Variable fMRI activation during two different language tasks in a patient with cognitive delay.

Functional MRI produces a more accurate localization of the language areas for epilepsy surgery purpose, but requires the patient's cooperation. We report a 34 year-old woman with mental retardation who underwent two different verbal fluency tasks, category and word naming. We found a strong activation of Broca's area in the most difficult task. We suggest that a multi-task fMRI study could be successful in patients with cognitive delay.