Table_2_Investigating Language and Domain-General Processing in Neurotypicals and Individuals With Aphasia — A Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Pilot Study.DOCX

Brain reorganization patterns associated with language recovery after stroke have long been debated. Studying mechanisms of spontaneous and treatment-induced language recovery in post-stroke aphasia requires a network-based approach given the potential for recruitment of perilesional left hemisphere language regions, homologous right hemisphere language regions, and/or spared bilateral domain-general regions. Recent hardware, software, and methodological advances in functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) make it well-suited to examine this question. fNIRS is cost-effective with minimal contraindications, making it a robust option to monitor treatment-related brain activation changes over time. Establishing clear activation patterns in neurotypical adults during language and domain-general cognitive processes via fNIRS is an important first step. Some fNIRS studies have investigated key language processes in healthy adults, yet findings are challenging to interpret in the context of methodological limitations. This pilot study used fNIRS to capture brain activation during language and domain-general processing in neurotypicals and individuals with aphasia. These findings will serve as a reference when interpreting treatment-related changes in brain activation patterns in post-stroke aphasia in the future. Twenty-four young healthy controls, seventeen older healthy controls, and six individuals with left hemisphere stroke-induced aphasia completed two language tasks (i.e., semantic feature, picture naming) and one domain-general cognitive task (i.e., arithmetic) twice during fNIRS. The probe covered bilateral frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes and included short-separation detectors for scalp signal nuisance regression. Younger and older healthy controls activated core language regions during semantic feature processing (e.g., left inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis) and lexical retrieval (e.g., left inferior frontal gyrus pars triangularis) and domain-general regions (e.g., bilateral middle frontal gyri) during hard versus easy arithmetic as expected. Consistent with theories of post-stroke language recovery, individuals with aphasia activated areas outside the traditional networks: left superior frontal gyrus and left supramarginal gyrus during semantic feature judgment; left superior frontal gyrus and right precentral gyrus during picture naming; and left inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis during arithmetic processing. The preliminary findings in the stroke group highlight the utility of using fNIRS to study language and domain-general processing in aphasia.

脑部在卒中后语言恢复过程中的重组模式长久以来一直是争论的焦点。探究卒中后失语症中自发性及治疗诱导的语言恢复机制，鉴于受损周围左侧大脑半球语言区域、同源右侧大脑半球语言区域及/或幸存的双侧域通用区域可能被募集，因此需要采用基于网络的策略。功能近红外光谱学（fNIRS）在硬件、软件和方法论方面的最新进展，使其成为探讨此问题的理想工具。fNIRS具有成本效益高、副作用极少的优点，成为监测治疗相关脑部激活变化随时间推移的稳健选择。通过fNIRS在神经典型成人中建立清晰的激活模式，在语言及域通用认知过程中是一个重要的初步步骤。一些fNIRS研究已经探究了健康成人中的关键语言过程，然而由于方法论限制，研究结果难以解释。本试点研究采用fNIRS捕捉神经典型成人和失语症患者在进行语言及域通用处理时的脑部激活。这些发现将为未来在卒中后失语症中解读与治疗相关的脑部激活模式变化提供参考。二十四名年轻健康对照者、十七名老年健康对照者和六名左侧半球卒中引起的失语症患者，在fNIRS下分别完成了两次语言任务（即语义特征、图片命名）和一次域通用认知任务（即算术）。探头覆盖双侧额叶、顶叶和颞叶，并包括头皮信号干扰回归的短分离探测器。与预期一致，年轻和老年健康对照者在语义特征处理（例如，左侧下额叶沟回外侧面）和词汇检索（例如，左侧下额叶沟回三角面）以及域通用区域（例如，双侧中额叶沟回）的激活在难度较大的算术任务中比难度较小的任务中更为明显。与卒中后语言恢复理论相一致，失语症患者激活了传统网络之外的区域：在语义特征判断时，左侧上额叶沟回和左侧上角回；在图片命名时，左侧上额叶沟回和右侧前中央回；在算术处理时，左侧下额叶沟回外侧面。卒中组的初步发现突出了使用fNIRS研究失语症中语言及域通用处理的重要性。（*Transformer -> Transformer；Token -> Token；LLM/Large Language Model -> 大语言模型；Zero-shot -> 零样本；Few-shot -> 少样本；AI Agent -> AI 智能体；AGI -> 通用人工智能*）