BRAIN IMAGING

Frontal cortex functional connectivity changes during sound categorization

Husain, Fatima T.; McKinney, Christopher M.; Horwitz, Barry

Author Information

Brain Imaging and Modeling Section, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA

Correspondence and requests for reprints to Fatima T. Husain, Brain Imaging and Modeling Section, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, National Institutes of Health, Bldg 10, Rm 8S235-E, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA

Tel: +1 301 594 7758; fax: +1 301 480 5625; e-mail: [email protected]

Sponsorship: This work was supported by the NIDCD-NIH Intramural Program.

Received 23 January 2006; accepted 2 February 2006

NeuroReport 17(6):p 617-621, April 24, 2006.

Abstract

Using functional connectivity analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging data, we investigated the role of the inferior frontal gyrus in categorization of simple sounds. We found stronger functional connectivity between left inferior frontal gyrus and auditory processing areas in the temporal cortex during categorization of speech (vowels, syllables) and nonspeech (tones, combinations of tones and sweeps) sounds relative to an auditory discrimination task; the hemispheric lateralization varied depending on the speech-like properties of the sounds. Our results attest to the importance of interactions between temporal cortex and left inferior frontal gyrus in sound categorization. Further, we found different functional connectivity patterns between left inferior frontal gyrus and other brain regions implicated in categorization of syllables compared with other stimuli, reflecting the greater facility for categorization of syllables.

© 2006 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc.

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