Lesion-symptom mapping in the study of spoken language understanding

Lesion-symptom mapping studies aim to make inferences about the functional neuroanatomy of spoken language understanding by investigating relationships between damage to different brain regions and the various speech perception and comprehension deficits that result. Voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM), voxel-based morphometry (VBM), and studies focused on specific cortical regions of interest or fiber pathways have all yielded insights regarding the localization of different components of spoken language processing. Major challenges include the fact that brain damage rarely impacts just a single brain region or just a single processing component, and that neuroplasticity and recovery can complicate the interpretation of lesion-deficit correlations. Future studies involving large patient cohorts derived from multi-center projects, and multivariate approaches to quantifying patterns of brain damage and patterns of linguistic deficits, will continue to yield new insights into the neural basis of spoken language understanding.