Cerebral reorganization as a function of linguistic recovery in children: An fMRI study.
Characterizing and mapping the relationship between neuronal reorganization and functional recovery are essential to the understanding of cerebral plasticity and the dynamic processes which occur following brain damage. The neuronal mechanisms underlying linguistic recovery following left hemisphere (LH) lesions are still unknown. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated whether the extent of brain lateralization of linguistic functioning in specific regions of interest (ROIs) is correlated with the level of linguistic performance following recovery from acquired childhood aphasia. The study focused on a rare group of children in whom lesions occurred after normal language acquisition, but prior to complete maturation of the brain. During fMRI scanning, rhyming, comprehension and verb generation activation tasks were monitored. The imaging data were evaluated with reference to linguistic performance measured behaviorally during imaging, as well as outside the scanner. Compared with normal controls, we found greater right hemisphere (RH) lateralization in patients. However, correlations with linguistic performance showed that increased proficiency in linguistic tasks was associated with greater lateralization to the LH. These results were replicated in a longitudinal case study of a patient scanned twice, 3 years apart. Additional improvement in linguistic performance of the patient was accompanied by increasing lateralization to the LH in the anterior language region. This, however, was the result of a decreased involvement of the RH. These findings suggest that recovery is a dynamic, ongoing process, which may last for years after onset. The role of each hemisphere in the recovery process may continuously change within the chronic stage.
Psychology Department, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. odelia.elkana@gmail.com
Odelia
O
Elkana
Ram
R
Frost
Uri
U
Kramer
Dafna
D
Ben-Bashat
Talma
T
Hendler
David
D
Schmidt
Avraham
A
Schweiger
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D001925:Brain Damage, Chronic / Q000473:pathology*; D002648:Child; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D007802:Language; D007807:Language Tests; D008037:Linguistics; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D020768:Middle Cerebral Artery / Q000473:pathology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time / Q000502:physiology; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology*; D055815:Young Adult