Effect of name agreement on prefrontal activity during overt and covert picture naming.
In recent neuroimaging studies, various tasks have been used to examine prefrontal cortex involvement in semantic retrieval and selection. One such task, picture naming, has yielded inconsistent results across studies. One potential explanation for this inconsistency is that the magnitude of prefron...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
2004
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| Online Access: | http://ezproxy.villanova.edu/login?url=https://digital.library.villanova.edu/Item/vudl:177557 |
| Summary: | In recent neuroimaging studies, various tasks have been used to examine prefrontal cortex involvement
in semantic retrieval and selection. One such task, picture naming, has yielded inconsistent results
across studies. One potential explanation for this inconsistency is that the magnitude of prefrontal
activity during picture naming depends on the extent to which a given picture evokes a single reliable
meaning. To test this hypothesis, fMRI activity in the prefrontal cortex was measured while subjects
named pictures with either high or low name agreement. In Experiment 1, subjects named black-andwhite
line drawings, either covertly or overtly. Across both modalities, we found more left inferior
frontal gyrus (LIFG) activity when the subjects named low-agreement pictures than when they named
high-agreement pictures. No significant difference in head movement was detected between the two
modalities. In Experiment 2, we replicated the effect of name agreement on LIFG activity during picture
naming, using black-and-white photographs. These results provide further support for the idea
that the LIFG mediates selection among competing alternatives and suggest a means for understanding
the naming deficits observed in nonfluent aphasia. |
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