Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during a language comprehension task

Previous magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies in healthy right-handed subjects have shown activation in the left posterior lateral aspect of temporal lobe accompanied by sources in the supramarginal gyrus (Broadmann areas 21,22) during language comprehension tasks. We used the method of functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine whether a similar comprehension task in which participants had to discriminate between feminine and neuter abstract nouns elicited activation in the same regions of the temporal lobes. A baseline condition was also used that required participants to discriminate between two different pitch tones. All six subjects showed significant activity in left superior and middle temporal gyrus (Broadmann areas 21,22) and five of them showed maximum activation in this area. Our results are in agreement with those of the MEG studies, demonstrating the concordance of the two methods and the validity of this task. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]