UC Berkeley neuroscientists have published a word atlas for the brain

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UC Berkeley neuroscientists have published a word atlas for the brain

By Marcus Strom
Updated

You can think of it as a thesaurus map of the brain.

Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, have found that word groupings are connected to quite specific parts of our cerebral cortex, allowing them to produce a word atlas of our brains.

The map shows how words of similar meanings or emotions are grouped across the brain, showing the complexity of language organisation and processing.

For more than a century, speech production was thought to be more narrowly linked to regions of the brain, such as "Broca's area", in the frontal lobe. The Berkeley researchers said that their study shows that at least one-third of the brain is involved in language processing.

Brain map developed by Alexander Huth and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley.

Brain map developed by Alexander Huth and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley.Credit: Nature

The study found that one small area of brain, just a few millimetres across, responded to words such as wife, mother, brother, family and pregnant. Single words could also be connected with different brain regions, if they had multiple meanings, the study showed.

While each subject studied showed differences, the researchers were surprised at just how similar were different people's language maps.

"The similarity in semantic topography across different subjects is really surprising," said Alexander Huth, from UC Berkeley, lead author of the study published on Thursday in Nature.

The researchers grouped words under headings such as: visual, tactile, numeric, locational, abstract, temporal, professional, violent, communal, emotional and social.

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Lead author Alexander Huth at the University of California, Berkeley.

Lead author Alexander Huth at the University of California, Berkeley.Credit: UC Berkeley

It is possible to interact with the map using an interactive tool developed by the scientists.

Dr Huth and colleagues claim the study could eventually give clinically assistance to those people who lose language skills, such as stroke victims, or those suffering motor neuron diseases, such as ALS.

Word groupings mapped out on parts of the brain.

Word groupings mapped out on parts of the brain.Credit: Nature

"That sounds like a very long-term goal," said Jessica Taubert, a post-doctoral researcher in the University of Sydney's school of psychology, who is unconnected with the study.

Dr Taubert said that our ability to image the brain has increased exponentially over the past 20 years. This has allowed us to better understand brain function.

Illustration: Cathy Wilcox

Illustration: Cathy Wilcox

"It turns out that when asked to do tasks, the whole brain can be involved and is recruited," Dr Taubert told the Herald.

Dr Taubert, who studies facial recognition processes in the brain, said that our previous understanding of brain function came from retro-engineering based on lost functionality. Researchers were reliant on patient studies to see where brain function had gone and how this impacted on broader functionality.

Different brains showed similar semantic topography, the researchers said.

Different brains showed similar semantic topography, the researchers said.Credit: Nature

"We now have a suite of techniques to study uninjured brains," she said.

In the Berkeley study functional magnetic resonance imaging was used on seven subjects who were read stories over several hours from the US public radio program, Moth Radio Hour, that focuses on autobiographical stories.

Dr Taubert said that while seven subjects was not ideal, it was still possible to draw conclusions from this sample size using very sophisticated "voxel models", which utilise three-dimensional positioning systems.

She said that further research in different language and cultural groups would be interesting next areas of study.

The researchers reached similar conclusions. "Although the maps are broadly consistent across individuals, there are also substantial individual differences," said study senior author Jack Gallant, a UC Berkeley neuroscientist.

"We will need to conduct further studies across a larger, more diverse sample of people before we will be able to map these individual differences in detail."

While it's not exactly mind reading, a possible clinical application in future could track brain activity in patients who are having trouble communicating and match that to semantic language maps.

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