Language and the Brain - LANGUAGE AT LARGE One hundred names for love: Aphasia strikes a literary couple - METHOD Comparing apples and oranges in fMRI

7 important questions on Language and the Brain - LANGUAGE AT LARGE One hundred names for love: Aphasia strikes a literary couple - METHOD Comparing apples and oranges in fMRI

Why is it smarter to the pictures of activated brain regios as graphs and not as photos?

Because it does not represent a snapshot of the activity of any one brain for the task in question.

Why is it worth thinking about what the comparison condition is for an fMRI scan?

The conclusion can only be stated in terms of this difference.

What is a common comparison condition for an fMRI scan?

Instructing subjects to close their eyes and think about nothing in particular.
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What might happen if people are asked during an fMRI can to "think about nothing in particular"?

They might run a conversation from earlier over again or run a recent lecture through their minds, which means that there would be a chance that important languages areas would be involved.

What kind of impression would it give if language areas will be involved when people are asked to think about nothing during an fMRI scan?


Activity in these areas would then become subtracted from the actual language condition, which might give the impression that certain key regions are not activated for language because they were activated in both the critical language condition and the baseline comparison condition

What do researchers use instead of a "resting" baseline condition?

Control condition that focuses the subject's attention on a specific task that is presumed to involve different computations than the condition of interest. (e.g. Compare listening to words --> linguistic - with listening to single tones --> non linguistic)

What are the unexpected differences that might emerge when using a control condition with an fMRI scan?

Words are more complex of auditory stimuli and activate regions that are associated with processing complex sequences of sounds, whether linguistic or otherwise.  Or it may be that the words are more interesting and have an effect on brain areas that are linked to heightened attention.

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

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