Broca's area in the human brain is involved in the selection of grammatical gender for language production: evidence from event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging

[摘要] The neural correlates of the selection of grammatical gender during overt picture naming were investigated by event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging in the left hemisphere. Relative to simply naming a picture, the production of the definite determiner of the picture name (requiring gender selection) resulted exclusively in pronounced activation of a single region in the superior portion of Broca's area. This activation was not present in contrasts reflecting lexical access (naming a picture vs. saying jaja to a smiley) or articulation (saying jaja vs. rest). Rather, lexical access activated other inferior frontal regions, insula, fusiform and inferior temporal gyrus. Articulation involved insula, Rolandic operculum, motor and premotor cortex and superior temporal gyrus. The results are discussed with respect to data from studies investigating gender processing during language comprehension. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

[发布日期] 2002-08-09

[关键词] Broca's area;language production;functional magnetic resonance imaging;syntax;gender selection;inferior frontal gyrus;Rolandic operculum;lexical access