scholarly journals The beauty of language structure: a single-case fMRI study of palindrome creation

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patricia Leon-Cabrera ◽  
Antoni Guillamon ◽  
David Cucurell Vega ◽  
Antoni Rodriguez-Fornells
Keyword(s):  
Single Case ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Visual Word Form Area ◽  
Frontopolar Cortex ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Palindromic Structure ◽  
Challenging Tasks ◽  
Partial Overlap ◽  
The Right

Humans seem to be inherently driven to engage in wordplay. An example is the creation of palindromes –words, sentences, or even paragraphs that read the same backward and forward. This type of activity can be framed as a curiosity-driven behavior, in which individuals sacrifice finite resources, such as their time, to seek information that serves no direct purpose and in the absence of external rewards. Here, we present a single-case fMRI study of an experienced palindrome creator, who was scanned while he was immersed in generating palindromic sentences with different levels of difficulty. Blocks of palindrome creation were alternated with periods of resting and with the performance of a simple working memory (WM) task that served as control conditions. Relative to resting, palindrome creation recruited frontal domain-specific language networks and fronto-parietal domain-general networks. The comparison with the WM task evidenced a partial overlap with the multiple-demand cortex (MDC), which participates in solving different cognitively challenging tasks that require attention and cognitive control. Further, the implication of the inferior temporal gyrus (BA 37), extending ventrally to occipito-temporal regions (including the visual word form area), suggested the use of visual imagery and word form visualization to achieve this challenging task. Notably, greater difficulty during palindrome creation (difficult minus easy blocks) differentially activated the right frontopolar cortex (BA 10), a region that was also linked to successful palindrome resolution. The latter is in line with exploratory behavior to seek out information, in this case, with the exploration of new but interdependent linguistic segments within a complex internal model (i.e., a palindromic structure). These brain substrates also bear resemblance with those sustaining hard logical reasoning, altogether interestingly pointing to a commonplace for curiosity in discovering new and complex relations.

Altered connectivity of the visual word form area in the low-vision population: A resting-state fMRI study

2020 ◽  
Vol 137 ◽  
pp. 107302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Zhou ◽  
Wenbin Pang ◽  
Linjun Zhang ◽  
Hongkai Xu ◽  
Ping Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Resting State ◽  
Low Vision ◽  
Resting State Fmri ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Visual Word Form Area ◽  
Fmri Study

Recovery of word form processing after left inferior parietal lesion: A single case fMRI study

2003 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 124-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marion Grande ◽  
Susanne Weis ◽  
Klaus Willmes ◽  
Walter Huber
Keyword(s):  
Single Case ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Form Processing ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Parietal Lesion

scholarly journals Learning to Read an Alphabet of Human Faces Produces Left-lateralized Training Effects in the Fusiform Gyrus

2014 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 896-913 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle W. Moore ◽  
Corrine Durisko ◽  
Charles A. Perfetti ◽  
Julie A. Fiez
Keyword(s):  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Reading Performance ◽  
Fusiform Gyrus ◽  
Orthographic Processing ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Learning To Read ◽  
Visual Word Form Area ◽  
The Right ◽  
Human Faces ◽  
Language Areas

Numerous functional neuroimaging studies have shown that most orthographic stimuli, such as printed English words, produce a left-lateralized response within the fusiform gyrus (FG) at a characteristic location termed the visual word form area (VWFA). We developed an experimental alphabet (FaceFont) comprising 35 face–phoneme pairs to disentangle phonological and perceptual influences on the lateralization of orthographic processing within the FG. Using functional imaging, we found that a region in the vicinity of the VWFA responded to FaceFont words more strongly in trained versus untrained participants, whereas no differences were observed in the right FG. The trained response magnitudes in the left FG region correlated with behavioral reading performance, providing strong evidence that the neural tissue recruited by training supported the newly acquired reading skill. These results indicate that the left lateralization of the orthographic processing is not restricted to stimuli with particular visual-perceptual features. Instead, lateralization may occur because the anatomical projections in the vicinity of the VWFA provide a unique interconnection between the visual system and left-lateralized language areas involved in the representation of speech.

The visual word form area and the frequency with which words are encountered: evidence from a parametric fMRI study

NeuroImage ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 946-953 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Kronbichler ◽  
Florian Hutzler ◽  
Heinz Wimmer ◽  
Alois Mair ◽  
Wolfgang Staffen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Word ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Visual Word Form Area ◽  
Fmri Study

scholarly journals Letters persistence after physical offset: Visual word form area and left planum temporale. An fMRI study

2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (6) ◽  
pp. 1282-1292 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Barban ◽  
Gian Daniele Zannino ◽  
Emiliano Macaluso ◽  
Carlo Caltagirone ◽  
Giovanni A. Carlesimo
Keyword(s):  
Visual Word ◽  
Planum Temporale ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Visual Word Form Area ◽  
Fmri Study

scholarly journals Considering unique, shared, and dominant brain activation in the Visual Word Form Area and Lateral Occipital Cortex: A comparison of separate and combined word reading and picture naming

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Josh Neudorf ◽  
Layla Gould ◽  
Marla J. S. Mickleborough ◽  
Chelsea Ekstrand ◽  
Ron Borowsky
Keyword(s):  
Picture Naming ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Visual Complexity ◽  
Occipital Cortex ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Lateral Occipital Complex ◽  
Visual Word Form Area ◽  
The Right ◽  
Lateral Occipital Cortex

Identifying printed words and pictures concurrently is ubiquitous in daily tasks, and so it is important to consider the extent to which reading words and naming pictures may share a cognitive-neurophysiological functional architecture. Two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments examined whether reading along the left ventral occipitotemporal region (vOT; often referred to as a visual word form area, VWFA) has activation that is overlapping with referent pictures (i.e., both conditions significant and shared, or with one significantly more dominant) or unique (i.e., one condition significant, the other not), and whether picture naming along the right lateral occipital complex (LOC) has overlapping or unique activation relative to referent words. Experiment 1 used familiar regular and exception words (to force lexical reading) and their corresponding pictures in separate naming blocks, and showed dominant activation for pictures in the LOC, and shared activation in the VWFA for exception words and their corresponding pictures (regular words did not elicit significant VWFA activation). Experiment 2 controlled for visual complexity by superimposing the words and pictures and instructing participants to either name the word or the picture, and showed primarily shared activation in the VWFA and LOC regions for both word reading and picture naming, with some dominant activation for pictures in the LOC. Overall, these results highlight the importance of including exception words to force lexical reading when comparing to picture naming, and the significant shared activation in VWFA and LOC serves to challenge specialized models of reading or picture naming.

The Visual Word Form Area: Evidence from an fMRI study of implicit processing of Chinese characters

NeuroImage ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 1350-1361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Liu ◽  
Wu-Tian Zhang ◽  
Yi-Yuan Tang ◽  
Xiao-Qin Mai ◽  
Hsuan-Chih Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Word ◽  
Chinese Characters ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Implicit Processing ◽  
Visual Word Form Area ◽  
Fmri Study

Encoding in the Visual Word Form Area: An fMRI Adaptation Study of Words versus Handwriting

2010 ◽  
Vol 22 (8) ◽  
pp. 1649-1661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason J. S. Barton ◽  
Christopher J. Fox ◽  
Alla Sekunova ◽  
Giuseppe Iaria
Keyword(s):  
Text Processing ◽  
Handwriting Recognition ◽  
Visual Word ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Word Form ◽  
Visual Word Form Area ◽  
Repetition Suppression ◽  
The Right ◽  
Fmri Adaptation ◽  
Left Middle Temporal Gyrus

Written texts are not just words but complex multidimensional stimuli, including aspects such as case, font, and handwriting style, for example. Neuropsychological reports suggest that left fusiform lesions can impair the reading of text for word (lexical) content, being associated with alexia, whereas right-sided lesions may impair handwriting recognition. We used fMRI adaptation in 13 healthy participants to determine if repetition–suppression occurred for words but not handwriting in the left visual word form area (VWFA) and the reverse in the right fusiform gyrus. Contrary to these expectations, we found adaptation for handwriting but not for words in both the left VWFA and the right VWFA homologue. A trend to adaptation for words but not handwriting was seen only in the left middle temporal gyrus. An analysis of anterior and posterior subdivisions of the left VWFA also failed to show any adaptation for words. We conclude that the right and the left fusiform gyri show similar patterns of adaptation for handwriting, consistent with a predominantly perceptual contribution to text processing.

Improvement in prefrontal thalamic connectivity during the early course of the illness in recent-onset psychosis: a 12-month longitudinal follow-up resting-state fMRI study

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Daniel Bergé ◽  
Tyler A. Lesh ◽  
Jason Smucny ◽  
Cameron S. Carter
Keyword(s):  
Resting State ◽  
Resting State Fmri ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Recent Onset ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Clinical Meaning ◽  
Mixed Pattern ◽  
The Right ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Background Previous research in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) has shown a mixed pattern of disrupted thalamocortical connectivity in psychosis. The clinical meaning of these findings and their stability over time remains unclear. We aimed to study thalamocortical connectivity longitudinally over a 1-year period in participants with recent-onset psychosis. Methods To this purpose, 129 individuals with recent-onset psychosis and 87 controls were clinically evaluated and scanned using rs-fMRI. Among them, 43 patients and 40 controls were re-scanned and re-evaluated 12 months later. Functional connectivity between the thalamus and the rest of the brain was calculated using a seed to voxel approach, and then compared between groups and correlated with clinical features cross-sectionally and longitudinally. Results At baseline, participants with recent-onset psychosis showed increased connectivity (compared to controls) between the thalamus and somatosensory and temporal regions (k = 653, T = 5.712), as well as decreased connectivity between the thalamus and left cerebellum and right prefrontal cortex (PFC; k = 201, T = −4.700). Longitudinal analyses revealed increased connectivity over time in recent-onset psychosis (relative to controls) in the right middle frontal gyrus. Conclusions Our results support the concept of abnormal thalamic connectivity as a core feature in psychosis. In agreement with a non-degenerative model of illness in which functional changes occur early in development and do not deteriorate over time, no evidence of progressive deterioration of connectivity during early psychosis was observed. Indeed, regionally increased connectivity between thalamus and PFC was observed.

scholarly journals Recurrent Intraocular Lens Dislocation in a Patient with Familial Ectopia Lentis

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 4545
Author(s):  
Tomasz K. Wilczyński ◽  
Alfred Niewiem ◽  
Rafał Leszczyński ◽  
Katarzyna Michalska-Małecka
Keyword(s):  
Intraocular Lens ◽  
Pars Plana Vitrectomy ◽  
Vision Loss ◽  
Silicone Oil ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Recurrent Dislocation ◽  
Ectopia Lentis ◽  
Pars Plana ◽  
The Right

A 36-year-old patient presented to the hospital with recurrent dislocation of the intraocular lens (IOL). The patient with the diagnosis of familial ectopia lentis was first operated on for crystalline lens subluxation in the left eye in 2007 and in the right eye in 2009. In both eyes, lens extraction with anterior vitrectomy and transscleral fixation of a rigid IOL was performed. In 2011, the IOL in the right eye luxated into the vitreous cavity due to ocular trauma. The patient underwent a pars plana vitrectomy with the IOL resuturation to the sclera. Seven years later, a spontaneous vision loss in the right eye was caused by a retinal detachment. The pars plana vitrectomy with silicone oil tamponade and a consequential oil removal three months later were performed in 2018. The follow-up examination revealed recurrent IOL dislocation in the same eye. Due to a history of previous suture-related complications a decision was made to remove the subluxated rigid polymethyl-methacrylate (PMMA) IOL and fixate to sclera a sutureless SOLEKO FIL SSF Carlevale lens. The purpose of this report is to present a single case of a 36-year-old patient who was presented to the hospital with recurrent dislocation of the intraocular lens. In a three-month follow-up period, a good anatomical and functional outcome was finally obtained with transscleral sutureless intraocular lens. This lens is an option worth considering especially in a young patient with a long life expectancy and physically active.

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