Sustained and transient activity during an object-naming task: a mixed blocked and event-related fMRI study

Object It has been hypothesized that specific brain regions involved in face naming may exist in the brain. To spare these areas and to gain a better understanding of their organization, the authors studied patients who underwent surgery by using direct electrical stimulation mapping for brain tumors, and they compared an object-naming task to a famous face–naming task. Methods Fifty-six patients with brain tumors (39 and 17 in the left and right hemispheres, respectively) and with no significant preoperative overall language deficit were prospectively studied over a 2-year period. Four patients who had a partially selective famous face anomia and 2 with prosopagnosia were not included in the final analysis. Results Face-naming interferences were exclusively localized in small cortical areas (< 1 cm2). Among 35 patients whose dominant left hemisphere was studied, 26 face-naming specific areas (that is, sites of interference in face naming only and not in object naming) were found. These face naming–specific sites were significantly detected in 2 regions: in the left frontal areas of the superior, middle, and inferior frontal gyri (p < 0.001) and in the anterior part of the superior and middle temporal gyri (p < 0.01). Variable patterns of interference were observed (speech arrest, anomia, phonemic, or semantic paraphasia) probably related to the different stages in famous face processing. Only 4 famous face–naming interferences were found in the right hemisphere. Conclusions Relative anatomical segregation of naming categories within language areas was detected. This study showed that famous face naming was preferentially processed in the left frontal and anterior temporal gyri. The authors think it is necessary to adapt naming tasks in neurosurgical patients to the brain region studied.

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The impact of semantic reference on word class: An fMRI study of action and object naming

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2006.04.179 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 32 (4) ◽

pp. 1865-1878 ◽

Cited By ~ 80

Author(s):

M. Cristina Saccuman ◽

Stefano F. Cappa ◽

Elizabeth A. Bates ◽

Analìa Arevalo ◽

Pasquale Della Rosa ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Object Naming ◽

Word Class ◽

Fmri Study ◽

Semantic Reference ◽

The Impact

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Is naming faces different from naming objects? Semantic interference in a face- and object-naming task

Memory & Cognition ◽

10.3758/s13421-013-0376-8 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 42 (3) ◽

pp. 525-537 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

Alejandra Marful ◽

Daniela Paolieri ◽

M. Teresa Bajo

Keyword(s):

Naming Task ◽

Object Naming ◽

Semantic Interference

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A Data-Based Approach for Selecting Pre- and Intra-Operative Language Mapping Tasks

Frontiers in Neuroscience ◽

10.3389/fnins.2021.743402 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

Author(s):

Justyna O. Ekert ◽

Matthew A. Kirkman ◽

Mohamed L. Seghier ◽

David W. Green ◽

Cathy J. Price

Keyword(s):

Naming Task ◽

Object Naming ◽

Auditory Modality ◽

Language Mapping ◽

Novel Approach ◽

Brain Responses ◽

Linguistic Functions ◽

Classical Language ◽

Language Areas ◽

Naming Tasks

Background: Pre- and intra-operative language mapping in neurosurgery patients frequently involves an object naming task. The choice of the optimal object naming paradigm remains challenging due to lack of normative data and standardization in mapping practices. The aim of this study was to identify object naming paradigms that robustly and consistently activate classical language regions and could therefore be used to improve the sensitivity of language mapping in brain tumor and epilepsy patients.Methods: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from two independent groups of healthy controls (total = 79) were used to generate threshold-weighted voxel-based consistency maps. This novel approach allowed us to compare inter-subject consistency of activation for naming single objects in the visual and auditory modality and naming two objects in a phrase or a sentence.Results: We found that the consistency of activation in language regions was greater for naming two objects per picture than one object per picture, even when controlling for the number of names produced in 5 s.Conclusion: More consistent activation in language areas for naming two objects compared to one object suggests that two-object naming tasks may be more suitable for delimiting language eloquent regions with pre- and intra-operative language testing. More broadly, we propose that the functional specificity of brain mapping paradigms for a whole range of different linguistic and non-linguistic functions could be enhanced by referring to databased models of inter-subject consistency and variability in typical and atypical brain responses.

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The Role of the Cognitive Control System in Recovery from Bilingual Aphasia: A Multiple Single-Case fMRI Study

Neural Plasticity ◽

10.1155/2016/8797086 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 2016 ◽

pp. 1-22 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Narges Radman ◽

Michael Mouthon ◽

Marie Di Pietro ◽

Chrisovalandou Gaytanidis ◽

Beatrice Leemann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Language Production ◽

Single Case ◽

Naming Task ◽

Behavioral Measures ◽

Control Functions ◽

Dynamic View ◽

Fmri Study ◽

Language Control ◽

Bilingual Aphasia ◽

And Control

Aphasia in bilingual patients is a therapeutic challenge since both languages can be impacted by the same lesion. Language control has been suggested to play an important role in the recovery of first (L1) and second (L2) language in bilingual aphasia following stroke. To test this hypothesis, we collected behavioral measures of language production (general aphasia evaluation and picture naming) in each language and language control (linguistic and nonlinguistic switching tasks), as well as fMRI during a naming task at one and four months following stroke in five bilingual patients suffering from poststroke aphasia. We further applied dynamic causal modelling (DCM) analyses to the connections between language and control brain areas. Three patients showed parallel recovery in language production, one patient improved in L1, and one improved in L2 only. Language-control functions improved in two patients. Consistent with the dynamic view of language recovery, DCM analyses showed a higher connectedness between language and control areas in the language with the better recovery. Moreover, similar degrees of connectedness between language and control areas were found in the patients who recovered in both languages. Our data suggest that engagement of the interconnected language-control network is crucial in the recovery of languages.

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Transient Activity in the Human Calcarine Cortex During Visual-Mental Imagery: An Event-Related fMRI Study

Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience ◽

10.1162/089892900564037 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 12 (supplement 2) ◽

pp. 15-23 ◽

Cited By ~ 107

Author(s):

Isabelle Klein ◽

Anne-Lise Paradis ◽

Jean-Baptiste Poline ◽

Stephen M. Kosslyn ◽

Denis Le Bihan

Keyword(s):

Visual Cortex ◽

Primary Visual Cortex ◽

Mental Imagery ◽

Visual Imagery ◽

Mental Image ◽

Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽

Visual Mental Imagery ◽

Fmri Study ◽

Transient Activity ◽

Imagery Processing

Although it is largely accepted that visual-mental imagery and perception draw on many of the same neural structures, the existence and nature of neural processing in the primary visual cortex (or area V1) during visual imagery remains controversial. We tested two general hypotheses: The first was that V1 is activated only when images with many details are formed and used, and the second was that V1 is activated whenever images are formed, even if they are not necessarily used to perform a task. We used event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (ER-fMRI) to detect and characterize the activity in the calcarine sulcus (which contains the primary visual cortex) during single instances of mental imagery. The results revealed reproducible transient activity in this area whenever participants generated or evaluated a mental image. This transient activity was strongly enhanced when participants evaluated characteristics of objects, whether or not details actually needed to be extracted from the image to perform the task. These results show that visual imagery processing commonly involves the earliest stages of the visual system.

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