Studies have found that the distance from auditory language comprehension related brain regions to sensorimotor cortical landmarks predicts language comprehension function

The cerebral areas of the cerebral cortex can be divided into two categories according to their functions: visual, auditory, sensorimotor cortex (mainly processing external single-channel information, such as vision and hearing) and joint cortex (mainly integrating multi-channel information to support memory function).

One of the central questions of cognitive neuroscience is: Can the topological characteristics of the brain explain the difference in function between these two types of brain regions?

In order to answer this question, Du Yi's research group at the Key Laboratory of the Academy of Behavioral Sciences, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and others used task-state magnetic resonance imaging to explore the relationship between the distance between
these two brain regions and the landmarks of the sensorimotor cortex and their functional responses when processing language tasks.
These two types of brain regions have different functions in auditory language understanding: the brain area close to the sensorimotor landmark mainly processes auditory and motor features, and the brain area far away from the sensorimotor landmark mainly processes semantic information
.

The study found that brain regions belonging to auditory networks were activated equally intensively in auditory language tasks and mathematical tasks, indicating that they mainly process auditory features
.
The closer these brain regions are to the sensory cortex landmarks on an individual, the stronger these brain regions are activated
.
This is consistent with the expectation of the throttling hypothesis: the closer it is to the brain area that processes external information, the more objectively it can process external information and more realistically reflect this external world
.
Brain regions belonging to the language network and the default network are more active in auditory language tasks than in auditory math tasks, indicating that these brain regions support semantic understanding
.
The farther these brain regions on an individual are from the sensory cortex marks, the stronger
these brain regions are activated.
This is consistent with the expectation of the throttling hypothesis: the more remote the sensorimotor cortex is in the brain area, the less restricted by external information it is, and thus the more channel-independent memory and abstract functions
can be processed.
Studies have shown that the distance to sensorimotor landmarks is a functional organizing principle of the brain that explains functional differentiation
in brain regions.

The results of the study were published online in Cerebral Cortex
.
The research work is supported
by the National Science and Technology Innovation 2030-"Brain Science and Brain-like Research" major project, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Chinese Academy of Sciences Strategic Pilot Science and Technology Special Project, the Institute of Psychology Independent Deployment Project, and the Psychology Institute Young Talents Startup Project.

The relationship between
the intensity of activation of brain regions and the overall shortest distance.
A-F: In the brain regions that are activated by both language and mathematical tasks, the activation intensity and the overall shortest distance are related to the brain area, the activation intensity of the brain area belonging to the auditory network (blue and green) is negatively correlated with the overall shortest distance, and the brain area belonging to the language network (yellow) has a positive correlation
.
G-J: There is a positive correlation between brain regions with stronger activation in language tasks and the shortest distance overall compared to mathematical tasks
.

Source: Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences