Modulation of Motor Excitability during Speech Perception: The Role of Broca's Area

2004 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 978-987 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kate Watkins ◽  
Tomáš Paus
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Posterior Part ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Broca’S Area ◽  
Broca's Area ◽  
Auditory Speech ◽  
Positron Emission ◽  
Cortical Regions

Studies in both human and nonhuman primates indicate that motor and premotor cortical regions participate in auditory and visual perception of actions. Previous studies, using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), showed that perceiving visual and auditory speech increased the excitability of the orofacial motor system during speech perception. Such studies, however, cannot tell us which brain regions mediate this effect. In this study, we used the technique of combining positron emission tomography with TMS to identify the brain regions that modulate the excitability of the motor system during speech perception. Our results show that during auditory speech perception, there is increased excitability of motor system underlying speech production and that this increase is significantly correlated with activity in the posterior part of the left inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area). We propose that this area “primes” the motor system in response to heard speech even when no speech output is required and, as such, operates at the interface of perception and action.

scholarly journals fMRI Evidence for Cortical Modification during Learning of Mandarin Lexical Tone

2003 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 1019-1027 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yue Wang ◽  
Joan A. Sereno ◽  
Allard Jongman ◽  
Joy Hirsch
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Broca’S Area ◽  
Lexical Tone ◽  
Broca's Area ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Cortical Regions ◽  
Wernicke’S Area

Functional magnetic resonance imaging was employed before and after six native English speakers completed lexical tone training as part of a program to learn Mandarin as a second language. Language-related areas including Broca's area, Wernicke's area, auditory cortex, and supplementary motor regions were active in all subjects before and after training and did not vary in average location. Across all subjects, improvements in performance were associated with an increase in the spatial extent of activation in left superior temporal gyrus (Brodmann's area 22, putative Wernicke's area), the emergence of activity in adjacent Brodmann's area 42, and the emergence of activity in right inferior frontal gyrus (Brodmann's area 44), a homologue of putative Broca's area. These findings demonstrate a form of enrichment plasticity in which the early cortical effects of learning a tone-based second language involve both expansion of preexisting language-related areas and recruitment of additional cortical regions specialized for functions similar to the new language functions.

The syntactic motor system

Gesture ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 7-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice C. Roy ◽  
Michael A. Arbib
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Manual Dexterity ◽  
Mirror System ◽  
Hand Movements ◽  
Broca’S Area ◽  
Broca's Area ◽  
Motor Theory ◽  
Sentential Form

The human brain has mechanisms that can support production and perception of language. We ground the evolution of these mechanisms in primate systems that support manual dexterity, especially the mirror system that integrates execution and observation of hand movements. We relate the motor theory of speech perception to the mirror system hypothesis for language and evolution; explore links between manual actions and speech; contrast “language” in apes with language in humans; show in what sense the “syntax” implemented in Broca’s area is a “motor syntax” far more general than the syntax of linguistics; and relate communicative goals to sentential form.

The syntactic motor system

Gesture ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 5 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 7-37 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alice C. Roy ◽  
Michael A. Arbib
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Motor System ◽  
Manual Dexterity ◽  
Mirror System ◽  
Hand Movements ◽  
Broca’S Area ◽  
Broca's Area ◽  
Motor Theory ◽  
Sentential Form

The human brain has mechanisms that can support production and perception of language. We ground the evolution of these mechanisms in primate systems that support manual dexterity, especially the mirror system that integrates execution and observation of hand movements. We relate the motor theory of speech perception to the mirror system hypothesis for language and evolution; explore links between manual actions and speech; contrast “language” in apes with language in humans; show in what sense the “syntax” implemented in Broca’s area is a “motor syntax” far more general than the syntax of linguistics; and relate communicative goals to sentential form.

scholarly journals SURG-40. SURGICAL RESECTIONS IN BROCA’S AREA DO NOT LEAD TO BROCA’S APHASIA

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_2) ◽  
pp. ii212-ii212
Author(s):  
John Andrews ◽  
Nathan Cahn ◽  
Benjamin Speidel ◽  
Valerie Lu ◽  
Mitchel Berger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Surgery ◽  
Broca’S Area ◽  
Broca's Area ◽  
Supramarginal Gyrus ◽  
Broca's Aphasia ◽  
Broca’S Aphasia ◽  
Language Evaluations ◽  
Lesion Symptom Mapping ◽  
Normal Speech

Abstract Brodmann’s areas 44/45 of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), are the seat of Broca’s area. The Western Aphasia Battery is a commonly used language battery that diagnoses aphasias based on fluency, comprehension, naming and repetition. Broca’s aphasia is defined as low fluency (0-4/10), retained comprehension (4-10/10), and variable deficits in repetition (0-7.9/10) and naming (0-8/10). The purpose of this study was to find anatomic areas associated with Broca’s aphasia. Patients who underwent resective brain surgery in the dominant hemisphere were evaluated with standardized language batteries pre-op, POD 2, and 1-month post-op. The resection cavities were outlined to construct 3D-volumes of interest. These were aligned using an affine transformation to MNI brain space. A voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) algorithm determined areas associated with Broca’s aphasia when incorporated into a resection. Post-op MRIs were reviewed blindly and percent involvement of pars orbitalis, triangularis and opercularis was recorded. 287 patients had pre-op and POD 2 language evaluations and 178 had 1 month post-op language evaluation. 82/287 patients had IFG involvement in resections. Only 5/82 IFG resections led to Broca’s aphasia. 11/16 patients with Broca’s aphasia at POD 2 had no involvement of IFG in resection. 35% of IFG resections were associated with non-specific dysnomia and 36% were normal. By one-month, 76% of patients had normal speech. 80% of patients with Broca’s aphasia at POD 2 improved to normal speech at 1-month, with 20% improved to non-specific dysnomia. The most highly correlated (P< 0.005) anatomic areas with Broca’s aphasia were juxta-sylvian pre- and post-central gyrus extending to supramarginal gyrus. While Broca’s area resections were rarely associated with Broca’s aphasia, juxta-sylvian pre- and post-central gyri extending to the supramarginal gyrus were statistically associated with Broca’s type aphasia when resected. These results have implications for planning resective brain surgery in these presumed eloquent brain areas.

scholarly journals Optical Mapping of Brain Activity Underlying Directionality and Its Modulation by Expertise in Mandarin/English Interpreting

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan He ◽  
Yinying Hu ◽  
Yaxi Yang ◽  
Defeng Li ◽  
Yi Hu
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Skills ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Broca’S Area ◽  
Broca's Area ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
The Right

Recent neuroimaging research has suggested that unequal cognitive efforts exist between interpreting from language 1 (L1) to language 2 (L2) compared with interpreting from L2 to L1. However, the neural substrates that underlie this directionality effect are not yet well understood. Whether directionality is modulated by interpreting expertise also remains unknown. In this study, we recruited two groups of Mandarin (L1)/English (L2) bilingual speakers with varying levels of interpreting expertise and asked them to perform interpreting and reading tasks. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) was used to collect cortical brain data for participants during each task, using 68 channels that covered the prefrontal cortex and the bilateral perisylvian regions. The interpreting-related neuroimaging data was normalized by using both L1 and L2 reading tasks, to control the function of reading and vocalization respectively. Our findings revealed the directionality effect in both groups, with forward interpreting (from L1 to L2) produced more pronounced brain activity, when normalized for reading. We also found that directionality was modulated by interpreting expertise in both normalizations. For the group with relatively high expertise, the activated brain regions included the right Broca’s area and the left premotor and supplementary motor cortex; whereas for the group with relatively low expertise, the activated brain areas covered the superior temporal gyrus, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), the Broca’s area, and visual area 3 in the right hemisphere. These findings indicated that interpreting expertise modulated brain activation, possibly because of more developed cognitive skills associated with executive functions in experienced interpreters.

scholarly journals Towards a causal role of Broca's area in language: A TMS-EEG study on syntactic prediction

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Maran ◽  
Ole Numssen ◽  
Gesa Hartwigsen ◽  
Angela D. Friederici ◽  
Emiliano Zaccarella
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Event Related Potential ◽  
Cortical Region ◽  
Broca’S Area ◽  
Broca's Area ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Predictive Mechanisms

Categorical predictions have been proposed as the key mechanism supporting the fast pace of syntactic composition in human language. Accordingly, grammar-based expectations facilitate the analysis of incoming syntactic information - e.g., hearing the determiner 'the' enhances the prediction of a noun - which is then checked against a single or few other word categories. Previous functional neuroimaging studies point towards Broca's area in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) as one fundamental cortical region involved in categorical prediction during on-line language processing. Causal evidence for this hypothesis is however still missing. In this study, we combined Electroencephalography (EEG) and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) to test whether Broca's area is functionally relevant in predictive mechanisms for language. Specifically, we transiently perturbed Broca's area during the categorical prediction phase in two-word constructions, while simultaneously measuring the Event-Related Potential (ERP) correlates of syntactic composition. We reasoned that if Broca's area is involved in predictive mechanisms for syntax, disruptive TMS during the processing of the first word (determiner/pronoun) would mitigate the difference in ERP responses for predicted and unpredicted categories when composing basic phrases and sentences. Contrary to our hypothesis, perturbation of Broca's area at the predictive stage did not affect the ERP correlates of basic composition. The correlation strength between the electrical field induced by TMS and the magnitude of the EEG response on the scalp further confirmed this pattern. We discuss the present results in light of an alternative account of the role of Broca's area in syntactic composition, namely the bottom-up integration of words into constituents.

scholarly journals The neural bases of program comprehension: a coordinate-based fMRI meta-analysis

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshiharu Ikutani ◽  
Takeshi D. Itoh ◽  
Takatomi Kubo
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activity ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Posterior Part ◽  
Program Comprehension ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Activation Patterns ◽  
Neural Bases ◽  
Kernel Density Analysis

AbstractThe understanding of brain activity during program comprehension have advanced thanks to noninvasive neuroimaging techniques, such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, individual neuroimaging studies of program comprehension often provided inconsistent results and made it difficult to identify the neural bases. To identify the essential brain regions, this study performed a small meta-analysis on recent fMRI studies of program comprehension using multilevel kernel density analysis (MKDA). Our analysis identified a set of brain regions consistently activated in various program comprehension tasks. These regions consisted of three clusters, each of which centered at the left inferior frontal gyrus pars triangularis (IFG Tri), posterior part of middle temporal gyrus (pMTG), and right middle frontal gyrus (MFG). Additionally, subsequent analyses revealed relationships among the activation patterns in the previous studies and multiple cognitive functions. These findings suggest that program comprehension mainly recycles the language-related networks and partially employs other domain-general resources in the human brain.

Language Processing in the Human Brain of Literate and Illiterate Subjects

2013 ◽  
pp. 201-209
Author(s):  
Xiujun Li ◽  
Zhenglong Lin ◽  
Jinglong Wu
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Healthy Subjects ◽  
Broca’S Area ◽  
Broca's Area ◽  
Positron Emission ◽  
Inferior Parietal Cortex ◽  
Few Data ◽  
Naming Tasks

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) or positron emission tomography (PET), much knowledge has been gained in understanding how the brain is activated during controlled experiments of language tasks in educated healthy subjects and in uneducated healthy subjects. While previous studies have compared performance between alphabetic subjects, few data were about Chinese-speaking individuals. In alphabetic subjects, studies indicate that the literates surpass the illiterates, especially in tasks involving phonological processing, and that different activation regions in fMRI are located between Broca’s area and the inferior parietal cortex, as well as the posterior-mid-insula bridge between Wernicke’s and Broca’s area. In Chinese subjects, the results were shown in silent word recognition tasks (the left inferior/middle frontal gyrus and bilateral superior temporal gyri) and in silent picture-naming tasks (the bilateral inferior/middle fontal gyri and left limbic cingulated gyrus). In this study, the authors use some recent fMRI data to investigate language processing in the human brain of literate and illiterate subjects.

The temporal cortex

2020 ◽  
pp. 253-259
Author(s):  
Edmund T. Rolls
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Language Production ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Temporal Cortex ◽  
Visual Object ◽  
Broca’S Area ◽  
Semantic Representations ◽  
Broca's Area ◽  
Anterior Temporal Lobe ◽  
Face Expression

The inferior and middle temporal gyri are involved visual object recognition, with the more dorsal areas involved in face expression, gesture, and motion representation that is useful in social behaviour. The superior temporal cortex is involved in auditory processing. The anterior temporal lobe is involved in semantic representations, for example information about objects, people, and places. Network mechanisms involved in semantic representations are described. The output of this system reaches the inferior frontal gyrus, which on the left is Broca’s area, involved in language production. The concept that the semantics for language are computed in the anterior temporal lobe, and communicates with Broca’s area for speech production, is introduced.

scholarly journals The neurobiology of sign language and the mirror system hypothesis

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 205-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Emmorey
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Sign Language ◽  
Mirror Neuron ◽  
Human Action ◽  
Mirror System ◽  
Broca’S Area ◽  
Broca's Area ◽  
Neuron Populations

AbstractI suggest two puzzles for the Mirror System Hypothesis. First, there is little evidence that mirror neuron populations for words or for signs exist in Broca's area, and a mirror system is not critical for either speech or sign perception. Damage to Broca's area (or to the mirror system for human action) does not result in deficits in sign or speech perception. Second, the gesticulations of speakers are highly integrated with speech, but pantomimes and modern protosigns (conventional gestures) are not co-expressive with speech, and they do not co-occur with speech. Further, signers also produce global, imagistic gesticulations with their mouths and bodies simultaneously while signing with their hands. The expanding spiral of protosign and protospeech does not predict the integrated and co-expressive nature of modern gestures produced by signers and speakers.

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