Open AccessThe semantic anatomical network: Evidence from healthy and brain‐damaged patient populations
Author(s) -
Fang Yuxing,
Han Zaizhu,
Zhong Suyu,
Gong Gaolang,
Song Luping,
Liu Fangsong,
Huang Ruiwang,
Du Xiaoxia,
Sun Rong,
Wang Qiang,
He Yong,
Bi Yanchao
Publication year - 2015
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.22858
Subject(s) - semantic memory , white matter , diffusion mri , tractography , connectome , connectomics , semantic network , computer science , semantics (computer science) , neuroscience , cognition , artificial intelligence , psychology , magnetic resonance imaging , functional connectivity , medicine , radiology , programming language
Semantic processing is central to cognition and is supported by widely distributed gray matter (GM) regions and white matter (WM) tracts. The exact manner in which GM regions are anatomically connected to process semantics remains unknown. We mapped the semantic anatomical network (connectome) by conducting diffusion imaging tractography in 48 healthy participants across 90 GM “nodes,” and correlating the integrity of each obtained WM edge and semantic performance across 80 brain‐damaged patients. Fifty‐three WM edges were obtained whose lower integrity associated with semantic deficits and together with their linked GM nodes constitute a semantic WM network. Graph analyses of this network revealed three structurally segregated modules that point to distinct semantic processing components and identified network hubs and connectors that are central in the communication across the subnetworks. Together, our results provide an anatomical framework of human semantic network, advancing the understanding of the structural substrates supporting semantic processing. Hum Brain Mapp 36:3499–3515, 2015 . © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc .