Results indicate that a shared network of regions including parts of left Brodmann areas 37 and 40 is necessary for reading and spelling of words and pseudowords. Further studies may define the precise roles of these brain regions in language. Identification of any neural regions specific to one of these tasks or one type of stimuli will require study of more patients with selective deficits.

Functional imaging studies indicate that the left hemisphere mediates verbal working memory, while the right hemisphere mediates both verbal and spatial working memory. We evaluated acute stroke patients with working memory tests and imaging to identify whether unilateral dysfunction causes deficits in spatial and/or verbal working memory deficits. While left cortical stroke patients had verbal working memory impairments (p < 0.003), right cortical stroke patients had both verbal (p < 0.007) and spatial working memory (p < 0.03) impairments, confirming functional imaging results. Patients with transient ischemic stroke and patients with non-cortical stroke did not have significant deficits in working memory in either modality.