Hesling, Isabelle

Jobard, Gaël

Labache, Loic

Leroux, Gaëlle

Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie

English

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HAL Id: hal-02165052
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Submitted on 27 Jun 2019
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Heteromodal brain areas common to production,
listening and reading tasks at the word Level: an fMRI
study of 144 right-handers from the BIL&GIN
Isabelle Hesling, Loic Labache, Gaël Jobard, Gaëlle Leroux, Nathalie
Tzourio-Mazoyer
To cite this version:
Isabelle Hesling, Loic Labache, Gaël Jobard, Gaëlle Leroux, Nathalie Tzourio-Mazoyer. Heteromodal
brain areas common to production, listening and reading tasks at the word Level: an fMRI study
of 144 right-handers from the BIL&GIN. 6th North Sea Laterality International Meeting, Aug 2018,
Dundee, United Kingdom. ￿hal-02165052￿
Isabelle Hesling, Loïc Labache, Gaël Jobard, Gaëlle Leroux and Nathalie Tzourio-Mazoyer
Institut des Maladies Neurodégéneratives, Groupe d’Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle UMR5293, Bordeaux, France
Introduction
Results and Discussion
HETEROMODAL BRAIN AREAS COMMON TO PRODUCTION, LISTENING AND 
READING TASKS AT THE WORD LEVEL: AN FMRI STUDY OF 144 RIGHT-
HANDERS FROM THE BIL&GIN
Neuroimaging studies of the neural bases involved in language have shown a much greater overlap of cerebral regions than the modular implication predicted by classical 
neuropsychological cases. The conjunction between oral word production and story auditory comprehension revealed the common implication of frontal and temporal regions 
(Papathanassiou et al., 2000) and it is now admitted that (1) speech perception not only relies on auditory areas but also on motor regions and that (2) speech production not only 
relies on auditory areas but also on motor regions (Binder et al, 2000; Hickock and Poeppel, 2000; Scott et al, 2000). Some studies have shown that this overlap is also present
between reading and listening (Jobard et al., 2007), but so far no study has simultaneously investigated the overlap of regions involved in the three language tasks 
(production, perception and reading). 
A crucial feature of these neural convergences across language tasks or modalities pertains to their strong leftward-asymmetry, attesting to the left hemisphere specialization 
for language (see Vigneau et al, 2006 for a review). However, even if language, and more particularly articulation, is left lateralized, it is well established that the right 
hemisphere is involved in the prosodic dimension of speech (Sammier et al, 2015)
The aim of the present study was twofold. (1) To identify the leftward-hetero-modal brain regions common to three language tasks, i.e., speech production, speech 
perception and reading with a comprehensive investigation of how these conjointly activated and asymmetrical areas variations are coloured by the task to permit an elaboration 
on their function/role (2) To question the existence of right brain areas devoted to word processing independently of the task since right areas are involved in paralinguistic 
analysis such as prosodic and emotional processing. To do so, we used a new atlas named AICHA, which is a functional regional atlas based on resting state fMRI data, totally 
suited for investigating brain hemispheric specialization (Joliot et al, 2015). 
1) Papathanassiou et al. NeuroImage. 2000, 2) Binder et al. Cerebral Cortex. 2000, 3) Hickock and Poeppel, Trends in Cog Sciences, 2010, 4) Scott et al, Brain; 2000, 5) Jobard et al, NeuroImage, 2007, 6) Vigneau et al, NeuroImage. 2006, 7) Sammier et
al, Current Biology. 2015, 8) Joliot et al, J Neurosci Methods. 2015, 9) Mazoyer et al, Plos One. 2014, 10) Baddeley et al, Psychological Review. 1998, 11) Buchsbaum et al, Brain and Language. 2011, 12) Yue et al, Cerebral Cortex. 2018, 13) Chein & Fiez,
Cerebral Cortex. 2001, 14) Pulvermüller & Fidiga, Neurobio of Language. 2016, 15) Brown et al, Brain Cognition 2009. 16) Beaucousin et al, Cerebral Cortex. 2007, 17) Ross, Archives of Neurology. 1981, 18) Liberman & Whalen, Trends in Cognitive
Sciences. 2000.
PARTICIPANTS
• 144 self-reported right-handed subjects from the BIL&GIN 
database (Mazoyer et al., 2014) balanced for sex (72 
women). 
• Mean age: 27 ± 6 years (19-53).
IMAGE ACQUISITION
Imaging was performed on a Philips Achieva 3 Tesla MRI 
scanner using slow event fMRI runs design.
IMAGE ANALYSIS:
• In the 179 pairs of homotopic Regions of Interest (hROIs) 
of AICHA atlas (Joliot et al, 2015), BOLD signal variation 
and asymmetry values were computed for each task and 
each participant. 
• We used a conjunction analysis of activations and 
asymmetries to uncover the hROIs showing both 
significant left and right co-activation and co-asymmetry 
during each of the 3 word tasks.
Figure 4: Regions of the AICHA atlas significantly activated in the 3 tasks (first row), significantly asymmetrical in the 3 tasks (second row), and significantly co-activated and co-asymmetrical in the 3
tasks (third row). The hROIs are projected on the white matter surface of the BIL&GIN template with Surf Ice (https://www.nitrc.org/projects/sur ce/) software. Leftward asymmetrical as well as co-leftward activated and
co-asymmetrical hROIS are presented on the left hemisphere and rightward asymmetrical hROIS are presented on the right hemisphere. Selection of hROIs considered as activated or asymmetrical per hemisphere was
done according to Bonferroni (p corrected < 0.00027, 184 hROIs tested), the statistical threshold applied for conjunction of asymmetry and activation for a given task was p corrected = 0.016 (Bonferroni correction per
region and per task, square root of 0.00027) for each hemisphere and the threshold set for the 3 tasks conjunction was p = 0.064 (cubic root of 0.00027, Bonferroni correction)
Materials and Methods
ASYMMETRY CONJUNCTION
L
R
F2-5
F1-6
STS3
PRECU9
orb1
SMA1
F1M3
SMA2
P1_5
pCENT2
Olat2
O1_2
F1-1
F1-2AG2
F2-4
CINGm1
CINGm2
CAL
2
THA9
LING6
ACTIVATION
F1O
F3t
INSa4
SMG4
T3_3
T3_4
T2_3
F2_2
ips1
ips2
prec1
prec4
F1_6
CU2
INSa1
PRECU6
PRECU9
PRECU6
cing2
cing1
olf
T3-2
ROLop2
rol4
P1_3
P1_4
INSp SMG2
P1_2
poleT2 pHIPP4
LING1
F1M2
HIPP2
THA2
CU1
cing5
cing4pCENT1
cing3
The present study, based on the fMRI analysis of 3 language tasks performed by 144 healthy adult right-handers reveals, for the first time, the existence of hetero-modal areas 
common to production, comprehension and reading at the word level. While the conjunction between the three tasks revealed a wide functional network (Fig 4), the 
adjunction of the criterion of asymmetry allowed for determining the core language areas involved in word list production, perception and reading (Fig 4).
Left activated and asymmetrical brain areas involved in word-list whatever the task 
Interestingly, leftward frontal and precentral areas together with temporo-parietal areas have been revealed to be commonly activated and asymmetrical, leading to 
the hypothesis of the involvement of phonological action perception circuits such as the phonological working memory loop, in which articulatory gestures are the 
central motor units on which word perception, production and reading would develop and act according to the motor theory of speech (Liberman & Whalen, 2000).
• The perception-action cycle is involved in reading: The recruitment of SMG1 and SMG2 during PROD together with the recruitment of ROLop1 and rol1 during LIST favours the 
theory supporting an involvement of action-perception circuits distributed across auditory and motor systems (Pulvermüller & Fidiga, 2016). Interestingly, READ also recruits 
this perception-action cycle, leading to the hypothesis that subjects subvocalize words they read, which is supported by the gradient of significant activation and asymmetry in 
rol1 (PROD > READ > LIST). Moreover rol1 has been found to match the location of speech effectors such as the mouth, larynx, lips, tongue and jaws (Brown et al, 2009). The 
asymmetry in this area was stronger during production and reading, which is consistent with the fact that these tasks involve covert articulation.
• Within the large perception-action model, a set of areas considered as the neural support of the phonological working memory loop proposed by Baddeley (Baddeley et al, 
1998) can be identified: on the perception side, SMG1 corresponding to Spt (Buchsbaum et al, 2011) plays an important role in the short term storage of phonological 
representations by serving as a phonological buffer (Yue et al, 2018) while on the action side, Prec5 is part of a subvocal rehearsal system (Chein & Fiez, 2001). 
Right activated and asymmetrical brain areas involved in word-list whatever the task
On the right hemisphere, the common activation and asymmetry of the STS3, which is a prosodic integrative area, during the 3 tasks, could reflect the processing of 
fine spectral details over time. 
The right STS3 closely matches the pSTG described by Beaucousin and others (2007). This area would be a prosodic integrative area, which would process prosodic cues 
extracted in the aSTG (Ross, 1981). It could be hypothesized that the metrics of lists of the words, resembling a reciting, are processed in this area, which is supported by the 
greater activation during the listening task. 
Future research based on the analysis of intrinsic resting-state connectivity would make it possible to assess the existence of brain networks during reading, 
listening and production tasks.
SMG1
SMG5
ROLop1
rol3
Prec2
prec5
rol2
prec6
rol1
F2_2
F2O2
F2_3
F2_5
F1_3
INSa2
SMG7
T1_4
F2_1
ips3
post2
post3
STS4
Figure 1: PRODword
When a scrambled drawing was displayed, the 
subject was asked to covertly generate the list of the 
months of the years from January to December The 
time limit for response was 9 s including the 1-s 
drawing display.18 s. There was ten 18-s trial of list 
production lasting 3 min.
Figure 3: READword
When a scrambled drawing was displayed, the 
subject read a list of months, days of the week and/or 
seasons.There was thirteen 14-s trial of list reading. 
lasting 3 min 03 s.
Figure 2: LISTword
When a scrambled drawing was displayed, the 
subject listened to the list of the months, days of the 
week and/or seasons. There was thirteen 14-s trial of 
list listening lasting 3 min 03 s . The mean duration of 
list trial was 4386 ms± 484 ms. The time limit for 
response was 7 s. 
LANGUAGE TASKS
Subjects completed 3 language tasks: speech production (PRODword, Fig 1), speech listening (LISTword, Fig 2) and 
reading (READword, Fig 3), using a word task (list of words), which is a high-level task even if it is not a complex one.


Heteromodal brain areas common to production, listening and reading tasks at the word Level: an fMRI study of 144 right-handers from the BIL&GIN

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Heteromodal brain areas common to production, listening and reading tasks at the word Level: an fMRI study of 144 right-handers from the BIL&GIN

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