Phonological Tasks Research Articles

348 Resting state fMRI connectivity in individuals with aphasia and the role of the inferior frontal gyrus

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: This poster will explore lesion-symptom mapping and resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) in participants with aphasia. This analysis aims to reveal the behavioral impact of distinct lesions to the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and the potential for rsfMRI to provide evidence of cortical reorganization. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The analyses will be conducted on a small sample of approximately six participants with post-stroke language impairment (i.e., aphasia) recruited as part of an ongoing study. Lesion load in the anterior LIFG (aLIFG), consisting of the orbital (BA 47) and triangular (BA 45) parts, and the posterior LIFG (pLIFG), consisting of the opercular part (BA 44) will be correlated with performance on tasks of semantic and phonological processing. Functional connectivity will be determined between regions of interest (i.e., anterior superior temporal, posterior middle temporal, angular, and supramarginal gyri) in the left and/or right hemispheres based on rsfMRI data. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Lesion load in the aLIFG is expected to correlate to performance on the semantic task, whereas lesion load in the pLIFG is expected to correlate to performance on the phonological task. For participants whose behavioral performance exceeds expectations based on lesion load (e.g., larger aLIFG lesion load, yet better semantic task performance), rsfMRI connectivity is expected to be greater (e.g., between the posterior middle temporal and angular gyri), suggesting cortical reorganization. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: If our hypotheses are supported, our results will corroborate evidence of a functional spectrum (i.e., semantic-phonological) in the LIFG. Future work will compare rsfMRI connectivity to neurotypical controls and sites of connectivity may be used as targets in studies of non-invasive brain stimulation as an adjuvant to behavioral therapy.

Integrity of input verbal short-term memory ability predicts naming accuracy in aphasia

ABSTRACT Background Contemporary models of aphasia predominantly attribute lexical retrieval deficits to impaired access and/or maintenance of semantic, lexical, and phonological representations of words. A central hypothesis of language-emergent models of verbal short-term memory (STM) is that temporary storage and maintenance of verbal information arises from activation of linguistic representations in long-term memory. This close relationship between short-term retention and linguistic representations has prompted accounts of aphasia that include impairments to both these components. Aims We investigated associations between measures of input semantic and phonological verbal STM and corresponding output processing measures. We hypothesised that both input and output functions of verbal STM rely on a common substrate (i.e., temporary activation and maintenance of long-term linguistic representations). Methods & Procedure Twenty adults with aphasia completed a series of semantic and phonological probe spans. Results were compared with naming performance in immediate and delayed conditions. The data were analysed using correlations, principal components analysis and linear regressions. Results & Discussion Input semantic and phonological verbal STM abilities were predictive of naming accuracy. Greater input semantic and phonological STM spans were associated with fewer semantic and phonological naming errors. Latent factors identified by principal components analysis of probe span data were consistent with a two-step interactive model of word retrieval. Probe spans measuring access to semantic and initial consonant-vowel representations aligned with lexical-semantic abilities (lexical-semantic factor). Probe spans assessing access to the rhyme component of a word measured lexical-phonological abilities (lexical-phonological factor). The principal components analysis indicated that stronger lexical-semantic abilities were associated with fewer semantic and nonword errors, and stronger lexical phonological abilities were associated with fewer formal and unrelated errors. In addition, our results were consistent with models that postulate serial access to phonology, proceeding from initial to final phonemes. The span measuring access to initial consonant-vowel was associated with lexical selection, while the span measuring access to rhyme information was associated with phonological selection. Conclusion Performance on input semantic and phonological tasks predicts accuracy of picture naming performance and types of errors made by people with aphasia. These results indicate overlap in input and output semantic and phonological processing, which must be accounted for in models of lexical processing. These findings also have implications for approaches to diagnosis and treatments for lexical comprehension and production that capitalise on the overlap of input and output processing.

Shallow or deep? The impact of orthographic depth on visual processing impairments in developmental dyslexia

The extent to which impaired visual and phonological mechanisms may contribute to the manifestation of developmental dyslexia across orthographies of varying depth has yet to be fully established. By adopting a cross-linguistic approach, the current study aimed to explore the nature of visual and phonological processing in developmental dyslexic readers of shallow (Italian) and deep (English) orthographies, and specifically the characterisation of visual processing deficits in relation to orthographic depth. To achieve this aim, we administered a battery of non-reading visual and phonological tasks. Developmental dyslexics performed worse than typically developing readers on all visual and phonological tasks. Critically, readers of the shallow orthography were disproportionately impaired on visual processing tasks. Our results suggest that the impaired reading and associated deficits observed in developmental dyslexia are anchored by dual impairments to visual and phonological mechanisms that underpin reading, with the magnitude of the visual deficit varying according to orthographic depth.

The differences of functional brain network in processing auditory phonological tasks between Cantonese-Mandarin bilinguals and Mandarin monolinguals

ObjectiveTo explore the differences of functional brain networks in processing auditory phonological tasks between Cantonese-Mandarin bilinguals and Mandarin monolinguals. Methods31 Cantonese-Mandarin bilinguals and 31 Mandarin monolinguals performed auditory rhyming tasks under a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. Bilinguals performed two language tasks (Cantonese, CC; Mandarin, CM), while monolinguals performed only one task (Mandarin, MM). Graph theory and network-based statistic (NBS) analyses were used to reveal the differences of functional brain networks among CC, CM and MM. ResultsThe functional brain networks of CC, CM and MM were all small-world, and there were no differences in network properties, but widespread differences in functional connectivity among distributed brain regions. ConclusionsThe Cantonese-Mandarin bilingualism and Mandarin monolingualism shared similar efficient topological structure of brain network for auditory phonological processing, but varied in widespread functional connectivity. And the two languages within bilingualism employed different functional brain networks for auditory phonological processing.

Fonemska svesnost kao indikator pretčitačkih sposobnosti kod dece sa srpskog govornog područja bez specifičnog poremećaja jezika i sa njim

This study is based on theoretical and empirical understanding of phonemic awareness in Serbian speaking children with and without specific language impairment (SLI). The aim of this paper is to compare the phonemic awareness in children with SLI and children with typical language development (TLD) who are between 5.11 and 7 years of age. This study included 40 participants with SLI and 80 participants with TLD. The subtest for evaluation of phonemic awareness from The Test for Evaluating Reading and Writing Pre-Skills - PredČiP (Kuvač Kraljević & Lenček, 2012) was used. Statistically significant differences were confirmed on both tasks of phonemic awareness (p < .001). The half of children of the SLI group had borderline or poor achievement, generally lower than children with TLD. Bearing in mind that Serbian language has a regular orthography and clear morphological specificities, compared to most world languages, it is expected that Serbian-speaking children would master phonological awareness tasks more easily. Consequently, we believe that an early detection of phonological disorders is particularly important for the Serbian-speaking children. Having in mind that literature data indicate that children who, prior to starting school, are diagnosed with SLI, later encounter interference with reading and writing, we suggest the implementation of a specific preventive program for developing phonological skills, or training of phonemic awareness, in all children.

Task-dependent cortical activations during selective attention to audiovisual speech

Selective listening to speech depends on widespread networks of the brain, but how the involvement of different neural systems in speech processing is affected by factors such as the task performed by a listener and speech intelligibility remains poorly understood. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to systematically examine the effects that performing different tasks has on neural activations during selective attention to continuous audiovisual speech in the presence of task-irrelevant speech. Participants viewed audiovisual dialogues and attended either to the semantic or the phonological content of speech, or ignored speech altogether and performed a visual control task. The tasks were factorially combined with good and poor auditory and visual speech qualities. Selective attention to speech engaged superior temporal regions and the left inferior frontal gyrus regardless of the task. Frontoparietal regions implicated in selective auditory attention to simple sounds (e.g., tones, syllables) were not engaged by the semantic task, suggesting that this network may not be not as crucial when attending to continuous speech. The medial orbitofrontal cortex, implicated in social cognition, was most activated by the semantic task. Activity levels during the phonological task in the left prefrontal, premotor, and secondary somatosensory regions had a distinct temporal profile as well as the highest overall activity, possibly relating to the role of the dorsal speech processing stream in sub-lexical processing. Our results demonstrate that the task type influences neural activations during selective attention to speech, and emphasize the importance of ecologically valid experimental designs.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over the Right Inferior Parietal Cortex Reduces Transposition Errors in a Syllabic Reordering Task

Evidence derived from functional imaging and brain-lesion studies has shown a strong left lateralization for language, and a complementary right hemisphere dominance for visuospatial abilities. Nevertheless, the symmetrical functional division of the two hemispheres gives no reason for the complexity of the cognitive operations involved in carrying out a linguistic task. In fact, a growing number of neuroimaging and neurostimulation studies suggest a possible right hemisphere involvement in language processing. The objective of this work was to verify the contribution of the left and right parietal areas in a phonological task. We applied anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to the right or left inferior parietal lobe, during a syllabic reordering task. After having learnt a combination of images of real objects and trisyllabic pseudowords with a simple consonant–vowel (CV) syllabic structure (e.g., tu-ru-cu), participants were shown the same images paired to two different pseudowords: one correct but with transposed syllables, and one alternative, never before seen. The participant’s task was to orally produce the chosen pseudoword, after having rearranged the order of its syllables. Two types of error were considered: transposition (correct pseudoword but incorrectly reordered) and identity (incorrect pseudoword). The results showed that right anodal stimulation significantly reduced the number of transposition errors, whereas left anodal stimulation significantly reduced the number of identity errors. These results suggested that both left and right inferior parietal areas were differentially involved in a syllabic reordering task, and, crucially, they demonstrated that visuospatial processes served by the right inferior parietal area could be competent for establishing the correct syllabic order within a word.

Simultaneous Normalization and Compensatory Changes in Right Hemisphere Connectivity during Aphasia Therapy.

Changes in brain connectivity during language therapy were examined among participants with aphasia (PWA), aiming to shed light on neural reorganization in the language network. Four PWA with anomia following left hemisphere stroke and eight healthy controls (HC) participated in the study. Two fMRI scans were administered to all participants with a 3.5-month interval. The fMRI scans included phonological and semantic tasks, each consisting of linguistic and perceptual matching conditions. Between the two fMRI scans, PWA underwent Phonological Components Analysis treatment. Changes in effective connectivity during the treatment were examined within right hemisphere (RH) architecture. The results illustrate that following the treatment, the averaged connectivity of PWA across all perceptual and linguistic conditions in both tasks increased resemblance to HC, reflecting the normalization of neural processes associated with silent object name retrieval. In contrast, connections that were specifically enhanced by the phonological condition in PWA decreased in their resemblance to HC, reflecting emerging compensatory reorganization in RH connectivity to support phonological processing. These findings suggest that both normalization and compensation play a role in neural language reorganization at the chronic stage, occurring simultaneously in the same brain.

Vowel And Consonant Simplification In Speech Disorder: An Analysis Of Segmental Phonology

The objective of the study is to investigate the sound simplification of speech output in Broca's aphasics and describe the effect of the alteration within phonological features from the perspective of Sonority Sequencing Principle (SSP). The speech output of two patients was exposed using phonological tasks and recorded with a Sonny voice recorder. The effect of features in substitution sonority was measured with the Wilcoxon's test and acoustic features were analyzed with Praat. The results of the study revealed that the consonant substitution and omission errors in Broca’s aphasia occur in the initial position due to the lesion in the anterior part of the left brain and that the less marked features that are statistically substituted by marked features are not significantly affected by marked features that are substituted by less marked features. The substitution was dominantly influenced by neighboring segments and the sonority violance occured againts the sonority scale

Neglected Factors Bearing on Reaction Time in Language Production.

The input to phonological reasoning are alternations, that is, variations in the pronunciation of related words, such as in electri[k] - electri[s]-ity. But phonologists cannot agree what counts as a relevant alternation: the issue is highly contentious despite a research record of over 50 years. We believe that the experimental setup presented may contribute to this debate based on a kind of evidence that was not brought to bear to date. Our experiment was thus designed to distinguish between alternations where phonological computation plays no role, and those where it has contributed to language production. The design manipulates two factors that to date have not been considered in experimental studies of language production: linguistic complexity and alternation specificity. The former is understood as extra processing demands issued by two types of linguistic activity, morphosyntactic and phonological. Our results show that reaction time latencies are longer when participants are burdened with both morphosyntactic and phonological tasks than when they carry out just a morphosyntactic task, and they are still shorter in absence of both types of demands. These results allowed us to address alternation specificity, that is, the fact that different alternations (within a language or across languages) may be driven by different production routines (an idea that is consensual among linguists but underdeveloped in the psycholinguistic literature). Our study shows that four different alternations in French produce alternation-specific signatures in reaction time latencies. These findings may thus redound to the advantage of psycholinguistic studies by identifying two new factors, as well as produce results that speak to the linguistic quarrels.

Treating developmental dyslexia using transcranial stimulation combined with a reading stimulation program: A pilot study

Objective: Evaluate the effect of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) combined with reading therapy on the performance of reading tasks in a serie of cases of children and adolescents with developmental dyslexia (DD). Method: (IRB/UNIFESP number:1281/2017). Four dyslexic students (two children and two adolescents) were evaluated with regards to rate and accuracy of reading fluency on three occasions: pre-intervention as well as one and six months after intervention. The intervention consisted of five consecutive sessions of active tDCS (1 mA for 20 minutes), followed by a two-day interval and another five sessions of tDCS combined with cognitive skills stimulation of phonological processing and decoding of words. Anodal tDCS was administered over the left parieto-occipital cortex, with the cathode placed over contralateral deltoid muscle. Each session was preceded by execution of semantic-lexical and phonological evocation tasks. Data were analyzed using Friedman test and JT method for analysis of clinical significance and the reliable change index. Results: Improvements were found in text reading rate and accuracy and word accuracy at the one-month and six-month evaluation. A significant increase was found in correct reading of words and pseudowords six months after intervention. Most of the improvements were reliable, with clinical significance in some cases. Conclusion: Transcranial direct current stimulation combined with a reading stimulation program proved effective at improving reading skills in these participants.

Dorsal and Ventral Cortical Connectivity Is Mediated by the Inferior Frontal Gyrus During Facilitated Naming of Pictures.

Background: It is well recognized that semantic processing and auditory repetition facilitate subsequent naming of pictures. However, the neurocognitive mechanisms that underpin these facilitation effects remain unclear. Materials and Methods: The current study utilized a dynamic causal modeling (DCM) approach to examine high-density electroencephalographic (128-channel EEG) recordings and investigate connectivity modulations during facilitated naming of pictures in 18 healthy older adults (mean age 61.50 years). Source reconstruction of event-related potentials was performed in two specific time windows, (1) 150-250 msec and (2) 300-500 msec, to establish the timescale of significant cortical activations present during participation of semantic and phonological tasks. Hypothesis-driven DCM of source-activated regions was tested to ascertain which model most likely explained the semantic and phonological conditions, respectively. Results: DCM results indicated that a common cortical network comprising dorsal and ventral cortical connections best explained EEG task data derived from repetition and semantic tasks. For repetition (phonological) tasks, this model featured long feedback, bidirectional connections from inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) to occipitotemporal areas. Semantic tasks were most plausibly explained by a model that featured a self-inhibiting connection over the IFG only. Conclusions: Findings from this study reveal that a common cortical model comprising pathways that include dorsal and ventral regions is appropriate for characterizing EEG naming facilitation data, and that distinct cortical connections explain differences between semantic and auditory repetition processes. These models could be repurposed for naming facilitation paradigms in patients with language difficulties to optimize prediction and responsiveness to such paradigms. Impact statement The combination of semantic (word-level) and phonological (sound-level) processing in the cortex facilitates one of the most robust responses-the naming of pictures. Here, dynamic causal modeling of high-density electroencephalography during facilitated naming tasks revealed a model consisting of common dorsal and ventral connections that best explained response to semantic and phonological stimuli. Within this cortical network, phonological facilitation involved a long-range connection from inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) to occipitotemporal regions, whereas semantic facilitation contributed to self-inhibition of the IFG. The IFG is therefore a key region mediating cortical activity when switching between phonological and semantic conditions.

Factors that influence non-word repetition performance in children with and without persistent speech sound disorders.

Nonword repetition (NWR) is a common phonological processing task that is reported to tap into many cognitive, perceptual, and motor processes. For this reason, NWR is often used in assessment batteries to aid in verifying the presence of a reading or language disorder. To examine the extent to which child- and item-level factors predict the probability of a correct response on a non-word repetition (NWR) task in a sample of children with persistent speech sound disorders (P-SSDs) compared with their typically developing peers. A total of 40 American-English-speaking children were tested on an NWR task for which the stimuli were manipulated for phonological neighbourhood density and list length. Additional measures of vocabulary and word reading were also administered. Children who were typically developing were 1.82 times more likely than children with P-SSD to respond correctly. The item-level factor of phonological neighbourhood density influenced performance, but only for the P-SSD group, and only at certain list lengths. Vocabulary and word-reading ability also influenced NWR task performance. Children with P-SSD present as a complex and heterogeneous group. Multiple factors contribute to their ability to perform phonological tasks such as NWR. As such, attention to the item-level factors in screenings and assessments is necessary to ensure that appropriate decisions are made regarding diagnosis and subsequent treatment. What is already known on the subject? Good expressive vocabulary is important for children with speech sound disorders; it can aid in their performance on phonological processing tasks like NWR. Nonword repetition may be a helpful test/ subtest to add to assessment batteries when evaluating children with speech sound disorders. What this paper adds to existing knowledge? Vocabulary and word reading abilities must also be measured for children with SSDs, to observe the bigger picture of their linguistic abilities. What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work? The relation between word reading and speech sound production influences performance on phonological processing tasks.

The dimensionality of phonological awareness among Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children: a longitudinal study

Phonological awareness is one of the most important predictors of reading. However, there is still controversy concerning its dimensionality. This study evaluated the dimensionality of phonological awareness among Brazilian Portuguese-speaking children. A total of 212 children performed six phonological awareness tasks in the last year of kindergarten. Of those children, 177 performed the same tasks when they were in the first grade. The phonological awareness measures differed in both their cognitive demand (detection, blending, segmentation, and elision) and the phonological unit involved (rhyme, syllable, and phoneme). Confirmatory factor analyzes were employed to test several models of phonological awareness dimensionality. The results indicated that the best model was an oblique model of phonological units with two correlated latent factors: phonemic awareness and supraphonemic awareness. This model presented the best fit to the data both in kindergarten and in the first grade. In addition, supraphonemic awareness in the kindergarten predicted phoneme awareness in the first grade; however, phonemic awareness in the kindergarten did not predict supraphonemic awareness in the first grade. These results are compatible with phonological awareness developing from larger phonological units (e.g., syllables) to small phonological units (e.g., phonemes) and the reciprocal relationship between phonological awareness and reading. From a theoretical point of view, these results also suggest that phonological awareness is a one-dimensional construct that can be evaluated by tests employing different phonological units (e.g., syllables, rhymes, phonemes).

Verbal Fluency Tasks: Influence of Age, Gender, and Education and Normative Data for the Spanish Native Adult Population.

Phonological and semantic verbal fluency (VF) tasks are frequently used to assess language and executive functions in both clinical and research settings. F, A, and S are the most commonly used letters in phonological tasks across languages and cultures. Unfortunately, the lack of norms for the native Spanish population for these letters, and for certain semantic categories such as "proper names," may lead to misinterpretation of scores due to demographic differences. The aim of the present study was to provide normative data for F, A, and S and for "proper names," "animals," and "fruits and vegetables" for the native Spanish population. 257 healthy subjects took part in the study (ages: 17-100years, 3-20years of education). Correlation, multiple regression, and t-tests were used to select the most appropriate variables for stratification. Education was the best predictor of performance in all tasks, followed by age. Given that t-test results showed no differences related to gender, with the only exception of the semantic category "animals," this variable was not considered for stratification. Consequently, the data were stratified in two education levels (<13, ≥13years of education) and in two age levels (<60, ≥60) within the low-educational level group. Mean, standard deviation, and percentile scores for each group are provided. The present norms provide a reference for clinicians assessing VF. This data may also facilitate comparisons with other normative studies in cross-cultural and cross-linguistic research.

Interaction between Phonological and Semantic Processes in Visual Word Recognition using Electrophysiology.

Controversies have always existed in research related to reading abilities; on whether printed words are perceived in a feedforward manner based on orthographic information after which, other representations, such as phonology and semantics are activated, or whether these are fully interactive and high-level semantic information affects early processing. An interference paradigm was implemented in the presented protocol of phonological and semantic judgment tasks that utilized the same precede-target pairs to explore the relative order of phonological and semantic activation. The high- and low-frequency target words were preceded with three conditions: semantically related, phonological-related (homophones), or unrelated. The results showed that the induced P200 component of low-frequency word pairs was significantly greater than high-frequency words in both the semantic and phonological tasks. In addition, both the homophones in the semantic task and the semantically related pairs in the phonological task caused reduction in N400 when compared to the the control condition, word frequency-independently. It is worth noting that for the low-frequency pairs in the phonological judgment task, the P200 released by the semantically related word pairs was significantly larger than that in the control condition. Overall, semantic processing in phonological tasks and phonological processing in semantic tasks were found in both high- and low-frequency words, suggesting that the interaction between semantics and phonology may operate in a task-independent manner. However, the specific time this interaction occurred may have been affected by the task and frequency.

Singing in the Brain

Music that gets “stuck” in the head is commonly conceptualized as an intrusive “thought”; however, we argue that this experience is better characterized as automatic mental singing without an accompanying sense of agency. In two experiments, a dual-task paradigm was employed, in which participants undertook a phonological task once while hearing music, and then again in silence following its presentation. We predicted that the music would be maintained in working memory, interfering with the task. Experiment 1 (N = 30) used songs predicted to be more or less catchy; half of the sample heard truncated versions. Performance was indeed poorer following catchier songs, particularly if the songs were unfinished. Moreover, the effect was stronger for songs rated higher in terms of the desire to sing along. Experiment 2 (N = 50) replicated the effect using songs with which the participants felt compelled to sing along. Additionally, results from a lexical decision task indicated that many participants’ keystrokes synchronized with the tempo of the song just heard. Together, these findings suggest that an earworm results from an unconscious desire to sing along to a familiar song.

The Relation Between a Systematic Analysis of Spelling and Orthographic and Phonological Awareness Skills in First-Grade Children.

Purpose As an initial step in determining whether a spelling error analysis might be useful in measuring children's linguistic knowledge, the relation between the frequency of types of scores from a spelling error analysis and children's performance on measures of phonological and orthographic pattern awareness was examined. Method The spellings of first-grade children with typical spoken language skills were scored using the Spelling Sensitivity System (Masterson & Apel, 2010a); words were parsed into elements based on phonemes and then assigned a score based on the linguistic skills represented in the spelling. The children also completed more traditional measures of phonological and orthographic knowledge: an elision task and an orthographic pattern awareness task. Results There was a moderate negative correlation between number of elements omitted in the children's spellings (e.g., the child did not represent a phoneme with a letter[s] and performance on the phonological awareness task). There also was a moderate negative correlation between frequency of orthographically based spelling errors (e.g., spelling an element with a letter[s] that could never represent that sound in English) and performance on the orthographic pattern and phonological awareness measures. Conclusions These findings suggest that specific types of scores on the spelling error analysis provided information about the children's phonological awareness and orthographic knowledge. They also support continued investigations on the use of a systematic spelling error analysis for measuring phonological awareness and orthographic knowledge and highlight the potential utility of the analysis procedure in the educational setting.

Large-scale network topology reveals brain functional abnormality in Chinese dyslexic children

It has been revealed that dyslexic children learning alphabetic languages are characterized by aberrant topological organization of brain networks. However, little is known about the functional organization and the reconfiguration pattern of brain networks in Chinese dyslexic children. Using graph theoretical analysis and functional magnetic resonance images (fMRI), we examined this issue specifically from the perspective of functional integration and segregation. We first compared large-scale topological organizations between dyslexic children and typically developing children during a Chinese phonological rhyming task, and found that dyslexic children showed increased local efficiency and clustering coefficient compared with typically developing children, which were negatively correlated with task performance. Furthermore, dyslexic children and typically developing children could be accurately distinguished at the individual-subject level based on the nodal local efficiency or clustering coefficient. Second, we studied the group difference of network reconfiguration and found that dyslexic children showed more difficulty when shifting from the resting state to the phonological task. Our results suggest an over-segregated brain functional organization and deficits in brain network reconfiguration in Chinese dyslexic children, which helps to advance our knowledge on the neural mechanisms underlying dyslexia.

Evaluation of the crossed cerebro-cerebellar activation to determine language lateralization in patients with brain tumors

The crossed cerebro-cerebellar (CCC) activation facilitates the diagnosis of cortical language lateralization, but needs to be explored with language tasks suitable for patients with different age ranges, educational attainment and eventual presence of language deficits. To determine the effect of demographic variables in the performance of three language tasks in healthy volunteers and to determine the CCC activation of these tasks as a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigm in brain tumor patients. The behavioral performance (correct responses and reaction time) of three language tasks (verbal fluency, semantic and phonological decision tasks) was first examined in 76 healthy volunteers balanced by age and educational level. Later, these tasks were implemented as fMRI paradigms to explore CCC language activation of 20 patients with potential diagnosis of brain tumors. The performance of the verbal fluency task was affected by age. The CCC language activation was reproducible with the semantic and phonological tasks. The combination of the tasks determined typical and atypical language lateralization in 60% and 40% of our patients, respectively. The verbal fluency task must be implemented with care as a clinical fMRI paradigm. Our results suggest that semantic and phonological tasks can be a good alternative for brain tumor patients with language deficits.