PD due to left basal ganglia degeneration, with a relative sparing of lexical retrieval. Female patients appear to compensate for this deficit by relying on chunks stored in declarative memory. More generally, the study elucidates the neurocognition of inflectional morphology and provides evidence that sex can influence how language is computed in the mind and brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jana Reifegerste
- Department of Psychology, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Münster, Germany; Brain and Language Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA; Potsdam Research Institute for Multilingualism, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany.
| | - Ivy V Estabrooke
- Brain and Language Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA; Center for Science and Technology Policy, Salt Lake City, UT, USA
| | - Lauren E Russell
- Brain and Language Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA
| | - João Veríssimo
- Department of Linguistics, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
| | - Karim Johari
- Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA
| | - Barbara Wilmarth
- Translational Neurotherapeutics Program, Laboratory for Dementia and Parkinsonism, Department of Neurology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA; Movement Disorders Clinic, Department of Neurology, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Fernando L Pagan
- Translational Neurotherapeutics Program, Laboratory for Dementia and Parkinsonism, Department of Neurology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA; Movement Disorders Clinic, Department of Neurology, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Charbel Moussa
- Translational Neurotherapeutics Program, Laboratory for Dementia and Parkinsonism, Department of Neurology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA
| | - Michael T Ullman
- Brain and Language Laboratory, Department of Neuroscience, Georgetown University, Washington, DC, USA.
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11
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Brandstadter R, Fabian M, Leavitt VM, Krieger S, Yeshokumar A, Katz Sand I, Klineova S, Riley CS, Lewis C, Pelle G, Lublin FD, Miller AE, Sumowski JF. Word-finding difficulty is a prevalent disease-related deficit in early multiple sclerosis. Mult Scler 2019; 26:1752-1764. [PMID: 31741430 DOI: 10.1177/1352458519881760] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) commonly report word-finding difficulty clinically, yet this language deficit remains underexplored. OBJECTIVE To investigate the prevalence and nature of word-finding difficulty in persons with early MS on three levels: patient report, cognitive substrates, and neuroimaging. METHODS Two samples of early MS patients (n = 185 and n = 55; ⩽5 years diagnosed) and healthy controls (n = 50) reported frequency/severity of cognitive deficits and underwent objective assessment with tasks of rapid automatized naming (RAN), measuring lexical access speed, memory, word generation, and cognitive efficiency. High-resolution brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) derived measurements of regional cortical thickness, global and deep gray matter volume, and T2 lesion volume. Relationships among patient-reported word-finding difficulty, cognitive performance, and neural correlates were examined. RESULTS Word-finding difficulty was the most common cognitive complaint of MS patients and the only complaint reported more by patients than healthy controls. Only RAN performance discriminated MS patients with subjective word-finding deficits from those without subjective complaints and from healthy controls. Thinner left parietal cortical gray matter independently predicted impaired RAN performance, driven primarily by the left precuneus. CONCLUSION Three levels of evidence (patient-report, objective behavior, regional gray matter) support word-finding difficulty as a prevalent, measurable, disease-related deficit in early MS linked to left parietal cortical thinning.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel Brandstadter
- The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for MS, Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Michelle Fabian
- The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for MS, Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Victoria M Leavitt
- Department of Neurology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Stephen Krieger
- The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for MS, Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Anusha Yeshokumar
- The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for MS, Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Ilana Katz Sand
- The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for MS, Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Sylvia Klineova
- The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for MS, Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Claire S Riley
- Department of Neurology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Christina Lewis
- The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for MS, Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Gabrielle Pelle
- The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for MS, Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Fred D Lublin
- The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for MS, Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - Aaron E Miller
- The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for MS, Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
| | - James F Sumowski
- The Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for MS, Department of Neurology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
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Barbieri E, Mack J, Chiappetta B, Europa E, Thompson CK. Recovery of offline and online sentence processing in aphasia: Language and domain-general network neuroplasticity. Cortex 2019; 120:394-418. [PMID: 31419597 DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2019.06.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2018] [Revised: 04/09/2019] [Accepted: 06/13/2019] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
Abstract
This paper examined the effects of treatment on both offline and online sentence processing and associated neuroplasticity within sentence processing and dorsal attention networks in chronic stroke-induced agrammatic aphasia. Twenty-three neurotypical adults and 19 individuals with aphasia served as participants. Aphasic individuals were randomly assigned to receive a 12-week course of linguistically-based treatment of passive sentence production and comprehension (N = 14, treatment group) or to serve as control participants (N = 5, natural history group). Both aphasic groups performed two offline tasks at baseline and three months following (at post-testing) to assess production and comprehension of trained passive structures and untrained syntactically related and unrelated structures. The aphasic participants and a healthy age-matched group also performed an online eyetracking comprehension task and a picture-verification fMRI task, which were repeated at post-testing for the aphasic groups. Results showed that individuals in the treatment, but not in the natural history, group improved on production and comprehension of both trained structures and untrained syntactically related structures. Treatment also resulted in a shift toward more normal-like eye movements and a significant increase in neural activation from baseline to post-testing. Upregulation encompassed right hemisphere regions homologs of left hemisphere regions involved in both sentence processing and domain-general functions and was positively correlated with treatment gains, as measured by offline comprehension accuracy, and with changes in processing strategies during sentence comprehension, as measured by eyetracking. These findings provide compelling evidence in favor of the contribution of both networks within the right hemisphere to the restoration of normal-like sentence processing patterns in chronic aphasia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Elena Barbieri
- Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
| | - Jennifer Mack
- Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Brianne Chiappetta
- Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Eduardo Europa
- Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
| | - Cynthia K Thompson
- Center for the Neurobiology of Language Recovery, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA; Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA; Department of Neurology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL, USA
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13
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Stroh AL, Rösler F, Dormal G, Salden U, Skotara N, Hänel-Faulhaber B, Röder B. Neural correlates of semantic and syntactic processing in German Sign Language. Neuroimage 2019; 200:231-241. [PMID: 31220577 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.06.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/15/2018] [Revised: 05/16/2019] [Accepted: 06/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The study of deaf and hearing native users of signed languages can offer unique insights into how biological constraints and environmental input interact to shape the neural bases of language processing. Here, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to address two questions: (1) Do semantic and syntactic processing in a signed language rely on anatomically and functionally distinct neural substrates as it has been shown for spoken languages? and (2) Does hearing status affect the neural correlates of these two types of linguistic processing? Deaf and hearing native signers performed a sentence judgement task on German Sign Language (Deutsche Gebärdensprache: DGS) sentences which were correct or contained either syntactic or semantic violations. We hypothesized that processing of semantic and syntactic violations in DGS relies on distinct neural substrates as it has been shown for spoken languages. Moreover, we hypothesized that effects of hearing status are observed within auditory regions, as deaf native signers have been shown to activate auditory areas to a greater extent than hearing native signers when processing a signed language. Semantic processing activated low-level visual areas and the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), suggesting both modality-dependent and independent processing mechanisms. Syntactic processing elicited increased activation in the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG). Moreover, psychophysiological interaction (PPI) analyses revealed a cluster in left middle occipital regions showing increased functional coupling with the right SMG during syntactic relative to semantic processing, possibly indicating spatial processing mechanisms that are specific to signed syntax. Effects of hearing status were observed in the right superior temporal cortex (STC): deaf but not hearing native signers showed greater activation for semantic violations than for syntactic violations in this region. Taken together, the present findings suggest that the neural correlates of language processing are partly determined by biological constraints, but that they may additionally be influenced by the unique processing demands of the language modality and different sensory experiences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anna-Lena Stroh
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Germany.
| | - Frank Rösler
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Germany
| | - Giulia Dormal
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Germany
| | - Uta Salden
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Germany
| | - Nils Skotara
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Germany
| | - Barbara Hänel-Faulhaber
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Germany; Special Education, University of Hamburg, Germany
| | - Brigitte Röder
- Biological Psychology and Neuropsychology, University of Hamburg, Germany
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Langner R, Eickhoff SB, Bilalić M. A network view on brain regions involved in experts' object and pattern recognition: Implications for the neural mechanisms of skilled visual perception. Brain Cogn 2018; 131:74-86. [PMID: 30290974 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandc.2018.09.007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/06/2018] [Revised: 08/01/2018] [Accepted: 09/25/2018] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Skilled visual object and pattern recognition form the basis of many everyday behaviours. The game of chess has often been used as a model case for studying how long-term experience aides in perceiving objects and their spatio-functional interrelations. Earlier research revealed two brain regions, posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) and collateral sulcus (CoS), to be linked to chess experts' superior object and pattern recognition, respectively. Here we elucidated the brain networks these two expertise-related regions are embedded in, employing resting-state functional connectivity analysis and meta-analytic connectivity modelling with the BrainMap database. pMTG was preferentially connected with dorsal visual stream areas and a parieto-prefrontal network for action planning, while CoS was preferentially connected with posterior medial cortex and hippocampus, linked to scene perception, perspective-taking and navigation. Functional profiling using BrainMap meta-data revealed that pMTG was linked to semantic processing as well as inhibition and attention, while CoS was linked to face and shape perception as well as passive viewing. Our findings suggest that pMTG subserves skilled object recognition by mediating the link between object identity and object affordances, while CoS subserves skilled pattern recognition by linking the position of individual objects with typical spatio-functional layouts of their environment stored in memory.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Langner
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany.
| | - Simon B Eickhoff
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine (INM-7: Brain and Behaviour), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Merim Bilalić
- Department of Psychology, University of Northumbria at Newcastle, Newcastle, England, United Kingdom; Department of Neuroradiology, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
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15
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Dual neurobiological systems underlying language evolution: inferring the ancestral state. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2018. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2018.05.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023]
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16
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Campbell KL, Tyler LK. Language-related domain-specific and domain-general systems in the human brain. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2018; 21:132-137. [PMID: 30057936 PMCID: PMC6058087 DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2018.04.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
While a long history of neuropsychological research places language function within a primarily left-lateralized frontotemporal system, recent neuroimaging work has extended this language network to include a number of regions traditionally thought of as 'domain-general'. These include dorsal frontal, parietal, and medial temporal lobe regions known to underpin cognitive functions such as attention and memory. In this paper, we argue that these domain-general systems are not required for language processing and are instead an artefact of the tasks typically used to study language. Recent work from our lab shows that when syntactic processing - arguably the only domain-specific language function - is measured in a task-free, naturalistic manner, only the left-lateralized frontotemporal syntax system and auditory network are activated. When syntax is measured within the context of a task, several other domain-general networks come online and are functionally connected to the frontotemporal system. While we have long argued that syntactic processing does not occur in isolation but is processed in parallel with semantics and pragmatics - functions of the wider language system - our recent work makes a strong case for the domain-specificity of the frontotemporal syntax system and its autonomy from domain-general networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen L Campbell
- Department of Psychology, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada
| | - Lorraine K Tyler
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom
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Połczyńska M, Kuhn T, You SC, Walshaw P, Curtiss S, Bookheimer S. Assessment of grammar optimizes language tasks for the intracarotid amobarbital procedure. Epilepsy Behav 2017; 76:89-100. [PMID: 28923498 DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2017.08.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2017] [Revised: 07/24/2017] [Accepted: 08/14/2017] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
PURPOSE A previous study showed that assessment of language laterality could be improved by adding grammar tests to the recovery phase of the intracarotid amobarbital procedure (IAP) (Połczyńska et al. 2014). The aim of this study was to further investigate the extent to which grammar tests lateralize language function during the recovery phase of the IAP in a larger patient sample. METHODS Forty patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (14 females, thirty-two right-handed, mean age 38.5years, SD=10.6) participated in this study. On EEG, 24 patients had seizures originating in the left hemisphere (LH), 13 in the right hemisphere (RH), and 4 demonstrated mixed seizure origin. Thirty participants (75%) had bilateral injections, and ten (25%) had unilateral injections (five RH and five LH). Based on results from the encoding phase, we segregated our study participants to a LH language dominant and a mixed dominance group. In the recovery phase of the IAP, the participants were administered a new grammar test (the CYCLE-N) and a standard language test. We analyzed the laterality index measure and effect sizes in the two tests. KEY FINDINGS In the LH-dominant group, the CYCLE-N generated more profound language deficits in the recovery phase than the standard after injection to either hemisphere (p<0.001). At the same time, the laterality index for the grammar tasks was still higher than for the standard tests. Critically, the CYCLE-N administered in the recovery phase was nearly as effective as the standard tests given during the encoding phase. SIGNIFICANCE The results may be significant for individuals with epilepsy undergoing IAP. The grammar tests may be a highly efficient measure for lateralizing language function in the recovery phase.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Połczyńska
- UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, USA; Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland.
| | - Taylor Kuhn
- UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, USA.
| | - S Christine You
- UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, USA.
| | - Patricia Walshaw
- UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, USA.
| | | | - Susan Bookheimer
- UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, USA.
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Bradshaw AR, Thompson PA, Wilson AC, Bishop DV, Woodhead ZV. Measuring language lateralisation with different language tasks: a systematic review. PeerJ 2017; 5:e3929. [PMID: 29085748 PMCID: PMC5659218 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.3929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2017] [Accepted: 09/26/2017] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Language lateralisation refers to the phenomenon in which one hemisphere (typically the left) shows greater involvement in language functions than the other. Measurement of laterality is of interest both to researchers investigating the neural organisation of the language system and to clinicians needing to establish an individual's hemispheric dominance for language prior to surgery, as in patients with intractable epilepsy. Recently, there has been increasing awareness of the possibility that different language processes may develop hemispheric lateralisation independently, and to varying degrees. However, it is not always clear whether differences in laterality across language tasks with fMRI are reflective of meaningful variation in hemispheric lateralisation, or simply of trivial methodological differences between paradigms. This systematic review aims to assess different language tasks in terms of the strength, reliability and robustness of the laterality measurements they yield with fMRI, to look at variability that is both dependent and independent of aspects of study design, such as the baseline task, region of interest, and modality of the stimuli. Recommendations are made that can be used to guide task design; however, this review predominantly highlights that the current high level of methodological variability in language paradigms prevents conclusions as to how different language functions may lateralise independently. We conclude with suggestions for future research using tasks that engage distinct aspects of language functioning, whilst being closely matched on non-linguistic aspects of task design (e.g., stimuli, task timings etc); such research could produce more reliable and conclusive insights into language lateralisation. This systematic review was registered as a protocol on Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/5vmpt/.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abigail R. Bradshaw
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Paul A. Thompson
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Alexander C. Wilson
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Dorothy V.M. Bishop
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Zoe V.J. Woodhead
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
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Połczyńska M, Japardi K, Curtiss S, Moody T, Benjamin C, Cho A, Vigil C, Kuhn T, Jones M, Bookheimer S. Improving language mapping in clinical fMRI through assessment of grammar. NEUROIMAGE-CLINICAL 2017; 15:415-427. [PMID: 28616382 PMCID: PMC5458087 DOI: 10.1016/j.nicl.2017.05.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2016] [Revised: 05/03/2017] [Accepted: 05/25/2017] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Introduction Brain surgery in the language dominant hemisphere remains challenging due to unintended post-surgical language deficits, despite using pre-surgical functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) and intraoperative cortical stimulation. Moreover, patients are often recommended not to undergo surgery if the accompanying risk to language appears to be too high. While standard fMRI language mapping protocols may have relatively good predictive value at the group level, they remain sub-optimal on an individual level. The standard tests used typically assess lexico-semantic aspects of language, and they do not accurately reflect the complexity of language either in comprehension or production at the sentence level. Among patients who had left hemisphere language dominance we assessed which tests are best at activating language areas in the brain. Method We compared grammar tests (items testing word order in actives and passives, wh-subject and object questions, relativized subject and object clauses and past tense marking) with standard tests (object naming, auditory and visual responsive naming), using pre-operative fMRI. Twenty-five surgical candidates (13 females) participated in this study. Sixteen patients presented with a brain tumor, and nine with epilepsy. All participants underwent two pre-operative fMRI protocols: one including CYCLE-N grammar tests (items testing word order in actives and passives, wh-subject and object questions, relativized subject and object clauses and past tense marking); and a second one with standard fMRI tests (object naming, auditory and visual responsive naming). fMRI activations during performance in both protocols were compared at the group level, as well as in individual candidates. Results The grammar tests generated more volume of activation in the left hemisphere (left/right angular gyrus, right anterior/posterior superior temporal gyrus) and identified additional language regions not shown by the standard tests (e.g., left anterior/posterior supramarginal gyrus). The standard tests produced more activation in left BA 47. Ten participants had more robust activations in the left hemisphere in the grammar tests and two in the standard tests. The grammar tests also elicited substantial activations in the right hemisphere and thus turned out to be superior at identifying both right and left hemisphere contribution to language processing. Conclusion The grammar tests may be an important addition to the standard pre-operative fMRI testing. We added comprehensive grammar tests to standard presurgical fMRI of language. The grammar tests generated more volume of activation bilaterally. The tests identified additional language regions not shown by the standard tests. The grammar tests may be an important addition to standard pre-operative fMRI.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monika Połczyńska
- UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA; Faculty of English, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland.
| | - Kevin Japardi
- UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | | | - Teena Moody
- UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
| | | | - Andrew Cho
- UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Celia Vigil
- UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Taylor Kuhn
- UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
| | - Michael Jones
- UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA
| | - Susan Bookheimer
- UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
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Yang YH, Marslen-Wilson WD, Bozic M. Syntactic Complexity and Frequency in the Neurocognitive Language System. J Cogn Neurosci 2017; 29:1605-1620. [PMID: 28430044 DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_01137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Prominent neurobiological models of language follow the widely accepted assumption that language comprehension requires two principal mechanisms: a lexicon storing the sound-to-meaning mapping of words, primarily involving bilateral temporal regions, and a combinatorial processor for syntactically structured items, such as phrases and sentences, localized in a left-lateralized network linking left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and posterior temporal areas. However, recent research showing that the processing of simple phrasal sequences may engage only bilateral temporal areas, together with the claims of distributional approaches to grammar, raise the question of whether frequent phrases are stored alongside individual words in temporal areas. In this fMRI study, we varied the frequency of words and of short and long phrases in English. If frequent phrases are indeed stored, then only less frequent items should generate selective left frontotemporal activation, because memory traces for such items would be weaker or not available in temporal cortex. Complementary univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that, overall, simple words (verbs) and long phrases engaged LIFG and temporal areas, whereas short phrases engaged bilateral temporal areas, suggesting that syntactic complexity is a key factor for LIFG activation. Although we found a robust frequency effect for words in temporal areas, no frequency effects were found for the two phrasal conditions. These findings support the conclusion that long and short phrases are analyzed, respectively, in the left frontal network and in a bilateral temporal network but are not retrieved from memory in the same way as simple words during spoken language comprehension.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yun-Hsuan Yang
- University of Cambridge.,MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Mirjana Bozic
- University of Cambridge.,MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, UK
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21
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Rizio AA, Moyer KJ, Diaz MT. Neural evidence for phonologically based language production deficits in older adults: An fMRI investigation of age-related differences in picture-word interference. Brain Behav 2017; 7:e00660. [PMID: 28413708 PMCID: PMC5390840 DOI: 10.1002/brb3.660] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2016] [Revised: 12/21/2016] [Accepted: 01/15/2017] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Older adults often show declines in phonological aspects of language production, particularly for low-frequency words, but maintain strong semantic systems. However, there are different theories about the mechanism that may underlie such age-related differences in language (e.g., age-related declines in transmission of activation or inhibition). METHODS This study used fMRI to investigate whether age-related differences in language production are associated with transmission deficits or inhibition deficits. We used the picture-word interference paradigm to examine age-related differences in picture naming as a function of both target frequency and the relationship between the target picture and distractor word. RESULTS We found that the presence of a categorically related distractor led to greater semantic elaboration by older adults compared to younger adults, as evidenced by older adults' increased recruitment of regions including the left middle frontal gyrus and bilateral precuneus. When presented with a phonologically related distractor, patterns of neural activation are consistent with previously observed age deficits in phonological processing, including age-related reductions in the recruitment of regions such as the left middle temporal gyrus and right supramarginal gyrus. Lastly, older, but not younger, adults show increased brain activation of the pre- and postcentral gyri as a function of decreasing target frequency when target pictures are paired with a phonological distractor, suggesting that cuing the phonology of the target disproportionately aids production of low-frequency items. CONCLUSIONS Overall, this pattern of results is generally consistent with the transmission deficit hypothesis, illustrating that links within the phonological system, but not the semantic system, are weakened with age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Avery A Rizio
- Department of Psychology The Pennsylvania State University University Park PA USA
| | - Karlee J Moyer
- Department of Psychology The Pennsylvania State University University Park PA USA
| | - Michele T Diaz
- Department of Psychology The Pennsylvania State University University Park PA USA
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22
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de Boer JN, Heringa SM, van Dellen E, Wijnen FNK, Sommer IEC. A linguistic comparison between auditory verbal hallucinations in patients with a psychotic disorder and in nonpsychotic individuals: Not just what the voices say, but how they say it. BRAIN AND LANGUAGE 2016; 162:10-18. [PMID: 27501385 DOI: 10.1016/j.bandl.2016.07.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2015] [Revised: 06/10/2016] [Accepted: 07/29/2016] [Indexed: 06/06/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in psychotic patients are associated with activation of right hemisphere language areas, although this hemisphere is non-dominant in most people. Language generated in the right hemisphere can be observed in aphasia patients with left hemisphere damage. It is called "automatic speech", characterized by low syntactic complexity and negative emotional valence. AVH in nonpsychotic individuals, by contrast, predominantly have a neutral or positive emotional content and may be less dependent on right hemisphere activity. We hypothesize that right hemisphere language characteristics can be observed in the language of AVH, differentiating psychotic from nonpsychotic individuals. METHOD 17 patients with a psychotic disorder and 19 nonpsychotic individuals were instructed to repeat their AVH verbatim directly upon hearing them. Responses were recorded, transcribed and analyzed for total words, mean length of utterance, proportion of grammatical utterances, proportion of negations, literal and thematic perseverations, abuses, type-token ratio, embeddings, verb complexity, noun-verb ratio, and open-closed class ratio. RESULTS Linguistic features of AVH overall differed between groups F(13,24)=3.920, p=0.002; Pillai's Trace 0.680. AVH of psychotic patients compared with AVH of nonpsychotic individuals had a shorter mean length of utterance, lower verb complexity, and more verbal abuses and perseverations (all p<0.05). Other features were similar between groups. CONCLUSION AVH of psychotic patients showed lower syntactic complexity and higher levels of repetition and abuses than AVH of nonpsychotic individuals. These differences are in line with a stronger involvement of the right hemisphere in the origination of AVH in patients than in nonpsychotic voice hearers.
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Affiliation(s)
- J N de Boer
- University Medical Center Utrecht, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Department of Psychiatry, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - S M Heringa
- University Medical Center Utrecht, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Department of Psychiatry, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, Netherlands.
| | - E van Dellen
- University Medical Center Utrecht, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Department of Psychiatry, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - F N K Wijnen
- Utrecht Institute of Linguistics OTS, Utrecht University, Trans 10, 3512 JK Utrecht, Netherlands
| | - I E C Sommer
- University Medical Center Utrecht, Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, Department of Psychiatry, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, Netherlands
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Diaz MT, Rizio AA, Zhuang J. The neural language systems that support healthy aging: Integrating function, structure, and behavior. LANGUAGE AND LINGUISTICS COMPASS 2016; 10:314-334. [PMID: 28210287 PMCID: PMC5304920 DOI: 10.1111/lnc3.12199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/23/2023]
Abstract
Although healthy aging is generally characterized by declines in both brain structure and function, there is variability in the extent to which these changes result in observable cognitive decline. Specific to language, age-related differences in language production are observed more frequently than in language comprehension, although both are associated with increased right prefrontal cortex activation in older adults. The current paper explores these differences in the language system, integrating them with theories of behavioral and neural cognitive aging. Overall, data indicate that frontal reorganization of the dorsal language stream in older adults benefits task performance during comprehension, but not always during production. We interpret these results in the CRUNCH framework (compensation-related utilization of neural circuits hypothesis), which suggests that differences in task and process difficulty may underlie older adults' ability to successfully adapt. That is, older adults may be able to neurally adapt to less difficult tasks (i.e., comprehension), but fail to do so successfully as difficulty increases (i.e., production). We hypothesize greater age-related differences in aspects of language that rely more heavily on the dorsal language stream (e.g., syntax and production) and that recruit general cognitive resources that rely on frontal regions (e.g., executive function, working memory, inhibition). Moreover, there should be a relative sparing of tasks that rely predominantly on ventral stream regions. These results are both consistent with patterns of age-related structural decline and retention and with varying levels of difficulty across comprehension and production. This neurocognitive framework for understanding age-related differences in the language system centers on the interaction between prefrontal cortex activation, structural integrity, and task difficulty.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Avery A. Rizio
- The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Jie Zhuang
- Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
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Campbell KL, Samu D, Davis SW, Geerligs L, Mustafa A, Tyler LK. Robust Resilience of the Frontotemporal Syntax System to Aging. J Neurosci 2016; 36:5214-27. [PMID: 27170120 PMCID: PMC4863058 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.4561-15.2016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2015] [Revised: 03/03/2016] [Accepted: 03/21/2016] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
UNLABELLED Brain function is thought to become less specialized with age. However, this view is largely based on findings of increased activation during tasks that fail to separate task-related processes (e.g., attention, decision making) from the cognitive process under examination. Here we take a systems-level approach to separate processes specific to language comprehension from those related to general task demands and to examine age differences in functional connectivity both within and between those systems. A large population-based sample (N = 111; 22-87 years) from the Cambridge Centre for Aging and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN) was scanned using functional MRI during two versions of an experiment: a natural listening version in which participants simply listened to spoken sentences and an explicit task version in which they rated the acceptability of the same sentences. Independent components analysis across the combined data from both versions showed that although task-free language comprehension activates only the auditory and frontotemporal (FTN) syntax networks, performing a simple task with the same sentences recruits several additional networks. Remarkably, functionality of the critical FTN is maintained across age groups, showing no difference in within-network connectivity or responsivity to syntactic processing demands despite gray matter loss and reduced connectivity to task-related networks. We found no evidence for reduced specialization or compensation with age. Overt task performance was maintained across the lifespan and performance in older, but not younger, adults related to crystallized knowledge, suggesting that decreased between-network connectivity may be compensated for by older adults' richer knowledge base. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Understanding spoken language requires the rapid integration of information at many different levels of analysis. Given the complexity and speed of this process, it is remarkably well preserved with age. Although previous work claims that this preserved functionality is due to compensatory activation of regions outside the frontotemporal language network, we use a novel systems-level approach to show that these "compensatory" activations simply reflect age differences in response to experimental task demands. Natural, task-free language comprehension solely recruits auditory and frontotemporal networks, the latter of which is similarly responsive to language-processing demands across the lifespan. These findings challenge the conventional approach to neurocognitive aging by showing that the neural underpinnings of a given cognitive function depend on how you test it.
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Affiliation(s)
- Karen L Campbell
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom,
| | - Dávid Samu
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom
| | - Simon W Davis
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina 27708
| | - Linda Geerligs
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge CB2 7EF, United Kingdom, and
| | - Abdur Mustafa
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge CB2 7EF, United Kingdom, and
| | - Lorraine K Tyler
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, United Kingdom
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25
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Wilson B, Kikuchi Y, Sun L, Hunter D, Dick F, Smith K, Thiele A, Griffiths TD, Marslen-Wilson WD, Petkov CI. Auditory sequence processing reveals evolutionarily conserved regions of frontal cortex in macaques and humans. Nat Commun 2015; 6:8901. [PMID: 26573340 PMCID: PMC4660034 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms9901] [Citation(s) in RCA: 87] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/23/2015] [Accepted: 10/14/2015] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
An evolutionary account of human language as a neurobiological system must distinguish between human-unique neurocognitive processes supporting language and evolutionarily conserved, domain-general processes that can be traced back to our primate ancestors. Neuroimaging studies across species may determine whether candidate neural processes are supported by homologous, functionally conserved brain areas or by different neurobiological substrates. Here we use functional magnetic resonance imaging in Rhesus macaques and humans to examine the brain regions involved in processing the ordering relationships between auditory nonsense words in rule-based sequences. We find that key regions in the human ventral frontal and opercular cortex have functional counterparts in the monkey brain. These regions are also known to be associated with initial stages of human syntactic processing. This study raises the possibility that certain ventral frontal neural systems, which play a significant role in language function in modern humans, originally evolved to support domain-general abilities involved in sequence processing.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin Wilson
- Institute of Neuroscience, Henry Wellcome Building, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK
- Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Henry Wellcome Building, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK
| | - Yukiko Kikuchi
- Institute of Neuroscience, Henry Wellcome Building, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK
- Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Henry Wellcome Building, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK
| | - Li Sun
- Institute of Neuroscience, Henry Wellcome Building, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK
| | - David Hunter
- Institute of Neuroscience, Henry Wellcome Building, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK
| | - Frederic Dick
- Department of Psychological Sciences, Birkbeck University of London, London, WC1E 7HX, UK
| | - Kenny Smith
- School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9AD, UK
| | - Alexander Thiele
- Institute of Neuroscience, Henry Wellcome Building, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK
| | - Timothy D. Griffiths
- Institute of Neuroscience, Henry Wellcome Building, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK
| | | | - Christopher I. Petkov
- Institute of Neuroscience, Henry Wellcome Building, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK
- Centre for Behaviour and Evolution, Henry Wellcome Building, Newcastle University, Framlington Place, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE2 4HH, UK
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26
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de Bode S, Smets L, Mathern GW, Dubinsky S. Complex syntax in the isolated right hemisphere: Receptive grammatical abilities after cerebral hemispherectomy. Epilepsy Behav 2015; 51:33-9. [PMID: 26253599 DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2015.06.024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2015] [Revised: 05/29/2015] [Accepted: 06/02/2015] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
OBJECTIVES In this study, we explored the syntactic competence of the right hemisphere (RH) after left cerebral hemispherectomy, on the premise that it (syntactic competence) is known to be one of the most strongly left-lateralized language functions. As basic syntactic development for individuals in this subject pool has already been extensively explored, we focused instead on the investigation of complex syntactic constructions that are normally acquired later in childhood, i.e., between 7 and 9years of age. METHODS Grammatical competence in 10 participants who had undergone left cerebral hemispherectomy was compared to that of a group of normally developing children, with the two groups matched by the size of their vocabulary. The two tests we used for this research were created by the 1st language acquisition linguists and were designed to test sets of constructions categorized and differentiated by the order in which they are normally acquired and by the type of grammatical competence that they involve. RESULTS We found that both groups followed the same developmental sequence of syntactic development with five (50%) postsurgical participants (all with prenatal etiologies) reaching nearly mature command of sentence grammar. Seizures negatively impacted performance on all tests. CONCLUSIONS The isolated RH has the potential to support the complex grammatical categories that emerge relatively late in the normal acquisition of English by native speakers. Successful performance may be related to the timing of the initial insult and seizure control following hemispherectomy.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Lieselotte Smets
- Department of Linguistics, University of Utrecht, The Netherlands
| | - Gary W Mathern
- Departments of Neurosurgery and Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, Mattel Children's Hospital, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; The Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center, Mattel Children's Hospital, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA; The Brain Research Institute, Mattel Children's Hospital, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
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27
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Mitchell MT. Semantic processing of English sentences using statistical computation based on neurophysiological models. Front Physiol 2015; 6:135. [PMID: 26106331 PMCID: PMC4460779 DOI: 10.3389/fphys.2015.00135] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/02/2014] [Accepted: 04/15/2015] [Indexed: 11/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Computer programs that can accurately interpret natural human language and carry out instructions would improve the lives of people with language processing deficits and greatly benefit society in general. von Neumann in theorized that the human brain utilizes its own unique statistical neuronal computation to decode language and that this produces specific patterns of neuronal activity. This paper extends von Neumann's theory to the processing of partial semantics of declarative sentences. I developed semantic neuronal network models that emulate key features of cortical language processing and accurately compute partial semantics of English sentences. The method of computation implements the MAYA Semantic Technique, a mathematical technique I previously developed to determine partial semantics of sentences within a natural language processing program. Here I further simplified the technique by grouping repeating patterns into fewer categories. Unlike other natural language programs, my approach computes three partial semantics. The results of this research show that the computation of partial semantics of a sentence uses both feedforward and feedback projection which suggest that the partial semantic presented in this research might be a conscious activity within the human brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcia T Mitchell
- Computer and Information Sciences Department, Saint Peter's University Jersey, NJ, USA
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28
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Bozic M, Fonteneau E, Su L, Marslen‐Wilson WD. Grammatical analysis as a distributed neurobiological function. Hum Brain Mapp 2015; 36:1190-201. [PMID: 25421880 PMCID: PMC4365731 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.22696] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/19/2014] [Revised: 11/12/2014] [Accepted: 11/12/2014] [Indexed: 11/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Language processing engages large-scale functional networks in both hemispheres. Although it is widely accepted that left perisylvian regions have a key role in supporting complex grammatical computations, patient data suggest that some aspects of grammatical processing could be supported bilaterally. We investigated the distribution and the nature of grammatical computations across language processing networks by comparing two types of combinatorial grammatical sequences--inflectionally complex words and minimal phrases--and contrasting them with grammatically simple words. Novel multivariate analyses revealed that they engage a coalition of separable subsystems: inflected forms triggered left-lateralized activation, dissociable into dorsal processes supporting morphophonological parsing and ventral, lexically driven morphosyntactic processes. In contrast, simple phrases activated a consistently bilateral pattern of temporal regions, overlapping with inflectional activations in L middle temporal gyrus. These data confirm the role of the left-lateralized frontotemporal network in supporting complex grammatical computations. Critically, they also point to the capacity of bilateral temporal regions to support simple, linear grammatical computations. This is consistent with a dual neurobiological framework where phylogenetically older bihemispheric systems form part of the network that supports language function in the modern human, and where significant capacities for language comprehension remain intact even following severe left hemisphere damage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirjana Bozic
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of CambridgeDowning StreetCambridge,United Kingdom
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit15 Chaucer RoadCambridgeUnited Kingdom
| | - Elisabeth Fonteneau
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of CambridgeDowning StreetCambridge,United Kingdom
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit15 Chaucer RoadCambridgeUnited Kingdom
| | - Li Su
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of CambridgeDowning StreetCambridge,United Kingdom
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit15 Chaucer RoadCambridgeUnited Kingdom
| | - William D Marslen‐Wilson
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of CambridgeDowning StreetCambridge,United Kingdom
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit15 Chaucer RoadCambridgeUnited Kingdom
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29
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Połczyńska M, Curtiss S, Walshaw P, Siddarth P, Benjamin C, Moseley BD, Vigil C, Jones M, Eliashiv D, Bookheimer S. Grammar tests increase the ability to lateralize language function in the Wada test. Epilepsy Res 2014; 108:1864-73. [DOI: 10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2014.09.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2014] [Revised: 08/12/2014] [Accepted: 09/13/2014] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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30
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Shafto MA, Tyler LK. Language in the aging brain: The network dynamics of cognitive decline and preservation. Science 2014; 346:583-7. [PMID: 25359966 DOI: 10.1126/science.1254404] [Citation(s) in RCA: 147] [Impact Index Per Article: 14.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Meredith A Shafto
- Centre for Speech, Language and the Brain, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK.
| | - Lorraine K Tyler
- Centre for Speech, Language and the Brain, Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 3EB, UK
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31
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Anterobasal temporal lobe lesions alter recurrent functional connectivity within the ventral pathway during naming. J Neurosci 2013; 33:12679-88. [PMID: 23904604 DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.0645-13.2013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 29] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
An increasing amount of evidence supports a crucial role for the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) in semantic processing. Critically, a selective disruption of the functional connectivity between left and right ATLs in patients with chronic aphasic stroke has been illustrated. The aim of the current study was to evaluate the consequences that lesions on the ATL have on the neurocognitive network supporting semantic cognition. Unlike previous work, in this magnetoencephalography study we selected a group of patients with small lesions centered on the left anteroventral temporal lobe before surgery. We then used an effective connectivity method (i.e., dynamic causal modeling) to investigate the consequences that these lesions have on the functional interactions within the network. This approach allowed us to evaluate the directionality of the causal interactions among brain regions and their associated connectivity strengths. Behaviorally, we found that semantic processing was altered when patients were compared with a strictly matched group of controls. Dynamic causal modeling for event related responses revealed that picture naming was associated with a bilateral frontotemporal network, encompassing feedforward and feedback connections. Comparison of specific network parameters between groups revealed that patients displayed selective network adjustments. Specifically, backward connectivity from anterior to posterior temporal lobe was decreased in the ipsilesional hemisphere, whereas it was enhanced in the contralesional hemisphere. These results reinforce the relevance of ATL in semantic memory, as well as its amodal organization, and highlight the role of feedback connections in enabling the integration of the semantic information.
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32
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Bozic M, Tyler LK, Su L, Wingfield C, Marslen-Wilson WD. Neurobiological Systems for Lexical Representation and Analysis in English. J Cogn Neurosci 2013; 25:1678-91. [DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_00420] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Current research suggests that language comprehension engages two joint but functionally distinguishable neurobiological processes: a distributed bilateral system, which supports general perceptual and interpretative processes underpinning speech comprehension, and a left hemisphere (LH) frontotemporal system, selectively tuned to the processing of combinatorial grammatical sequences, such as regularly inflected verbs in English [Marslen-Wilson, W. D., & Tyler, L. K. Morphology, language and the brain: The decompositional substrate for language comprehension. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences, 362, 823–836, 2007]. Here we investigated how English derivationally complex words engage these systems, asking whether they selectively activate the LH system in the same way as inflections or whether they primarily engage the bilateral system that support nondecompositional access. In an fMRI study, we saw no evidence for selective activation of the LH frontotemporal system, even for highly transparent forms like bravely. Instead, a combination of univariate and multivariate analyses revealed the engagement of a distributed bilateral system, modulated by factors of perceptual complexity and semantic transparency. We discuss the implications for theories of the processing and representation of English derivational morphology and highlight the importance of neurobiological constraints in understanding these processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mirjana Bozic
- 1University of Cambridge
- 2MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge
| | | | - Li Su
- 1University of Cambridge
- 2MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge
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