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Translational Brain Mapping at the University of Rochester Medical Center: Preserving the Mind Through Personalized Brain Mapping

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Published on: August 12, 2019

Semantic access dysphasia resulting from left temporal lobe tumours.

Fabio Campanella¹, Massimo Mondani, Miran Skrap

¹Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Cognitive Neuroscience Sector, Trieste TS, Italy.

Brain : a Journal of Neurology

|December 4, 2008

Summary

High-grade temporal lobe gliomas, particularly in the left hemisphere, cause semantic access disorders. These disorders manifest as inconsistent responses and difficulty with semantically close words, suggesting a disconnection in the brain.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Psychology
Neurolinguistics

Background:

Semantic access disorders remain poorly understood, unlike semantic degradation disorders.
The precise mechanisms and brain structures involved in semantic access deficits are unclear.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the impact of temporal lobe gliomas on semantic access abilities.
To differentiate semantic access deficits from semantic degradation disorders based on tumor characteristics and patient performance.

Main Methods:

A case series study involving 20 patients with temporal lobe gliomas.
Semantic access skills were assessed using spoken word-to-picture matching tasks before and after tumor removal.
Tasks were designed to control for presentation rate, consistency, serial position, word frequency, and semantic distance effects.

Main Results:

Low-grade gliomas showed minimal impact on semantic access.
High-grade gliomas, especially in the left hemisphere, consistently led to semantic access deficits.
Deficits were characterized by response inconsistency and strong semantic distance effects, without word frequency effects, suggesting a non-refractory access issue.

Conclusions:

High-grade temporal lobe gliomas induce significant semantic access deficits.
These deficits appear to stem from a disconnection between posterior temporal lexical input areas and the semantic system.
The findings suggest a specific type of non-refractory semantic access disorder linked to tumor-induced brain lesions.