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Contributions of the thalamus to language: A meta-analytic approach
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Poster A112 in Poster Session A, Tuesday, October 24, 10:15 am - 12:00 pm CEST, Espace Vieux-Port
Talat Bulut1, Peter Hagoort1; 1Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics
Aim: Language functions are attributed overwhelmingly to the cerebral cortex, while contributions of subcortical structures to language processing have been addressed less systematically. In this study, we aimed to explore language-related functions and functional connectivity patterns of the thalamus. Materials and Methods: The BrainMap database was searched to identify previously published functional neuroimaging experiments conducted with healthy participants and reporting language-related activations within the left or right thalamus. 129 and 88 studies were identified for the left and right thalamus, respectively. Meta-analytic connectivity modeling (MACM) was performed on the identified studies to reveal coactivation patterns of the left and right thalamus during language tasks. In addition, a functional decoding analysis was performed based on the BrainMap database to investigate functional specialization within these regions of interest. Results: The MACM results associated the left thalamus with more extensive coactivations mainly involving a bilateral frontotemporal system, bilateral subcortical structures, and the right cerebellum. The right thalamus had more circumscribed coactivations without cerebellar involvement. The functional decoding findings significantly associated the left thalamus, but not the right, with language functions; namely, speech, semantics and, to a certain extent, syntax. Conclusion: The findings highlight the role of the thalamus in the cortical-subcortical language network and underline the utility of the meta-analytic approach in explorations of brain-language associations.
Topic Areas: Methods, Language Production