Neural basis of Chinese phonological processing under picture stimulus A functional magnetic resonance imaging study

Studies concerning phonological processing mainly use written stimuli. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to investigate the brain regions related to the phonological processing under the picture stimulus in the rhyme task of Chinese language. Results of the test in 13 healthy college students whose native language is Chinese showed the extensive activation in the frontal lobe, parietal lobe and the occipitotemporal cortex, including the inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus and medial occipitotemporal gyrus under the picture stimuli. Moreover, phonological processing induced activation in the superior temporal gyrus （BA 22） under the picture stimuli, but activation was not found in the middle temporal gyrus.