Task type affects location of language-positive cortical regions by repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation mapping.
OBJECTIVE
Recent repetitive TMS (rTMS) mapping protocols for language mapping revealed deficits of this method, mainly in posterior brain regions. Therefore this study analyzed the impact of different language tasks on the localization of language-positive brain regions and compared their effectiveness, especially with regard to posterior brain regions.


METHODS
Nineteen healthy, right-handed subjects performed object naming, pseudoword reading, verb generation, and action naming during rTMS language mapping of the left hemisphere. Synchronically, 5 Hz/10 pulses were applied with a 0 ms delay.


RESULTS
The object naming task evoked the highest error rate (14%), followed by verb generation (13%) and action naming (11%). The latter revealed more errors in posterior than in anterior areas. Pseudoword reading barely generated errors, except for phonological paraphasias.


CONCLUSIONS
In general, among the evaluated language tasks, object naming is the most discriminative task to detect language-positive regions via rTMS. However, other tasks might be used for more specific questions.
Department of Neurosurgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Theresa
T
Hauck
Faculty of Linguistics, Philology, and Phonetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
Noriko
N
Tanigawa
Section of Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Monika
M
Probst
Section of Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Afra
A
Wohlschlaeger
Department of Neurosurgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Sebastian
S
Ille
Department of Neurosurgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Nico
N
Sollmann
Department of Neurosurgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Stefanie
S
Maurer
Section of Neuroradiology, Department of Radiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Claus
C
Zimmer
Department of Neurosurgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Florian
F
Ringel
Department of Neurosurgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Bernhard
B
Meyer
Department of Neurosurgery, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany.
Sandro M
SM
Krieg
D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D011932:Reading; D050781:Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation / Q000379:methods*