Word retrieval deficits are a common problem in patients with stroke-induced brain damage. While complete recovery of language in chronic aphasia is rare, patients’ naming ability can be significantly improved by speech therapy. A growing number of neuroimaging studies have tried to pinpoint the neural changes associated with successful outcome of naming treatment. However, the mechanisms supporting naming practice in the healthy brain have received little attention. Yet, understanding these mechanisms is crucial for teasing them apart from functional reorganization following brain damage. To address this issue, we trained a group of healthy monolingual Italian speakers on naming pictured objects and actions for ten consecutive days and scanned them before and after training. Although activity during object versus action naming dissociated in several regions (lateral occipitotemporal, parietal and left inferior frontal cortices), training effects for the two word classes were similar and included activation decreases in classical language regions of the left hemisphere (posterior inferior frontal gyrus, anterior insula), potentially due to decreased lexical selection demands. Additionally, MVPA revealed training-related activation changes in the left parietal and temporal cortices associated with the retrieval of knowledge from episodic memory (precuneus, angular gyrus) and facilitated access to phonological word forms (posterior superior temporal sulcus).

单词检索缺陷是中风引起的脑损伤患者的常见问题。尽管在慢性失语症中完全无法恢复语言，但是通过语音治疗可以显着改善患者的命名能力。越来越多的神经影像研究试图查明与命名治疗成功相关的神经变化。但是，在健康的大脑中支持命名实践的机制很少受到关注。然而，了解这些机制对于使它们与脑损伤后的功能重组分开至关重要。为了解决这个问题，我们培训了一群健康的会说意大利语的意大利语讲者，他们连续十天对图片和动作进行命名，并在训练前后对其进行了扫描。尽管对象与动作命名过程中的活动在几个区域（外侧枕颞叶，顶叶和左下额叶皮层）分离，但是这两个词类的训练效果相似，并且包括左半球古典语言区域（后下额叶回，前绝缘），可能是由于词汇选择需求减少所致。此外，MVPA揭示了与顶位和颞皮层训练相关的激活变化，这些变化与从情节性记忆（前突，角回）中获取知识有关，并促进了语音单词形式（后颞上沟）的获取。这两个单词类别的训练效果是相似的，并且包括左半球的古典语言区域（后下额回，前岛）的激活减少，这可能是由于词汇选择需求减少所致。此外，MVPA揭示了与顶位和颞皮层训练相关的激活变化，这些变化与从情节性记忆（前突，角回）中获取知识有关，并促进了语音单词形式（后颞上沟）的获取。这两个单词类别的训练效果是相似的，并且包括左半球的古典语言区域（后下额回，前岛）的激活减少，这可能是由于词汇选择需求减少所致。此外，MVPA揭示了与顶位和颞皮层训练相关的激活变化，这些变化与从情节性记忆（前突，角回）中获取知识有关，并促进了语音单词形式（后颞上沟）的获取。