Direct physiologic evidence of a heteromodal convergence region for proper naming in human left anterior temporal lobe

Retrieving the names of friends, loved ones, and famous people is a fundamental human ability. This ability depends on the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL), where lesions can be associated with impaired naming of people regardless of modality (e.g., picture or voice). This finding has led to the id...

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Published inThe Journal of neuroscience Vol. 35; no. 4; pp. 1513 - 1520
Main Authors Abel, Taylor J, Rhone, Ariane E, Nourski, Kirill V, Kawasaki, Hiroto, Oya, Hiroyuki, Griffiths, Timothy D, Howard, 3rd, Matthew A, Tranel, Daniel
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Society for Neuroscience 28.01.2015
Subjects
Acoustic Stimulation
Adult
Brain Mapping
Brain Waves - physiology
Electric Stimulation
Electrodes, Implanted
Electroencephalography
Functional Laterality - physiology
Humans
Male
Mental Recall - physiology
Middle Aged
Names
Neuropsychological Tests
Photic Stimulation
Semantics
Spectrum Analysis
Temporal Lobe - physiology
electrocorticography
language
temporal pole
naming
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Summary:Retrieving the names of friends, loved ones, and famous people is a fundamental human ability. This ability depends on the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL), where lesions can be associated with impaired naming of people regardless of modality (e.g., picture or voice). This finding has led to the idea that the left ATL is a modality-independent convergence region for proper naming. Hypotheses for how proper-name dispositions are organized within the left ATL include both a single modality-independent (heteromodal) convergence region and spatially discrete modality-dependent (unimodal) regions. Here we show direct electrophysiologic evidence that the left ATL is heteromodal for proper-name retrieval. Using intracranial recordings placed directly on the surface of the left ATL in human subjects, we demonstrate nearly identical responses to picture and voice stimuli of famous U.S. politicians during a naming task. Our results demonstrate convergent and robust large-scale neurophysiologic responses to picture and voice naming in the human left ATL. This finding supports the idea of heteromodal (i.e., transmodal) dispositions for proper naming in the left ATL.
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Author contributions: T.J.A., M.A.H., and D.T. designed research; T.J.A. and A.E.R. performed research; H.K., H.O., and T.D.G. contributed unpublished reagents/analytic tools; T.J.A., A.E.R., and K.V.N. analyzed data; T.J.A., A.E.R., K.V.N., and D.T. wrote the paper.
ISSN:0270-6474
1529-2401
DOI:10.1523/jneurosci.3387-14.2015