Figure 1. Modality-specific activation peaks during language comprehension.

This figure displays sites of peak activation from 38 imaging studies that examined modality-specific knowledge processing during language comprehension tasks. Peaks were mapped to a common spatial coordinate system and then to a representative brain surface. Action knowledge peaks (red) cluster in primary and secondary sensorimotor regions in the posterior frontal and anterior parietal lobes. Motion peaks (green) cluster in posterior inferolateral temporal regions near the visual motion processing pathway. Note that motion concepts, especially when elicited by action verbs, are difficult to distinguish from action concepts. Peaks near motion processing area MT/MST in four of the studies of action language are interpreted here as reflecting motion knowledge. Auditory peaks (yellow) occur in superior temporal and temporoparietal regions adjacent to auditory association cortex. Color peaks (blue) cluster in the fusiform gyrus just anterior to color-selective regions of extrastriate visual cortex. Olfactory peaks (pink) observed in one study were in olfactory areas (prepiriform cortex and amygdala). Gustatory peaks (orange) were observed in one study in the anterior orbital frontal cortex. Emotion peaks (purple) involve primarily anterior temporal, medial and orbital prefrontal, and posterior cingulate regions. Details regarding study selection and a list of the included studies are provided in supplementary material online.