Auditory and visual stimuli in language mapping by functional MRI: is it modality specific?

• Autor(a) principal: Leoni, R. F.
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Outros Autores: Escorsi-Rosset, S., Sakamoto, A. C., Baffa, O., Leite, J. P., Santos, A. C., Araújo, Dráulio Barros de
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional da UFRN
• Texto Completo: https://repositorio.ufrn.br/jspui/handle/123456789/26110
• topic: Word generation; visual and auditory stimuli; hemispheric lateralization; language; functional MRI

Human language is a complex process that involves specialized subsystems with certain modularity of organization. Mapping of language processing is of interest because of its social importance and clinical applications. Therefore, the purpose of the present study was to assess language processing using auditory and visual stimuli to determine if both stimulus modalities were robust for language mapping. Moreover, language lateralization was evaluated. Seventeen right handed asymptomatic subjects, native Portuguese speakers, performed a word generation task cued either by visual or auditory stimulus. As expected, language representation was mainly observed in the left frontal gyrus, including Broca’s area, left precentral and poscentral gyri, insula, and left superior temporal gyri, including Wernicke’s area, for both stimulus modalities. Other regions were also observed: bilateral cingulate and fusiform gyri; left parahippocampal, supramarginal and lingual gyri; thalamus, left parietal lobe and primary visual cortex. Laterality indices and centroids of these regions were not modality specific. Therefore, both stimulus modalities in combination with a simple verbal fluency task were robust for language mapping, allowing their application in different groups of patients.