Gastvortrag im Rahmen der Brain Language Talks

Ort: Humboldt-Universität, Berlin School of Mind & Brain, Luisenstr. 56, Raum 144

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Presenter: Dr. Gesa Hartwigsen, MPI for Human Cognitive Neuroscience, Leipzig

Title: Modulating language networks with transcranial magnetic stimulation: Functional relevance, adaptive plasticity and effective connectivity on the systems level

Abstract:

Language is an essential mental capability for human communication. I will introduce different approaches that combine transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and functional neuroimaging to characterize the functional relevance of key nodes for different language functions and elucidate interactions, adaptive plasticity and effective connectivity in the healthy and lesioned language network. First, I will demonstrate how TMS during a language task can help to unravel the contribution of the stimulated area to a specific language function. In particular, I will address the role of different key regions for language comprehension on the word and sentence level. The second part of my talk focuses to the combination of plasticity-inducing TMS before a task and subsequent functional neuroimaging to elucidate adaptive plasticity during semantic processing. I will show that a TMS-induced perturbation might suppress task-related activity not only in the stimulated area, but can also affect a larger network. Moreover, TMS can modulate the effective connectivity within a specific network. Finally, I will present novel TMS-fMRI data on the investigation of adaptive plasticity in the reorganized language network in patients with chronic poststroke aphasia. As an outlook, I will introduce the online combination of TMS and electroencephalography to modulate event-related potentials during semantic processing.

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