Broca's Region: Novel Organizational Principles and Multiple Receptor Mapping

Amunts, Katrin; Lenzen, Marianne; Friederici, Angela D.; Schleicher, Axel; Morosan, Patricia; Palomero‐Gallagher, Nicola; Zilles, Karl

doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000489

Cited by 322 publications

(282 citation statements)

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Section: Current Opinion In Neurobiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, areas 44 and 45 show a number of clear cytoarchitectonic differences, one of which is that 45 has a granular layer IV, whereas 44 is dysgranular. Recent more fine-grained analysis including not only cyto-architectonics but also receptor-architectonics suggests furthermore that BA 44 and 45 can be further subdivided into more than a dozen areas, if one takes the distribution of receptors of different neurotransmitters and modulators into consideration [31,33]. In addition, the connectivity with other brain regions also varies across Broca's area [34].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Certainly Broca's region as a whole is not an exclusive syntax area. To what extent a sub-parcellation of Broca's region [31,33] might reveal some regions to be more specific for language processing than others [42] remains to be seen.Importantly, Broca's region is also involved in unification operations at the word level, as in morphological (de)composition [44][45][46]. Compositional and decompositional operations are spatio-temporally extended and occur at multiple levels and at multiple time-slices in the language processing system.…”

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Nodes and networks in the neural architecture for language: Broca's region and beyond

Hagoort

2014

Current Opinion in Neurobiology

266

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Current views on the neurobiological underpinnings of language are discussed that deviate in a number of ways from the classical Wernicke-Lichtheim-Geschwind model. More areas than Broca's and Wernicke's region are involved in language. Moreover, a division along the axis of language production and language comprehension does not seem to be warranted. Instead, for central aspects of language processing neural infrastructure is shared between production and comprehension. Three different accounts of the role of Broca's area in language are discussed. Arguments are presented in favor of a dynamic network view, in which the functionality of a region is co-determined by the network of regions in which it is embedded at particular moments in time. Finally, core regions of language processing need to interact with other networks (e.g. the attentional networks and the ToM network) to establish full functionality of language and communication. IntroductionOur capacity for language is deeply rooted in our biological make-up. We all share the capacity to acquire language within the first few years of life, without any formalized teaching programme. Despite its complexity we master our native language well before we can lace our shoes or perform simple calculations. This is all based on the universal availability of a language-ready brain. At the same time, few other cognitive systems in humans show as much variability as language. Language comes in very different surface forms, at most levels of organization. The more than 6000 different languages still in existence today vary widely in their sound repertoires, their grammatical structures, or the meaning that the lexical items code for. In addition to the variability in the world's languages, there is individual variation in language skills. Some people command only a limited vocabulary and simple sentence structures, whereas others are polyglots speaking multiple languages fluently, or can do simultaneous translation between languages. This variability is underpinned by differences at the genetic level and in the cultural trajectories that have shaped the linguistic phenotypes. Despite all these differences, they are variations on a theme. The theme is the neurobiological infrastructure that is largely shared among members of our species.Although human language skills presumably have their precursors in the communication and cognitive systems of other species (cf. [1 ]), the architecture of our language system sets us apart from other species and is uniquely human. It is characterized by a tripartite architecture [2 ] that enables us to map sound onto meaning (in listening) or meaning onto sound (in speaking). Next to sound and meaning, there is syntax, which enables the well-formed grouping of words into longer utterances. At a very general level, for all three information types (sound, syntax, meaning), one can make a distinction between two crucial components. The one relates to the common assumption that the basic building blocks of linguistic knowledge get encoded...

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Section: Current Opinion In Neurobiologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Nodes and networks in the neural architecture for language: Broca's region and beyond

Hagoort

2014

Current Opinion in Neurobiology

266

224

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“…This is possible through the detection of the birefringence properties of the nerve fibers, which is given especially by their myelin sheaths patterns of single receptors in the cerebral cortex. The group led by Karl Zilles and Katrin Amunts at the Research Centre Jül-ich and the University of Düsseldorf created a map of the spatial distribution of at least 20 neurotransmitter receptors in different cortical layers and areas of the human cerebral cortex and subcortical areas (e.g., [1,15]). Receptors for glutamate, GA-BA, and modulating transmitters are regulated depending on their strength and the effectiveness of synaptic contacts in specific regions.…”

Section: Neuroscientific Contributions From Germanymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Katrin Amunts and Karl Zilles are responsible among others for the development of an atlas of the human brain in the HBP, as a result of their accumulated experiences during the creation of the JuBrain Atlas. The JuBrain Atlas contains cytoarchitectonic probability maps of cortical and subcortical areas; those information can, inter alia, be used for a reliable localization of findings from fMRI studies [1,20]. However, in order to better account for the different scales of brain organization and represent the different data in a common reference space, the BigBrain was developed [2].…”

Section: Neuroscientific Contributions From Germanymentioning

confidence: 99%

The human brain project: neuroscience perspectives and German contributions

Amunts¹

2014

E-Neuroforum

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The human brain project: neuroscience perspectives and German contributionsStudying the human brain remains one of the greatest scientific challenges. A comprehensive understanding of the structural and functional organization of the brain is not only of great importance for basic science, but also for the development of new approaches that improve diagnosis and the treatment of neurological and psychiatric diseases. With this mindset, the Human Brain Project (HBP) started its work in October 2013 with the aim of creating a European ICT infrastructure for neuroscience. The immense complexity of the brain, with its approximately 86 billion nerve cells, makes it essential to include modeling and simulation approaches, combined with methods of high performance computing (HPC), in order to analyze the organizational principles of the brain.Conversely, the understanding of neural mechanisms might inspire new advancements for HPC. Those insights into the brain provide simulation, and give computer scientists the opportunity to develop a new generation of computers and software that are inspired by the functional principles of the brain. HPC opens up new avenues for neuroscientists to develop virtual brain models, such as the Big-BRAIN [2] model, which connects the macroscopic with the microscopic organization level for the first time in a reference system. In such models, data from the genetic, molecular, and cellular levels up to cognitive systems could be combined together for a subsequent analysis at different scales. This is done in the HBP research area Data.To analyze these different levels of brain organization, particularly in the ramp-up phase, studies in mouse brains will be performed in addition to studies in human brains. In the ramp-up phase, six ITC platforms will be established in another research area, which includes the subprojects neuroinformatics, medical informatics, brain simulation, HPC, neurorobotics, and neuromorphic computing. These platforms are the basis for a new ICT infrastructure for neurosciences, which will be open to all scientists for their research. These subprojects will be accompanied by the research fields Theory, Ethics and Society, and Applications. The project will be funded with approximately € 1.19 billion, with 75% of funding from the EU, and the rest provided by partner countries and their institutions. The Human Brain Project now has unprecedented dimensions that significantly exceed previous EU projects both in the number of partners (currently about 80 institutions from 22 countries) as well as in the duration of its funding period (10 years). The HBP is coordinated by Henry Markram (EPFL, Switzerland). Selection procedures and conditionsThe HBP is one of the world's largest research initiatives. Within the European Union (EU), it is part of the flagship program, which is a new initiative launched by the European Commission as part of its Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) initiative. In addition to the Human Brain Project, there exists an additional project, Graph...

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A comprehensive analysis of variability in the sulci that define the inferior frontal gyrus in the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) brain

Hopkins

Sprung‐Much

Amiez

et al. 2022

American Journal of Biological Anthropology

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Objectives In the human brain, the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is comprised of three morphological regions, which include the pars opercularis, pars triangularis, and pars orbitalis. These brains regions are implicated in a number of cognitive and linguistic functions, and the pars opercularis and pars triangularis of the language dominant hemisphere are collectively referred to as Broca's area. Evolution of the morphology of the IFG has been a topic of study in comparative neuroscience. Materials and Methods Using magnetic resonance images (MRI) from 294 chimpanzees with known pedigrees, we quantified the folding patterns, surface area, and depth of three sulci and their subdivisions that define the IFG. Results Chimpanzees show considerable individual variation in IFG sulci. A higher proportion of males and chimpanzees with better orofacial motor control had a bifurcation in the dorsal limb of the fronto‐orbital sulcus. For surface area and depth, chimpanzees with better orofacial motor control had greater leftward asymmetries in surface area and increased gyrification for the fronto‐orbital sulcus and greater rightward biases for the inferior precentral sulcus. Quantitative genetic analyses revealed that the average surface area and depth for three of the five sulci subdivisions were significantly heritable. By contrast, we found no evidence for heritability in asymmetries for any of the sulci. Discussion These findings provide context to understanding evolutionary selection for increasing motor, cognitive and linguistic functions among primates, and contribute an essential comparative framework for interpreting IFG evolution in the human lineage.

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Broca's Region: Novel Organizational Principles and Multiple Receptor Mapping

Abstract: A novel map of Broca's language region is proposed based on transmitter receptor distributions as functionally relevant molecular markers. It sheds new light on the relation between anatomy and functional segregation.

Cited by 322 publications

References 71 publications

Nodes and networks in the neural architecture for language: Broca's region and beyond

Nodes and networks in the neural architecture for language: Broca's region and beyond

The human brain project: neuroscience perspectives and German contributions

A comprehensive analysis of variability in the sulci that define the inferior frontal gyrus in the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) brain

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