Topic: language network

We will explore how neuropsychology can be leveraged to directly test cognitive neuroscience theories using the case of frontotemporal dementias affecting the language network. Specifically, we will focus on pathological, neuroimaging, and cognitive data from primary progressive aphasia. We will see how they can help us investigate the reading network, semantic knowledge organisation, and grammatical categories processing. Time permitting, the end of the talk will cover the temporal dynamics of semantic dimensions recovery and the role played by the task.

Which genes contribute to making the human brain capable of language? We analyzed resting state fMRI and genetic single nucleotide polymorphism data of 30,660 people in the UK biobank and found 15 regions in the human DNA that relate to the brain language network. We link two genomic regions on chromosome 3 (EPHA3 and TBC1D5) to left-right differences in that network. All implicated genes tend to be more expressed during prenatal development. Therefore some genetic influences likely affect language network functional connectivity in the embryo and the fetus.