Meta‐analyses of object naming: Effect of baseline

Abstract

Abstract:The neural systems sustaining object naming were examined using the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analysis approach on the results of 16 previously published studies. The activation task in each study required subjects to name pictures of objects or animals, but the baseline tasks varied. Separate meta-analyses were carried out on studies that used: (1) high-level baselines to control for speech processing and visual input; and (2) low-level baselines that did not control for speech or complex visual processing. The results of the two meta-analyses were then compared directly, revealing a double dissociation in the activation pattern for studies using high and low baselines. To interpret the differential activations, we report two new functional imaging experiments. The aim of the first was to characterize activation differences associated with visual stimuli that are typically used in baseline conditions (complex visual features, simple structures, or fixation). The aim of the second was to classify object-naming regions in terms of whether they were engaged preferentially by semantic or phonological processes. The results reveal a remarkably precise correspondence between the areas identified by the meta-analyses as affected differentially by baseline and the areas that are affected differentially by non-object structure, semantics or phonology. As expected, high-level baselines reduced object-naming activation in areas associated with the processing of complex visual features and speech production. In addition, high-level baselines increased sensitivity to activation in areas associated with semantic processing, visual-speech integration and response selection. For example, activation in the anterior temporal areas that neuropsychological studies have associated with semantic processing was more strongly activated in the context of high-level baselines. These results therefore have implications for understanding the convergence of functional imaging and neuropsychological findings. Hum Brain Mapp 25:70 -82, 2005.

Interactions between visual and semantic processing during object recognition revealed by modulatory effects of age of acquisition

“…1) that corresponds well to the object naming network identified in previous studies using fMRI and PET (e.g., Ellis et al, 2006;Liljeström et al, 2008;Price et al, 2005). This close degree of correspondence with the results of fMRI and PET studies may reflect the fact that Fig.…”

“…That initial response occurred significantly later than the occipital evoked response (~ 100-400 ms at ~ 0-25 Hz with a peak at 191 ms). Anterior temporal responses during object recognition tasks have been reported in some fMRI and PET studies, particularly in studies that employed 'high level' baseline conditions that controlled for speech processing and visual inputs (e.g., Ellis et al, 2006;Liljeström et al, 2008;Price et al, 2005). We note that visual areas in occipital cortex are connected to anterior temporal cortex by the heavily-myelinated fibers of the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (Catani et al, 2003) and suggest that those fibers transmit the initial evoked response in occipital cortex to anterior temporal cortex (a distance of over 12 cm), generating an evoked response at that site around 100 ms later.…”

Functional and time-course changes in single word production from childhood to adulthood

“…Such a transformation of a pre-linguistic concept into articulated speech sounds requires a series of cognitive and neurophysiological processes which have been investigated widely with picture naming tasks in psycholinguistic (Levelt et al, 1999;Dell, 1986) and neuroimaging studies (Indefrey and Levelt, 2004;Price et al, 2005) on (young) adult speakers. Although the sequential or parallel nature of the processes underlying word production is still under debate, there is a general agreement on the necessity and existence of a minimal set of mental operations involved in such tasks.…”

Neural correlates of verbal feedback processing: An fMRI study employing overt speech

“…The picture-naming task used in this study involves all the core components of word production and has often been used in behavioral and imaging studies [e.g., Indefrey and Levelt, 2004;Price et al, 2005;Van Turennout et al, 2003]. However, due to the problems concerning motion and other artifacts associated with speaking in the scanner, only recently have fMRI studies used overt speech in fMRI [e.g., Barch et al, 2000;De Zubicaray et al, 2001;Kan and Thompson-Schill, 2004;Palmer et al, 2001;Shuster and Lemieux, 2005].…”