Table 3.
Brain Regions Activated During All Spelling Contrasts
| BA | Left hemisphere | Right hemisphere | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Condition and brain area | x | y | z | t | x | y | z | t | |
| Task > baseline | |||||||||
| Superior frontal gyrus | 8 | −22 | 52 | 24 | 3.80 | ||||
| 9 | 16 | 54 | 36 | 3.32 | |||||
| 10 | −12 | 58 | 8 | 3.40 | 6 | 60 | 16 | 3.39 | |
| Middle temporal gyrus (MTG) | 21 | −50 | −14 | −20 | 4.11 | ||||
| Posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG) | 39 | 58 | −58 | 24 | 3.35 | ||||
| Supramarginal gyrus (SMG) | 40 | −62 | −50 | 34 | 3.29 | 56 | −58 | 38 | 4.08 |
| Fusiform gyrus | 20 | −42 | −36 | −14 | 3.75 | ||||
| Caudate nucleus | — | −22 | 12 | 22 | 3.62 | ||||
| Irregular > regular words | |||||||||
| Inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) | 45 | −28 | 28 | 0 | 4.44 | ||||
| Middle frontal gyrus | 6 | 48 | 12 | 48 | 5.09 | ||||
| Superior frontal gyrus | 8 | −6 | 10 | 58 | 5.24 | ||||
| MTG | 3 | −44 | 0 | 46 | 6.27 | ||||
| 21 | −58 | −30 | −2 | 5.17 | 56 | −30 | −10 | 4.74 | |
| Anterior STG | 39 | 56 | −56 | 28 | 5.92 | ||||
| SMG | 40 | −58 | −58 | 32 | 4.18 | ||||
| Putamen | — | 20 | 2 | 10 | 5.83 | ||||
| Thalamus | — | −14 | −4 | 8 | 7.87 | ||||
| Cerebellum | — | 20 | −70 | −30 | 6.20 | ||||
| Regular > irregular words | |||||||||
| Precentral gyrus | 4 | 64 | −4 | 16 | 5.60 | ||||
| Posterior STG | 22 | −54 | −40 | 16 | 5.06 | ||||
| Fusiform gyrus | 37 | 40 | −60 | −10 | 4.89 | ||||
| Nonwords > irregular words | |||||||||
| Inferior temporal sulcus | 20 | −48 | −20 | −14 | 4.56 | ||||
| Anterior STG | 38 | 44 | 18 | −14 | 4.90 | ||||
| Insular cortex | 13 | −40 | 8 | −8 | 6.82 | ||||
| Amygdala | — | 36 | −8 | −24 | 4.71 | ||||
| Thalamus | — | 6 | −6 | −10 | 9.06 | ||||
| Cerebellum | — | 20 | −34 | −18 | 5.31 | ||||
| Regular words > nonwords | |||||||||
| Precentral gyrus | 6 | −38 | −10 | 32 | 5.19 | ||||
| Nonwords > regular words | |||||||||
| IFG | 45/47 | −32 | 32 | −6 | 4.99 | 34 | 18 | −10 | 5.28 |
| −20 | 28 | −4 | 4.45 | 38 | 20 | −20 | 5.42 | ||
| 44 | −46 | 12 | −4 | 4.56 | |||||
| Middle frontal gyrus | 10 | −24 | 60 | 6 | 4.73 | ||||
| Superior frontal gyrus | 6 | −12 | 8 | 72 | 4.30 | ||||
| Medial frontal gyrus | 9 | 6 | 50 | 20 | 4.55 | ||||
| Anterior cingulate gyrus | 32 | −2 | 42 | 24 | 4.58 | ||||
| Posterior cingulate gyrus | 31 | 0 | −30 | 32 | 4.96 | ||||
| MTG | 21 | −56 | −14 | −18 | 6.32 | 62 | −32 | −4 | 4.66 |
| STG | 21 | −32 | 10 | −20 | 5.16 | 58 | −4 | −10 | 4.98 |
| 21 | −64 | −30 | 2 | 4.84 | |||||
| 22 | −56 | −18 | −2 | 5.75 | |||||
| Insular cortex | 13 | −34 | 14 | −4 | 5.76 | ||||
| Parahippocampal gyrus | 36 | 40 | −26 | −12 | 5.51 | ||||
| Amygdala | — | −34 | −18 | −18 | 5.32 | ||||
| Precuneus | 31 | 12 | −68 | 24 | 7.28 | ||||
| Cerebellum | — | −2 | −72 | −18 | 4.52 | 6 | 68 | −24 | 5.22 |
Note. Activation foci in the tables in this article represent peaks of statistically significant increases in normalized cerebral blood flow for each contrast indicated in the table. x, medial–lateral distance relative to the midline (positive = right); y, anterior–posterior distance relative to the anterior commissure (positive = anterior); z is the superior–inferior distance relative to the anterior commissure line (posterior = superior; Klein et al., 1995). x, y, z is based on Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) coordinate system. The anatomical region reported refers to the position of the peak based on the merged registration image of the magnetic resonance imaging and SPM99 (MNI) average brain. Significance threshold was set at p < 0.001, k > 5 for all comparisons of tasks, and p < 0.005 and k > 5 for task > baseline. There were no significant areas of activation for the contrast irregular > nonwords. BA = Brodmann area.