Positron emission tomographic studies of the cortical anatomy.pdfVIP

Reprinted from Nature, Vol. 331, No. 6157, pp. 585-589, 18 February 1988 @ Macmillan Magazines Ltd., 1988 Positron emission tomographic studies of the cortical anatomy of single-word processing s. E. Petersen, P. T. Fox, M. I. Posner, M. Minton M. E. Raichle Department of Neurology and Neurological Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, 660 South Euclid Avenue, St Louis, Missouri 63110, USA The use of positron emission tomography to measure regional changes in average bloodflow during processing of individual auditory and visual words provides supportfor multiple, parallel routes between localized sensory-specific, phonological, articulatory and semantic-coding areas. LANGUAGE is an essential characteristic of the human species, per second. Visually presented words appeared on a colour and has been studied by disciplines ranging from philosophy monitor suspended 300 m~ from the subject. Auditory words to neurology. Because language is so complex, cognitive and were presented through hearing-aid type speakers fitted within neurological studies often focus on processing of individual the ears and driven by a digital tape recorder. words (lexical items). Cognitive models for lexical processing Four behavioural conditions formed a three-level subtractive consider words perceived visually and auditorily to involve hierarchy (Table 1). Each task state was intended