TY  - JOUR
AU  - Weiss-Blankenhorn, Peter
AU  - Ubben, S. D.
AU  - Kaesberg, S.
AU  - Kalbe, E.
AU  - Kessler, J.
AU  - Liebig, T.
AU  - Fink, G. R.
TI  - Where language meets meaningful action: a combined behavior and lesion analysis of aphasia and apraxia.
JO  - Brain structure & function
VL  - 221
IS  - 1
SN  - 1863-2653
CY  - Berlin
PB  - Springer
M1  - FZJ-2014-05361
SP  - 563-576
PY  - 2014
AB  - It is debated how language and praxis are co-represented in the left hemisphere (LH). As voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping in LH stroke patients with aphasia and/or apraxia may contribute to this debate, we here investigated the relationship between language and praxis deficits at the behavioral and lesion levels in 50 sub-acute stroke patients. We hypothesized that language and (meaningful) action are linked via semantic processing in Broca’s region. Behaviorally, half of the patients suffered from co-morbid aphasia and apraxia. While 24 % (n = 12) of all patients exhibited aphasia without apraxia, apraxia without aphasia was rare (n = 2, 4 %). Left inferior frontal, insular, inferior parietal, and superior temporal lesions were specifically associated with deficits in naming, reading, writing, or auditory comprehension. In contrast, lesions affecting the left inferior frontal gyrus, premotor cortex, and the central region as well as the inferior parietal lobe were associated with apraxic deficits (i.e., pantomime, imitation of meaningful and meaningless gestures). Thus, contrary to the predictions of the embodied cognition theory, lesions to sensorimotor and premotor areas were associated with the severity of praxis but not language deficits. Lesions of Brodmann area (BA) 44 led to combined apraxic and aphasic deficits. Data suggest that BA 44 acts as an interface between language and (meaningful) action thereby supporting parcellation schemes (based on connectivity and receptor mapping) which revealed a BA 44 sub-area involved in semantic processing.
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000368946900036
C6  - pmid:25352157
DO  - DOI:10.1007/s00429-014-0925-3
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/171799
ER  -