THE NEURAL BASES OF NOUN AND VERB MEANINGS

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Words allow us to categorize the world and communicate with other people. Many acquired and developmental disorders are characterized by a failure to use words appropriately, resulting in disability and social isolation. Successful treatment of such disorders requires understanding of how the meanings of words are acquired and represented. Yet, despite extensive research, the neural base of word meanings remains a topic of contention. The goal of this proposal is to address an important point of controversy: whether word meanings are represented in a modality specific format (i.e. in secondary association areas). To achieve this goal, we will combine the complementary techniques of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Combining these techniques will enable us to infer what brain regions are necessary for word comprehension. Participants will undergo fMRI while performing a word comprehension task. TMS will then be applied to the brain areas identified using fMRI to determine whether they are necessary for word comprehension. It is hypothesized that higher order regions (e.g. temporal lobe) but not sensory-motor regions (e.g. motor cortices) are necessary for word comprehension.