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Integrating Lesion-Symptom Mapping with Other Methods to Investigate Language Networks and Aphasia Recovery

Peter E. Turkeltaub1*
  • 1 Georgetown University, Neurology, United States

Voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) has provided valuable insights into the neural underpinnings of various language functions. Integrating lesion mapping methods with other neuroscience techniques may provide new opportunities to investigate questions related both to the neurobiology of language and to plasticity after brain injury. For example, recent diffusion tensor imaging studies have explored relationships between aphasia symptomology and damage in specific white matter tracts (Forkel et al., 2014) or disruption of the white matter connectome (Bonilha, Rorden, & Fridriksson, 2014). VLSM has also recently been used to assess correlations between lesion location and response to transcranial direct current stimulation aphasia treatment (Campana, Caltagirone, & Marangolo, 2015). We have recently undertaken studies integrating VLSM with other techniques, including voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and functional MRI, in order to investigate how parts of the brain spared by stroke contribute to recovery. VLSM can be used in this context to map lesions associated with particular patterns of plasticity in brain structure, function, or connectivity. We have also used VLSM to estimate the variance in behavior due to the stroke itself so that this lesion-symptom relationship can be controlled for when examining the contributions of the rest of the brain. Using this approach in combination with VBM, we have identified areas of the right temporoparietal cortex that appear to undergo hypertrophy after stroke and compensate for speech production deficits. In this talk, I will review recent advances in integrating lesion-symptom mapping with other imaging and brain stimulation techniques in order to better understand the brain basis of language and of aphasia recovery.

Acknowledgements

This abstract is part of the proposed symposium, "Lesion-Symptom Mapping of Aphasia: Progress, Challenges, and New Directions."

References

Bonilha, L., Rorden, C., & Fridriksson, J. (2014). Assessing the clinical effect of residual cortical disconnection after ischemic strokes. Stroke, 45(4), 988-993.
Campana, S., Caltagirone, C., & Marangolo, P. (2015). Combining Voxel-based Lesion-symptom Mapping (VLSM) With A-tDCS Language Treatment: Predicting Outcome of Recovery in Nonfluent Chronic Aphasia. Brain Stimul.
Forkel, S. J., Thiebaut de Schotten, M., Dell'Acqua, F., Kalra, L., Murphy, D. G., Williams, S. C., & Catani, M. (2014). Anatomical predictors of aphasia recovery: a tractography study of bilateral perisylvian language networks. Brain, 137(Pt 7), 2027-2039.

Keywords: VLSM, lesion-symptom mapping, lesion mapping, Aphasia, Stroke, stroke recovery, Language, VBM, DTI

Conference: Academy of Aphasia 53rd Annual Meeting, Tucson, United States, 18 Oct - 20 Oct, 2015.

Presentation Type: symposium

Topic: Not student first author

Citation: Turkeltaub PE (2015). Integrating Lesion-Symptom Mapping with Other Methods to Investigate Language Networks and Aphasia Recovery. Front. Psychol. Conference Abstract: Academy of Aphasia 53rd Annual Meeting. doi: 10.3389/conf.fpsyg.2015.65.00057

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Received: 30 Apr 2015; Published Online: 24 Sep 2015.

* Correspondence: Dr. Peter E Turkeltaub, Georgetown University, Neurology, Washington, DC, United States, turkeltp@georgetown.edu