Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 26, 2026

A Rat Model of EcoHIV Brain Infection
Published on: January 21, 2021
Basal ganglia structures differentially contribute to verbal fluency: evidence from Human Immunodeficiency Virus
April D Thames1, Jessica M Foley, Matthew J Wright
1UCLA School of Medicine, 760 Westwood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90024, United States. athames@mednet.ucla.edu
Background:
The basal ganglia (BG) are involved in executive language functions (i.e., verbal fluency) through their connections with cortical structures. The caudate and putamen receive separate inputs from prefrontal and premotor cortices, and may differentially contribute to verbal fluency performance. We examined BG integrity in relation to lexico-semantic verbal fluency performance among older HIV infected adults.
Method:
20 older (50+ years) HIV+ adults underwent MRI and were administered measures of semantic and phonemic fluency. BG (caudate, putamen) regions of interest were extracted.
Results:
Performance on phonemic word generation significantly predicted caudate volume, whereas performance on phonemic switching predicted putamen volume.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest a double dissociation of BG involvement in verbal fluency tasks with the caudate subserving word generation and the putamen associated with switching. As such, verbal fluency tasks appear to be selective to BG function.
Related Concept Videos
Higher Mental Functions of the Brain: Language
Language formation and comprehension take place in the dominant hemisphere. The dominant hemisphere is responsible for understanding the meaning of spoken, written, or sign language, as well as the ability to communicate. For most people, the left hemisphere is the dominant one. The right hemisphere, then, gives tone and emotional context to the...
Language and Cognition
Alzheimer Disease ll: Pathophysiology
Size and Structure of Viral Genomes

