A Voxel Based Approach to Identifying Lesion Sites in Aphasia: Comprehension and Production Deficits in Syntax, Semantics and Phonology

Abstract

The cortical regions of the brain traditionally associated with deficits of production and comprehension in language are Broca's and Wernicke's areas. Recent evidence suggests that other brain regions are involved and may be specific to linguistic areas of syntax, semantics and phonology. This paper describes the MRI results and language scores of 31 left hemisphere stroke patients with aphasia. Patients' lesions obtained from these MRI scans were reconstructed onto templates and entered into a voxel-based analysis program called Analysis of Brain lesion (ABLe) (Solomon, Raymont, Braun, Butman & Grafman, 2007) along with language scores. The results provided evidence for five key neuroanatomical regions of interest. These include the insula, the planum temporale, the operculum, the temporoparietal occipital (TPO) junction and the putamen. The results revealed common as well as unique areas of brain lesion for each of the behaviors.