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Semantic dementia and the left and right temporal lobes

Overview of attention for article published in Cortex: A Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System & Behavior, August 2017
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Title
Semantic dementia and the left and right temporal lobes
Published in
Cortex: A Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System & Behavior, August 2017
DOI 10.1016/j.cortex.2017.08.024
Pubmed ID
Authors

Julie S. Snowden, Jennifer M. Harris, Jennifer C. Thompson, Christopher Kobylecki, Matthew Jones, Anna M. Richardson, David Neary

Abstract

Semantic dementia, a circumscribed disorder of semantic knowledge, provides a unique model for understanding the neural basis for semantic representation. The study addressed areas of contention: the relative roles of the left and right temporal lobe, the contribution of anterior versus posterior temporal cortex and the status of the anterior temporal lobes as amodal hub. Naming and word comprehension was examined in 41 semantic dementia patients, 31 with left-predominant and 10 right-predominant atrophy. In keeping with expectation, naming and comprehension were significantly poorer in left-predominant patients. Structural magnetic resonance image analysis, using a visual rating scale, showed strong inverse correlations between naming scores and severity of both left anterior and posterior temporal lobe atrophy. By contrast, comprehension performance was more strongly correlated with left posterior temporal atrophy. Analysis of naming errors revealed a correlation between anterior temporal atrophy and associative/functional descriptive responses, implying availability of semantic information. By contrast, 'don't know' responses, indicative of loss of semantic knowledge, were linked to left posterior temporal lobe atrophy. Semantic errors, the hallmark of semantic dementia, were linked to right hemisphere atrophy, especially the right posterior temporal lobe. Matched visual-verbal tasks (famous face and name identification, Pyramids and Palm trees pictures and words, animal knowledge from 3-D models and animal names) administered to nine patients elicited variable correspondence between performance on nonverbal and verbal versions of the task. Marked performance dissociations were demonstrated in some patients: poorer understanding of names/words in left-predominant patients and of faces/pictures/models in right-predominant cases. The findings are compatible with the notion of the anterior temporal lobes as areas of convergence, but are less easily accommodated within the framework of amodal conceptual representation. The data, which reconcile some apparent contradictions in the literature, are discussed in the light of the nature and distribution of degenerative change in semantic dementia.

Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 139 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 139 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Master 23 17%
Researcher 16 12%
Student > Bachelor 15 11%
Other 11 8%
Professor 10 7%
Other 32 23%
Unknown 32 23%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Psychology 35 25%
Neuroscience 26 19%
Medicine and Dentistry 14 10%
Nursing and Health Professions 6 4%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 5 4%
Other 15 11%
Unknown 38 27%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 25 October 2017.
All research outputs
#20,663,600
of 25,382,440 outputs
Outputs from Cortex: A Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System & Behavior
#2,567
of 3,041 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#251,156
of 323,945 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Cortex: A Journal Devoted to the Study of the Nervous System & Behavior
#56
of 72 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,382,440 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 10th percentile – i.e., 10% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,041 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.6. This one is in the 5th percentile – i.e., 5% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 323,945 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 12th percentile – i.e., 12% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 72 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 12th percentile – i.e., 12% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.