Rapid short-term reorganization in the language network

Abstract
Article and author information
Metrics

Abstract

The adaptive potential of the language network to compensate for lesions remains elusive. We show that perturbation of a semantic region in the healthy brain induced suppression of activity in a large semantic network and upregulation of neighbouring phonological areas. After perturbation, the disrupted area increased its inhibitory influence on another semantic key node. The inhibitory influence predicted the individual delay in response speed, indicating that inhibition at remote nodes is functionally relevant. Individual disruption predicted the upregulation of semantic activity in phonological regions. In contrast, perturbation over a phonological region suppressed activity in the network and disrupted behaviour without inducing upregulation. The beneficial contribution of a neighbouring network might thus depend on the level of functional disruption and may be interpreted to reflect a differential compensatory potential of distinct language networks. These results might reveal generic mechanisms of plasticity in cognitive networks and inform models of language reorganization.

Article and author information

Author details

Gesa Hartwigsen

Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

For correspondence
hartwigsen@cbs.mpg.de

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-8084-1330
Danilo Bzdok

Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

"This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3466-6620
Maren Klein

Language and Aphasia Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Max Wawrzyniak

Language and Aphasia Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Anika Stockert

Language and Aphasia Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Katrin Wrede

Language and Aphasia Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Joseph Classen

Human Cortical Physiology and Motor Control Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
Dorothee Saur

Department of Neurology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

Competing interests
The authors declare that no competing interests exist.

Funding

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (HA-6314-1-1)

Gesa Hartwigsen

James F. MacDonnell Foundation

Dorothee Saur

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Human subjects: Written informed consent was obtained before the experiment.The study was performed according to the guidelines of the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the local ethics committee (Medical Faculty at the University of Leipzig).

Copyright

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.