Object: Functional MRI is frequently applied to lateralize language in\npre-surgical planning, with potential to localize functionally important cortex\ntoo. Here we present BOLD signal activation maps and related functional\nconnectivity, in response to three commonly administered fMRI language\ntasks. Methods: Datasets from 55 pre-surgical fMRI studies were analyzed.\nVerbal response naming, covert word generation and passive listening tasks\nwere administered in all studies. Single-subject analyses, group analyses and\nregion-of-interest analyses were conducted, and a multi-subject functional\nconnectivity analysis was performed. Results: Single-subject analyses revealed\nthat clinically important language regions were activated in all but three patients\nusing the panel of tasks. Group analyses revealed significant bilateral\nBOLD signal increases in anterior and posterior language regions in response\nto verbal response naming and bilateral signal increase in posterior language\nregions only in response to passive listening. Covert word generation activated\nanterior language regions bilaterally and posterior language cortex in\nthe dominant hemisphere. Functional connectivity analyses confirmed that\nactivated regions were significantly correlated in all tasks. Conclusion: The\nfindings of single-subject and group analyses add to the evidence supporting\nthe use of a panel of fMRI tasks to map the language network for pre-surgical\nplanning. Our findings support the additional use of functional connectivity\nanalysis in routine language mapping to add to the localization value to fMRI.\nIn addition, the results of our investigation demonstrate these three commonly\napplied tasks reliably activate unique aspects of the language network,\nwhich advocates closer individual inspection, guided by the surgical intervention\nplanned.
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