Hemispheric lateralization at different levels of human auditory word processing: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study

We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to disentangle the functional anatomy of brain systems involved in the processing of auditory word form and meaning. Three monitoring tasks on auditory stimuli, aimed at phonetic, lexical and semantic processing, were used. We found no lateralization of temporal lobe activations, when word processing was contrasted versus the complex phonetic task. Bilateral middle temporal activations (Brodmann Area [BA] 21) were attributed to processing of word-form. Areas specific to semantic processing were restricted to the left hemisphere: the posterior middle frontal (BA 9) and posterior parietal (BA 7/40) cortex, as well as an inferior temporal area (BA 20/21). Our data suggest, that left hemispheric dominance for auditory word comprehension occurred at the level of semantic processing.

[1]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  The cortical localization of the lexicons. Positron emission tomography evidence. , 1992, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[2]  W H Theodore,et al.  Regional cerebral blood flow during auditory responsive naming: evidence for cross‐modality neural activation , 1998, Neuroreport.

[3]  P. Tallal,et al.  Neurobiological Basis of Speech: A Case for the Preeminence of Temporal Processing , 1993, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[4]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Distribution of cortical neural networks involved in word comprehension and word retrieval. , 1991, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[5]  Eran Zaidel,et al.  Language in the Right Hemisphere Following Callosal Disconnection , 1998 .

[6]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  An MRI-Based Probabilistic Atlas of Neuroanatomy , 1994 .

[7]  Curt von Euler,et al.  Temporal Information Processing in the Nervous System: Special Reference to Dyslexia and Dysphasia. Conference proceedings. New York City, New York, September 12-15, 1992. , 1993, Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.

[8]  S. Petersen,et al.  PET activation of posterior temporal regions during auditory word presentation and verb generation. , 1996, Cerebral cortex.

[9]  Richard S. J. Frackowiak,et al.  Functional anatomy of a common semantic system for words and pictures , 1996, Nature.

[10]  Dieter Hillert.  On Processing Lexical Meanings in Aphasia and Alzheimer's Disease: Some (Re)Considerations , 1999, Brain and Language.

[11]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Hearing and saying. The functional neuro-anatomy of auditory word processing. , 1996, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[12]  B. Rosen,et al.  Auditory and visual word processing studied with fMRI , 1999, Human brain mapping.

[13]  G. Bydder,et al.  Magnetic Resonance Scanning and Epilepsy , 1994, NATO ASI Series.

[14]  Richard S. J. Frackowiak,et al.  Noun and verb retrieval by normal subjects. Studies with PET. , 1996, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[15]  D. Poeppel,et al.  Task-induced asymmetry of the auditory evoked M100 neuromagnetic field elicited by speech sounds. , 1996, Brain research. Cognitive brain research.

[16]  Richard D. Hichwa,et al.  A neural basis for lexical retrieval , 1996, Nature.

[17]  Richard S. J. Frackowiak,et al.  The anatomy of phonological and semantic processing in normal subjects. , 1992, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[18]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Cognitive Conjunction: A New Approach to Brain Activation Experiments , 1997, NeuroImage.

[19]  P Hagoort,et al.  Word deafness and auditory cortical function. A case history and hypothesis. , 1991, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[20]  Stephen M. Rao,et al.  Human Brain Language Areas Identified by Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging , 1997, The Journal of Neuroscience.

[21]  J Ashburner,et al.  Functional neuroimaging of speech perception in six normal and two aphasic subjects. , 1999, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.

[22]  Ellen Bialystok,et al.  Handbook of Neurolinguistics , 1998 .

[23]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Statistical parametric maps in functional imaging: A general linear approach , 1994 .

[24]  Anne Cutler,et al.  A theory of lexical access in speech production , 1999, Behavioral and Brain Sciences.