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The Journal of Neuroscience, July 12, 2006, 26(28):7328-7336; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.0559-06.2006

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Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Converging Language Streams in the Human Temporal Lobe

Galina Spitsyna,^1 * Jane E. Warren,^2 * Sophie K. Scott,³ Federico E. Turkheimer,² and Richard J. S. Wise^1,2

¹University Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Royal Free and University College Medical School, London NW3 2PF, United Kingdom, ²Division of Neuroscience and Mental Health and Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre, Imperial College London, Hammersmith Hospital, London W12 0NN, United Kingdom, and ³Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London, London WC1N 3AR, United Kingdom

Correspondence should be addressed to Prof. Richard J. S. Wise, Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, London W12 0NN, UK. Email: richard.wise{at}csc.mrc.ac.uk

There is general agreement that, after initial processing in unimodal sensory cortex, the processing pathways for spoken and written language converge to access verbal meaning. However, the existing literature provides conflicting accounts of the cortical location of this convergence. Most aphasic stroke studies localize verbal comprehension to posterior temporal and inferior parietal cortex (Wernicke’s area), whereas evidence from focal cortical neurodegenerative syndromes instead implicates anterior temporal cortex. Previous functional imaging studies in normal subjects have failed to reconcile these opposing positions. Using a functional imaging paradigm in normal subjects that used spoken and written narratives and multiple baselines, we demonstrated common activation during implicit comprehension of spoken and written language in inferior and lateral regions of the left anterior temporal cortex and at the junction of temporal, occipital, and parietal cortex. These results indicate that verbal comprehension uses unimodal processing streams that converge in both anterior and posterior heteromodal cortical regions in the left temporal lobe.

Key words: speech; reading; PET; temporal pole; fusiform gyrus; temporoparietal cortex

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Received Feb. 7, 2006; revised May 2, 2006; accepted May 29, 2006.

Correspondence should be addressed to Prof. Richard J. S. Wise, Medical Research Council Clinical Sciences Centre, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, London W12 0NN, UK. Email: richard.wise{at}csc.mrc.ac.uk

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