Who is who: areas of the brain associated with recognizing and naming famous faces

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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Aberrant interhemispheric alpha coherence on electroencephalography in schizophrenic patients during activation tasks

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291700035674 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 26 (3) ◽

pp. 605-612 ◽

Cited By ~ 22

Author(s):

S. L. Morrison-Stewart ◽

D. Velikonja ◽

W. C. Corning ◽

P. Williamson

Keyword(s):

Right Hemisphere ◽

Functional Organization ◽

Normal Subjects ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Interhemispheric Coherence ◽

Schizophrenic Patients ◽

Coherence Patterns ◽

Drug Free ◽

The Brain ◽

Normal Controls

SynopsisThirty schizophrenic patients (20 medicated, 10 off medication) were compared with 30 normal controls subjects matched for age, sex, handedness and intelligence. During the performance of a frontal activation task, normal subjects showed increased interhemispheric coherence between anterior brain regions. Schizophrenic patients did not show the same amount of bilateral anterior activation. During the performance of right hemisphere cognitive activation tasks, normal subjects and medicated schizophrenic patients showed significantly reduced bilateral interhemispheric coherence patterns, while the drug-free schizophrenic patients showed a trend towards this same pattern. It is suggested that these findings provide additional evidence for an aberrant functional organization of the brain in schizophrenia.

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The Brain Basis of Language Processing: From Structure to Function

Physiological Reviews ◽

10.1152/physrev.00006.2011 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 91 (4) ◽

pp. 1357-1392 ◽

Cited By ~ 734

Author(s):

Angela D. Friederici

Keyword(s):

Language Processing ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Structural Connectivity ◽

Temporal Cortex ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Posterior Portion ◽

Language Functions ◽

Marker Studies ◽

The Right ◽

The Brain

Language processing is a trait of human species. The knowledge about its neurobiological basis has been increased considerably over the past decades. Different brain regions in the left and right hemisphere have been identified to support particular language functions. Networks involving the temporal cortex and the inferior frontal cortex with a clear left lateralization were shown to support syntactic processes, whereas less lateralized temporo-frontal networks subserve semantic processes. These networks have been substantiated both by functional as well as by structural connectivity data. Electrophysiological measures indicate that within these networks syntactic processes of local structure building precede the assignment of grammatical and semantic relations in a sentence. Suprasegmental prosodic information overtly available in the acoustic language input is processed predominantly in a temporo-frontal network in the right hemisphere associated with a clear electrophysiological marker. Studies with patients suffering from lesions in the corpus callosum reveal that the posterior portion of this structure plays a crucial role in the interaction of syntactic and prosodic information during language processing.

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Nanomedicine in Clinical Photodynamic Therapy for the Treatment of Brain Tumors

Biomedicines ◽

10.3390/biomedicines10010096 ◽

2022 ◽

Vol 10 (1) ◽

pp. 96

Author(s):

Hyung Shik Kim ◽

Dong Yun Lee

Keyword(s):

Photodynamic Therapy ◽

Brain Tumors ◽

Surgical Resection ◽

Extent Of Resection ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Current Treatment ◽

Point Of View ◽

The Central Nervous System ◽

One Year ◽

The Brain

The current treatment for malignant brain tumors includes surgical resection, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. Nevertheless, the survival rate for patients with glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) with a high grade of malignancy is less than one year. From a clinical point of view, effective treatment of GBM is limited by several challenges. First, the anatomical complexity of the brain influences the extent of resection because a fine balance must be struck between maximal removal of malignant tissue and minimal surgical risk. Second, the central nervous system has a distinct microenvironment that is protected by the blood–brain barrier, restricting systemically delivered drugs from accessing the brain. Additionally, GBM is characterized by high intra-tumor and inter-tumor heterogeneity at cellular and histological levels. This peculiarity of GBM-constituent tissues induces different responses to therapeutic agents, leading to failure of targeted therapies. Unlike surgical resection and radiotherapy, photodynamic therapy (PDT) can treat micro-invasive areas while protecting sensitive brain regions. PDT involves photoactivation of photosensitizers (PSs) that are selectively incorporated into tumor cells. Photo-irradiation activates the PS by transfer of energy, resulting in production of reactive oxygen species to induce cell death. Clinical outcomes of PDT-treated GBM can be advanced in terms of nanomedicine. This review discusses clinical PDT applications of nanomedicine for the treatment of GBM.

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Global dissociation of the amygdala from the rest of the brain during REM sleep

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1107674/v2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Marta Matei ◽

Antoine Bergel ◽

Sophie Pezet ◽

Mickael Tanter

Keyword(s):

Paradoxical Sleep ◽

Anterior Part ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Rapid Eye Movement Sleep ◽

Total Brain Volume ◽

Vascular Activity ◽

Total Brain ◽

Control Body ◽

The Brain ◽

Vascular Compartment

Abstract Rapid-eye-movement sleep (REMS) or paradoxical sleep is associated with intense neuronal activity, fluctuations in autonomic control, body paralysis and brain-wide hyperemia. The mechanisms and functions of these energy-demanding patterns remain elusive and a global picture of brain activation during REMS is currently missing. In the present work, we performed functional ultrasound (fUS) imaging at the whole-brain scale during hundreds of REMS episodes to provide the spatiotemporal dynamics of vascular activity in 259 brain regions spanning more than 2/3 of the total brain volume. We first demonstrate a dissociation between basal/midbrain and cortical structures, the first ones sustaining tonic activation during REMS while the others are activated in phasic bouts. Second, we isolated the vascular compartment in our recordings and identified arteries in the anterior part of the brain as strongly involved in the blood supply during REMS episodes. Finally, we report a peculiar activation pattern in the amygdala, which is strikingly disconnected from the rest of the brain during most but not all REMS episodes. This last finding shows that amygdala undergoes specific processing during REMS and may be linked to the regulation of emotions and the creation of dream content during this very state.

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In Search of the Mnemonic Traces of Concepts

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199764228.013.20 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Andrew C. Papanicolaou

Keyword(s):

Functional Neuroimaging ◽

Distributed Storage ◽

Anterior Part ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Fusiform Face Area ◽

Brain Areas ◽

Temporal Lobes ◽

Face Area ◽

The Brain ◽

Parahippocampal Place Area

This chapter focuses on the search for mnemonic traces of concepts that are thought to exist in the form of neuronal circuits in the brain. It begins with a review of the evidence derived from observations of the effects of focal brain lesions suggesting that there are several brain regions specialized for recognizing objects belonging to different categories. It then considers brain areas that have been identified through functional neuroimaging, including the fusiform face area, the parahippocampal place area, and the extra-striate body area. It also examines the specialization of the anterior part of the temporal lobes, especially the left, for naming, and whether these and other brain areas contain mnemonic traces of concepts or traces of cardinal concept features. Finally, it discusses the “top-down” activation of category-specific areas and the idea of distributed storage of concept features.

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Category-specific cortical mapping: color-naming areas

Journal of Neurosurgery ◽

10.3171/jns.2006.104.1.27 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 104 (1) ◽

pp. 27-37 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Franck-Emmanuel Roux ◽

Vincent Lubrano ◽

Valérie Lauwers-Cances ◽

Christopher R. Mascott ◽

Jean-François Démonet

Keyword(s):

Electrical Stimulation ◽

Naming Task ◽

Color Naming ◽

Individual Variability ◽

Cortical Mapping ◽

Object Naming ◽

Cortical Areas ◽

Language Deficit ◽

Language Areas ◽

Naming Tasks

Object It has been hypothesized that a certain degree of specialization exists within language areas, depending on some specific lexical repertories or categories. To spare hypothetical category-specific cortical areas and to gain a better understanding of their organization, the authors studied patients who had undergone electrical stimulation mapping for brain tumors and they compared an object-naming task with a category-specific task (color naming). Methods Thirty-six patients with no significant preoperative language deficit were prospectively studied during a 2-year period. Along with a reading task, both object- and color-naming tasks were used in brain mapping. During color naming, patients were asked to identify 11 visually presented basic colors. The modality specificity of the colornaming sites found was subsequently tested by asking patients to retrieve the color attributes of objects. High individual variability was observed in language organization among patients and in the tasks performed. Significant interferences in color naming were found in traditional language regions—that is, Broca (p < 0.003) and Wernicke centers (p = 0.05)—although some color-naming areas were occasionally situated outside of these regions. Color-naming interferences were exclusively localized in small cortical areas (< 1 cm2). Anatomical segregation of the different naming categories was apparent in 10 patients; in all, 13 color-specific naming areas (that is, sites evoking no object-naming interference) were detected in the dominant-hemisphere F3 and the supramarginal, angular, and posterior parts of the temporal gyri. Nevertheless, no specific brain region was found to be consistently involved in color naming (p > 0.05). At five sites, although visually presented color-naming tasks were impaired by stimulation, auditory color naming (for example, “What color is grass?”) was performed with no difficulty, showing that modality-specific areas can be found during naming. Conclusions Within language areas, a relative specialization of cortical language areas for color naming can be found during electrical stimulation mapping.

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Mapping a cognitive theory onto neurology

10.31234/osf.io/9mbuv ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Lorin Friesen

Keyword(s):

Frontal Cortex ◽

Left Hemisphere ◽

Cognitive Theory ◽

Right Hemisphere ◽

Cognitive Styles ◽

Brain Regions ◽

The Other ◽

Anterior Cingulate ◽

The Right ◽

The Brain

Neurological research has made amazing strides in recent years. Enough is now known about what specific brain areas do to make it possible to start examining how various parts of the brain interact. What is missing is a general theory of cognition to tie all of this information together. Back in the 1980s, a cognitive theory was developed that began with a system of cognitive styles and was expanded through an in-depth study of biographies. It was discovered at that time that this theory mapped in a general way onto the brain. This cognitive theory, known as the theory of mental symmetry, has recently been tested as a meta-theory by using it to analyze a number of fields and theories dealing with human thought and behavior. This paper shows that personality traits that were discovered by mental symmetry correspond in detail to the functioning of brain regions described in current neurological papers. In brief, the cognitive model suggests that there are seven cognitive styles: There are four simple styles, and there are three composite styles that combine the thinking of the simple styles. Two of the simple styles use emotions and emphasize a circuit composed of orbitofrontal cortex, inferior frontal cortex, temporal lobe, and amygdala, with one in the left hemisphere and the other in the right hemisphere. The other two simple styles use confidence and emphasize a circuit consisting of dorsolateral frontal cortex, frontopolar cortex, parietal cortex, and hippocampus, again with one in the left hemisphere and the other in the right hemisphere. The three composite styles form a processing chain. The first composite style combines the two simple emotional styles and emphasizes the ventral striatum, and dopamine. This leads to the second composite style, which combines the two simple confidence styles and emphasizes the anterior cingulate, the dorsal striatum, and serotonin. This is followed by the third composite style which balances the functioning of the mind and emphasizes the thalamus and noradrenaline.

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Theta-burst stimulation entrains frequency-specific oscillatory responses

10.21203/rs.3.rs-308421/v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Ethan Solomon ◽

Michael Sperling ◽

Ashwini Sharan ◽

Paul Wanda ◽

Deborah Levy ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Processes ◽

Neural Activity ◽

Brain Regions ◽

Theta Burst Stimulation ◽

Burst Stimulation ◽

Neurosurgical Patients ◽

Electrical Pulses ◽

Brain Architecture ◽

The Brain ◽

Theta Burst

Abstract Brain stimulation has emerged as a powerful tool in human neuroscience, becoming integral to next-generation psychiatric and neurologic therapeutics. Theta-burst stimulation (TBS), in which electrical pulses are delivered in rhythmic bouts of 3–8 Hz, seeks to recapitulate neural activity seen endogenously during cognitive tasks. A growing literature suggests that TBS can be used to alter or enhance cognitive processes, but little is known about how these stimulation events influence underlying neural activity. In particular, it is not understood whether TBS evokes persistent theta oscillations, whether these oscillations occur at the stimulated frequency, and whether stimulation events propagate in a manner consistent with underlying functional and structural brain architecture. To answer these questions, we recruited 20 neurosurgical patients with indwelling electrodes and delivered direct cortical TBS at varying locations and frequencies. We find that TBS rapidly evokes theta rhythms in widespread brain regions, preferentially at the stimulation frequency, and that these oscillations persist for hundreds of milliseconds post stimulation offset. Furthermore, the functional connectivity between recording and stimulation sites predicts the strength of theta response, suggesting that underlying brain architecture guides the flow of stimulation through the brain. These results show that TBS can be used to directly and predictably influence the activity of cognitively-relevant brain networks.

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