Department of Neuropsychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany; Language and Aphasia Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany; JARA-BRAIN, Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance, Germany; Parietal team, INRIA, Neurospin, bat 145, CEA Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette, France
Maren Klein
Language and Aphasia Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Max Wawrzyniak
Language and Aphasia Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Anika Stockert
Language and Aphasia Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Katrin Wrede
Language and Aphasia Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Joseph Classen
Human Cortical Physiology and Motor Control Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
Dorothee Saur
Language and Aphasia Laboratory, Department of Neurology, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
The adaptive potential of the language network to compensate for lesions remains elusive. We show that perturbation of a semantic region in the healthy brain induced suppression of activity in a large semantic network and upregulation of neighbouring phonological areas. After perturbation, the disrupted area increased its inhibitory influence on another semantic key node. The inhibitory influence predicted the individual delay in response speed, indicating that inhibition at remote nodes is functionally relevant. Individual disruption predicted the upregulation of semantic activity in phonological regions. In contrast, perturbation over a phonological region suppressed activity in the network and disrupted behaviour without inducing upregulation. The beneficial contribution of a neighbouring network might thus depend on the level of functional disruption and may be interpreted to reflect a differential compensatory potential of distinct language networks. These results might reveal generic mechanisms of plasticity in cognitive networks and inform models of language reorganization.
