Neuroimaging and recovery of language in aphasia

Abstract

The use of functional neuroimaging techniques has advanced what is known about the neural mechanisms used to support language processing in aphasia resulting from brain damage. This paper highlights recent findings derived from neuroimaging studies focused on neuroplasticity of language networks, the role of the left and right hemispheres in this process, and studies examining how treatment affects the neurobiology of recovery. We point out variability across studies as well as factors related to this variability, and we emphasize challenges that remain for research.

Figure 1

Each row shows one individual’s activation differences for auditory verification of complex sentences between pretraining (black) and posttraining (white) functional MRI scans (false discovery rate corrected, P < 0.05; k > 3). A posttreatment temporoparietal activation increase was seen for all patients except the one represented in the third row. The graphs show each corresponding subject’s percent correct scores on behavioral production probes of object relatives (OR), object clefts (OC), and object-extracted “wh-” questions (OWH: eg, Whom did the bride carry?) before (black) and after (white) training of OR structures. (Adapted from Thompson et al. [5].)