Item Retrieval and Competition in Noun and Verb Generation: An fMRI Study

■ Selection between competing responses and stimulus-response association strength is thought to affect performance during verb generation. However, the specific contribution of these two processes remains unclear. Here we used fMRI to investigate the role of selection and association within frontal and BG circuits that are known to be involved in verb production. Subjects were asked to generate verbs from nouns in conditions requiring either high or low selection, but with constant association strength, and in conditions of weak or strong association strength, now with constant selection demands. Furthermore, we examined the role of selection and association during noun generation from noun stimuli. We found that the midpart of the left inferior frontal gyrus was more active in conditions requiring high compared with low selection, with matched association strength. The same left inferior frontal region activated irrespective of verb or noun generation. Results of ROI analyses show...

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: JOCN
• Authors: Cristiano Crescentini, Tim Shallice, Emiliano Macaluso
• Keywords: Association Strength, Inferior Frontal Gyrus, JOCN 2010, Selection