Neuroscience
Saygin AP, Wilson SM, Dronkers NF, Bates E. Action comprehension in aphasia: Linguistic and non-linguistic deficits and their lesion correlates. Neuropsychologia. 2004; 42(13): 1788-804.
Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive 0515, La Jolla, CA 92093-0515, USA.
We tested aphasic patients' comprehension of actions to examine processing deficits in the linguistic and non-linguistic domains and their lesion correlates. Twenty-nine left-hemisphere injured patients and 18 age-matched control subjects matched pictured actions (with the objects missing) or their linguistic equivalents (printed sentences with the object missing) to one of two visually-presented pictures of objects. Aphasic patients performed poorly not only in the linguistic domain but also in the non-linguistic domain. A subset of the patients, largely consisting of severe and non-fluent aphasics, showed a
greater deficit in the linguistic domain compared with the non-linguistic domain and across the patient group, deficits in the linguistic and non-linguistic domains were not tightly correlated. Poor performance in pantomime interpretation was associated with lesions in the inferior frontal, premotor and motor cortex, a portion of somatosensory cortex, and the caudate, while poor reading comprehension of actions was associated with lesions around the anterior superior temporal lobe, the anterior insula and the anterior portion of the inferior parietal lobe. Lesion size did not correlate with deficits. The lesion results for pantomime interpretation deficits demonstrate that lesions in the frontal component of the human analog of the "mirror neuron system" are associated with deficits in non-linguistic action understanding. For reading comprehension deficits, the lesion correlates are brain areas known to be involved in linguistic tasks including sentence processing and speech articulation; the parietal lesion site may also correspond to a subpart of the human mirror neuron system. These results indicate that brain areas important for the production of language and action are also recruited in their comprehension. Similar findings have been reported in electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies. Our findings now also lend neuropsychological support to an embodied view of brain organization for action processing.
PMID: 15351628 [PubMed - in process]
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M-Marsel Mesulam, Cynthia K. Thompson, Sandra Weintraub, and Emily J. Rogalski (2015). The Wernicke conundrum and the anatomy of language comprehension in primary progressive aphasia. Brain. [Published online June 25 2015 doi:10.1093/brain/awv154] Wernicke’s...
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Ferstl EC, Walther K, Guthke T, & von Cramon DY. Assessment of story comprehension deficits after brain damage. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology. 2005 Apr; 27(3): 367-384. Day Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University of Leipzig,...
- Abstract Of The Day: Primary Progressive Aphasia (ppa)
Clark DG, Charuvastra A, Miller BL, Shapira JS, Mendez MF. Fluent versus nonfluent primary progressive aphasia: A comparison of clinical and functional neuroimaging features. Brain and Language 2005 Jul; 94(1): 54-60. David Geffen School of Medicine,...
Neuroscience
Abstract of the Day: Aphasia
Saygin AP, Wilson SM, Dronkers NF, Bates E. Action comprehension in aphasia: Linguistic and non-linguistic deficits and their lesion correlates. Neuropsychologia. 2004; 42(13): 1788-804.
Department of Cognitive Science, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive 0515, La Jolla, CA 92093-0515, USA.
We tested aphasic patients' comprehension of actions to examine processing deficits in the linguistic and non-linguistic domains and their lesion correlates. Twenty-nine left-hemisphere injured patients and 18 age-matched control subjects matched pictured actions (with the objects missing) or their linguistic equivalents (printed sentences with the object missing) to one of two visually-presented pictures of objects. Aphasic patients performed poorly not only in the linguistic domain but also in the non-linguistic domain. A subset of the patients, largely consisting of severe and non-fluent aphasics, showed a
greater deficit in the linguistic domain compared with the non-linguistic domain and across the patient group, deficits in the linguistic and non-linguistic domains were not tightly correlated. Poor performance in pantomime interpretation was associated with lesions in the inferior frontal, premotor and motor cortex, a portion of somatosensory cortex, and the caudate, while poor reading comprehension of actions was associated with lesions around the anterior superior temporal lobe, the anterior insula and the anterior portion of the inferior parietal lobe. Lesion size did not correlate with deficits. The lesion results for pantomime interpretation deficits demonstrate that lesions in the frontal component of the human analog of the "mirror neuron system" are associated with deficits in non-linguistic action understanding. For reading comprehension deficits, the lesion correlates are brain areas known to be involved in linguistic tasks including sentence processing and speech articulation; the parietal lesion site may also correspond to a subpart of the human mirror neuron system. These results indicate that brain areas important for the production of language and action are also recruited in their comprehension. Similar findings have been reported in electrophysiological and neuroimaging studies. Our findings now also lend neuropsychological support to an embodied view of brain organization for action processing.
PMID: 15351628 [PubMed - in process]
- The Special Issue Spotter
We trawl the world's journals so you don't have to: Bilingualism: Acquisition of Linguistic and non-Linguistic Skills in Bilinguals (Brain and Language). Letter Recognition: From Perception to Representation (Cognitive Neuropsychology). Symposium...
- Neuropsychology Abstract Of The Day: The Wernicke Conundrum And Primary Progressive Aphasia
M-Marsel Mesulam, Cynthia K. Thompson, Sandra Weintraub, and Emily J. Rogalski (2015). The Wernicke conundrum and the anatomy of language comprehension in primary progressive aphasia. Brain. [Published online June 25 2015 doi:10.1093/brain/awv154] Wernicke’s...
- Abstract Of The Day: Neuropsychology Of 'what' And 'where' Streams In Visual Working Memory
Finke K, Bublak P, & Zihl J. Visual spatial and visual pattern working memory: Neuropsychological evidence for a differential role of left and right dorsal visual brain. Neuropsychologia. 2005 Aug 16; [Epub ahead of print]. Department of Psychology, Neuropsychology,...
- Abstract Of The Day: Text-comprehension Deficits
Ferstl EC, Walther K, Guthke T, & von Cramon DY. Assessment of story comprehension deficits after brain damage. Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology. 2005 Apr; 27(3): 367-384. Day Clinic for Cognitive Neurology, University of Leipzig,...
- Abstract Of The Day: Primary Progressive Aphasia (ppa)
Clark DG, Charuvastra A, Miller BL, Shapira JS, Mendez MF. Fluent versus nonfluent primary progressive aphasia: A comparison of clinical and functional neuroimaging features. Brain and Language 2005 Jul; 94(1): 54-60. David Geffen School of Medicine,...