Neurobiology of the reading system

前额叶(ATL)在例外词阅读中的作用一直是语言神经生物学领域激烈争论的主题。这种含糊不清的现象仍然存在，主要是因为患者数据和健康受试者的神经成像研究提供了相互矛盾的结果。患者数据一直表明，阅读例外词的能力是由语义记忆系统(即负责概念性知识的记忆系统)调节的，并与前颞叶的完整性有关。然而，对健康受试者的功能成像研究未能证实这些发现，也没有显示出在例外单词阅读过程中显著的ATL激活。在我们最近的功能磁共振成像研究中，我们使用了对ATLS和低频词刺激成像进行优化的功能获取参数来研究ATLS在年轻健康受试者异常单词阅读中的作用。我们第一次报告了健康受试者在进行异常单词阅读任务时ATL的显着激活。这一发现的新颖性和针对ATL功能成像优化的MRI参数的成功应用激发了我开发一条新的研究路线的兴趣，该研究旨在评估异常单词阅读中涉及的语义加工的性质、ATLS的作用以及它们与其他语言系统的相互作用。目前的研究计划代表着一个更全球化的职业计划的第一步，我将致力于研究语言的基本神经生物学及其与不同记忆系统的相互作用。我相信，这一创新的研究路线和最先进的神经成像技术将有助于这一领域的重大进步，并可以为阅读训练计划和软件的发展以及阅读康复策略提供宝贵的知识。

The role of the anterior temporal lobes (ATLs) in the reading of exception words (i.e. words with atypical spelling-to-sound correspondence, such as 'yatch' and 'colonel') has been subject of intense debate in the field of neurobiology of language. This obscurity remains primarily because patient data and neuroimaging studies on healthy subjects have provided contradictory results. Patient data have consistently shown that the ability to read exception words is mediated by the semantic memory system (i.e., the memory system that is responsible for conceptual knowledge) and is associated with the integrity of the anterior temporal lobes. However, functional imaging studies on healthy subjects have failed to confirm these findings and have shown no significant ATL activation during exception word reading. In our recent functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we used functional acquisition parameters optimized for imaging the ATLs and low-frequency word stimuli to investigate the role of ATLs in exception word reading in young healthy subjects. For the first time we reported a significant ATL activation in healthy subjects who were engaged in an exception word reading task. The novelty of this finding and the successful employment of MRI parameters optimized for ATL functional imaging motivated my interest in developing a new line of research that evaluates the nature of the semantic processes involved in exception word reading, the role of the ATLs and their interactions with other language systems. The present research program represents the first step of a more global career plan, which I will devote to studying the basic neurobiology of language and its interactions with different memory systems. I believe that this innovative line of research and the employment state-of-the-art neuroimaging techniques will contribute significant advancements in this field and can provide valuable knowledge pertaining to the development of reading training programs and softwares and reading rehabilitation strategies.