title: Cross-modal comparisons of stimulus specificity and commonality in phonological processing.
abstract: Phonological processing is a fundamental ability which underlies language comprehension. Functional neuroanatomy of phonology constitutes a matter of ongoing debate. In the present study, subjects performed visual (rhyme detection) and auditory (identification of spoken words starting with a given consonant) tasks that were contrasted with matched nonverbal tasks. We identified regions critical for phonological processing which were either stimulus specific or supramodal. The results revealed a high degree of modality specificity in both visual and auditory networks. Moreover, we observed a modality independent region in the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG)/superior temporal sulcus (STS), between a more anterior temporal area with auditory specificity and a more posterior temporal area with visual specificity. This dissociation in functional neuroanatomy suggests that this area may be a core region for supramodal phonological processing, acting as a gateway between spatially separate, but stimulus specific, phonological processes and more general linguistic functions.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, 3 Pasteur Street, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oron
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, 17 Mokra Street, Kajetany, 05-830 Nadarzyn, Poland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wolak
authors.affiliation: Neurometrika, Potomac, MD, USA.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zeffiro
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Neuropsychology, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, 3 Pasteur Street, 02-093 Warsaw, Poland; University of Social Sciences and Humanities, 19/31 Chodakowska Street, 03-815 Warsaw, Poland. Electronic address: e.szelag@nencki.gov.pl.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Szelag
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008037:Linguistics; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D013067:Speech Perception; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000502:physiology*
keywords: Phonological awareness; Phonological processing; Unimodal and supramodal phonological processing; fMRI