Individual cortical current density reconstructions of the semantic N400 effect: Using a generalized minimum norm model with different constraints (L1 and L2 norm)

• Published in: Human brain mapping Vol. 11; no. 3; pp. 178 - 192
• Main Authors: Haan, Hubertus, Streb, Judith, Bien, Siegfried, Rösler, Frank
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.11.2000; Wiley-Liss
• Subjects: Adult; Biological and medical sciences; Brain Mapping; Cerebral Cortex - anatomy & histology; Cerebral Cortex - physiology; cortical current source estimation; Electrodiagnosis. Electric activity recording; Electroencephalography; ERP; Evoked Potentials - physiology; Female; Germany; Humans; Investigative techniques, diagnostic techniques (general aspects); Language; Linguistics; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Medical sciences; N400; Nervous system; Original; topography; verbs and nouns; word processing; Germany; Human; Cartography; Semantic analysis; Central nervous system; Lexical decision; Verb; Activation; Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging; Event evoked potential; Brain (vertebrata); Noun
• ISSN: 1065-9471; 1097-0193
• DOI: 10.1002/1097-0193(200011)11:3<178::AID-HBM40>3.0.CO;2-0

Event‐related brain potentials were recorded to study whether verbs and nouns activate topographically distinct cortical generators. Fifteen subjects performed a primed lexical decision task with verb/verb and noun/noun pairs. The relatedness between prime and target items was varied in three steps (unrelated, moderately, and strongly related) and the EEG was recorded from 124 scalp electrodes. The topography of cortical sources of the N400 effect was evaluated by standardized differences scores and by cortical current source estimates which were constrained by the individual MRI‐determined cortex anatomy. A behavioral priming effect and a substantial N400 effect was found for both word categories. However, the topography of the grand average N400 effect of verbs and nouns did not differ, neither for raw nor for standardized amplitudes. Cortical current source estimates of the N400 effect revealed a very broad and scattered distribution of active locations with pronounced interindividual differences. Cortical current source estimates obtained with the L1‐norm and L2‐norm model, respectively, differed in the distribution of sources over the cortex but converged on the same “hot spots.” The data give no indication that the N400 effect is generated by word category‐specific networks which have a different topography. The marked individual differences are discussed with respect to the involved processes and the current source estimation procedures. Hum. Brain Mapping 11:178–192, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.