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Updated: Aug 15, 2026

Correlating Behavioral Responses to fMRI Signals from Human Prefrontal Cortex: Examining Cognitive Processes Using Task Analysis
Published on: June 20, 2012
Role of frontal cortex in inferential reasoning: evidence from the word context test
Katrina Keil1, Juliana Baldo, Edith Kaplan
1Transitional Living Center, Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation, 255 East Bonita Ave., Pomona, CA 91769-6001, USA. trina.keil@aya.yale.edu
Problem:
Inferential reasoning in language involves the ability to deduce information based on context and prior experience. This ability has been generally studied as a right-hemisphere function. Recent research, however, has suggested that inferencing involves anterior regions of both the left and right hemispheres.
Methods:
We further explored this idea by testing a group of non-aphasic, focal frontal patients (right and left hemisphere) on a new test of inferencing, the Word Context Test. The Word Context Test requires examinees to identify the meaning of a made-up word (e.g., prifa) based on its use in a series of sentences.
Findings:
Patients with frontal lobe lesions were significantly impaired on this task relative to a group of age- and education-matched controls. Contrary to earlier research focusing on a special role for the right hemisphere in inferencing, there was considerable overlap in performance of right- and left-frontal patients, with right-frontal patients performing better.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that inferencing is disrupted following focal frontal injury and have implications for discourse comprehension in non-aphasic patients.
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