Denise Klein-Broomberg, PhD
Professor
Denise Klein obtained her PhD聽at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Dr. Klein鈥檚 thesis research focused on developmental reading problems in bilingual children.聽She came to聽The Neuro in 1992 as a postdoctoral fellow to work with Dr. Brenda Milner.聽 Klein鈥檚 arrival at The Neuro聽coincided with the emerging use of functional neuroimaging techniques to study the neural representation of language.
Klein has played a leading role in the development of The Neuro鈥檚 research program using positron emission tomography (PET) combined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and more recently, functional MRI, to measure regional changes in cerebral blood flow during the performance of various language tasks. Klein鈥檚 early work pioneered the use of brain imaging for the study of bilingualism, and provided a spring board for current debates about bilingual brain organization. Klein鈥檚 current research program aims to understand how language experience influences and shapes brain organization.
The results of her brain imaging studies have also had considerable clinical relevance, helping to map out functional language areas in patients with focal brain lesions who are about to undergo brain surgery involving cortex bordering on critical speech areas. Dr. Klein is currently responsible for running a presurgical functional brain mapping program at The Neuro that integrates anatomical MRI, functional MRI and PET to facilitate preoperative diagnostic procedures in patients with brain lesions such as tumours, epileptic foci and vascular malformations that are in close proximity to areas of the brain that are critical to movement, vision, sensation, or language.
Cognitive Neuroscience
Bilingualism and language learning experiences:
*Pierce., L.J.,聽Klein, D., Chen, J-K., & Genesee, F. (2014). Mapping the unconscious maintenance of a lost first language.聽Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA.聽In press.
Klein, D, Mok, K. Chen, J, and Watkins, K. (2014). Age of language learning shapes brain structure: A cortical thickness study of bilingual and monolingual individuals. Special Edition聽Brain and Language聽(ed. M. Petrides). 2014 Apr; 131:20-24. doi: 10.1016/j.bandl.2013.05.014. Epub 2013 Jun 29.
*Penicaud, S.,聽Klein, D., Zatorre, R., Chen J., Witcher, P., Hyde K., and Mayberry, R.聽 聽(2013). Structural brain changes linked to delayed first language acquisition in congenitally deaf individuals.聽NeuroImage, 66, 42-49.
Mayberry R.I, Chen J-K, Witcher P.聽Klein D.聽 (2011). Age of acquisition effects on the functional organization of language in the adult brain,聽Brain and Language.聽119, 16鈥�29
Klein D,聽Zatorre RJ, Chen J-K., Milner B, Crane J. Belin P., Bouffard M. (2006). Bilingual brain organization: A functional magnetic resonance adaptation study.聽Neuroimage, 31: 366-375.
Klein, D, Watkins, K., Zatorre R.J., Milner B. (2006). Word and nonword repetition in bilingual subjects: A PET study.聽Journal of Human Brain Mapping, 27: 153-161.
Klein, D., Zatorre, R.J., Milner, B., Zhao, V. (2001). A cross-linguistic PET study of tone perception in Mandarin Chinese and English speakers.聽NeuroImage, 13, 646-653.聽
Klein, D., Milner, B., Zatorre, R.J., Meyer, E., and Evans, A. (1995). The neural substrates underlying word generation: a bilingual functional-imaging study.聽Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. USA, 92, 2899-2903.
Klein, D., Zatorre, R.J., Milner, B., Meyer, E. and Evans, A.C. (1994). Left putaminal activation when speaking a second language: Evidence from PET.聽NeuroReport, 17 (5), 2295-2297.
Pre-treatment brain mapping:
*La Piana, R., Bourassa-Blanchette, S.,聽Klein, D., 聽Mok, K. Cortes, M., Tampieri, D. (2013). Brain reorganization after endovascular treatment in a patient with large arteriovenous malformation: the role of diagnostic and functional neuroimaging techniques.聽Interventional Neuroradiology,聽19:329-38
*Colnat-Coulbois, S., Mok, K.,聽Klein, D., Penicaud, S., Tanriverdi, T聽 and Olivier, A. (2010).聽 Tractography of Amygdala and Hippocampus: Anatomical study and application to selective amygdalo-hippocampectomy.聽Journal of Neurosurgery, 113:1135-43.
*La Piana R.,聽Klein D., Cortes, M., and Tampieri D. (2009) Speech reorganization after an AVM bleed cured by embolization: A case report and review of literature.聽Interventional Neuroradiology.聽Vol 15. 456-461.
Klein, D. (2003). A positron emission tomography study of presurgical language mapping in a bilingual patient with a left posterior temporal cavernous angioma,聽Journal of Neurolinguistics, 16, 417-427.
Klein, D., Olivier, A., Milner B., Zatorre RJ., Johnsrude, I., Meyer. E., and Evans, AC. (1997) Obligatory role of the LIFG in synonym generation: Evidence from PET and cortical stimulation.聽NeuroReport, 8 (15), 3275-3279.