title: Language comprehension vs. language production: age effects on fMRI activation.
abstract: Normal language acquisition is a process that unfolds with amazing speed primarily in the first years of life. However, the refinement of linguistic proficiency is an ongoing process, extending well into childhood and adolescence. An increase in lateralization and a more focussed productive language network have been suggested to be the neural correlates of this process. However, the processes underlying the refinement of language comprehension are less clear. Using a language comprehension (Beep Stories) and a language production (Vowel Identification) task in fMRI, we studied language representation and lateralization in 36 children, adolescents, and young adults (age 6-24 years). For the language comprehension network, we found a more focal activation with age in the bilateral superior temporal gyri. No significant increase of lateralization with age could be observed, so the neural basis of language comprehension as assessed with the Beep Stories task seems to be established in a bilateral network by late childhood. For the productive network, however, we could confirm an increase with age both in focus and lateralization. Only in the language comprehension task did verbal IQ correlate with lateralization, with higher verbal IQ being associated with more right-hemispheric involvement. In some subjects (24%), language comprehension and language production were lateralized to opposite hemispheres.
authors: Pediatric Neurology & Developmental Medicine, Tübingen, Germany. karen.lidzba@med.uni-tuebingen.de
authors: Karen
authors: K
authors: Lidzba
authors: Eleonore
authors: E
authors: Schwilling
authors: Wolfgang
authors: W
authors: Grodd
authors: Inge
authors: I
authors: Krägeloh-Mann
authors: Marko
authors: M
authors: Wilke
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D048788:Growth and Development; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted; D007802:Language; D007807:Language Tests; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D055815:Young Adult