Neuronal activity in frontal speech area 44 of the human cerebral cortex during word recognition

Abstract

The activity of neurons was recorded from cortical speech area 44 of human patients with diagnostic and/or therapeutical depth electrodes while they were performing word recognition and object naming tasks. Some cells responded selectively to either semantic or phonological aspects of word processing with the same latency, others responded consecutively to both semantic and phonological features. The present finding provides the first demonstration of neuronal mechanisms in frontal language cortex and evidences that both consecutive and parallel processing of these speech signs occur in neuronal activity of this area.