The role of the insula in speech and language processing

Oh, Anna; Duerden, Emma G.; Pang, Elizabeth W.

doi:10.1016/j.bandl.2014.06.003

Cited by 204 publications

(137 citation statements)

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“…Although fMRI has yielded insights into the cortical mapping of speech, a shortcoming is that it cannot pinpoint regions that are crucial for speech-only areas that are correlated with a given speech processing task (25). It could be argued that careful metaanalysis studies that incorporate fMRI data may reveal converging evidence regarding the neural architecture that supports speech (26)(27)(28), but metaanalysis studies ultimately suffer the same shortcomings as basic fMRI studies: the inputs reflect task-associated cortical "activation" rather than areas of the cortex that need to be intact for successful speech processing.…”

Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Revealing the dual streams of speech processing

Fridriksson

Yourganov

Bonilha

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

147

131

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Several dual route models of human speech processing have been proposed suggesting a large-scale anatomical division between cortical regions that support motor-phonological aspects vs. lexical-semantic aspects of speech processing. However, to date, there is no complete agreement on what areas subserve each route or the nature of interactions across these routes that enables human speech processing. Relying on an extensive behavioral and neuroimaging assessment of a large sample of stroke survivors, we used a data-driven approach using principal components analysis of lesionsymptom mapping to identify brain regions crucial for performance on clusters of behavioral tasks without a priori separation into task types. Distinct anatomical boundaries were revealed between a dorsal frontoparietal stream and a ventral temporal-frontal stream associated with separate components. Collapsing over the tasks primarily supported by these streams, we characterize the dorsal stream as a form-to-articulation pathway and the ventral stream as a form-to-meaning pathway. This characterization of the division in the data reflects both the overlap between tasks supported by the two streams as well as the observation that there is a bias for phonological production tasks supported by the dorsal stream and lexical-semantic comprehension tasks supported by the ventral stream. As such, our findings show a division between two processing routes that underlie human speech processing and provide an empirical foundation for studying potential computational differences that distinguish between the two routes.aphasia | speech production | speech comprehension | voxel-based lesionsymptom mapping | speech processing U nderstanding how and where in the brain speech processing occurs has been the focus of concerted scientific endeavor for over one and a half centuries. The most influential model of the neuroanatomical basis of speech processing was proposed by Wernicke (1) and later refined by Lichtheim (2)-the WernickeLichtheim (W-L) model. The W-L model includes two separate routes from a posterior auditory comprehension center to an anterior motor speech production center: a direct route that enables speech repetition and an indirect route via ideation that mediates comprehension and propositional speech. More recently, dual route processing has been recognized as a central principle in the functional organization of the brain. Ungerleider and Mishkin (3) proposed that visual perception in primates is supported by a ventral "what" stream (involving an occipital-temporal lobe route) and a dorsal "where" stream [or later, a "how" stream mediated by an occipital-parietal route (4)]. Similarly, in the auditory domain (5), Rauschecker and Tian (6) proposed a "dual stream" model to account for the identification of what was being heard and from where the sound originated (5, 6). This model, mostly derived from nonhuman primate data, distinguishes between an anterior/ ventral route ("what" stream) involving connections from the left posterior superio...

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Section: Significancementioning

confidence: 99%

Revealing the dual streams of speech processing

Fridriksson

Yourganov

Bonilha

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

147

131

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Language acquisition in humans is a tremendously complex process that involves a multitude of motor, sensory and cognitive domains (Oh et al, 2014). Therefore, it is not surprising to discover that a large variety of regions in the brain have been implicated in playing a role in language processing.…”

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confidence: 99%

“…The anterior insula has associations with a number of language related functions including phonological recognition, articulatory planning and language repetition ability (Ardila et al, 2014; Price, 2010). The insula is also uniquely positioned to serve as a potential coordinator of higher-order language processing, with direct connections to Broca’s area and other language centers (Oh et al, 2014). In addition, meta-analysis of PET and fMRI studies examining expressive language tasks has found that the insular cortex may serve as a functional relay between the motor and cognitive aspects of language (Eickhoff et al, 2009).…”

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confidence: 99%

Anterior insular thickness predicts speech sound learning ability in bilinguals

et al. 2018

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A previous fMRI study of novel speech sound learning, tied to the methods and results presented here, identified groups of advanced and novice learners and related their classification to neural activity. To complement those results and better elucidate the role of the entire neural system in speech learning, the current study analyzed the neuroanatomical data with the goals of 1) uncovering the regions of interest (ROIs) that predicted speech learning performance in a sample of monolingual and bilingual adults, and 2) examining if the relationship between cortical thickness from selected ROIs and individual learning ability depends on language group. The ROIs selected were brain regions well-established in the literature as areas associated with language and speech processing (i.e., Transverse Superior Temporal Gyrus, anterior insula and posterior insula, all bilaterally). High-resolution brain scans (T1-weighted) were acquired from 23 Spanish-English bilinguals and 20 English monolingual adults. The thickness of the left anterior insula significantly predicted speech sound learning ability in bilinguals but not monolinguals. These results suggest that aptitude for learning a new language is associated with variations in the cortical thickness of the left anterior insula in bilinguals. These findings may provide insight into the higher order mechanisms involved in speech perception and advance our understanding of the unique strategies employed by the bilingual brain during language learning.

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“…However, its central location and connections with regions associated with a more diverse range of language functions including comprehension and lexico-semantic associations (Ardila et al, 2014) suggest that this region has an integral role in language processing (Price, 2010) and may mediate higher-order cognitive functions associated with language function (Oh et al, 2014).…”

Section: Relationship Between Subacute Brain Activity and Language Rementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The left insula is directly connected to Broca's region and has typically been considered to have an involvement in the motoric aspects of speech production and specifically articulatory planning (Ardila, Bernal, & Rosselli, 2014;Dronkers, 1996) and control (Oh, Duerden, & Pang, 2014).…”

Section: Relationship Between Subacute Brain Activity and Language Rementioning

confidence: 99%

Neurophysiological Markers of Language Recovery in Subacute Stroke

Roxbury¹

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Most patients with aphasia recover language function to some degree, but there is significant variability in the speed, nature, and extent of language recovery that occurs in the months following a stroke. Currently, there is no effective method available to predict how an individual with aphasia will recover. The most accurate predictors of recovery to date rely on global outcome measures which do not provide relevant information regarding recovery of symptoms that are targeted in therapy. The overall goal of this thesis was to examine whether language-related brain activity predicted recovery of specific symptoms in aphasia. The first aim was to gain a clearer understanding of the neural mechanisms which underpin word processing in healthy individuals.Brain activity associated with spoken word processing was investigated firstly in a group of healthy young adults, then in a healthy older cohort in order to ascertain whether task performance was preserved in ageing and if so, whether a preserved performance was underpinned by age-related changes in the neural mechanisms. The second main aim was to investigate the neural substrates which underpin language processing in the subacute (2-6 weeks) and chronic (6 months) phases of aphasia recovery and to determine whether the timing and extent to which these mechanisms are recruited contributes to a good or poor language outcome. An auditory lexical decision task with a novel pseudoword condition was employed to investigate language recovery mechanisms and was selected to ensure that patients with aphasia in the subacute stage would be able to perform the task with sufficient accuracy. The real word stimuli consisted of concrete and abstract items. The stimuli were presented in an event-related fMRI task to young healthy controls, older healthy controls, and patients with aphasia during the subacute and chronic phases post-stroke. A range of behavioural language measures was administered to all three cohorts and at both time points for patients with aphasia.In the healthy young group, concrete words elicited increased activity in a widely distributed network of brain regions including bilateral angular gyrus (AG), left posterior cingulate and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, compared to abstract words. Meanwhile, no region showed increased activity for abstract compared to concrete words, rather differences were only observed in bilateral AG when abstract words were contrasted with pseudowords. In the healthy older group, region of interest (ROI) results identified that a preserved performance was associated with an altered pattern of left hemisphere activity in the inferior and middle frontal regions, the AG and the fusiform gyrus.Differences between the healthy older and healthy young group were identified in key language regions, with the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) showing increased activity for abstract and pseudowords compared to concrete words while increased activity in the left AG was observed in the younger group only.ii In patients with a...

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The role of the insula in speech and language processing

Cited by 204 publications

References 100 publications

Revealing the dual streams of speech processing

Revealing the dual streams of speech processing

Anterior insular thickness predicts speech sound learning ability in bilinguals

Neurophysiological Markers of Language Recovery in Subacute Stroke

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