Cerebral activation during Chinese semantic associative task in Xinjiang' Uyghurs: a functional MRI study / 中华放射学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore the cerebral activation in Xinjiang' Uyghurs when performing a Chinese word tasks by the functional magnetic resonance image (fMRI).Methods Twenty-one healthy Xinjiang' Uyghurs and 11 healthy Hans were scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) on a 1.5 T MRI scanner with a single run.Different Chinese words were displayed in each block to avoid any practice effect SPM5.0 software was used for image data processing.To evaluate the inter subject consistency of brain activations associated with Chinese character and word reading, we created penetrance maps by combining binary individual functional maps.Results For Uyghur-Chinese bilingual subjects, activations related to generated a word that was semantically related to each stimulus.The results indicated that reading Chinese is characterized by extensive activity of the neural systems.Peak activations occurred in the left middle frontal cortex at Brodmann Areas (BA9 and BA 47).The left temporal (BA 37) cortices were also strongly activated.Other important activated areas included bilateral visual systems (BA 17-19) and cerebellum.The location of peak activation in the left frontal regions was similar in Native Uyghurs and Hans.But the active areas in Uyghurs are more extensive than that of Hans .Conclusions The location of peak activation in the left frontal regions was similar in Native Uyghurs and Hans.More brain areas were needed for Xinjiang' Uyghur speakers during processing Chinese words.