%0 Journal Article %A Vitória Piai %A Joost Rommers %A Robert T. Knight %T Evidence for a causal link between left posterior alpha-beta power decreases and context-driven word production %D 2017 %R 10.1101/150748 %J bioRxiv %P 150748 %X Different frequency bands in the electroencephalogram have been postulated to support distinct language functions. Studies have suggested that alpha-beta power decreases may index word-retrieval processes. In context-driven word retrieval, participants hear lead-in sentences that either constrain the final word (“He locked the door with the”) or not (“She walked in here with the”). The last word is shown as a picture to be named. Previous studies have consistently found alpha-beta power decreases prior to picture onset for constrained relative to unconstrained sentences, localised to the left lateral-temporal and lateral-frontal lobes, which relate to word retrieval. However, the relative contribution of temporal versus frontal areas to alpha-beta power decreases is unknown. We recorded the electroencephalogram from patients with stroke lesions encompassing the left-lateral temporal and inferior parietal regions or left-lateral frontal lobe and from matched controls. Individual-participant picture naming time analyses revealed a behavioural sentence context facilitation effect in all participants, except for in the two patients with extensive lesions to the temporal and inferior-parietal lobes (P7 and P9). We replicated the alpha-beta power decreases prior to picture onset in the control group and in all patients, except for in two patients (P7 and P9). Hierarchical clustering analyses of the patients’ lesion profiles, and behavioural and electrophysiological effects identified these two patients as having a unique combination of lesion distribution and context effects. These results provide evidence for a causal link between alpha-beta power decreases in the left lateral-temporal and inferior parietal lobes and context-driven word production. %U https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2017/06/15/150748.full.pdf