Open AccessDevelopmental and skill effects on the neural correlates of semantic processing to visually presented words
Author(s) -
Chou TaiLi,
Booth James R.,
Bitan Tali,
Burman Douglas D.,
Bigio Jordan D.,
Cone Nadia E.,
Lu Dong,
Cao Fan
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
human brain mapping
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.005
H-Index - 191
eISSN - 1097-0193
pISSN - 1065-9471
DOI - 10.1002/hbm.20231
Subject(s) - inferior parietal lobule , psychology , semantic memory , middle temporal gyrus , inferior frontal gyrus , functional magnetic resonance imaging , inferior temporal gyrus , middle frontal gyrus , superior temporal gyrus , angular gyrus , superior parietal lobule , audiology , superior frontal gyrus , lateralization of brain function , parietal lobe , cognitive psychology , cognition , neuroscience , temporal lobe , medicine , epilepsy
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to explore the neural correlates of semantic judgments to visual words in a group of 9‐ to 15‐year‐old children. Subjects were asked to indicate if word pairs were related in meaning. Consistent with previous findings in adults, children showed activation in bilateral inferior frontal gyri (Brodmann area [BA] 47, 45) and left middle temporal gyrus (BA 21). Words with strong semantic association elicited significantly greater activation in bilateral inferior parietal lobules (BA 40), suggesting stronger integration of highly related semantic features. By contrast, words with weak semantic association elicited greater activation in left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 45) and middle temporal gyrus (BA 21), suggesting more difficult feature search and more extensive access to semantic representations. We also examined whether age and skill explained unique variance in the patterns of activation. Increasing age was correlated with greater activation in left middle temporal gyrus (BA 21) and inferior parietal lobule (BA 40), suggesting that older children have more elaborated semantic representations and more complete semantic integration processes, respectively. Decreasing age was correlated with activation in right superior temporal gyrus (BA 22) and decreasing accuracy was correlated with activation in right middle temporal gyrus (BA 21), suggesting the engagement of ancillary systems in the right hemisphere for younger and lower‐skill children. Hum. Brain Mapping 2006. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.