ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVES</b>To identify the cortical areas engaged during Chinese word processing using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and to examine the reliability and reproducibility of fMRI for localization of functional areas in the human brain.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>FMRI data were collected on 8 young, right-handed, native Chinese speakers during performance of Chinese synonym and homophone judgment tasks on two different clinical MRI systems (1.5 T GE Signa Horizon and 1.5 T Siemens Vision). A cross correlation analysis was used to statistically generate the activation map.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Broca's area, Wernicke's area, bilateral extrastriate, and ventral temporal cortex were significantly activated during both the synonym and homophone activities. There was essentially no difference between results acquired on two different MRI systems.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>FMRI can be used for localizing cortical areas critical to Chinese language processing in the human brain. The results are reliable and well reproducible across different clinical MRI systems.</p>
Subject(s)
Adult , Female , Humans , Male , Cerebral Cortex , Physiology , Language Tests , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Reproducibility of ResultsABSTRACT
Objective To observe the changes of the brain function during reading recovery by using functional MRI (fMRI),and to provide the experimental data in elucidating the mechanism on the recovery of reading and language function.Methods fMRI was performed in a native Chinese patient with pure alexia on the 45 th and 130 th day after the onset,respectively.Three kinds of Chinese characters were presented during the scan and the patient was asked to make the judgement weather he could recognize the characters or not.The brain activation maps were acquired after postprocessing,and the activated location and volume were compared between the first and second experiments.Results In both experiments,Broca area,Wernicke area,and the right extrastriate were significantly activated,while the left extrastriate around the lesion was markedly activated only in the second experiment,and the volume of activation in the right extrastriate in the second experiment was about 3 times as large as that in the first experiment.Conclusion The left extrastriate cortex is one of the key areas responsible for reading function in the brain.The recovery of reading function can be compensated in contralateral corresponding cortical area,or it can be the result of reorganization in ipsilateral peri-lesion cortex.Both mechanisms may simultaneously play important roles in reading recovery.