title: Connectivity among semantic associates: an fMRI study of semantic priming.
abstract: Semantic priming refers to a reduction in the reaction time to identify or make a judgment about a stimulus that has been immediately preceded by a semantically related word or picture and is thought to result from a partial overlap in the semantic associates of the two words. A semantic priming lexical decision task using spoken words was presented in event-related fMRI and behavioral paradigms. Word pairs varied in terms of semantic relatedness and the connectivity between associates. Thirteen right-handed subjects underwent fMRI imaging and 10 additional subjects were tested in a behavioral version of the semantic priming task. It was hypothesized priming would be greatest, reaction time fastest, and cortical activation reduced the most for related word pairs of high connectivity, followed by related word pairs of low connectivity, and then by unrelated word pairs. Behavioral and fMRI results confirmed these predictions. fMRI activity located primarily in bilateral posterior superior and middle temporal regions showed modulation by connectivity and relatedness. The results suggest that these regions are involved in semantic processing.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Neuroscience Division, Laboratory of Neuroscience, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. cindy@bwh.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Cynthia G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Wible
authors.forename: S Duke
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Magdalena H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Spencer
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kubicki
authors.forename: Margaret H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Niznikiewicz
authors.forename: Ferenc A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Jolesz
authors.forename: Robert W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: McCarley
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nestor
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology*; D012660:Semantics; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology