Contemporary model of language organization: an overview for neurosurgeons

2015 ◽  
Vol 122 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward F. Chang ◽  
Kunal P. Raygor ◽  
Mitchel S. Berger
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Functional Neuroanatomy ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Dorsal Pathway ◽  
Subcortical Mapping

Classic models of language organization posited that separate motor and sensory language foci existed in the inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area) and superior temporal gyrus (Wernicke's area), respectively, and that connections between these sites (arcuate fasciculus) allowed for auditory-motor interaction. These theories have predominated for more than a century, but advances in neuroimaging and stimulation mapping have provided a more detailed description of the functional neuroanatomy of language. New insights have shaped modern network-based models of speech processing composed of parallel and interconnected streams involving both cortical and subcortical areas. Recent models emphasize processing in “dorsal” and “ventral” pathways, mediating phonological and semantic processing, respectively. Phonological processing occurs along a dorsal pathway, from the posterosuperior temporal to the inferior frontal cortices. On the other hand, semantic information is carried in a ventral pathway that runs from the temporal pole to the basal occipitotemporal cortex, with anterior connections. Functional MRI has poor positive predictive value in determining critical language sites and should only be used as an adjunct for preoperative planning. Cortical and subcortical mapping should be used to define functional resection boundaries in eloquent areas and remains the clinical gold standard. In tracing the historical advancements in our understanding of speech processing, the authors hope to not only provide practicing neurosurgeons with additional information that will aid in surgical planning and prevent postoperative morbidity, but also underscore the fact that neurosurgeons are in a unique position to further advance our understanding of the anatomy and functional organization of language.

Motor theory modulated by task load: strategies of phonological processing in frontal aphasia revealed by tDCS over the LIFG

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lílian Rodrigues de Almeida ◽  
Paul A. Pope ◽  
Peter Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Speech Perception ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Dorsal Stream ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Motor Theory ◽  
Task Load ◽  
Cathodal Tdcs ◽  
The Individual

In our previous studies we supported the claim that the motor theory is modulated by task load. Motoric participation in phonological processing increases from speech perception to speech production, with the endpoints of the dorsal stream having changing and complementary weightings for processing: the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) being increasingly relevant and the left superior temporal gyrus (LSTG) being decreasingly relevant. Our previous results for neurostimulation of the LIFG support this model. In this study we investigated whether our claim that the motor theory is modulated by task load holds in (frontal) aphasia. Person(s) with aphasia (PWA) after stroke typically have damage on brain areas responsible for phonological processing. They may present variable patterns of recovery and, consequently, variable strategies of phonological processing. Here these strategies were investigated in two PWA with simultaneous fMRI and tDCS of the LIFG during speech perception and speech production tasks. Anodal tDCS excitation and cathodal tDCS inhibition should increase with the relevance of the target for the task. Cathodal tDCS over a target of low relevance could also induce compensation by the remaining nodes. Responses of PWA to tDCS would further depend on their pattern of recovery. Responses would depend on the responsiveness of the perilesional area, and could be weaker than in controls due to an overall hypoactivation of the cortex. Results suggest that the analysis of motor codes for articulation during phonological processing remains in frontal aphasia and that tDCS is a promising diagnostic tool to investigate the individual processing strategies.

Neural deficits in auditory phonological processing in Chinese children with English reading impairment

2015 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-346 ◽  
Author(s):  
XIANGZHI MENG ◽  
HANLIN YOU ◽  
MEIXIA SONG ◽  
AMY S. DESROCHES ◽  
ZHENGKE WANG ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Reading Impairment ◽  
English Reading ◽  
L2 Learners ◽  
L1 And L2 ◽  
Esl Learners

Auditory phonological processing skills are critical for successful reading development in English not only in native (L1) speakers but also in second language (L2) learners. However, the neural deficits of auditory phonological processing remain unknown in English-as-the-second-language (ESL) learners with reading difficulties. Here we investigated neural responses during spoken word rhyme judgments in typical and impaired ESL readers in China. The impaired readers showed comparable activation in the left superior temporal gyrus (LSTG), but reduced activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and left fusiform and reduced connectivity between the LSTG and left fusiform when compared to typical readers. These findings suggest that impaired ESL readers have relative intact representations but impaired manipulation of phonology and reduced or absent automatic access to orthographic representations. This is consistent with previous findings in native English speakers and suggests a common neural mechanism underlying English impairment across the L1 and L2 learners.

scholarly journals Discerning the functional networks behind processing of music and speech through human vocalizations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arafat Angulo-Perkins ◽  
Luis Concha
Keyword(s):  
Speech Processing ◽  
Music Perception ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Musical Training ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Functional Divergence ◽  
Premotor Cortex ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Images ◽  
Biological Traits

ABSTRACT Musicality refers to specific biological traits that allow us to perceive, generate and enjoy music. These abilities can be studied at different organizational levels (e.g., behavioural, physiological, evolutionary), and all of them reflect that music and speech processing are two different cognitive domains. Previous research has shown evidence of this functional divergence in auditory cortical regions in the superior temporal gyrus (such as the planum polare), showing increased activity upon listening to music, as compared to other complex acoustic signals. Here, we examine brain activity underlying vocal music and speech perception, while we compare musicians and non-musicians. We designed a stimulation paradigm using the same voice to produce spoken sentences, hummed melodies, and sung sentences; the same sentences were used in speech and song categories, and the same melodies were used in the musical categories (song and hum). Participants listened to this paradigm while we acquired functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI). Different analyses demonstrated greater involvement of specific auditory and motor regions during music perception, as compared to speech vocalizations. This music sensitive network includes bilateral activation of the planum polare and temporale, as well as a group of regions lateralized to the right hemisphere that included the supplementary motor area, premotor cortex and the inferior frontal gyrus. Our results show that the simple act of listening to music generates stronger activation of motor regions, possibly preparing us to move following the beat. Vocal musical listening, with and without lyrics, is also accompanied by a higher modulation of specific secondary auditory cortices such as the planum polare, confirming its crucial role in music processing independently of previous musical training. This study provides more evidence showing that music perception enhances audio-sensorimotor activity, crucial for clinical approaches exploring music based therapies to improve communicative and motor skills.

scholarly journals Early Phonological Neural Specialization Predicts Later Growth in Word Reading Skills

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brianna L. Yamasaki ◽  
Karla Kay McGregor ◽  
James R. Booth
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Reading Skills ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Reading Growth ◽  
Best Fitting ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Performance Results

According to the Interactive Specialization Theory, cognitive skill development is facilitated by a process of neural specialization. In line with this theory, the current study investigated whether neural specialization for phonological and semantic processing at 5-to-6 years old was predictive of growth in word reading skills from 5-to-8 years old. Specifically, four regression models were estimated in which reading growth was predicted from: (1) an intercept-only model, (2) measures of semantic and phonological neural specialization, (3) performance on semantic and phonological behavioral tasks, or (4) a combination of neural specialization and behavioral performance. Results from the preregistered analyses revealed little evidence in favor of the hypothesis that early semantic and phonological skills predict growth in reading. However, results from the exploratory analyses, which included a larger sample, focused exclusively on the phonological predictors, and investigated relative growth in reading, demonstrated strong evidence that variability in phonological processing is predictive of growth in word reading skills. Specifically, the best fitting model included both measures of phonological neural specialization within the posterior superior temporal gyrus and performance on a phonological behavioral task. This work provides important preliminary evidence in favor of the Interactive Specialization Theory and, more specifically, for the role of phonological neural specialization in the development of early word reading skills.

scholarly journals Prefrontal Cortical Response to Conflict during Semantic and Phonological Tasks

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 761-775 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah R. Snyder ◽  
Keith Feigenson ◽  
Sharon L. Thompson-Schill
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Cognitive Control ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
General Function ◽  
Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Domain Specific ◽  
Prefrontal Cortical ◽  
Specific Effects

Debates about the function of the prefrontal cortex are as old as the field of neuropsychology—often dated to Paul Broca's seminal work. Theories of the functional organization of the prefrontal cortex can be roughly divided into those that describe organization by process and those that describe organization by material. Recent studies of the function of the posterior, left inferior frontal gyrus (pLIFG) have yielded two quite different interpretations: One hypothesis holds that the pLIFG plays a domain-specific role in phonological processing, whereas another hypothesis describes a more general function of the pLIFG in cognitive control. In the current study, we distinguish effects of increasing cognitive control demands from effects of phonological processing. The results support the hypothesized role for the pLIFG in cognitive control, and more task-specific roles for posterior areas in phonology and semantics. Thus, these results suggest an alternative explanation of previously reported phonology-specific effects in the pLIFG.

scholarly journals Syntactic and Semantic Specialization and Integration in 5- to 6-Year-Old Children during Auditory Sentence Processing

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 36-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin Wang ◽  
Mabel L. Rice ◽  
James R. Booth
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Temporal Lobe ◽  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Language Comprehension ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
Middle Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Semantic Task

Previous studies have found specialized syntactic and semantic processes in the adult brain during language comprehension. Young children have sophisticated semantic and syntactic aspects of language, yet many previous fMRI studies failed to detect this specialization, possibly due to experimental design and analytical methods. In this current study, 5- to 6-year-old children completed a syntactic task and a semantic task to dissociate these two processes. Multivoxel pattern analysis was used to examine the correlation of patterns within a task (between runs) or across tasks. We found that the left middle temporal gyrus showed more similar patterns within the semantic task compared with across tasks, whereas there was no difference in the correlation within the syntactic task compared with across tasks, suggesting its specialization in semantic processing. Moreover, the left superior temporal gyrus showed more similar patterns within both the semantic task and the syntactic task as compared with across tasks, suggesting its role in integration of semantic and syntactic information. In contrast to the temporal lobe, we did not find specialization or integration effects in either the opercular or triangular part of the inferior frontal gyrus. Overall, our study showed that 5- to 6-year-old children have already developed specialization and integration in the temporal lobe, but not in the frontal lobe, consistent with developmental neurocognitive models of language comprehension in typically developing young children.

Semantic and phonological processing in illiteracy

2004 ◽  
Vol 10 (6) ◽  
pp. 818-827 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARY H. KOSMIDIS ◽  
KYRANA TSAPKINI ◽  
VASILIKI FOLIA ◽  
CHRISTINA H. VLAHOU ◽  
GRIGORIS KIOSSEOGLOU
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Language Processing ◽  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Oral Language ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Hemispheric Specialization ◽  
Cognitive Strategies ◽  
Phonological Information

Researchers of cognitive processing in illiteracy have proposed that the acquisition of literacy modifies the functional organization of the brain. They have suggested that, while illiterate individuals have access only to innate semantic processing skills, those who have learned the correspondence between graphemes and phonemes have several mechanisms available to them through which to process oral language. We conducted 2 experiments to verify that suggestion with respect to language processing, and to elucidate further the differences between literate and illiterate individuals in the cognitive strategies used to process oral language, as well as hemispheric specialization for these processes. Our findings suggest that semantic processing strategies are qualitatively the same in literates and illiterates, despite the fact that overall performance is augmented by increased education. In contrast, explicit processing of oral information based on phonological characteristics appears to be qualitatively different between literates and illiterates: effective strategies in the processing of phonological information depend upon having had a formal education, regardless of the level of education. We also confirmed the differential abilities needed for the processing of semantic and phonological information and related them to hemisphere-specific processing. (JINS, 2004,10, 818–827.)

scholarly journals Early Phonological Neural Specialization Predicts Later Growth in Word Reading Skills

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brianna L. Yamasaki ◽  
Karla K. McGregor ◽  
James R. Booth
Keyword(s):  
Phonological Processing ◽  
Semantic Processing ◽  
Reading Skills ◽  
Word Reading ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Behavioral Performance ◽  
Reading Growth ◽  
Best Fitting ◽  
Decisive Evidence ◽  
Performance Results

According to the Interactive Specialization Theory, cognitive skill development is facilitated by a process of neural specialization. In line with this theory, the current study investigated whether neural specialization for phonological and semantic processing at 5-to-6 years old was predictive of growth in word reading skills 2 years later. Specifically, four regression models were estimated in which reading growth was predicted from: (1) an intercept-only model; (2) measures of semantic and phonological neural specialization; (3) performance on semantic and phonological behavioral tasks; or (4) a combination of neural specialization and behavioral performance. Results from the preregistered analyses revealed little evidence in favor of the hypothesis that early semantic and phonological skills are predictive of growth in reading. However, results from the exploratory analyses, which included a larger sample, added age at Time 1 as a covariate, and investigated relative growth in reading, demonstrated decisive evidence that variability in phonological processing is predictive of reading growth. The best fitting model included both measures of specialization within the posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) and behavioral performance. This work provides important evidence in favor of the Interactive Specialization Theory and, more specifically, for the role of phonological neural specialization in the development of early word reading skills.

scholarly journals The Neural Correlate of Speech Rhythm as Evidenced by Metrical Speech Processing

2008 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 541-552 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eveline Geiser ◽  
Tino Zaehle ◽  
Lutz Jancke ◽  
Martin Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Auditory Cortex ◽  
Speech Processing ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Supramarginal Gyrus ◽  
Implicit Processing ◽  
Speech Rhythm ◽  
Temporal Intervals ◽  
Suprasegmental Cues ◽  
The Right

The present study investigates the neural correlates of rhythm processing in speech perception. German pseudosentences spoken with an exaggerated (isochronous) or a conversational (nonisochronous) rhythm were compared in an auditory functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment. The subjects had to perform either a rhythm task (explicit rhythm processing) or a prosody task (implicit rhythm processing). The study revealed bilateral activation in the supplementary motor area (SMA), extending into the cingulate gyrus, and in the insulae, extending into the right basal ganglia (neostriatum), as well as activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) related to the performance of the rhythm task. A direct contrast between isochronous and nonisochronous sentences revealed differences in lateralization of activation for isochronous processing as a function of the explicit and implicit tasks. Explicit processing revealed activation in the right posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG), the right supramarginal gyrus, and the right parietal operculum. Implicit processing showed activation in the left supramarginal gyrus, the left pSTG, and the left parietal operculum. The present results indicate a function of the SMA and the insula beyond motor timing and speak for a role of these brain areas in the perception of acoustically temporal intervals. Secondly, the data speak for a specific task-related function of the right IFG in the processing of accent patterns. Finally, the data sustain the assumption that the right secondary auditory cortex is involved in the explicit perception of auditory suprasegmental cues and, moreover, that activity in the right secondary auditory cortex can be modulated by top-down processing mechanisms.

Functional Neural Networks of Semantic and Syntactic Processes in the Developing Brain

2007 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 1609-1623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jens Brauer ◽  
Angela D. Friederici
Keyword(s):  
Sentence Processing ◽  
Inferior Frontal Gyrus ◽  
Superior Temporal Gyrus ◽  
Developing Brain ◽  
Adult Brain ◽  
Functional Neuroanatomy ◽  
Functional Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Frontal Operculum ◽  
Left And Right ◽  
Support Resource

The functional neuroanatomy of language in the adult brain separates semantic and syntactic processes in the superior temporal gyrus (STG) and in the inferior frontal cortex. It is unknown whether a similar specialization is present in the developing brain. Semantic and syntactic aspects of sentence processing were investigated in 5- to 6-year-old children and in adults using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Although adults demonstrated function-specific activations in the STG and the frontal operculum, children showed a large activation overlap for these two language aspects in the STG. Compared to adults, they engaged additional areas in the left and right inferior frontal gyrus, which are known to support resource demanding processes. Thus, the language networks for semantic and syntactic processes are not yet specialized similarly to adults in the developing brain.

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