title: Category-specific brain activation in fMRI during picture naming.
abstract: Neuropsychological, computational, and psycholinguistic data suggest the existence of semantic maps, i.e. localized representations of semantic information in the brain. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, this hypothesis was directly tested with a picture naming task involving items from four different semantic categories. Small left lateralized fronto-temporal cortical sites of category-specific activation were found when brain activation signals were averaged. Data suggest the existence of multiple maps coding high-level representations of objects, such that meaningful distinctions, at least in part, govern the physical distribution of cortical semantic storage.
authors.affiliation: Psychiatric University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Spitzer
authors.forename: K K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Kwong
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Kennedy
authors.forename: B R
authors.initials: BR
authors.lastname: Rosen
authors.forename: J W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Belliveau
mesh_terms: D001931:Brain Mapping; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D012660:Semantics