Division Neuropsychology, Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
University Research Priority Program "Dynamic of Healthy Aging", University, Zurich, Switzerland.
Eur J Neurosci. 2021 Feb;53(4):1124-1135. doi: 10.1111/ejn.15038. Epub 2020 Dec 17.
This study used structural magnetic resonance imaging to examine whether specific anatomical features of Broca's and Wernicke's areas are related to language functions in typically developing older subjects with no specific language expertize. Data from 231 subjects from the Zurich LHAB-study are used for this study. For these subjects, we obtained several psychometric measures from which we calculated performance measures reflecting specific psychological functions (language comprehension, verbal fluency, perceptual speed, visual memory, recognition of regularities, and logical thinking). From the MRI measurements, we calculated the cortical thickness and cortical surface of Broca's and Wernicke's areas. Applying multiple regression analyses, we identified a moderately strong relationship between language comprehension and the brain metrics from Broca's and Wernicke's areas and showed that approximately 10% of the variance in language comprehension performance is explained by the linear combination of all perisylvian brain metrics. The other psychological functions (verbal fluency, perceptual speed, visual memory, recognition of regularities, and logical thinking) are not related to these brain metrics. Subsequent detailed analyses revealed that the cortical thickness of Wernicke's area, in particular, contributed most to this structure-function relationship. The better performance in the language comprehension tests was related to a thicker cortex in Wernicke's area. Thus, this study demonstrates a structure-function relationship between the anatomical features of the perisylvian language areas and language comprehension, suggesting that particular anatomical features are associated with better language performance.
本研究采用结构磁共振成像技术，探讨在无特定语言专长的典型发展中老年受试者中，布罗卡区和韦尼克区的特定解剖结构特征是否与语言功能有关。该研究使用了来自苏黎世 LHAB 研究的 231 名受试者的数据。对于这些受试者，我们获得了多项心理计量学测量结果，从中计算出反映特定心理功能（语言理解、言语流畅性、知觉速度、视觉记忆、规律识别和逻辑思维）的表现测量值。从 MRI 测量中，我们计算出了布罗卡区和韦尼克区的皮质厚度和皮质表面积。通过多元回归分析，我们发现语言理解与布罗卡区和韦尼克区的脑测度之间存在中度强关系，并表明语言理解表现的方差约有 10%可以用所有大脑测度的线性组合来解释。其他心理功能（言语流畅性、知觉速度、视觉记忆、规律识别和逻辑思维）与这些脑测度无关。随后的详细分析表明，韦尼克区的皮质厚度尤其对这种结构-功能关系贡献最大。在语言理解测试中的较好表现与韦尼克区皮质较厚有关。因此，本研究证明了大脑语言区的解剖结构特征与语言理解之间存在结构-功能关系，表明特定的解剖结构特征与更好的语言表现有关。
