Variationer i normal språklig förmåga hos vuxna jämfört med neural aktivitet

Sammanfattning: Since the brain is an important prerequisite for human language there is a great interest to gain more knowledge about healthy brain activity during language mediated communication. This study examines variations in high level language ability relating to demographic factors like gender and age and relates language ability to neural activity. Eighteen individuals in ages between 22 and 64 were included and divided into groups in relation to gender and age. The material used to assess language ability was derived from Testbatteri för Bedömning av Subtila Språkstörningar (Laakso, Brunnegård, Hartelius & Ahlsén, 2000), Swedish Lexical Decision Test (Almkvist, Adveen, Henning & Tallberg, 2007) and a reading test (Högskoleprovet). The results were correlated with measured brain activity using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and language paradigms. ANOVA was applied to discover possible demographic variances in language ability as well as in brain activity. The results showed no significant differences in language ability. On the other hand there was a tendency that younger individuals scored higher on language tests than older. Naming ability was inversely related to neural activity in Broca. Neural differences were also found regarding gender and age. Men showed generally more activation than women. Younger individuals, as well as the individuals with high wordgeneration ability, activated more subtle areas than others. This study also points to a relation between high language ability and high cognitive ability.