scholarly journals Manipulation of Length and Lexicality Localizes the Functional Neuroanatomy of Phonological Processing in Adult Readers

2011 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1475-1493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica A. Church ◽  
David A. Balota ◽  
Steven E. Petersen ◽  
Bradley L. Schlaggar
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Functional Neuroanatomy ◽  
Supramarginal Gyrus ◽  
Adult Readers ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Left Angular Gyrus ◽  
The Brain

In a previous study of single word reading, regions in the left supramarginal gyrus and left angular gyrus showed positive BOLD activity in children but significantly less activity in adults for high-frequency words [Church, J. A., Coalson, R. S., Lugar, H. M., Petersen, S. E., & Schlaggar, B. L. A developmental fMRI study of reading and repetition reveals changes in phonological and visual mechanisms over age. Cerebral Cortex, 18, 2054–2065, 2008]. This developmental decrease may reflect decreased reliance on phonological processing for familiar stimuli in adults. Therefore, in the present study, variables thought to influence phonological demand (string length and lexicality) were manipulated. Length and lexicality effects in the brain were explored using both ROI and whole-brain approaches. In the ROI analysis, the supramarginal and angular regions from the previous study were applied to this study. The supramarginal region showed a significant positive effect of length, consistent with a role in phonological processing, whereas the angular region showed only negative deflections from baseline with a strong effect of lexicality and other weaker effects. At the whole-brain level, varying effects of length and lexicality and their interactions were observed in 85 regions throughout the brain. The application of hierarchical clustering analysis to the BOLD time course data derived from these regions revealed seven clusters, with potentially revealing anatomical locations. Of note, a left angular gyrus region was the sole constituent of one cluster. Taken together, these findings in adult readers (1) provide support for a widespread set of brain regions affected by lexical variables, (2) corroborate a role for phonological processing in the left supramarginal gyrus, and (3) do not support a strong role for phonological processing in the left angular gyrus.

Neurosurgery and the Anatomy of Reading

Neurosurgery ◽  
1977 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel H. Greenblatt
Keyword(s):  
Corpus Callosum ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Vascular Malformations ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Dominant Hemisphere ◽  
Fresh Cadaver ◽  
Cadaver Studies ◽  
Left Angular Gyrus ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Tumors and vascular malformations in the posterior parts of the dominant hemisphere are frequently associated with preoperative alexias, and surgical maneuvers in these areas may cause the appearance of this neurobehavioral deficit as an operative complication. Lesions of the dominant (left) angular gyrus are associated with the syndromes of alexia with agraphia. Alexia without agraphia results from lesions of the pathways which conduct visual information from the calcarine areas to the left angular gyrus (splenium of the corpus callosum, left lingual and fusiform gyri, left transverse and vertical occipital fasciculi). A brief bedside examination (outlined in the text) provides useful pre-and postoperative localizing information. Fresh cadaver studies of the brain in situ have shown that the approximate center of the left angular gyrus area is found by first locating a point 9 cm forward along the midline from the inion and then moving 4/14; cm laterally. These measurements define a point which is a few centimeters medial and posterior to the center of the parietal eminence.

scholarly journals Distinctive neural correlates of phonological processing and reading impairment in fetal alcohol-exposed adolescents with and without facial dysmorphology

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xi Yu ◽  
Jade Dunstan ◽  
Sandra W. Jacobson ◽  
Christopher D. Molteno ◽  
Nadine M. Lindinger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Alcohol Exposure ◽  
Neural Correlates ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Precentral Gyrus ◽  
Fetal Alcohol ◽  
Reading Impairment ◽  
The Right ◽  
Structural Mechanisms ◽  
The Brain

Background: Prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE) has been linked to atypical brain development and a wide range of cognitive and behavioral impairments, including poor reading performance in childhood and adolescence. However, little is known about how structural and/or functional teratogenesis in the brain mediate reading impairment in fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) and whether neural correlates of reading and phonological processing differ between FASD subtypes with different clinical presentations in facial morphology. Methods: The current study utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to characterize functional and structural mechanisms mediating reading deficits in 26 syndromal adolescents with PAE-related facial dysmorphology (i.e., fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) or partial FAS (PFAS)) and 30 heavily exposed (HE) without this dysmorphology, in comparison with 19 typically developing controls. Importantly, the levels of PAE and reading ability were comparable between the FAS/PFAS and HE groups in the current study. Results: Compared to the nonsyndromal HE and control groups, the syndromal adolescents showed greater activation in the right precentral gyrus during an fMRI phonological processing task and rightward lateralization in an important reading-related tract (inferior longitudinal fasciculus, ILF), suggesting an atypical reliance on the right hemisphere during reading. By contrast, in the HE group, better reading skills were associated with increased neural activation in the left angular gyrus (LAG) and higher fractional anisotropy in the white matter organization of the left ILF. However, the brain function-behavior relation was weaker in the HE than among the controls, suggesting less efficient function of the typical reading neural network that may contribute to the observed reading impairments. Conclusions: Our findings provide the first evidence for the distinctive functional and structural mechanisms underlying atypical reading and phonological processing in PAE adolescents with and without FAS facial dysmorphology.

scholarly journals Simple Multiplication in the Brain: A MEG Study Comparing Fast and Slow Responses

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arcara G. ◽  
Pezzetta R. ◽  
Benavides-Varela S. ◽  
Rizzi G. ◽  
Formica S. ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Single Digit ◽  
Parietal Lobes ◽  
Neurophysiological Studies ◽  
Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽  
The Right ◽  
Left Angular Gyrus ◽  
The Brain

Abstract Despite decades of studies, it is still an open question on how and where simple multiplication is solved by the brain. This fragmented picture is mostly related to the different tasks employed. Although in neuropsychological studies patients are asked to perform and report simple oral calculations, neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies often use verification tasks, in which the result is shown, and the participant must verify the correctness. This MEG study aims to unify the sources of evidence, investigating how brain activation unfolds in time using a single-digit multiplication production task. We compared the participants’ brain activity – focusing on the parietal lobes - based on response efficiency, dividing their responses in fast and slow. Results showed a higher activation for fast, as compared to slow, responses in the left angular gyrus starting after the first operand, and in the right supramarginal gyrus only after the second operand. A whole-brain analysis showed that fast responses had higher activation in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. We show a timing difference of both hemispheres during simple multiplications. Results suggest that while the left parietal lobe may allow an initial retrieval of several possible solutions, the right one may be engaged later, helping to identify the solution based on magnitude checking.

scholarly journals Brain Functional Specialization and Cooperation in Parkinson’s Disease

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinmei Sun ◽  
Xiaoran Gao ◽  
Qiang Hua ◽  
Rongrong Du ◽  
Pingping Liu ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parkinson’S Disease ◽  
Parkinson's Disease ◽  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Cognitive Assessment ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Supramarginal Gyrus ◽  
Clinical Evaluations ◽  
Pathological Mechanism ◽  
The Right ◽  
Left Angular Gyrus

Abstract Background: Cerebral specialization and inter-hemispheric cooperation are two of the most prominent functional architectures of the human brain. Their dysfunctions may be related to pathophysiological changes in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), who are characterized by unbalanced onset and progression of motor symptoms. Objective: This study aimed to characterize the two intrinsic architectures of hemispheric functions in PD using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging.Methods: Seventy idiopathic PD patients and 70 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy subjects were recruited. All participants underwent magnetic resonance image scanning and clinical evaluations. The cerebral specialization (Autonomy index, AI) and inter-hemispheric cooperation (Connectivity between Functionally Homotopic voxels, CFH) were calculated and compared between groups. Results: Compared with healthy controls, PD patients showed stronger AI in the left angular gyrus. Specifically, this difference in specialization resulted from increased functional connectivity (FC) of the ipsilateral areas (e.g., the left prefrontal area), and decreased FC in the contralateral area (e.g., the right supramarginal gyrus). Imaging-cognitive correlation analysis indicated that these connectivity were positively related to the score of Montreal Cognitive Assessment in PD patients. CFH between the bilateral sensorimotor regions was significantly decreased in PD patients compared with controls. No significant correlation between CFH and cognitive scores was found in PD patients.Conclusions: This study illustrated a strong leftward specialization but weak inter-hemispheric coordination in PD patients. It provided new insights to further clarify the pathological mechanism of PD.

Morphological Changes in the Brain of Acutely Ill and Weight-Recovered Patients with Anorexia Nervosa

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jochen Seitz ◽  
Katharina Bühren ◽  
Georg G. von Polier ◽  
Nicole Heussen ◽  
Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Anorexia Nervosa ◽  
Cognitive Deficits ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Morphological Changes ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Clinical Prognosis ◽  
Qualitative Review ◽  
Brain Changes ◽  
The Brain

Objective: Acute anorexia nervosa (AN) leads to reduced gray (GM) and white matter (WM) volume in the brain, which however improves again upon restoration of weight. Yet little is known about the extent and clinical correlates of these brain changes, nor do we know much about the time-course and completeness of their recovery. Methods: We conducted a meta-analysis and a qualitative review of all magnetic resonance imaging studies involving volume analyses of the brain in both acute and recovered AN. Results: We identified structural neuroimaging studies with a total of 214 acute AN patients and 177 weight-recovered AN patients. In acute AN, GM was reduced by 5.6% and WM by 3.8% compared to healthy controls (HC). Short-term weight recovery 2–5 months after admission resulted in restitution of about half of the GM aberrations and almost full WM recovery. After 2–8 years of remission GM and WM were nearly normalized, and differences to HC (GM: –1.0%, WM: –0.7%) were no longer significant, although small residual changes could not be ruled out. In the qualitative review some studies found GM volume loss to be associated with cognitive deficits and clinical prognosis. Conclusions: GM and WM were strongly reduced in acute AN. The completeness of brain volume rehabilitation remained equivocal.

Slow Wave Activity Related to Working Memory Maintenance in the N-Back Task

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 141-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kira Bailey ◽  
Gregory Mlynarczyk ◽  
Robert West
Keyword(s):  
Working Memory ◽  
Slow Wave ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Wave Activity ◽  
Slow Wave Activity ◽  
Response Accuracy ◽  
Functional Neuroanatomy ◽  
Stimulus Interval ◽  
Back Task

Abstract. Working memory supports our ability to maintain goal-relevant information that guides cognition in the face of distraction or competing tasks. The N-back task has been widely used in cognitive neuroscience to examine the functional neuroanatomy of working memory. Fewer studies have capitalized on the temporal resolution of event-related brain potentials (ERPs) to examine the time course of neural activity in the N-back task. The primary goal of the current study was to characterize slow wave activity observed in the response-to-stimulus interval in the N-back task that may be related to maintenance of information between trials in the task. In three experiments, we examined the effects of N-back load, interference, and response accuracy on the amplitude of the P3b following stimulus onset and slow wave activity elicited in the response-to-stimulus interval. Consistent with previous research, the amplitude of the P3b decreased as N-back load increased. Slow wave activity over the frontal and posterior regions of the scalp was sensitive to N-back load and was insensitive to interference or response accuracy. Together these findings lead to the suggestion that slow wave activity observed in the response-to-stimulus interval is related to the maintenance of information between trials in the 1-back task.

scholarly journals The Brain Resting-State Functional Connectivity Underlying Violence Proneness: Is It a Reliable Marker for Neurocriminology? A Systematic Review

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ángel Romero-Martínez ◽  
Macarena González ◽  
Marisol Lila ◽  
Enrique Gracia ◽  
Luis Martí-Bonmatí ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Effective Treatment ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Brain Structures ◽  
Prevention Programs ◽  
Angular Gyrus ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Treatment And Prevention ◽  
Reliable Marker ◽  
The Brain

Introduction: There is growing scientific interest in understanding the biological mechanisms affecting and/or underlying violent behaviors in order to develop effective treatment and prevention programs. In recent years, neuroscientific research has tried to demonstrate whether the intrinsic activity within the brain at rest in the absence of any external stimulation (resting-state functional connectivity; RSFC) could be employed as a reliable marker for several cognitive abilities and personality traits that are important in behavior regulation, particularly, proneness to violence. Aims: This review aims to highlight the association between the RSFC among specific brain structures and the predisposition to experiencing anger and/or responding to stressful and distressing situations with anger in several populations. Methods: The scientific literature was reviewed following the PRISMA quality criteria for reviews, using the following digital databases: PubMed, PsycINFO, Psicodoc, and Dialnet. Results: The identification of 181 abstracts and retrieval of 34 full texts led to the inclusion of 17 papers. The results described in our study offer a better understanding of the brain networks that might explain the tendency to experience anger. The majority of the studies highlighted that diminished RSFC between the prefrontal cortex and the amygdala might make people prone to reactive violence, but that it is also necessary to contemplate additional cortical (i.e. insula, gyrus [angular, supramarginal, temporal, fusiform, superior, and middle frontal], anterior and posterior cingulated cortex) and subcortical brain structures (i.e. hippocampus, cerebellum, ventral striatum, and nucleus centralis superior) in order to explain a phenomenon as complex as violence. Moreover, we also described the neural pathways that might underlie proactive violence and feelings of revenge, highlighting the RSFC between the OFC, ventral striatal, angular gyrus, mid-occipital cortex, and cerebellum. Conclusions. The results from this synthesis and critical analysis of RSFC findings in several populations offer guidelines for future research and for developing a more accurate model of proneness to violence, in order to create effective treatment and prevention programs.

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