Section Neurological Cognition Research, Department of Neurology, Medical School, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
Neuroimage. 2012 Jul 2;61(3):702-14. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.03.087. Epub 2012 Apr 5.
Spontaneous language has rarely been subjected to neuroimaging studies. This study therefore introduces a newly developed method for the analysis of linguistic phenomena observed in continuous language production during fMRI. Most neuroimaging studies investigating language have so far focussed on single word or - to a smaller extent - sentence processing, mostly due to methodological considerations. Natural language production, however, is far more than the mere combination of words to larger units. Therefore, the present study aimed at relating brain activation to linguistic phenomena like word-finding difficulties or syntactic completeness in a continuous language fMRI paradigm. A picture description task with special constraints was used to provoke hesitation phenomena and speech errors. The transcribed speech sample was segmented into events of one second and each event was assigned to one category of a complex schema especially developed for this purpose. The main results were: conceptual planning engages bilateral activation of the precuneus. Successful lexical retrieval is accompanied - particularly in comparison to unsolved word-finding difficulties - by the left middle and superior temporal gyrus. Syntactic completeness is reflected in activation of the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) (area 44). In sum, the method has proven to be useful for investigating the neural correlates of lexical and syntactic phenomena in an overt picture description task. This opens up new prospects for the analysis of spontaneous language production during fMRI.
自发语言很少受到神经影像学研究的影响。因此，本研究引入了一种新的方法，用于分析 fMRI 期间连续语言产生中观察到的语言现象。迄今为止，大多数研究语言的神经影像学研究都集中在单个单词或（在较小程度上）句子处理上，这主要是由于方法学上的考虑。然而，自然语言的产生远不止是将单词组合成更大的单位。因此，本研究旨在将大脑激活与语言现象（如选词困难或句法完整性）相关联，采用连续语言 fMRI 范式。使用具有特殊限制的图片描述任务来引发犹豫现象和言语错误。将转录的语音样本分段为一秒钟的事件，并且为每个事件分配给为此专门开发的复杂方案的一个类别。主要结果是：概念规划涉及扣带回双侧激活。成功的词汇检索伴随着 - 特别是与未解决的选词困难相比 - 左中颞回。句法完整性反映在左额下回（IFG）（区域 44）的激活中。总之，该方法已被证明可用于在显性图片描述任务中研究词汇和句法现象的神经相关性。这为 fMRI 期间自然语言产生的分析开辟了新的前景。
