From Donders Institute (Radboud Universiteit, Nijmegen)

Will present the talk entitled:

White matter functional neuroanatomy of the left temporal lobe – from intrasurgical to comparative studies

Abstract

The left temporal lobe is a major brain structure involved in language. Non-human primates, such as chimpanzees and bonobos, have language-like abilities and it has been argued that modifications to temporal lobe connectivity might have enabled semantic processing that later evolved into a highly complex language in humans. Previous studies have suggested that the posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) may represent a crucial hub in lexical-semantic processing. For example, it has been repeatedly shown as involved in semantic learning and argued to function as a lexical interface (Rodríguez-Fornells et al., 2009). The intraoperative, electrical stimulation applied in the vicinity of the pMTG results in semantic errors in naming and matching tasks (Sierpowska et al., 2019). Atomically, pMTG serves as a cortical termination for an extensive number of white-matter pathways from both dorsal and ventral streams (Turken & Dronkers, 2011). However, it is unknown if the pattern of white matter connectivity of this region is unique to humans.

In this presentation, I will focus on how the pMTG system changed in evolution by comparing white-matter tractograms of humans and chimpanzees. Additionally, the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) was examined as an alternative semantic node (‘hub-and-spoke’ model; Lambon Ralph et al., 2016).

Location: Online (Teams). Click here to join the meeting