Preserved topography, lateralization, selectivity, and functional connectivity of the language network in older brains
Abstract Healthy aging is associated with structural and functional brain changes. However, cognitive abilities vary in how they change with age: executive functions decline, while aspects of linguistic processing remain relatively preserved. This heterogeneity predicts differences among brain networks in whether and how they change with age. To evaluate this prediction, we used precision fMRI […]
Research Spotlight: Diagnostic Accuracy of the Boston Criteria v2.0 in Memory Clinic Patients
Abstract Background and Objectives: Cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) is common in older adults and frequently contributes to cognitive impairment and dementia. Existing in vivo diagnostic criteria for CAA (Boston Criteria) were developed primarily in patients with intracerebral hemorrhage, and their performance in memory clinic populations remains uncertain. The updated Boston Criteria v2.0 incorporate nonhemorrhagic MRI […]
Brain Recovery After Stroke: How AI Could Be Used To Predict the Best Treatment Path
Cross-linguistic differences in the semantic networks for animal fluency between English and Korean speakers with and without aphasia
Abstract Background: Semantic fluency tasks are widely used to assess lexical – semantic retrieval in healthy aging and aphasia; however, growing evidence indicates that semantic organization is influenced by culturally grounded lexical experience. Prior cross- linguistic work suggests that Korean speakers rely on culture- specific semantic schemas – such as zodiac animals – during animal […]
Cortical activity for conversational responses: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study
Cortical activity for conversational responses in young neurotypical individuals, older neurotypical individuals, and individuals with aphasia: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy study Abstract Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has the potential for evaluating language and conversational interaction in an ecologically valid way given that participants can be seated and interacting with a conversational partner. Aphasia, an acquired […]
Quantifying the impact of hair and skin characteristics on fNIRS signal quality for enhanced inclusivity
Yücel, M.A., Anderson, J.E., Rogers, D. et al. Quantifying the impact of hair and skin characteristics on fNIRS signal quality for enhanced inclusivity. Nat Hum Behav (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-025-02274-7 Abstract Semantic feature-based treatment (SFT), which engages the semantic network by repeatedly targeting retrieval of conceptual features to improve lexical-semantic access, has shown promise for facilitating generalization […]
Cross-language interaction during sequential anomia treatment in three languages: Evidence from a trilingual person with aphasia
Peñaloza, C., Marte, M., Billot, A., & Kiran, S. (2025). Cross-Language Interaction During Sequential Anomia Treatment in Three Languages: Evidence from a Trilingual Person with Aphasia. Cortex, 189, 107-130. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2025.05.017 Abstract Language rehabilitation research has reported mixed evidence in bilinguals with aphasia suggesting that therapy can benefit the treated language alone or additionally result in […]
Theory of Mind Deficits in People with Post-Stroke Aphasia
Acknowledgements This work was conducted as part of a larger NIH-funded project titled “Functional reorganization of the language and domain-general multiple demand systems in aphasia” (NIDCD Grant 1R01DC016950, PIs: Swathi Kiran and Evelina Fedorenko). It reflects a collaborative effort from current and former researchers at the Boston University Center for Brain Recovery, including Maria […]
Using Unsupervised Dimensionality Reduction to Identify Lesion Patterns Predictive of Post-Stroke Aphasia Severity
Kropp, E., Varkanitsa, M., Carvalho, N., Falconer, I., Billot, A., Al-Dabbagh, M., & Kiran, S. (2025). Using unsupervised dimensionality reduction to identify lesion patterns predictive of post-stroke aphasia severity. Cortex, 188, 25–41. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cortex.2025.04.015 Abstract Although voxel-based methods consistently identify brain regions associated with specific language functions, these techniques are limited when applied to broader behavioral […]
9 CBR Students Present Their Research Around the World
Featuring interviews with Student Presentations at the Society for the Neurobiology of Language Conference (SNL) in Brisbane, Australia, and the Academy of Aphasia 62nd Annual Meeting in Nara, Japan. About the conferences The Society for the Neurobiology of Language (SNL), founded in November of 2010, is an NIH-funded non-profit organization whose overarching goal is to […]