Narrative speech production: an fMRI study using continuous arterial spin labeling

Neuroimage. 2008 Apr 1;40(2):932-939. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.12.002. Epub 2007 Dec 15.

Abstract

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with continuous arterial spin labeling (CASL) was employed to monitor brain activation during narrative production of a semi-structured speech sample in healthy young adults. Subjects were asked to describe a wordless children's picture story. Significant activations were found in bilateral prefrontal and left temporal-parietal regions during narrative production relative to description of a single picture and relative to viewing the wordless picture story while producing a nonsense word. We conclude that inferior frontal cortex serves as a top-down organizational resource for narrative production and demonstrate the feasibility of collecting extended speech samples using CASL perfusion fMRI.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Female
  • Frontal Lobe / physiology*
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging* / methods
  • Male
  • Parietal Lobe / physiology*
  • Speech / physiology*
  • Temporal Lobe / physiology*