Effects of early lesion on language and gesture comprehension: An fMRI study.

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DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The use of language and symbolic gesture are uniquely human capacities that allow people to communicate with each other. Despite the centrality of these capacities to human communication, there is no consensus concerning how language and gesture are organized in the brain or how they might reorganize following early brain injury. This application will use functional MRI to examine the systems-level functional neuroanatomy of language and gesture comprehension in individuals with prenatal or perinatal stroke, and their typically developing siblings. We will investigate how factors, such as lesion laterality and site, type, and size, affect the organization of language and gesture systems. To achieve these goals, we will not only take advantage of conventional methods of fMRI analysis, but will also use advanced methods of analysis of functional MRI data, which will allow us to focus on the organization of distributed networks following injury. This represents a departure from prior research, where the focus is on individual brain regions or differences in lateralization of language function. This study has several theoretical and applied implications directly relevant to public health. The investigation of developmental outcomes of early lesion will answer questions about the stability of functional deficits over time, and about the ways in which the human brain reacts to early damage. Information about how the brain organizes following early damage can inform future research, intervention, and treatment efforts. The study also attempts to answer the call for innovative research strategies by applying advanced methods of fMRI data analysis to populations with brain injury.