Functional neuroimaging with MEG: normative language profiles.
The reliability of language-specific brain activation profiles was assessed using Magnetoencephalography (MEG) in five experiments involving ninety-seven normal volunteers of both genders ranging in age from seven to eighty-four years. MEG data were analyzed with a fully automated method to eliminate subjective judgments in the process of deriving the activation profiles. Across all experiments, profiles were characterized by significant bilateral activity centered in the superior temporal gyrus, and in activity lateralized to the left middle temporal gyrus. These features were invariant across age, gender, variation in task characteristics, and mode of stimulus presentation. The absolute amount of activation, however, did decline with age in the auditory tasks. Moreover, contrary to the commonly held belief that left hemisphere dominance for language is greater in men than in women, our data revealed an opposite albeit a not consistently significant trend.
Papanicolaou
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AC
Department of Neurosurgery, Division of Clinical Neuroscience, University of Texas, Health Science Center, Houston, 1333 Moursund Street, Suite H114, 77030, USA. andrew.c.papanicolaou@uth.tmc.edu
Pazo-Alvarez
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P
Castillo
E M
EM
Billingsley-Marshall
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RL
Breier
J I
JI
Swank
P R
PR
Buchanan
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S
McManis
M
M
Clear
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T
Passaro
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AD
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D003627:Data Interpretation, Statistical; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D015225:Magnetoencephalography; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010775:Photic Stimulation; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011932:Reading; D021641:Recognition, Psychology / Q000502:physiology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D013067:Speech Perception