fMRI assessment of hemispheric language dominance using a simple inner speech paradigm

Hemispheric language dominance (HLD) has been determined by means of functional MRI (fMRI) using a simple, inner speech, word fluency paradigm. During the task periods, subjects perform mental imagery of visual scenes and generate silently the nouns of all objects visualized. During the control periods, subjects attend to the scanner noise. Activated areas have been identified by means of cross‐correlation analysis. HLD indices have been determined by comparing the number of activated pixels detected in both hemispheres within predefined cortical areas (Brodmann areas 6, 9, 10, 39, 40 and 44–47). The paradigm has been assessed on 10 healthy, right‐handed volunteers. A volume 35 mm thick, centered on the inferior frontal gyrus, was imaged. A conventional GRE MR sequence was used on a 1.5 T clinical MR scanner. HLD indices were compared with those determined for overt speech. Robust fMRI reponses were obtained. HLD indices indicated left hemispheric language dominance for all subjects examined. They correlated well with those obtained for overt speech (R2  =  0.93, regression coefficient  =  0.998, with p < 10−4). Thus, an inner speech paradigm based on visual imagery is well adapted for assessment of HLD by means of fMRI. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

[1]  R. C. Oldfield.  The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. , 1971, Neuropsychologia.

[2]  P. T. Fox,et al.  Positron emission tomographic studies of the cortical anatomy of single-word processing , 1988, Nature.

[3]  R. Todd Constable,et al.  Localization of semantic processing using functional magnetic resonance imaging , 1994 .

[4]  J. A. Frost,et al.  Determination of language dominance using functional MRI , 1996, Neurology.

[5]  J. B. Demb,et al.  Functional MRI measurement of language lateralization in Wada-tested patients. , 1995, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[6]  A. Fox,et al.  Clinical events following neuroangiography: a prospective study. , 1987, Stroke.

[7]  E. Phelps,et al.  FMRI of the prefrontal cortex during overt verbal fluency , 1997, Neuroreport.

[8]  Richard S. J. Frackowiak,et al.  The neural correlates of the verbal component of working memory , 1993, Nature.

[9]  J. Hirsch,et al.  Distinct cortical areas associated with native and second languages , 1997, Nature.

[10]  K Ugurbil,et al.  Functional magnetic resonance imaging of Broca's area during internal speech. , 1993, Neuroreport.

[11]  S. Kosslyn,et al.  Visual Mental Imagery Activates Topographically Organized Visual Cortex: PET Investigations , 1993, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[12]  M. Posner,et al.  Positron Emission Tomographic Studies of the Processing of Singe Words , 1989, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience.

[13]  V. Haughton,et al.  Functional MR of frontal lobe activation: comparison with Wada language results. , 1998, AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology.

[14]  D. Le Bihan,et al.  Noninvasive assessment of language dominance in children and adolescents with functional MRI , 1997, Neurology.

[15]  Luis C. Maas,et al.  Decoupled automated rotational and translational registration for functional MRI time series data: The dart registration algorithm , 1997, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

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

[17]  M Diemling,et al.  Reproducibility and postprocessing of gradient-echo functional MRI to improve localization of brain activity in the human visual cortex. , 1996, Magnetic resonance imaging.

[18]  E C Wong,et al.  Processing strategies for time‐course data sets in functional mri of the human brain , 1993, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[19]  T. Rasmussen,et al.  INTRACAROTID INJECTION OF SODIUM AMYTAL FOR THE LATERALIZATION OF CEREBRAL SPEECH DOMINANCE EXPERIMENTAL AND CLINICAL OBSERVATIONS , 1960 .

[20]  A L Benabid,et al.  Functional MRI of the human brain: predominance of signals from extracerebral veins. , 1994, Neuroreport.

[21]  R W Cox,et al.  Use of functional MR to map language in multilingual volunteers. , 1996, AJNR. American journal of neuroradiology.

[22]  D. Perani,et al.  Functional heterogeneity of left inferior frontal cortex as revealed by fMRI , 1997, Neuroreport.

[23]  D. Tank,et al.  Brain magnetic resonance imaging with contrast dependent on blood oxygenation. , 1990, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[24]  D. Le Bihan,et al.  Functional MRI during word generation, using conventional equipment , 1995, Neurology.

[25]  G. McCarthy,et al.  Echo-planar magnetic resonance imaging studies of frontal cortex activation during word generation in humans. , 1993, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[26]  S. Small,et al.  Localizing the lexicon for reading aloud: replication of a PET study using fMRI , 1996, Neuroreport.

[27]  S E Petersen,et al.  The processing of single words studied with positron emission tomography. , 1993, Annual review of neuroscience.

[28]  Charles D. Smith,et al.  Cortical activation in confrontation naming , 1996, Neuroreport.

[29]  J. Hajnal,et al.  Artifacts due to stimulus correlated motion in functional imaging of the brain , 1994, Magnetic resonance in medicine.

[30]  D Le Bihan,et al.  Magnetic Resonance Imaging Functional Activation of Left Frontal Cortex During Covert Word Production , 1994, Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging.

[31]  Jens Frahm,et al.  On the use of temporal correlation coefficients for magnetic resonance mapping of functional brain activation: Individualized thresholds and spatial response delineation , 1995, Int. J. Imaging Syst. Technol..

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

[33]  B. Rosen,et al.  Category-specific brain activation in fMRI during picture naming. , 1995, Neuroreport.

[34]  M. Jeannerod,et al.  Possible involvement of primary motor cortex in mentally simulated movement: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study. , 1996, Neuroreport.

[35]  M. Torrens.  Co-Planar Stereotaxic Atlas of the Human Brain—3-Dimensional Proportional System: An Approach to Cerebral Imaging, J. Talairach, P. Tournoux. Georg Thieme Verlag, New York (1988), 122 pp., 130 figs. DM 268 , 1990 .

[36]  K Kuppusamy,et al.  Localization of language cortices by functional MR imaging compared with intracarotid amobarbital hemispheric sedation. , 1997, AJR. American journal of roentgenology.