Gregory Harrington | PubMed Health

PubMed2005

Drawing: its contribution to naming in aphasia.

Drawing in aphasia therapy has been used predominately as a substitution for speech or to augment communication when other modalities are non-functional. The value of drawing as a route for facilitating verbal expression has not been a focus of prior research. We compared the usefulness of drawing and writing as compensatory strategies for improving naming in individuals with aphasia. Activation patterns of writing and drawing in healthy adults were examined using fMRI. Clinical results suggest that drawing facilitated naming whereas writing diminished accurate naming responses, and that drawing quality is not relevant to this facilitatory effect. Functional MRI findings revealed strong bi-hemispheric activation of semantic and phonological networks while drawing that may support our clinical findings.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

Increased anterior corpus callosum size associated positively with hypnotizability and the ability to control pain.

This is the first MRI study to report differences in brain structure size between low and highly hypnotizable, healthy, right-handed young adults. Participants were stringently screened for hypnotic susceptibility with two standardized scales, and then exposed to hypnotic analgesia training to control cold pressor pain. Only the highly hypnotizable subjects (HHs) who eliminated pain perception were included in the present study. These HHs, who demonstrated more effective attentional and inhibitory capabilities, had a significantly (P < 0.003) larger (31.8%) rostrum, a corpus callosum area involved in the allocation of attention and transfer of information between prefrontal cortices, than low hypnotizable subjects (LHs). These results provide support to the neuropsychophysiological model that HHs have more effective frontal attentional systems implementing control, monitoring performance and inhibiting unwanted stimuli from conscious awareness, than LHs.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Differences in functional MR imaging activation patterns associated with confrontation naming and responsive naming.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Direct cortical stimulation studies suggest that responsive naming is more widely distributed within the temporal lobe than confrontation naming and involves anterior temporal regions typically resected in a standard temporal lobectomy. The aim of the current study was to further demonstrate the anatomic dissociation between confrontation and responsive naming by using functional MR imaging (fMRI). METHODS: Twenty participants underwent fMRI while performing either a confrontation or responsive naming task. Regions of interest were identified within the anterior and posterior temporal lobe. RESULTS: Responsive naming produced more activation than confrontation naming within the dominant temporal lobe, with activation extending into the temporal pole. Activation in the dominant temporal lobe associated with responsive naming was observed in the superior, middle, and inferior temporal gyri but was limited to the middle temporal gyrus for confrontation naming. Although both naming tasks produced activation within the posterior temporal region of interest in all participants, responsive and confrontation naming produced activation within the anterior temporal region of interest in 90% versus 60% of the sample, respectively. Areas of the dominant hemisphere activated by both tasks included parts of the middle occipital and middle temporal gyri, inferior frontal lobe, and hippocampus, among others. CONCLUSION: Findings are consistent with cortical stimulation studies and suggest that responsive naming produces more widespread activation within the temporal lobe compared with confrontation naming. The activation more often included anterior temporal regions during responsive naming as compared with confrontation naming. In clinical cases where the functional assessment of the temporal lobe-particularly the anterior regions-is important, the current results suggest responsive naming should be a useful fMRI paradigm and may ultimately help predict the risk of postsurgical language changes.

Adult↗