A Functional MRI Study of Brain Language Network in Korean Adult

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To report the results of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment to delineate brain network for auditory language tasks in normal Korean adults. METHOD: Five normal right-handed Korean males, aged 20~33 years, were investigated using fMRI technique. Language tasks consisted of auditory listening and verb generation tasks. In fMRI, twenty slices were obtained for each functional volume using single shot echoplanar image sequences. Eighty-four volumes were obtained for each functional run. Data were motion corrected, coregistered, normalized, and statistically analyzed using SPM-96 software (Wellcom Department of Cognitive Neurology, Oxford, UK). RESULTS: Functional activation were detected in superior temporal region (coordinates x= 64, y= 42, z=2) in the left side and superior to middle temporal lobe (coordinates x=50, y= 20, z=2) in the right side for auditory listening task. Auditory verb generation task activated inferior frontal gyrus (coordinates x= 56, y=16, z=14), superior temporal region, and medial frontal region in the left side. Right temporal lobe was also activated in the superior to middle temporal areas. Activation was more extensive in the left side for both language tasks. CONCLUSION: Our results can remarkably delineate cortical and subcortical regions subserved for auditory language processing. These results can be contributing to understand the underlying mechanism of language disorders in brain-injured patients and to investigate the pattern of reorganization of language network after rehabilitation.