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Cerebral Cortex Advance Access published online on February 5, 2007
Cerebral Cortex, doi:10.1093/cercor/bhm001
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Human Neural Systems for Conceptual Knowledge of Proper Object Use: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Sjoerd J. H. Ebisch1, Claudio Babiloni2, Cosimo Del Gratta1,3, Antonio Ferretti1,3, Mauro G. Perrucci1, Massimo Caulo1,3, Margriet M. Sitskoorn4 and Gian Luca Romani1,3

1 Department of Clinical Sciences and Bioimaging, G. d'Annunzio University, Chieti, Italy, 2 Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy, 3 Institute of Advanced Biomedical Technologies (ITAB), "G. D'Annunzio University" Foundation, Chieti, Italy, 4 Department of Neuroscience, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Address correspondence to Sjoerd Ebisch, Department of Clinical Sciences and Bioimaging ITAB, Universita' "G. d'Annunzio," Via dei Vestini, 33 66013 Chieti Scalo (CH), Italy. Email: sjoerdebisch{at}yahoo.com.

Ideational apraxia is characterized by impaired knowledge of action concepts and proper object usage. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging study aimed at investigating the neural system underlying conceptual knowledge for proper object use in healthy subjects, when the effects of visuospatial properties and perceptual modality were taken into account. Subjects performed semantic decision tasks requiring retrieval of knowledge about either object functional purposes (functional task) or visuospatial object properties (visuospatial task) and perceptual control tasks. The semantic tasks were performed with pairs of either written object names or object drawings. Activation for the functional task in common for words and pictures, compared with the visuospatial and control tasks, was found in left parietal–temporal–occipital (PTO) junction, inferior frontal, anterior dorsal premotor, and presupplementary motor areas. Ventral inferior frontal cortex activation correlated negatively with reaction time in the functional condition. No specific activation characterized the visuospatial task compared with the functional task. The conceptual tasks, compared with the control tasks, demonstrated overlapping activation in left PTO junction, prefrontal, dorsal premotor, cuneus, and inferior temporal areas. These results outline the neural processes underlying conceptual knowledge for proper object use. The left ventral inferior frontal gyrus might facilitate behavioral decisions regarding functional/pragmatical object properties.

Key Words: fMRI • functional • pragmatic • praxia • semantic


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