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Project

Towards an integrative model of spoken and written word processing in the intact brain and its decline in primary progressive aphasia and neurodegenerative disease

This proposal starts from a multidimensional model of semantic associations of more than 13,000 words. Its aim is to determine how the principal dimensions of the semantic space are reflected in the organization of brain networks involved in processing word meaning. Empirically these are valence and concreteness. We hypothesize that these dimensions will influence how representations in the perisylvian language network connect with representations in other neocortical (e.g. the anterior inferior frontal gyrus) and paralimbic (e.g. the perirhinal cortex and the rostral anterior cingulate) regions. We will use informational connectivity analysis to relate the representational content of nodal activity patterns to internodal connectivity. The resulting model will be tested in preclinical Alzheimer disease and in primary progressive aphasia, thoroughly characterized in terms of the individual’s semantic space and the extent of the underlying brain damage, at a structural, functional and molecular level.
Date:1 Oct 2017 →  30 Sep 2021
Keywords:primary progressive aphasia, multivariate pattern analysis, single word processing
Disciplines:Neurosciences, Biological and physiological psychology, Cognitive science and intelligent systems, Developmental psychology and ageing