Anterior temporal cortex and semantic memory: Reconciling findings from neuropsychology and functional imaging |
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Authors: | Timothy T Rogers Julia Hocking Uta Noppeney Andrea Mechelli Maria Luisa Gorno-Tempini Karalyn Patterson Cathy J Price |
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Institution: | MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, Cambridge, England, USA. ttrogers@wisc.edu |
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Abstract: | Studies of semantic impairment arising from brain disease suggest that the anterior temporal lobes are critical for semantic
abilities in humans; yet activation of these regions is rarely reported in functional imaging studies of healthy controls
performing semantic tasks. Here, we combined neuropsychological and PE T functional imaging data to show that when healthy
subjects identify concepts at a specific level, the regions activated correspond to the site of maximal atrophy in patients
with relatively pure semantic impairment. The stimuli were color photographs of common animals or vehicles, and the task was
category verification at specific (e.g., robin), intermediate (e.g., bird), or general (e.g., animal) levels. Specific, relative to general, categorization activated the antero-lateral temporal cortices bilaterally, despite
matching of these experimental conditions for difficulty. Critically, in patients with atrophy in precisely these areas, the
most pronounced deficit was in the retrieval of specific semantic information. |
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