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Sample records for hemispheric language dominance

  1. Homotopic organization of essential language sites in right and bilateral cerebral hemispheric dominance.

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    Chang, Edward F; Wang, Doris D; Perry, David W; Barbaro, Nicholas M; Berger, Mitchel S

    2011-04-01

    Language dominance in the right hemisphere is rare. Therefore, the organization of essential language sites in the dominant right hemisphere is unclear, especially compared with cases involving the more prevalent left dominant hemisphere. The authors reviewed the medical records of 15 patients who underwent awake craniotomy for tumor or epilepsy surgery and speech mapping of right hemisphere perisylvian language areas at the University of California, San Francisco. All patients were determined to have either complete right-sided or bilateral language dominance by preoperative Wada testing. All patients but one were left-handed. Of more than 331 total stimulation sites, 27 total sites were identified as essential for language function (14 sites for speech arrest/anarthria; 12 for anomia; and 1 for alexia). While significant interindividual variability was observed, the general pattern of language organization was similar to classic descriptions of frontal language production and posterior temporal language integration for the left hemisphere. Speech arrest sites were clustered in the ventral precentral gyrus and pars opercularis. Anomia sites were more widely distributed, but were focused in the posterior superior and middle temporal gyri as well as the inferior parietal gyrus. One alexia site was found over the superior temporal gyrus. Face sensory and motor cortical sites were also identified along the ventral sensorimotor strip. The prevalence and specificity of essential language sites were greater in unilateral right hemisphere-dominant patients, compared with those with bilateral dominance by Wada testing. The authors' results suggest that the organization of language in right hemisphere dominance mirrors that of left hemisphere dominance. Awake speech mapping is a safe and reliable surgical adjunct in these rare clinical cases and should be done in the setting of right hemisphere dominance to avoid preventable postoperative aphasia.

  2. Predicting hemispheric dominance for language production in healthy individuals using support vector machine.

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    Zago, Laure; Hervé, Pierre-Yves; Genuer, Robin; Laurent, Alexandre; Mazoyer, Bernard; Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie; Joliot, Marc

    2017-12-01

    We used a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier to assess hemispheric pattern of language dominance of 47 individuals categorized as non-typical for language from their hemispheric functional laterality index (HFLI) measured on a sentence minus word-list production fMRI-BOLD contrast map. The SVM classifier was trained at discriminating between Dominant and Non-Dominant hemispheric language production activation pattern on a group of 250 participants previously identified as Typicals (HFLI strongly leftward). Then, SVM was applied to each hemispheric language activation pattern of 47 non-typical individuals. The results showed that at least one hemisphere (left or right) was found to be Dominant in every, except 3 individuals, indicating that the "dominant" type of functional organization is the most frequent in non-typicals. Specifically, left hemisphere dominance was predicted in all non-typical right-handers (RH) and in 57.4% of non-typical left-handers (LH). When both hemisphere classifications were jointly considered, four types of brain patterns were observed. The most often predicted pattern (51%) was left-dominant (Dominant left-hemisphere and Non-Dominant right-hemisphere), followed by right-dominant (23%, Dominant right-hemisphere and Non-Dominant left-hemisphere) and co-dominant (19%, 2 Dominant hemispheres) patterns. Co-non-dominant was rare (6%, 2 Non-Dominant hemispheres), but was normal variants of hemispheric specialization. In RH, only left-dominant (72%) and co-dominant patterns were detected, while for LH, all types were found, although with different occurrences. Among the 10 LH with a strong rightward HFLI, 8 had a right-dominant brain pattern. Whole-brain analysis of the right-dominant pattern group confirmed that it exhibited a functional organization strictly mirroring that of left-dominant pattern group. Hum Brain Mapp 38:5871-5889, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  3. Functional magnetic resonance imaging to determine hemispheric language dominance prior to carotid endarterectomy.

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    Smits, M; Wieberdink, R G; Bakker, S L M; Dippel, D W J

    2011-04-01

    We describe a left-handed patient with transient aphasia and bilateral carotid stenosis. Computed tomography (CT) arteriography showed a 90% stenosis of the right and 30% stenosis of the left internal carotid artery. Head CT and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain showed no recent ischemic changes. As only the symptomatic side would require surgical intervention, and because hemispheric dominance for language in left-handed patients may be either left or right sided, a preoperative assessment of hemispheric dominance was required. We used functional MRI to determine hemispheric dominance for language and hence to establish the indication for carotid endarterectomy surgery. Functional MRI demonstrated right hemispheric dominance for language and right-sided carotid endarterectomy was performed. We propose that the clinical use of functional MRI as a noninvasive imaging technique for the assessment of hemispheric language dominance may be extended to the assessment of hemispheric language dominance prior to carotid endarterectomy. Copyright © 2010 by the American Society of Neuroimaging.

  4. Assessment of Hemispheric Dominance for Language at Three Ages.

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    Tegano, Deborah Walker

    The purposes of this study were to assess the development of hemispheric dominance for language function among children of 4, 7, and 10 years of age and to determine whether age predicts hemispheric dominance. Within 2 weeks of the beginning of data collection, middle-class subjects selected from private nursery schools and elementary schools…

  5. Hemispheric Language Dominance of Language-Disordered, Articulation-Disordered, and Normal Children.

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    Pettit, John M.; Helms, Suzanne B.

    1979-01-01

    The hemispheric dominance for language of three groups of six- to nine- year-olds (ten language-disordered, ten articulation-disordered, and ten normal children) was compared, and two dichotic listening tests (digits and animal names) were administered. (Author/CL)

  6. Atypical cortical language organization in epilepsy patients: evidence for divergent hemispheric dominance for receptive and expressive language function.

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    Eliashiv, Dawn S; Kurelowech, Lacey; Quint, Patti; Chung, Jeffrey M; Otis, Shirley M; Gage, Nicole M

    2014-06-01

    The central goal of presurgical language mapping is to identify brain regions that subserve cortical language function to minimize postsurgical language deficits. Presurgical language mapping in patients with epilepsy presents a key challenge because of the atypical pattern of hemispheric language dominance found in this population, with higher incidences of bilateral and right-biased language dominance than typical. In this prospective study, we combine magnetoencephalography with a panel of tasks designed to separately assess receptive and expressive function to provide a sensitive measure of language function in 15 candidates for resective surgery. We report the following: 4 of 15 patients (27%) showed left hemisphere dominance across all tasks, 4 of 15 patients (27%) showed right hemisphere dominance across all tasks, and 7 of 15 (46%) showed discordant language dominance, with right-dominant receptive and left-dominant expressive language. All patients with discordant language dominance showed this right-receptive and left-expressive pattern. Results provide further evidence supporting the importance of using a panel of tasks to assess separable aspects of language function. The clinical relevance of the findings is discussed, especially about current clinical operative measures for assessing language dominance, which use single hemisphere procedure (intracarotid amobarbital procedure and awake intraoperative stimulation) for determining language laterality.

  7. Multimodality language mapping in patients with left-hemispheric language dominance on Wada test.

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    Kojima, Katsuaki; Brown, Erik C; Rothermel, Robert; Carlson, Alanna; Matsuzaki, Naoyuki; Shah, Aashit; Atkinson, Marie; Mittal, Sandeep; Fuerst, Darren; Sood, Sandeep; Asano, Eishi

    2012-10-01

    We determined the utility of electrocorticography (ECoG) and stimulation for detecting language-related sites in patients with left-hemispheric language-dominance on Wada test. We studied 13 epileptic patients who underwent language mapping using event-related gamma-oscillations on ECoG and stimulation via subdural electrodes. Sites showing significant gamma-augmentation during an auditory-naming task were defined as language-related ECoG sites. Sites at which stimulation resulted in auditory perceptual changes, failure to verbalize a correct answer, or sensorimotor symptoms involving the mouth were defined as language-related stimulation sites. We determined how frequently these methods revealed language-related sites in the superior-temporal, inferior-frontal, dorsolateral-premotor, and inferior-Rolandic regions. Language-related sites in the superior-temporal and inferior-frontal gyri were detected by ECoG more frequently than stimulation (p hemispheric language-dominance. Measurement of language-related gamma-oscillations is warranted in presurgical evaluation of epileptic patients. Copyright © 2012 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Hemispheric specialization in affective responses, cerebral dominance for language, and handedness: Lateralization of emotion, language, and dexterity.

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    Costanzo, Elsa Yolanda; Villarreal, Mirta; Drucaroff, Lucas Javier; Ortiz-Villafañe, Manuel; Castro, Mariana Nair; Goldschmidt, Micaela; Wainsztein, Agustina Edith; Ladrón-de-Guevara, María Soledad; Romero, Carlos; Brusco, Luis Ignacio; Camprodon, Joan A; Nemeroff, Charles; Guinjoan, Salvador Martín

    2015-07-15

    Hemispheric specialization in affective responses has received little attention in the literature. This is a fundamental variable to understand circuit dynamics of networks subserving emotion. In this study we put to test a modified "valence" hypothesis of emotion processing, considering that sadness and happiness are processed by each hemisphere in relation to dominance for language and handedness. Mood induction and language activation during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were used in 20 right-handed and 20 nonright-handed subjects, focusing on interconnected regions known to play critical roles in affective responses: subgenual cingulate cortex, amygdala, and anterior insular cortex. We observed a consistent relationship between lateralization of affective processing, motor dexterity, and language in individuals with clear right-handedness. Sadness induces a greater activation of right-hemisphere cortical structures in right-handed, left-dominant individuals, which is not evident in nonright-handed subjects who show no consistent hemispheric dominance for language. In anterior insula, right-handed individuals displayed reciprocal activation of either hemisphere depending upon mood valence, whereas amygdala activation was predominantly left-sided regardless of mood valence. Nonright-handed individuals exhibited less consistent brain lateralization of affective processing regardless of language and motor dexterity lateralization. In contrast with traditional views on emotion processing lateralization, hemispheric specialization in affective responses is not a unitary process but is specific to the brain structure being activated. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Determination of hemispheric language dominance using functional MRI : comparison of visual and auditory stimuli

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    Yoo, Ic Ryung; Ahn, Kook Jin; Lee, Jae Mun [The Catholic Univ. of Korea, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Tae [The Catholic Magnetic Resonance Research Center, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    1999-12-01

    To assess the difference between auditory and visual stimuli when determining hemispheric language dominance by using functional MRI. In ten healthy adult volunteers (8 right-handed, 1 left-handed, 1 ambidextrous), motor language activation in axial slices of frontal lobe was mapped on a Simens 1.5T Vision Plus system using single-shot EPI. Series of 120 consecutive images per section were acquired during three cycles of task activation and rest. During each activation, a series of four syllables was delivered by means of both a visual and auditory method, and the volunteers were asked to mentally generate words starting with each syllable. In both in ferior frontal gyri and whole frontal lobes, lateralization indices were calculated from the activated pixels. We determined the language dominant hemisphere, and compared the results of the visual method and the auditory method. Seven right-handed persons were left-hemisphere dominant, and one left-handed and one ambidex-trous person were right-hemisphere dominant. Five of nine persons demonstrated larger lateralization indices with the auditory method than the visual method, while the remaining four showed larger lateralization indices with the visual method. No statistically significant difference was noted when comparing the results of the two methods(p>0.05). When determining hemispheric language dominance using functional MRI, the two methods are equally appropriate.

  10. Determination of hemispheric language dominance using functional MRI : comparison of visual and auditory stimuli

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoo, Ic Ryung; Ahn, Kook Jin; Lee, Jae Mun; Kim, Tae

    1999-01-01

    To assess the difference between auditory and visual stimuli when determining hemispheric language dominance by using functional MRI. In ten healthy adult volunteers (8 right-handed, 1 left-handed, 1 ambidextrous), motor language activation in axial slices of frontal lobe was mapped on a Simens 1.5T Vision Plus system using single-shot EPI. Series of 120 consecutive images per section were acquired during three cycles of task activation and rest. During each activation, a series of four syllables was delivered by means of both a visual and auditory method, and the volunteers were asked to mentally generate words starting with each syllable. In both in ferior frontal gyri and whole frontal lobes, lateralization indices were calculated from the activated pixels. We determined the language dominant hemisphere, and compared the results of the visual method and the auditory method. Seven right-handed persons were left-hemisphere dominant, and one left-handed and one ambidex-trous person were right-hemisphere dominant. Five of nine persons demonstrated larger lateralization indices with the auditory method than the visual method, while the remaining four showed larger lateralization indices with the visual method. No statistically significant difference was noted when comparing the results of the two methods(p>0.05). When determining hemispheric language dominance using functional MRI, the two methods are equally appropriate

  11. Functional MRI assessment of hemispheric language dominance with using a lexical decision task

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryoo, Jae Wook; Choi, Dae Seob; Cho, Jae Min; Park, Eui Dong; You, Jin Jong; Na, Dong Gyu; Kim, Sam Soo; Cha, Sang Hoon

    2005-01-01

    We wanted to compare the fMRIs (functional magnetic resonance images) obtained during a lexical decision task and also during a word generation task, and we wanted to evaluate the usefulness of using a lexical decision task for the visualization of the brain language area and for the determination of language dominance. Sixteen patients (9 women and 7 men) who had had undergone the Wada test were included in our study. All the patients were left dominant for language, as tested for on the Wada test. The functional maps of the brain language area were obtained in all the subjects during the performance of a lexical decision task and also during the performance of a word generation task. The MR examinations were performed with a 1.5 T scanner and with using the EPI BOLD technique. We used the SPM program for the postprocessing of the images. The threshold for significance was set at ρ <0.001 or ρ <0.01. A lateralization index was calculated from the number of activated pixels in each hemispheric region (the whole hemisphere, the frontal lobe and the temporoparietal lobe), and the hemispheric language dominance was assessed by the lateralization index; the results were then compared with those results of the Wada test. The differences for the lateralization of the language area were analyzed with regard to the stimulation tasks and the regions used for the calculation of the lateralization indices. The number of activated pixels during the lexical decision task was significantly smaller than that of the word generation task. The language dominance based on the activated signals in each hemisphere, was consistent with the results of the Wada test for the word generation tasks in all the subjects. On the lexical decision task, the language dominance, as determined by the activated signals in each hemisphere and the temporoparietal lobe, correlated for 94% of the patients. The mean values of the lateralization index for the lexical decision task were higher than those

  12. Functional MRI assessment of hemispheric language dominance with using a lexical decision task

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    Ryoo, Jae Wook; Choi, Dae Seob; Cho, Jae Min; Park, Eui Dong; You, Jin Jong [Gyeongsang National University College of Medicine, Jinju (Korea, Republic of); Na, Dong Gyu [Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Sam Soo [Kangwon National University College of Medicine, Chuncheon (Korea, Republic of); Cha, Sang Hoon [Chungbuk National University College of Medicine, Cheonju (Korea, Republic of)

    2005-07-15

    We wanted to compare the fMRIs (functional magnetic resonance images) obtained during a lexical decision task and also during a word generation task, and we wanted to evaluate the usefulness of using a lexical decision task for the visualization of the brain language area and for the determination of language dominance. Sixteen patients (9 women and 7 men) who had had undergone the Wada test were included in our study. All the patients were left dominant for language, as tested for on the Wada test. The functional maps of the brain language area were obtained in all the subjects during the performance of a lexical decision task and also during the performance of a word generation task. The MR examinations were performed with a 1.5 T scanner and with using the EPI BOLD technique. We used the SPM program for the postprocessing of the images. The threshold for significance was set at {rho} <0.001 or {rho} <0.01. A lateralization index was calculated from the number of activated pixels in each hemispheric region (the whole hemisphere, the frontal lobe and the temporoparietal lobe), and the hemispheric language dominance was assessed by the lateralization index; the results were then compared with those results of the Wada test. The differences for the lateralization of the language area were analyzed with regard to the stimulation tasks and the regions used for the calculation of the lateralization indices. The number of activated pixels during the lexical decision task was significantly smaller than that of the word generation task. The language dominance based on the activated signals in each hemisphere, was consistent with the results of the Wada test for the word generation tasks in all the subjects. On the lexical decision task, the language dominance, as determined by the activated signals in each hemisphere and the temporoparietal lobe, correlated for 94% of the patients. The mean values of the lateralization index for the lexical decision task were higher than

  13. Rethinking clinical language mapping approaches: discordant receptive and expressive hemispheric language dominance in epilepsy surgery candidates.

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    Gage, Nicole M; Eliashiv, Dawn S; Isenberg, Anna L; Fillmore, Paul T; Kurelowech, Lacey; Quint, Patti J; Chung, Jeffrey M; Otis, Shirley M

    2011-06-01

    Neuroimaging studies have shed light on cortical language organization, with findings implicating the left and right temporal lobes in speech processing converging to a left-dominant pattern. Findings highlight the fact that the state of theoretical language knowledge is ahead of current clinical language mapping methods, motivating a rethinking of these approaches. The authors used magnetoencephalography and multiple tasks in seven candidates for resective epilepsy surgery to investigate language organization. The authors scanned 12 control subjects to investigate the time course of bilateral receptive speech processes. Laterality indices were calculated for left and right hemisphere late fields ∼150 to 400 milliseconds. The authors report that (1) in healthy adults, speech processes activated superior temporal regions bilaterally converging to a left-dominant pattern, (2) in four of six patients, this was reversed, with bilateral processing converging to a right-dominant pattern, and (3) in three of four of these patients, receptive and expressive language processes were laterally discordant. Results provide evidence that receptive and expressive language may have divergent hemispheric dominance. Right-sided receptive language dominance in epilepsy patients emphasizes the need to assess both receptive and expressive language. Findings indicate that it is critical to use multiple tasks tapping separable aspects of language function to provide sensitive and specific estimates of language localization in surgical patients.

  14. The diminishing dominance of the dominant hemisphere: Language fMRI in focal epilepsy

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    Chris Tailby

    2017-01-01

    Our data highlight the importance of considering language as a complex task where lateralisation varies at the subhemispheric scale. This is especially important for presurgical planning for focal resections where the concept of ‘hemispheric dominance’ may be misleading. This is a precision medicine approach that enables objective evaluation of language dominance within specific brain regions and can reveal surprising and unexpected anomalies that may be clinically important for individual cases.

  15. Evaluating fMRI methods for assessing hemispheric language dominance in healthy subjects.

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    Baciu, Monica; Juphard, Alexandra; Cousin, Emilie; Bas, Jean François Le

    2005-08-01

    We evaluated two methods for quantifying the hemispheric language dominance in healthy subjects, by using a rhyme detection (deciding whether couple of words rhyme) and a word fluency (generating words starting with a given letter) task. One of methods called "flip method" (FM) was based on the direct statistical comparison between hemispheres' activity. The second one, the classical lateralization indices method (LIM), was based on calculating lateralization indices by taking into account the number of activated pixels within hemispheres. The main difference between methods is the statistical assessment of the inter-hemispheric difference: while FM shows if the difference between hemispheres' activity is statistically significant, LIM shows only that if there is a difference between hemispheres. The robustness of LIM and FM was assessed by calculating correlation coefficients between LIs obtained with each of these methods and manual lateralization indices MLI obtained with Edinburgh inventory. Our results showed significant correlation between LIs provided by each method and the MIL, suggesting that both methods are robust for quantifying hemispheric dominance for language in healthy subjects. In the present study we also evaluated the effect of spatial normalization, smoothing and "clustering" (NSC) on the intra-hemispheric location of activated regions and inter-hemispheric asymmetry of the activation. Our results have shown that NSC did not affect the hemispheric specialization but increased the value of the inter-hemispheric difference.

  16. Evaluating fMRI methods for assessing hemispheric language dominance in healthy subjects

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baciu, Monica; Juphard, Alexandra; Cousin, Emilie; Bas, Jean Francois Le

    2005-01-01

    We evaluated two methods for quantifying the hemispheric language dominance in healthy subjects, by using a rhyme detection (deciding whether couple of words rhyme) and a word fluency (generating words starting with a given letter) task. One of methods called 'flip method' (FM) was based on the direct statistical comparison between hemispheres' activity. The second one, the classical lateralization indices method (LIM), was based on calculating lateralization indices by taking into account the number of activated pixels within hemispheres. The main difference between methods is the statistical assessment of the inter-hemispheric difference: while FM shows if the difference between hemispheres' activity is statistically significant, LIM shows only that if there is a difference between hemispheres. The robustness of LIM and FM was assessed by calculating correlation coefficients between LIs obtained with each of these methods and manual lateralization indices MLI obtained with Edinburgh inventory. Our results showed significant correlation between LIs provided by each method and the MIL, suggesting that both methods are robust for quantifying hemispheric dominance for language in healthy subjects. In the present study we also evaluated the effect of spatial normalization, smoothing and 'clustering' (NSC) on the intra-hemispheric location of activated regions and inter-hemispheric asymmetry of the activation. Our results have shown that NSC did not affect the hemispheric specialization but increased the value of the inter-hemispheric difference

  17. Schizophrenia as failure of left hemispheric dominance for the phonological component of language.

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    Angrilli, Alessandro; Spironelli, Chiara; Elbert, Thomas; Crow, Timothy J; Marano, Gianfranco; Stegagno, Luciano

    2009-01-01

    T. J. Crow suggested that the genetic variance associated with the evolution in Homo sapiens of hemispheric dominance for language carries with it the hazard of the symptoms of schizophrenia. Individuals lacking the typical left hemisphere advantage for language, in particular for phonological components, would be at increased risk of the typical symptoms such as auditory hallucinations and delusions. Twelve schizophrenic patients treated with low levels of neuroleptics and twelve matched healthy controls participated in an event-related potential experiment. Subjects matched word-pairs in three tasks: rhyming/phonological, semantic judgment and word recognition. Slow evoked potentials were recorded from 26 scalp electrodes, and a laterality index was computed for anterior and posterior regions during the inter stimulus interval. During phonological processing individuals with schizophrenia failed to achieve the left hemispheric dominance consistently observed in healthy controls. The effect involved anterior (fronto-temporal) brain regions and was specific for the Phonological task; group differences were small or absent when subjects processed the same stimulus material in a Semantic task or during Word Recognition, i.e. during tasks that typically activate more widespread areas in both hemispheres. We show for the first time how the deficit of lateralization in the schizophrenic brain is specific for the phonological component of language. This loss of hemispheric dominance would explain typical symptoms, e.g. when an individual's own thoughts are perceived as an external intruding voice. The change can be interpreted as a consequence of "hemispheric indecision", a failure to segregate phonological engrams in one hemisphere.

  18. Schizophrenia as failure of left hemispheric dominance for the phonological component of language.

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    Alessandro Angrilli

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: T. J. Crow suggested that the genetic variance associated with the evolution in Homo sapiens of hemispheric dominance for language carries with it the hazard of the symptoms of schizophrenia. Individuals lacking the typical left hemisphere advantage for language, in particular for phonological components, would be at increased risk of the typical symptoms such as auditory hallucinations and delusions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Twelve schizophrenic patients treated with low levels of neuroleptics and twelve matched healthy controls participated in an event-related potential experiment. Subjects matched word-pairs in three tasks: rhyming/phonological, semantic judgment and word recognition. Slow evoked potentials were recorded from 26 scalp electrodes, and a laterality index was computed for anterior and posterior regions during the inter stimulus interval. During phonological processing individuals with schizophrenia failed to achieve the left hemispheric dominance consistently observed in healthy controls. The effect involved anterior (fronto-temporal brain regions and was specific for the Phonological task; group differences were small or absent when subjects processed the same stimulus material in a Semantic task or during Word Recognition, i.e. during tasks that typically activate more widespread areas in both hemispheres. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We show for the first time how the deficit of lateralization in the schizophrenic brain is specific for the phonological component of language. This loss of hemispheric dominance would explain typical symptoms, e.g. when an individual's own thoughts are perceived as an external intruding voice. The change can be interpreted as a consequence of "hemispheric indecision", a failure to segregate phonological engrams in one hemisphere.

  19. Evaluating fMRI methods for assessing hemispheric language dominance in healthy subjects

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    Baciu, Monica [Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, UMR 5105 CNRS, Universite Pierre Mendes-France, F38040 Grenoble Cedex 09 (France)]. E-mail: mbaciu@upmf-grenoble.fr; Juphard, Alexandra [Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, UMR 5105 CNRS, Universite Pierre Mendes-France, F38040 Grenoble Cedex 09 (France); Cousin, Emilie [Laboratoire de Psychologie et NeuroCognition, UMR 5105 CNRS, Universite Pierre Mendes-France, F38040 Grenoble Cedex 09 (France); Bas, Jean Francois Le [Unite IRM, CHU Grenoble (France)

    2005-08-01

    We evaluated two methods for quantifying the hemispheric language dominance in healthy subjects, by using a rhyme detection (deciding whether couple of words rhyme) and a word fluency (generating words starting with a given letter) task. One of methods called 'flip method' (FM) was based on the direct statistical comparison between hemispheres' activity. The second one, the classical lateralization indices method (LIM), was based on calculating lateralization indices by taking into account the number of activated pixels within hemispheres. The main difference between methods is the statistical assessment of the inter-hemispheric difference: while FM shows if the difference between hemispheres' activity is statistically significant, LIM shows only that if there is a difference between hemispheres. The robustness of LIM and FM was assessed by calculating correlation coefficients between LIs obtained with each of these methods and manual lateralization indices MLI obtained with Edinburgh inventory. Our results showed significant correlation between LIs provided by each method and the MIL, suggesting that both methods are robust for quantifying hemispheric dominance for language in healthy subjects. In the present study we also evaluated the effect of spatial normalization, smoothing and 'clustering' (NSC) on the intra-hemispheric location of activated regions and inter-hemispheric asymmetry of the activation. Our results have shown that NSC did not affect the hemispheric specialization but increased the value of the inter-hemispheric difference.

  20. Beyond Hemispheric Dominance: Brain Regions Underlying the Joint Lateralization of Language and Arithmetic to the Left Hemisphere

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    Pinel, Philippe; Dehaene, Stanislas

    2010-01-01

    Language and arithmetic are both lateralized to the left hemisphere in the majority of right-handed adults. Yet, does this similar lateralization reflect a single overall constraint of brain organization, such an overall "dominance" of the left hemisphere for all linguistic and symbolic operations? Is it related to the lateralization of specific…

  1. Atypical hemispheric dominance for attention: functional MRI topography.

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    Flöel, Agnes; Jansen, Andreas; Deppe, Michael; Kanowski, Martin; Konrad, Carsten; Sommer, Jens; Knecht, Stefan

    2005-09-01

    The right hemisphere is predominantly involved in tasks associated with spatial attention. However, left hemispheric dominance for spatial attention can be found in healthy individuals, and both spatial attention and language can be lateralized to the same hemisphere. Little is known about the underlying regional distribution of neural activation in these 'atypical' individuals. Previously a large number of healthy subjects were screened for hemispheric dominance of visuospatial attention and language, using functional Doppler ultrasonography. From this group, subjects were chosen who were 'atypical' for hemispheric dominance of visuospatial attention and language, and their pattern of brain activation was studied with functional magnetic resonance imaging during a task probing spatial attention. Right-handed subjects with the 'typical' pattern of brain organization served as control subjects. It was found that subjects with an inverted lateralization of language and spatial attention (language right, attention left) recruited left-hemispheric areas in the attention task, homotopic to those recruited by control subjects in the right hemisphere. Subjects with lateralization of both language and attention to the right hemisphere activated an attentional network in the right hemisphere that was comparable to control subjects. The present findings suggest that not the hemispheric side, but the intrahemispheric pattern of activation is the distinct feature for the neural processes underlying language and attention.

  2. Association between scalp hair-whorl direction and hemispheric language dominance.

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Weber, B.; Hoppe, C.; Faber, J.; Axmacher, N.; Fliessbach, K.; Mormann, F.; Weis, S.; Ruhlmann, J.; Elger, C.E.; Fernandez, G.S.E.

    2006-01-01

    Asymmetry is a common phenomenon in higher organisms. In humans, the cortical representation of language exhibits a high degree of asymmetry with a prevalence of about 90% of left hemispheric dominance, the underlying mechanisms of which are largely unknown. Another sign that exhibits a form of

  3. Hemispheric language dominance measured by repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation and postoperative course of language function in brain tumor patients.

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    Ille, Sebastian; Kulchytska, Nataliia; Sollmann, Nico; Wittig, Regina; Beurskens, Eva; Butenschoen, Vicki M; Ringel, Florian; Vajkoczy, Peter; Meyer, Bernhard; Picht, Thomas; Krieg, Sandro M

    2016-10-01

    The resection of left-sided perisylvian brain lesions harbors the risk of postoperative aphasia. Because it is known that language function can shift between hemispheres in brain tumor patients, the preoperative knowledge of the patient's language dominance could be helpful. We therefore investigated the hemispheric language dominance by repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and surgery-related deficits of language function. We pooled the bicentric language mapping data of 80 patients undergoing the resection of left-sided perisylvian brain lesions in our two university neurosurgical departments. We calculated error rates (ERs; ER = errors per stimulations) for both hemispheres and defined the hemispheric dominance ratio (HDR) as the quotient of the left- and right-sided ER (HDR >1= left dominant; HDR right dominant). The course of the patient's language function was evaluated and correlated with the preoperative HDR. Only three of 80 patients (4%) presented with permanent surgery-related aphasia and 24 patients (30%) with transient surgery-related aphasia. The mean HDR (± standard deviation) of patients with new aphasia after five days was significantly higher (1.68±1.07) than the HDR of patients with no new language deficit (1.37±1.08) (p=0.0482). With a predefined cut-off value of 0.5 for HDR, we achieved a sensitivity for predicting new aphasia of 100%. A higher preoperative HDR significantly correlates with an increased risk for transient aphasia. Moreover, the intensive preoperative workup in this study led to a considerably low rate of permanent aphasia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  4. Determination of hemispheric language dominance in the surgical epilepsy patient: diagnostic properties of functional magnetic resonance imaging.

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    Spritzer, Scott D; Hoerth, Matthew T; Zimmerman, Richard S; Shmookler, Aaron; Hoffman-Snyder, Charlene R; Wellik, Kay E; Demaerschalk, Bart M; Wingerchuk, Dean M

    2012-09-01

    Presurgical evaluation for refractory epilepsy typically includes assessment of cognitive and language functions. The reference standard for determination of hemispheric language dominance has been the intracarotid amobarbital test (IAT) but functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is increasingly used. To critically assess current evidence regarding the diagnostic properties of fMRI in comparison with the IAT for determination of hemispheric language dominance. The objective was addressed through the development of a structured critically appraised topic. This included a clinical scenario, structured question, literature search strategy, critical appraisal, results, evidence summary, commentary, and bottom-line conclusions. Participants included consultant and resident neurologists, a medical librarian, clinical epidemiologists, and content experts in the fields of epilepsy and neurosurgery. A systematic review and meta-analysis that compared the sensitivity and specificity of fMRI to IAT-determined language lateralization was selected for critical appraisal. The review included data from 23 articles (n=442); study methodology varied widely. fMRI was 83.5% sensitive and 88.1% specific for detection of hemispheric language dominance. There are insufficient data to support routine use of fMRI for the purpose of determining hemispheric language dominance in patients with intractable epilepsy. Larger, well-designed studies of fMRI for language and other cognitive outcomes as part of the presurgical and postsurgical evaluation of epilepsy patients are necessary.

  5. Right hemispheric language dominance in a right-handed male with a right frontal tumor shown by functional transcranial Doppler sonography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haag, A; Preibisch, C; Sure, U; Knake, S; Heinze, S; Krakow, K; Rosenow, F; Hamer, H M

    2006-02-01

    A 38-year-old, right-handed man with late-onset right frontal epilepsy due to a ganglioglioma and atypical right hemispheric language dominance is described. Language dominance was investigated with functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD), and language localization with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). During a word generation task, fTCD showed atypical right hemispheric language dominance, which was confirmed by fMRI using a semantic word comparison and a word stem completion task. This information helped to guide the resective procedure, which left the patient seizure-free and did not induce new deficits. Functional TCD appears to be a useful and reliable screening tool for determining hemispheric language dominance, even in patients with atypical language representation. Functional MRI may be used to confirm fTCD results and further localize eloquent cortex.

  6. Is functional MR imaging assessment of hemispheric language dominance as good as the Wada test?: a meta-analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dym, R Joshua; Burns, Judah; Freeman, Katherine; Lipton, Michael L

    2011-11-01

    To perform a systematic review and meta-analysis to quantitatively assess functional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging lateralization of language function in comparison with the Wada test. This study was determined to be exempt from review by the institutional review board. A systematic review and meta-analysis were performed in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A structured Medline search was conducted to identify all studies that compared functional MR imaging with the Wada test for determining hemispheric language dominance prior to brain surgery. Studies meeting predetermined inclusion criteria were selected independently by two radiologists who also assessed their quality using the Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies tool. Language dominance was classified as typical (left hemispheric language dominance) or atypical (right hemispheric language dominance or bilateral language representation) for each patient. A meta-analysis was then performed by using a bivariate random-effects model to derive estimates of sensitivity and specificity, with Wada as the standard of reference. Subgroup analyses were also performed to compare the different functional MR imaging techniques utilized by the studies. Twenty-three studies, comprising 442 patients, met inclusion criteria. The sensitivity and specificity of functional MR imaging for atypical language dominance (compared with the Wada test) were 83.5% (95% confidence interval: 80.2%, 86.7%) and 88.1% (95% confidence interval: 87.0%, 89.2%), respectively. Functional MR imaging provides an excellent, noninvasive alternative for language lateralization and should be considered for the initial preoperative assessment of hemispheric language dominance. Further research may help determine which functional MR methods are most accurate for specific patient populations. RSNA, 2011

  7. The association between scalp hair-whorl direction, handedness and hemispheric language dominance: is there a common genetic basis of lateralization?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jansen, Andreas; Lohmann, Hubertus; Scharfe, Stefanie; Sehlmeyer, Christina; Deppe, Michael; Knecht, Stefan

    2007-04-01

    The hemispheres of the human brain are functionally asymmetric. The left hemisphere tends to be dominant for language and superior in the control of manual dexterity. The mechanisms underlying these asymmetries are not known. Genetic as well as environmental factors are discussed. Recently, atypical anticlockwise hair-whorl direction has been related to an increased probability for non-right-handedness and atypical hemispheric language dominance. These findings are fascinating and important since hair-whorl direction is a structural marker of lateralization and could provide a readily observable anatomical clue to functional brain lateralization. Based on data on handedness and hair-whorl direction, Amar Klar proposed a genetic model ("random-recessive model") in that a single gene with two alleles controls both handedness and hair-whorl orientation (Klar, A.J.S., 2003. Human handedness and scalp hair-whorl direction develop from a common genetic mechanism. Genetics 165, 269-276). The present study was designed to further investigate the relationship between scalp hair-whorl direction with handedness and hemispheric language dominance. 1212 subjects were investigated for scalp hair-whorl direction and handedness. Additionally, we determined hemispheric language dominance (as assessed by a word generation task) in a subgroup of 212 subjects using functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD). As for the single attributes - hair-whorl direction, handedness, and language dominance - we reproduced previously published results. However, we found no association between hair-whorl direction and either language dominance or handedness. These results strongly argue against a common genetic basis of handedness or language lateralization with scalp hair-whorl direction. Inspection of hair patterns will not help us to determine language dominance.

  8. Determination of hemisphere dominance for language: comparison of frontal and temporal fMRI activation with intracarotid amytal testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Spreer, J.; Arnold, S.; Ziyeh, S.; Klisch, J.; Schumacher, M.; Quiske, A.; Altenmueller, D.; Schulze-Bonhage, A.; Wohlfarth, R.; Steinhoff, B.J.; Herpers, M.; Kassubek, J.; Honegger, J.

    2002-01-01

    The reliability of frontal and temporal fMRI activations for the determination of hemisphere language dominance was evaluated in comparison with intracarotid amytal testing (IAT). Twenty-two patients were studied by IAT (bilateral in 13, unilateral in 9 patients) and fMRI using a paradigm requiring semantic decisions. Global and regional (frontal and temporoparietal) lateralisation indices (LI) were calculated from the number of activated (r>0.4) voxels in both hemispheres. Frontolateral activations associated with the language task were seen in all patients, temporoparietal activations in 20 of 22. Regional LI corresponded better with IAT results than global LI. Frontolateral LI were consistent with IAT in all patients with bilateral IAT (including three patients with right dominant and one patient with bilateral language representation) and were not conflicting in any of the patients with unilateral IAT. Temporoparietal LI were discordant with IAT in two patients with atypical language representation. In the determination of hemisphere dominance for language, regional analysis of fMRI activation is superior to global analysis. In cases with clear-cut fMRI lateralisation, i.e. consistent lateralised activation of frontal and temporoparietal language zones, IAT may be unnecessary. FMRI should be performed prior to IAT in all patients going to be operated in brain regions potentially involved in language. (orig.)

  9. Assessment of hemispheric dominance for receptive language in pediatric patients under sedation using magnetoencephalography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rezaie, Roozbeh; Narayana, Shalini; Schiller, Katherine; Birg, Liliya; Wheless, James W; Boop, Frederick A; Papanicolaou, Andrew C

    2014-01-01

    Non-invasive assessment of hemispheric dominance for receptive language using magnetoencephalography (MEG) is now a well-established procedure used across several epilepsy centers in the context of pre-surgical evaluation of children and adults while awake, alert and attentive. However, the utility of MEG for the same purpose, in cases of sedated patients, is contested. Establishment of the efficiency of MEG is especially important in the case of children who, for a number of reasons, must be assessed under sedation. Here we explored the efficacy of MEG language mapping under sedation through retrospective review of 95 consecutive pediatric patients, who underwent our receptive language test as part of routine clinical evaluation. Localization of receptive language cortex and subsequent determination of laterality was successfully completed in 78% (n = 36) and 55% (n = 27) of non-sedated and sedated patients, respectively. Moreover, the proportion of patients deemed left hemisphere dominant for receptive language did not differ between non-sedated and sedated patients, exceeding 90% in both groups. Considering the challenges associated with assessing brain function in pediatric patients, the success of passive MEG in the context of the cases reviewed in this study support the utility of this method in pre-surgical receptive language mapping.

  10. Assessment of hemispheric dominance for receptive language in pediatric patients under sedation using magnetoencephalography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roozbeh eRezaie

    2014-08-01

    Full Text Available Non-invasive assessment of hemispheric dominance for receptive language using Magnetoencephalography (MEG is now a well-established procedure used across several epilepsy centers in the context of pre-surgical evaluation of children and adults while awake, alert and attentive. However, the utility of MEG for the same purpose, in cases of sedated patients, is contested. Establishment of the efficiency of MEG is especially important in the case of children who, for a number of reasons, must be assessed under sedation. Here we explored the efficacy of MEG language mapping under sedation through retrospective review of 95 consecutive pediatric patients, who underwent our receptive language test as part of routine clinical evaluation. Localization of receptive language cortex and subsequent determination of laterality was successfully completed in 78% (n=36 and 55% (n=27 of non-sedated and sedated patients, respectively. Moreover, the proportion of patients deemed left hemisphere dominant for receptive language did not differ between non-sedated and sedated patients, exceeding 90% in both groups. Considering the challenges associated with assessing brain function in pediatric patients, the success of passive MEG in the context of the cases reviewed in this study support the utility of this method in pre-surgical receptive language mapping.

  11. Optimizing estimation of hemispheric dominance for language using magnetic source imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Passaro, Antony D; Rezaie, Roozbeh; Moser, Dana C; Li, Zhimin; Dias, Nadeeka; Papanicolaou, Andrew C

    2011-10-06

    The efficacy of magnetoencephalography (MEG) as an alternative to invasive methods for investigating the cortical representation of language has been explored in several studies. Recently, studies comparing MEG to the gold standard Wada procedure have found inconsistent and often less-than accurate estimates of laterality across various MEG studies. Here we attempted to address this issue among normal right-handed adults (N=12) by supplementing a well-established MEG protocol involving word recognition and the single dipole method with a sentence comprehension task and a beamformer approach localizing neural oscillations. Beamformer analysis of word recognition and sentence comprehension tasks revealed a desynchronization in the 10-18Hz range, localized to the temporo-parietal cortices. Inspection of individual profiles of localized desynchronization (10-18Hz) revealed left hemispheric dominance in 91.7% and 83.3% of individuals during the word recognition and sentence comprehension tasks, respectively. In contrast, single dipole analysis yielded lower estimates, such that activity in temporal language regions was left-lateralized in 66.7% and 58.3% of individuals during word recognition and sentence comprehension, respectively. The results obtained from the word recognition task and localization of oscillatory activity using a beamformer appear to be in line with general estimates of left hemispheric dominance for language in normal right-handed individuals. Furthermore, the current findings support the growing notion that changes in neural oscillations underlie critical components of linguistic processing. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  12. Functional language shift to the right hemisphere in patients with language-eloquent brain tumors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krieg, Sandro M; Sollmann, Nico; Hauck, Theresa; Ille, Sebastian; Foerschler, Annette; Meyer, Bernhard; Ringel, Florian

    2013-01-01

    Language function is mainly located within the left hemisphere of the brain, especially in right-handed subjects. However, functional MRI (fMRI) has demonstrated changes of language organization in patients with left-sided perisylvian lesions to the right hemisphere. Because intracerebral lesions can impair fMRI, this study was designed to investigate human language plasticity with a virtual lesion model using repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Fifteen patients with lesions of left-sided language-eloquent brain areas and 50 healthy and purely right-handed participants underwent bilateral rTMS language mapping via an object-naming task. All patients were proven to have left-sided language function during awake surgery. The rTMS-induced language errors were categorized into 6 different error types. The error ratio (induced errors/number of stimulations) was determined for each brain region on both hemispheres. A hemispheric dominance ratio was then defined for each region as the quotient of the error ratio (left/right) of the corresponding area of both hemispheres (ratio >1 = left dominant; ratio right dominant). Patients with language-eloquent lesions showed a statistically significantly lower ratio than healthy participants concerning "all errors" and "all errors without hesitations", which indicates a higher participation of the right hemisphere in language function. Yet, there was no cortical region with pronounced difference in language dominance compared to the whole hemisphere. This is the first study that shows by means of an anatomically accurate virtual lesion model that a shift of language function to the non-dominant hemisphere can occur.

  13. Functional Language Shift to the Right Hemisphere in Patients with Language-Eloquent Brain Tumors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krieg, Sandro M.; Sollmann, Nico; Hauck, Theresa; Ille, Sebastian; Foerschler, Annette; Meyer, Bernhard; Ringel, Florian

    2013-01-01

    Objectives Language function is mainly located within the left hemisphere of the brain, especially in right-handed subjects. However, functional MRI (fMRI) has demonstrated changes of language organization in patients with left-sided perisylvian lesions to the right hemisphere. Because intracerebral lesions can impair fMRI, this study was designed to investigate human language plasticity with a virtual lesion model using repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Experimental design Fifteen patients with lesions of left-sided language-eloquent brain areas and 50 healthy and purely right-handed participants underwent bilateral rTMS language mapping via an object-naming task. All patients were proven to have left-sided language function during awake surgery. The rTMS-induced language errors were categorized into 6 different error types. The error ratio (induced errors/number of stimulations) was determined for each brain region on both hemispheres. A hemispheric dominance ratio was then defined for each region as the quotient of the error ratio (left/right) of the corresponding area of both hemispheres (ratio >1  =  left dominant; ratio dominant). Results Patients with language-eloquent lesions showed a statistically significantly lower ratio than healthy participants concerning “all errors” and “all errors without hesitations”, which indicates a higher participation of the right hemisphere in language function. Yet, there was no cortical region with pronounced difference in language dominance compared to the whole hemisphere. Conclusions This is the first study that shows by means of an anatomically accurate virtual lesion model that a shift of language function to the non-dominant hemisphere can occur. PMID:24069410

  14. Learning-related brain hemispheric dominance in sleeping songbirds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moorman, Sanne; Gobes, Sharon M H; van de Kamp, Ferdinand C; Zandbergen, Matthijs A; Bolhuis, Johan J

    2015-03-12

    There are striking behavioural and neural parallels between the acquisition of speech in humans and song learning in songbirds. In humans, language-related brain activation is mostly lateralised to the left hemisphere. During language acquisition in humans, brain hemispheric lateralisation develops as language proficiency increases. Sleep is important for the formation of long-term memory, in humans as well as in other animals, including songbirds. Here, we measured neuronal activation (as the expression pattern of the immediate early gene ZENK) during sleep in juvenile zebra finch males that were still learning their songs from a tutor. We found that during sleep, there was learning-dependent lateralisation of spontaneous neuronal activation in the caudomedial nidopallium (NCM), a secondary auditory brain region that is involved in tutor song memory, while there was right hemisphere dominance of neuronal activation in HVC (used as a proper name), a premotor nucleus that is involved in song production and sensorimotor learning. Specifically, in the NCM, birds that imitated their tutors well were left dominant, while poor imitators were right dominant, similar to language-proficiency related lateralisation in humans. Given the avian-human parallels, lateralised neural activation during sleep may also be important for speech and language acquisition in human infants.

  15. Learning-related brain hemispheric dominance in sleeping songbirds

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moorman, Sanne; Gobes, Sharon M. H.; van de Kamp, Ferdinand C.; Zandbergen, Matthijs A.; Bolhuis, Johan J.

    2015-01-01

    There are striking behavioural and neural parallels between the acquisition of speech in humans and song learning in songbirds. In humans, language-related brain activation is mostly lateralised to the left hemisphere. During language acquisition in humans, brain hemispheric lateralisation develops as language proficiency increases. Sleep is important for the formation of long-term memory, in humans as well as in other animals, including songbirds. Here, we measured neuronal activation (as the expression pattern of the immediate early gene ZENK) during sleep in juvenile zebra finch males that were still learning their songs from a tutor. We found that during sleep, there was learning-dependent lateralisation of spontaneous neuronal activation in the caudomedial nidopallium (NCM), a secondary auditory brain region that is involved in tutor song memory, while there was right hemisphere dominance of neuronal activation in HVC (used as a proper name), a premotor nucleus that is involved in song production and sensorimotor learning. Specifically, in the NCM, birds that imitated their tutors well were left dominant, while poor imitators were right dominant, similar to language-proficiency related lateralisation in humans. Given the avian-human parallels, lateralised neural activation during sleep may also be important for speech and language acquisition in human infants. PMID:25761654

  16. Opposite cerebral dominance for reading and sign language

    OpenAIRE

    Komakula, Sirisha. T.; Burr, Robert. B.; Lee, James N.; Anderson, Jeffrey

    2010-01-01

    We present a case of right hemispheric dominance for sign language but left hemispheric dominance for reading, in a left-handed deaf patient with epilepsy and left mesial temporal sclerosis. Atypical language laterality for ASL was determined by preoperative fMRI, and congruent with ASL modified WADA testing. We conclude that reading and sign language can have crossed dominance and preoperative fMRI evaluation of deaf patients should include both reading and sign language evaluations.

  17. Divergent Thinking and Hemispheric Dominance for Language Function among Preschool Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tegano, Deborah Walker; And Others

    1983-01-01

    An investigation of the relationship of hemispheric dominance (dichotic listening) and divergent thinking (Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking) with 27 preschool children indicates that divergent thinking is associated with right hemispheric dominance in children as young as four years. (Author/PN)

  18. Homotopic Language Reorganization in the Right Hemisphere after Early Left Hemisphere Injury

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tivarus, Madalina E.; Starling, Sarah J.; Newport, Elissa L.; Langfitt, John T.

    2012-01-01

    To determine the areas involved in reorganization of language to the right hemisphere after early left hemisphere injury, we compared fMRI activation patterns during four production and comprehension tasks in post-surgical epilepsy patients with either left (LH) or right hemisphere (RH) speech dominance (determined by Wada testing) and healthy…

  19. Callosal tracts and patterns of hemispheric dominance: a combined fMRI and DTI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Häberling, Isabelle S; Badzakova-Trajkov, Gjurgjica; Corballis, Michael C

    2011-01-15

    Left-hemispheric dominance for language and right-hemispheric dominance for spatial processing are distinctive characteristics of the human brain. However, variations of these hemispheric asymmetries have been observed, with a minority showing crowding of both functions to the same hemisphere or even a mirror reversal of the typical lateralization pattern. Here, we used diffusion tensor imaging and functional magnetic imaging to investigate the role of the corpus callosum in participants with atypical hemispheric dominance. The corpus callosum was segmented according to the projection site of the underlying fibre tracts. Analyses of the microstructure of the identified callosal segments revealed that atypical hemispheric dominance for language was associated with high anisotropic diffusion through the corpus callosum as a whole. This effect was most evident in participants with crowding of both functions to the right. The enhanced anisotropic diffusion in atypical hemispheric dominance implies that in these individuals the two hemispheres are more heavily interconnected. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Influence of the language dominant hemisphere on the activation region of the cerebral cortex during mastication

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsushima, Yasuhiko

    2005-01-01

    We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the relationship of the activation region of the cerebral cortex during mastication with the language dominant hemisphere. Twelve healthy subjects were asked to chew a special gum 50 times on each side of the mouth, the gum changed color, becoming a deeper red, as it was chewed. The depth of red of the chewed gum was used to ascertain the habitual masticatory side. Measurements were also performed on a conventional whole body 1.5 T clinical scanner using a single shot, multislice echo-planar imaging sequence. The subjects were asked to masticate first on the right side, and then on the left side. As well, they were instructed to do a shiritori test, which is a word game. Computer analysis of the fMRI was done using statistical parametric mapping (SPM) 99 software (p<0.001, paired t-test). We found that the sensorimotor cortex activated by masticatory movements always contains language dominant hemisphere. (author)

  1. fMRI activation in the middle frontal gyrus as an indicator of hemispheric dominance for language in brain tumor patients: a comparison with Broca's area.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dong, Jian W; Brennan, Nicole M Petrovich; Izzo, Giana; Peck, Kyung K; Holodny, Andrei I

    2016-05-01

    Functional MRI (fMRI) can assess language lateralization in brain tumor patients; however, this can be limited if the primary language area-Broca's area (BA)-is affected by the tumor. We hypothesized that the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) can be used as a clinical indicator of hemispheric dominance for language during presurgical workup. Fifty-two right-handed subjects with solitary left-hemispheric primary brain tumors were retrospectively studied. Subjects performed a verbal fluency task during fMRI. The MFG was compared to BA for fMRI voxel activation, language laterality index (LI), and the effect of tumor grade on the LI. Language fMRI (verbal fluency) activated more voxels in MFG than in BA (MFG = 315, BA = 216, p hemispheric MFG and BA were positively correlated (r = 0.69, p hemispheric dominance for language using a measure of verbal fluency and may be an adjunct measure in the clinical determination of language laterality for presurgical planning.

  2. Intra-hemispheric intrinsic connectivity asymmetry and its relationships with handedness and language Lateralization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joliot, M; Tzourio-Mazoyer, N; Mazoyer, B

    2016-12-01

    Asymmetry in intra-hemispheric intrinsic connectivity, and its association with handedness and hemispheric dominance for language, were investigated in a sample of 290 healthy volunteers enriched in left-handers (52.7%). From the resting-state FMRI data of each participant, we derived an intra-hemispheric intrinsic connectivity asymmetry (HICA) matrix as the difference between the left and right intra-hemispheric matrices of intrinsic correlation computed for each pair of the AICHA atlas ROIs. We defined a similarity measure between the HICA matrices of two individuals as the correlation coefficient of their corresponding elements, and computed for each individual an index of intra-hemispheric intrinsic connectivity asymmetry as the average similarity measure of his HICA matrix to those of the other subjects of the sample (HICAs). Gaussian-mixture modeling of the age-corrected HICAs sample distribution revealed that two types of HICA patterns were present, one (Typical_HICA) including 92.4% of the participants while the other (Atypical_HICA) included only 7.6% of them, mostly left-handers. In addition, we investigated the relationship between asymmetry in intra-hemispheric intrinsic connectivity and language hemispheric dominance, including a potential effect of handedness on this relationship, thanks to an FMRI acquisition during language production from which an hemispheric functional lateralization index for language (HFLI) and a type of hemispheric dominance for language, namely leftward, ambilateral, or rightward, were derived for each individual. There was a significant association between the types of language hemispheric dominance and of intra-hemispheric intrinsic connectivity asymmetry, occurrence of Atypical_HICAs individuals being very high in the group of individuals rightward-lateralized for language (80%), reduced in the ambilateral group (19%) and rare in individuals leftward-lateralized for language (less than 3%). Quantitatively, we found a

  3. Hypothalamic digoxin and hemispheric chemical dominance: relation to speech and language dysfunction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-06-01

    The isoprenoid pathway produces three key metabolites--endogenous digoxin, dolichol, and ubiquinone. Since endogenous digoxin can regulate neurotransmitter transport and dolichols can modulate glycoconjugate synthesis important in synaptic connectivity, the pathway was assessed in patients with dyslexia, delayed recovery from global aphasia consequent to a dominant hemispheric thrombotic infarct, and developmental delay of speech milestone. The pathway was also studied in right hemispheric, left hemispheric, and bihemispheric dominance to find out the role of hemispheric dominance in the pathogenesis of speech disorders. The plasma/serum--activity of HMG CoA reductase, magnesium, digoxin, dolichol, ubiquinone--and tryptophan/tyrosine catabolic patterns, as well as RBC (Na+)-K+ ATPase activity, were measured in the above mentioned groups. The glycoconjugate metabolism and membrane composition was also studied. The study showed that in dyslexia, developmental delay of speech milestone, and delayed recovery from global aphasia there was an upregulated isoprenoidal pathway with increased digoxin and dolichol levels. The membrane (Na+)-K+ ATPase activity, serum magnesium and ubiquinone levels were low. The tryptophan catabolites were increased and the tyrosine catabolites including dopamine decreased in the serum contributing to a speech dysfunction. There was an increase in carbohydrate residues of glycoproteins, glycosaminoglycans, and glycolipids levels as well as an increased activity of GAG degrading enzymes and glyco hydrolases in the serum. The cholesterol:phospholipid ratio of RBC membrane increased and membrane glycoconjugates showed a decrease. All of these could contribute to altered synaptic inactivity in these disorders. The patterns correlated with those obtained in right hemispheric chemical dominance. Right hemispheric chemical dominance may play a role in the genesis of these disorders. Hemispheric chemical dominance has no correlation with handedness

  4. Stimulus-Dominance Effects and Lateral Asymmetries for Language in Normal Subjects and in Patients with a Single Functional Hemisphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Stefano, Marirosa; Marano, Elena; Viti, Marzia

    2004-01-01

    The assessment of language laterality by the dichotic fused-words test may be impaired by interference effects revealed by the dominant report of one member of the stimuli-pair. Stimulus-dominance and ear asymmetry were evaluated in normal population (48 subjects of both sex and handedness) and in 2 patients with a single functional hemisphere.…

  5. [fMRI study of the dominant hemisphere for language in patients with brain tumor].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buklina, S B; Podoprigora, A E; Pronin, I N; Shishkina, L V; Boldyreva, G N; Bondarenko, A A; Fadeeva, L M; Kornienko, V N; Zhukov, V Iu

    2013-01-01

    Paper describes a study of language lateralization of patients with brain tumors, measured by preoperative functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and comparison results with tumor histology and profile of functional asymmetry. During the study 21 patient underwent fMRI scan. 15 patients had a tumor in the left and 6 in the right hemisphere. Tumors were localized mainly in the frontal, temporal and fronto-temporal regions. Histological diagnosis in 8 cases was malignant Grade IV, in 13 cases--Grade I-III. fMRI study was perfomed on scanner "Signa Exite" with a field strength of 1.5 As speech test reciting the months of the year in reverse order was used. fMRI scan results were compared with the profile of functional asymmetry, which was received with the results of questionnaire Annette and dichotic listening test. Broca's area was found in 7 cases in the left hemisphere, 6 had a tumor Grade I-III. And one patient with glioblastoma had a tumor of the right hemisphere. Broca's area in the right hemisphere was found in 3 patients (2 patients with left sided tumor, and one with right-sided tumor). One patient with left-sided tumor had mild motor aphasia. Bilateral activation in both hemispheres of the brain was observed in 6 patients. All of them had tumor Grade II-III of the left hemisphere. Signs of left-handedness were revealed only in half of these patients. Broca's area was not found in 4 cases. All of them had large malignant tumors Grade IV. One patient couldn't handle program of the research. Results of fMRI scans, questionnaire Annette and dichotic listening test frequently were not the same, which is significant. Bilateral activation in speech-loads may be a reflection of brain plasticity in cases of long-growing tumors. Thus it's important to consider the full range of clinical data in studying the problem of the dominant hemisphere for language.

  6. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in patients with gliomas adjacent to classical language areas. Lateralization of activated prefrontal cortex is important in determining the dominant hemisphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karibe, Hiroshi; Kumabe, Toshihiro; Shirane, Reizo; Yoshimoto, Takashi

    2003-01-01

    In patients with gliomas adjacent to classical language areas, lateralized activation of prefrontal cortex was assessed to determine language dominant hemisphere using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Twelve patients presented with aphasias were studied. In all patients, either the left frontal operculum or left superior temporal gyri were adjacent to gliomas, suggesting all patients had left lateralization in hemispheric language dominance. Functional MRI was performed with a 1.5T scanner, with the sequence of gradient-echo type echo-planar imaging. As specific language tasks, verb, word, and capping generations were used. Using a cross-correlation analysis method, primary activation maps were generated using pixels with a correlation coefficient of >0.7. The lateralized activation of frontal operculum, superior temporal gyrus, and prefrontal cortex were assessed by calculating laterality index. Successful activation of frontal operculum was imaged in 11 of 12, in the superior temporal gyrus or prefrontal cortex. Three out of 11 cases had apparent activation lateralized in the right frontal operculum on fMRI, while 3 out of 12 cases showed activation in the superior temporal gyrus. On the other hand, all cases had apparent activation lateralized to the left prefrontal cortex. Significant activation of true language area may not be obtained in some cases with gliomas adjacent to classical language areas. In such cases, lateralization of apparent activation of prefrontal cortex may reflect lateralization in the dominant hemisphere. These result suggest that the assessment of apparent activation of prefrontal cortex lateralization is useful to determine the language dominant hemisphere. (author)

  7. Gaussian mixture modeling of hemispheric lateralization for language in a large sample of healthy individuals balanced for handedness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mazoyer, Bernard; Zago, Laure; Jobard, Gaël; Crivello, Fabrice; Joliot, Marc; Perchey, Guy; Mellet, Emmanuel; Petit, Laurent; Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie

    2014-01-01

    Hemispheric lateralization for language production and its relationships with manual preference and manual preference strength were studied in a sample of 297 subjects, including 153 left-handers (LH). A hemispheric functional lateralization index (HFLI) for language was derived from fMRI acquired during a covert sentence generation task as compared with a covert word list recitation. The multimodal HFLI distribution was optimally modeled using a mixture of 3 and 4 Gaussian functions in right-handers (RH) and LH, respectively. Gaussian function parameters helped to define 3 types of language hemispheric lateralization, namely "Typical" (left hemisphere dominance with clear positive HFLI values, 88% of RH, 78% of LH), "Ambilateral" (no dominant hemisphere with HFLI values close to 0, 12% of RH, 15% of LH) and "Strongly-atypical" (right-hemisphere dominance with clear negative HFLI values, 7% of LH). Concordance between dominant hemispheres for hand and for language did not exceed chance level, and most of the association between handedness and language lateralization was explained by the fact that all Strongly-atypical individuals were left-handed. Similarly, most of the relationship between language lateralization and manual preference strength was explained by the fact that Strongly-atypical individuals exhibited a strong preference for their left hand. These results indicate that concordance of hemispheric dominance for hand and for language occurs barely above the chance level, except in a group of rare individuals (less than 1% in the general population) who exhibit strong right hemisphere dominance for both language and their preferred hand. They call for a revisit of models hypothesizing common determinants for handedness and for language dominance.

  8. Gaussian mixture modeling of hemispheric lateralization for language in a large sample of healthy individuals balanced for handedness.

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    Bernard Mazoyer

    Full Text Available Hemispheric lateralization for language production and its relationships with manual preference and manual preference strength were studied in a sample of 297 subjects, including 153 left-handers (LH. A hemispheric functional lateralization index (HFLI for language was derived from fMRI acquired during a covert sentence generation task as compared with a covert word list recitation. The multimodal HFLI distribution was optimally modeled using a mixture of 3 and 4 Gaussian functions in right-handers (RH and LH, respectively. Gaussian function parameters helped to define 3 types of language hemispheric lateralization, namely "Typical" (left hemisphere dominance with clear positive HFLI values, 88% of RH, 78% of LH, "Ambilateral" (no dominant hemisphere with HFLI values close to 0, 12% of RH, 15% of LH and "Strongly-atypical" (right-hemisphere dominance with clear negative HFLI values, 7% of LH. Concordance between dominant hemispheres for hand and for language did not exceed chance level, and most of the association between handedness and language lateralization was explained by the fact that all Strongly-atypical individuals were left-handed. Similarly, most of the relationship between language lateralization and manual preference strength was explained by the fact that Strongly-atypical individuals exhibited a strong preference for their left hand. These results indicate that concordance of hemispheric dominance for hand and for language occurs barely above the chance level, except in a group of rare individuals (less than 1% in the general population who exhibit strong right hemisphere dominance for both language and their preferred hand. They call for a revisit of models hypothesizing common determinants for handedness and for language dominance.

  9. Crossed Aphasia in a Patient with Anaplastic Astrocytoma of the Non-Dominant Hemisphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prater, Stephanie; Anand, Neil; Wei, Lawrence; Horner, Neil

    2017-09-01

    Aphasia describes a spectrum of speech impairments due to damage in the language centers of the brain. Insult to the inferior frontal gyrus of the dominant cerebral hemisphere results in Broca's aphasia - the inability to produce fluent speech. The left cerebral hemisphere has historically been considered the dominant side, a characteristic long presumed to be related to a person's "handedness". However, recent studies utilizing fMRI have shown that right hemispheric dominance occurs more frequently than previously proposed and despite a person's handedness. Here we present a case of a right-handed patient with Broca's aphasia caused by a right-sided brain tumor. This is significant not only because the occurrence of aphasia in right-handed-individuals with right hemispheric brain damage (so-called "crossed aphasia") is unusual but also because such findings support dissociation between hemispheric linguistic dominance and handedness.

  10. Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and eating behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-08-01

    The isoprenoid pathway produces an endogenous membrane Na+-K+ ATPase inhibitor, digoxin, which can regulate neurotransmitter and amino acid transport. Digoxin synthesis and neurotransmitter patterns were assessed in eating disorders. The patterns were compared in those with right hemispheric and left hemispheric dominance. The serum HMG CoA reductase activity, RBC membrane Na+-K+ ATPase activity, serum digoxin, magnesium, tryptophan catabolites (serotonin, quinolinic acid, strychnine, and nicotine), and tyrosine catabolites (morphine, dopamine, and noradrenaline) were measured in anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, right hemispheric dominant, left hemispheric dominant, and bihemispheric dominant individuals. Digoxin synthesis was increased with upregulated tryptophan catabolism and downregulated tyrosine catabolism in those with anorexia nervosa and right hemispheric chemical dominance. Digoxin synthesis was reduced with downregulated tryptophan catabolism and upregulated tyrosine catabolism in those with bulimia nervosa and left hemispheric chemical dominance. The membrane Na+-K+ ATPase activity and serum magnesium were decreased in anorexia nervosa and right hemispheric chemical dominance while they were increased in bulimia nervosa and left hemispheric chemical dominance. Hypothalamic digoxin and hemispheric chemical dominance play a central role in the regulation of eating behavior. Anorexia nervosa represents the right hemispheric chemically dominant/hyperdigoxinemic state and bulimia nervosa the left hemispheric chemically dominant/hypodigoxinemic state.

  11. Hemispheric dominance and cell phone use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seidman, Michael D; Siegel, Bianca; Shah, Priyanka; Bowyer, Susan M

    2013-05-01

    A thorough understanding of why we hold a cell phone to a particular ear may be of importance when studying the impact of cell phone safety. To determine if there is an obvious association between sidedness of cell phone use and auditory hemispheric dominance (AHD) or language hemispheric dominance (LHD). It is known that 70% to 95% of the population are right-handed, and of these, 96% have left-brain LHD. We have observed that most people use their cell phones in their right ear. An Internet survey was e-mailed to individuals through surveymonkey.com. The survey used a modified Edinburgh Handedness Inventory protocol. Sample questions surveyed which hand was used to write with, whether the right or left ear was used for phone conversations, as well as whether a brain tumor was present. General community. An Internet survey was randomly e-mailed to 5000 individuals selected from an otology online group, patients undergoing Wada testing and functional magnetic resonance imaging, as well as persons on the university listserv, of which 717 surveys were completed. Determination of hemispheric dominance based on preferred ear for cell phone use. A total of 717 surveys were returned. Ninety percent of the respondents were right handed, and 9% were left handed. Sixty-eight percent of the right-handed people used the cell phone in their right ear, 25% in the left ear, and 7% had no preference. Seventy-two of the left-handed respondents used their left ear, 23% used their right ear, and 5% had no preference. Cell phone use averaged 540 minutes per month over the past 9 years. An association exists between hand dominance laterality of cell phone use (73%) and our ability to predict hemispheric dominance. Most right-handed people have left-brain LHD and use their cell phone in their right ear. Similarly, most left-handed people use their cell phone in their left ear. Our study suggests that AHD may differ from LHD owing to the difference in handedness and cell phone ear use

  12. Non-invasive assessment of hemispheric language dominance by optical topography during a brief passive listening test: a pilot study.

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    Bembich, Stefano; Demarini, Sergio; Clarici, Andrea; Massaccesi, Stefano; Grasso, Domenico Loenardo

    2011-12-01

    The Wada test is usually used for pre-surgical assessment of language lateralization. Considering its invasiveness and risk of complications, alternative methods have been proposed but they are not always applicable to non-cooperative patients. In this study we explored the possibility of using optical topography (OT)--a multichannel near-infrared system--for non-invasive assessment of hemispheric language dominance during passive listening. Cortical activity was monitored in a sample of healthy, adult Italian native speakers, all right-handed. We assessed changes in oxy-haemoglobin concentration in temporal, parietal and posterior frontal lobes during a passive listening of bi-syllabic words and vowel-consonant-vowel syllables lasting less then 3 minutes. Activated channels were identified by t tests. Left hemisphere showed significant activity only during the passive listening of bi-syllabic words. Specifically, the superior temporal gyrus, the supramarginal gyrus and the posterior inferior parietal lobe were activated. During passive listening of bi-syllabic words, right handed healthy adults showed a significant activation in areas already known to be involved in speech comprehension. Although more research is needed, OT proved to be a promising alternative to the Wada test for non-invasive assessment of hemispheric language lateralization, even if using a particularly brief trial, which has been designed for future applications with non-cooperative subjects.

  13. Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance and sarcoidosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ravi Kumar, A; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2004-06-01

    The isoprenoid pathway produces three key metabolites: endogenous digoxin (membrane sodium-potassium ATPase inhibitor, immunomodulator and regulator of neurotransmitter/amino acid transport), dolichol (regulates N-glycosylation of proteins) and ubiquinone (free radical scavenger). The role of the isoprenoid pathway in the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis in relation to hemispheric dominance was studied. The isoprenoid pathway-related cascade was assessed in patients with systemic sarcoidosis with pulmonary involvement. The pathway was also assessed in patients with right hemispheric, left hemispheric and bihemispheric dominance for comparison to find out the role of hemispheric dominance in the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis. In patients with sarcoidosis there was elevated digoxin synthesis, increased dolichol and glycoconjugate levels and low ubiquinone and elevated free radical levels. There was also an increase in tryptophan catabolites and a reduction in tyrosine catabolites. There was an increase in the cholesterol:phospholipid ratio and a reduction in the glycoconjugate level of red blood cell (RBC) membrane in this group of patients. The same biochemical patterns were obtained in individuals with right hemispheric dominance. In individuals with left hemispheric dominance the patterns were reversed. Endogenous digoxin, by activating the calcineurin signal transduction pathway of T cells, can contribute to immune activation in sarcoidosis. An altered glycoconjugate metabolism can lead to the generation of endogenous self-glycoprotein antigens in the lung as well as other tissues. Increased free radical generation can also lead to immune activation. The role of a dysfunctional isoprenoid pathway and endogenous digoxin in the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis in relation to right hemispheric chemical dominance is discussed. All the patients with sarcoidosis were right-handed/left hemispheric dominant according to the dichotic listening test, but their biochemical patterns

  14. Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and spirituality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-03-01

    The isoprenoid pathway was assessed in atheistic and spiritually inclined individuals. The pathway was also assessed in individuals with differing hemispheric dominance to assess whether hemispheric dominance has a correlation with spiritual and atheistic tendency. HMG CoA reductase activity, serum digoxin, RBC membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase activity, serum magnesium, and tyrosine/tryptophan catabolic patterns were assessed in spiritual/atheistic individuals and in those differing hemispheric dominance. In spiritually-inclined individuals, there was increased digoxin synthesis, decreased membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase activity, increased tryptophan catabolites (serotonin, quinolinic acid, and nicotine), and decreased tyrosine catabolites (dopamine, noradrenaline, and morphine). The pattern in spiritually-inclined individuals correlated with right hemispheric chemical dominance. In atheistic individuals there was decreased digoxin synthesis, increased membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase activity, decreased tryptophan catabolities (serotonin, quinolinic acid, and nicotine), and increased tyrosine catabolites (dopamine, noradrenaline, and morphine). This pattern in atheistic individuals correlated with that obtained in left hemispheric chemical dominance. Hemispheric chemical dominance and hypothalamic digoxin could regulate the predisposition to spirituality or atheism.

  15. Evaluating functional MRI procedures for assessing hemispheric language dominance in neurosurgical patients

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    Baciu, M.V. [Pierre Mendes-France University, Laboratory of Psychology and Neurocognition, Grenoble (France); Watson, J.M.; Maccotta, L.; McDermott, K.B. [Washington University, Department of Psychology, St. Louis (United States); Buckner, R.L. [Washington University, Department of Psychology, St. Louis (United States); Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Washington University, St. Louis (United States); Gilliam, F.G. [Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Neurology, St. Louis (United States); Ojemann, J.G. [Washington University School of Medicine, Department of Neurological Surgery, St. Louis (United States)

    2005-11-01

    Two methods of quantifying hemispheric language dominance (HLD) in neurosurgical patients are compared: (1) an average magnitudes (AM) method, which is a calculation of the average signal intensity variation in regions of interest for each patient that were predefined in a group analysis for each task, and (2) a lateralization indices (LI) method, which is based on the number of activated pixels in regions of interest predefined in each individual patient. Four language tasks [a living/nonliving (LNL) judgment, word stem completion (WSC), semantic associate (SA) and a phonological associate (PA) task] were compared with ''gold standard'' measures such as the Wada test or electrocortical stimulation. Results showed that the LI method was more accurate (73% agreement with gold standard methods) than the AM method (only 40% agreement) across tasks and subjects. Furthermore, by varying the threshold used for determining laterality, the ability of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to predict HLD was influenced for the AM method, whereas the LI method was relatively unaffected by changing the threshold. Using the LI method, the SA task was the most accurate for quantifying HLD (100% agreement with gold standard methods) with respect to the other three language tasks (80% accuracy for WSC, 65% for the LNL and 63% for phonological task). Depending on the method and the task, fMRI may be a promising tool for assessing HLD in neurosurgical patients. (orig.)

  16. Evaluating functional MRI procedures for assessing hemispheric language dominance in neurosurgical patients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Baciu, M.V.; Watson, J.M.; Maccotta, L.; McDermott, K.B.; Buckner, R.L.; Gilliam, F.G.; Ojemann, J.G.

    2005-01-01

    Two methods of quantifying hemispheric language dominance (HLD) in neurosurgical patients are compared: (1) an average magnitudes (AM) method, which is a calculation of the average signal intensity variation in regions of interest for each patient that were predefined in a group analysis for each task, and (2) a lateralization indices (LI) method, which is based on the number of activated pixels in regions of interest predefined in each individual patient. Four language tasks [a living/nonliving (LNL) judgment, word stem completion (WSC), semantic associate (SA) and a phonological associate (PA) task] were compared with ''gold standard'' measures such as the Wada test or electrocortical stimulation. Results showed that the LI method was more accurate (73% agreement with gold standard methods) than the AM method (only 40% agreement) across tasks and subjects. Furthermore, by varying the threshold used for determining laterality, the ability of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to predict HLD was influenced for the AM method, whereas the LI method was relatively unaffected by changing the threshold. Using the LI method, the SA task was the most accurate for quantifying HLD (100% agreement with gold standard methods) with respect to the other three language tasks (80% accuracy for WSC, 65% for the LNL and 63% for phonological task). Depending on the method and the task, fMRI may be a promising tool for assessing HLD in neurosurgical patients. (orig.)

  17. Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and sleep.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-04-01

    The isoprenoid path way produces endogenous digoxin, a substance that can regulate neurotransmitter and amino acid transport. Digoxin synthesis and neurotransmitter patterns were assessed in individuals with chronic insomnia. The patterns were compared in those with right hemispheric and left hemispheric dominance. The activity of HMG GoA reductase and serum levels of digoxin, magnesium, tryptophan catabolites, and tyrosine catabolites were measured in individuals with chronic insomnia and in individuals with differing hemispheric dominance. Digoxin synthesis was increased with upregulated tryptophan catabolism (increased levels of serotonin, strychnine, and nicotine), and downregulated tyrosine catabolism (decreased levels of dopamine, noradrenaline, and morphine) in those with chronic insomnia and right hemispheric chemical dominance. Digoxin synthesis was reduced with downregulated tryptophan catabolism (decreased levels of serotonin, strychnine, and nicotine) and upregulated tyrosine catabolism (increased levels of dopamine, noradrenaline, and morphine) in those with normal sleep patterns and left hemispheric chemical dominance. Hypothalamic digoxin plays a central role in the regulation of sleep behavior. Hemispheric chemical dominance in relation to digoxin status is also crucial.

  18. Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and creativity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-04-01

    The human hypothalamus produces an endogenous membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase inhibitor, digoxin, which regulates neuronal transmission. The digoxin status and neurotransmitter patterns were studied in creative and non-creative individuals, as well as in individuals with differing hemispheric dominance, in order to find out the role of cerebral dominance in this respect. The activity of HMG CoA reductase and serum levels of digoxin, magnesium, tryptophan catabolites, and tyrosine catabolites were measured in creative/non-creative individuals, and in individuals with differing hemispheric dominance. In creative individuals there was increased digoxin synthesis, decreased membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase activity, increased tryptophan catabolites (serotonin, quinolinic acid, and nicotine), and decreased tyrosine catabolites (dopamine, noradrenaline, and morphine). The pattern in creative individuals correlated with right hemispheric dominance. In non-creative individuals there was decreased digoxin synthesis, increased membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase activity, decreased tryptophan catabolites (serotonin, quinolinic acid, and nicotine), and increased tyrosine catabolites (dopamine, noradrenaline, and morphine). This pattern in non-creative individuals correlated with that obtained in left hemispheric chemical dominance. Hemispheric chemical dominance and hypothalamic digoxin could regulate the predisposition to creative tendency.

  19. Mapping lexical-semantic networks and determining hemispheric language dominance: Do task design, sex, age, and language performance make a difference?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Yu-Hsuan A; Javadi, Sogol S; Bahrami, Naeim; Uttarwar, Vedang S; Reyes, Anny; McDonald, Carrie R

    2018-04-01

    Blocked and event-related fMRI designs are both commonly used to localize language networks and determine hemispheric dominance in research and clinical settings. We compared activation profiles on a semantic monitoring task using one of the two designs in a total of 43 healthy individual to determine whether task design or subject-specific factors (i.e., age, sex, or language performance) influence activation patterns. We found high concordance between the two designs within core language regions, including the inferior frontal, posterior temporal, and basal temporal region. However, differences emerged within inferior parietal cortex. Subject-specific factors did not influence activation patterns, nor did they interact with task design. These results suggest that despite high concordance within perisylvian regions that are robust to subject-specific factors, methodological differences between blocked and event-related designs may contribute to parietal activations. These findings provide important information for researchers incorporating fMRI results into meta-analytic studies, as well as for clinicians using fMRI to guide pre-surgical planning. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Left Hemisphere Regions Are Critical for Language in the Face of Early Left Focal Brain Injury

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beharelle, Anjali Raja; Dick, Anthony Steven; Josse, Goulven; Solodkin, Ana; Huttenlocher, Peter R.; Levine, Susan C.; Small, Steven L.

    2010-01-01

    A predominant theory regarding early stroke and its effect on language development, is that early left hemisphere lesions trigger compensatory processes that allow the right hemisphere to assume dominant language functions, and this is thought to underlie the near normal language development observed after early stroke. To test this theory, we…

  1. Infiltration of the basal ganglia by brain tumors is associated with the development of co-dominant language function on fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, Katharina; Brennan, Nicole; Woo, Kaitlin; Zhang, Zhigang; Young, Robert; Peck, Kyung K; Holodny, Andrei

    2016-01-01

    Studies have shown that some patients with left-hemispheric brain tumors have an increased propensity for developing right-sided language support. However, the precise trigger for establishing co-dominant language function in brain tumor patients remains unknown. We analyzed the MR scans of patients with left-hemispheric tumors and either co-dominant (n=35) or left-hemisphere dominant (n=35) language function on fMRI to investigate anatomical factors influencing hemispheric language dominance. Of eleven neuroanatomical areas evaluated for tumor involvement, the basal ganglia was significantly correlated with co-dominant language function (pdominance performed significantly better on the Boston Naming Test, a clinical measure of aphasia, compared to their left-lateralized counterparts (56.5 versus 36.5, p=0.025). While further studies are needed to elucidate the role of the basal ganglia in establishing co-dominance, our results suggest that reactive co-dominance may afford a behavioral advantage to patients with left-hemispheric tumors. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Crossed aphasia following cerebral infarction in a right-handed patient with atypical cerebral language dominance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Xiaoping; Guo, Yang; Dun, Saihong; Sun, Hongzan

    2018-05-18

    Crossed aphasia (CA), usually referred to as an acquired language disturbance, is caused by a lesion in the cerebral hemisphere ipsilateral to the dominant hand, and the exact mechanism is not clear. The development of handedness is influenced by education and training and the impact of habitualization, while language is more susceptible to the impact of speech habits, and it is not absolutely accurate to judge cerebral language dominance by the degree of hand preference. We describe a case of CA after right hemispheric stroke in a right-handed patient with atypical language dominance and attempt to analyze the mechanism of CA based on functional imaging methods, including arterial spin labeling (ASL) and positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET-MRI). Brain MRI at 24 h after admission showed a large cerebral infarction in the right cerebral hemisphere, including the posteroinferior part of Broca's area in the right frontal lobe, the right temporal lobe, and the right occipital lobe. The patient exhibited a non-fluent aphasia on a standard language test (the Aphasia Battery of Chinese [ABC]) performed on the 7th day after onset. Thus, atypical language dominance was suspected. One week after admission, ASL imaging showed high perfusion in the infarct core zone and low perfusion in the left cerebellar hemisphere. Two months later, PET/MRI demonstrated low metabolism in the posterior frontal lobe, temporal lobe, temporal occipital junction area, and the right basal ganglia. The findings suggest that the patient has right-sided cerebral language dominance, or that both hemispheres have linguistic functions. Not all patients show linguistic capabilities on the side opposite hand preference. The language dominance should be predicted by a combination of clinical manifestations and functional imaging techniques.

  3. Multi-factorial modulation of hemispheric specialization and plasticity for language in healthy and pathological conditions: A review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie; Perrone-Bertolotti, Marcela; Jobard, Gael; Mazoyer, Bernard; Baciu, Monica

    2017-01-01

    This review synthesizes anatomo-functional variability of language hemispheric representation and specialization (hemispheric specialization for language, HSL) as well as its modulation by several variables (demographic, anatomical, developmental, genetic, clinical, and psycholinguistic) in physiological and pathological conditions. The left hemisphere (LH) dominance for language, observed in approximately 90% of healthy individuals and in 70% of patients, is grounded by intra-hemispheric connections mediated by associative bundles such as the arcuate fasciculus and inter-hemispheric transcallosal connections mediated by the corpus callosum that connects homotopic regions of the left and right hemispheres (RH). In typical brains, inter-hemispheric inhibition, exerted from the LH to the RH, permits the LH to maintain language dominance. In pathological conditions, inter- and intra-hemispheric inhibition is decreased, inducing modifications on the degree of HSL and of language networks. HSL evaluation is classically performed in clinical practice with the Wada test and electro-cortical stimulation, gold standard methods. The advent of functional neuroimaging has allowed a more detailed assessment of the language networks and their lateralization, consistent with the results provided by the gold standard methods. In the first part, we describe anatomo-functional support for HSL in healthy conditions, its developmental course, its relationship with cognitive skills, and the various modulatory factors acting on HSL. The second section is devoted to the assessment of HSL in patients with focal and drug-resistant epilepsy (FDRE). FDRE is considered a neurological model associated with patterns of language plasticity, both before and after surgery: FDRE patients show significant modification of language networks induced by changes mediated by transcallosal connections (explaining inter-hemispheric patterns of language reorganization) or collateral connections (explaining

  4. Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and the tridosha theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-05-01

    Ayurveda, the traditional Indian System of Medicine, deals with the theory of the three tridosha states (both physical and psychological): Vata, Pitta, and Kapha. They are the three major human constitutional types that both depend on psychological and physical characteristics. The Pitta state is described as a critical, discriminative, and rational psychological state of mind, while the Kapha state is described as being dominant for emotional stimuli. The Vata state is an intermediate unstable shifting state. The Pitta types are of average height and built with well developed musculature. The Vata types are thin individuals with low body mass index. The Kapha types are short stocky individuals that tend toward obesity, and who are sedentary. The study assessed the biochemical differences between right hemispheric dominant, bihemispheric dominant, and left hemispheric dominant individuals, and then compared this with the patterns obtained in the Vata, Pitta, and Kapha states. The isoprenoid metabolites (digoxin, dolichol, and ubiquinone), glycoconjugate metabolism, free radical metabolism, and the RBC membrane composition were studied. The hemispheric chemical dominance in various systemic diseases and psychological states was also investigated. The results showed that right hemispheric chemically dominant/Kapha state had elevated digoxin levels, increased free radical production and reduced scavenging, increased tryptophan catabolites and reduced tyrosine catabolites, increased glycoconjugate levels and increased cholesterol: phospholipid ratio of RBC membranes. Left hemispheric chemically dominant/Pitta states had the opposite biochemical patterns. The patterns were normal or intermediate in the bihemispheric chemically dominant/Vata state. This pattern could be correlated with various systemic and neuropsychiatric diseases and personality traits. Right hemispheric chemical dominance/Kapha state represents a hyperdigoxinemic state with membrane sodium

  5. Lesion characteristics driving right-hemispheric language reorganization in congenital left-hemispheric brain damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lidzba, Karen; de Haan, Bianca; Wilke, Marko; Krägeloh-Mann, Ingeborg; Staudt, Martin

    2017-10-01

    Pre- or perinatally acquired ("congenital") left-hemispheric brain lesions can be compensated for by reorganizing language into homotopic brain regions in the right hemisphere. Language comprehension may be hemispherically dissociated from language production. We investigated the lesion characteristics driving inter-hemispheric reorganization of language comprehension and language production in 19 patients (7-32years; eight females) with congenital left-hemispheric brain lesions (periventricular lesions [n=11] and middle cerebral artery infarctions [n=8]) by fMRI. 16/17 patients demonstrated reorganized language production, while 7/19 patients had reorganized language comprehension. Lesions to the insular cortex and the temporo-parietal junction (predominantly supramarginal gyrus) were significantly more common in patients in whom both, language production and comprehension were reorganized. These areas belong to the dorsal stream of the language network, participating in the auditory-motor integration of language. Our data suggest that the integrity of this stream might be crucial for a normal left-lateralized language development. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  6. Learning-related brain hemispheric dominance in sleeping songbirds

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Moorman, Sanne; Gobes, Sharon M H; van de Kamp, Ferdinand C; Zandbergen, Matthijs A; Bolhuis, Johan J

    2015-01-01

    There are striking behavioural and neural parallels between the acquisition of speech in humans and song learning in songbirds. In humans, language-related brain activation is mostly lateralised to the left hemisphere. During language acquisition in humans, brain hemispheric lateralisation develops

  7. Right hemisphere grey matter structure and language outcomes in chronic left hemisphere stroke

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xing, Shihui; Lacey, Elizabeth H.; Skipper-Kallal, Laura M.; Jiang, Xiong; Harris-Love, Michelle L.; Zeng, Jinsheng

    2016-01-01

    The neural mechanisms underlying recovery of language after left hemisphere stroke remain elusive. Although older evidence suggested that right hemisphere language homologues compensate for damage in left hemisphere language areas, the current prevailing theory suggests that right hemisphere engagement is ineffective or even maladaptive. Using a novel combination of support vector regression-based lesion-symptom mapping and voxel-based morphometry, we aimed to determine whether local grey matter volume in the right hemisphere independently contributes to aphasia outcomes after chronic left hemisphere stroke. Thirty-two left hemisphere stroke survivors with aphasia underwent language assessment with the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised and tests of other cognitive domains. High-resolution T1-weighted images were obtained in aphasia patients and 30 demographically matched healthy controls. Support vector regression-based multivariate lesion-symptom mapping was used to identify critical language areas in the left hemisphere and then to quantify each stroke survivor’s lesion burden in these areas. After controlling for these direct effects of the stroke on language, voxel-based morphometry was then used to determine whether local grey matter volumes in the right hemisphere explained additional variance in language outcomes. In brain areas in which grey matter volumes related to language outcomes, we then compared grey matter volumes in patients and healthy controls to assess post-stroke plasticity. Lesion–symptom mapping showed that specific left hemisphere regions related to different language abilities. After controlling for lesion burden in these areas, lesion size, and demographic factors, grey matter volumes in parts of the right temporoparietal cortex positively related to spontaneous speech, naming, and repetition scores. Examining whether domain general cognitive functions might explain these relationships, partial correlations demonstrated that grey matter

  8. Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and chronic bronchitis emphysema.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-09-01

    The isoprenoid pathway produces three key metabolites--endogenous digoxin (membrane sodium-potassium ATPase inhibitor, immunomodulator, and regulator of neurotransmitter/amino acid transport), dolichol (regulates N-glycosylation of proteins), and ubiquinone (free radical scavenger). This was assessed in patients with chronic bronchitis emphysema. The pathway was also assessed in patients with right hemispheric, left hemispheric, and bihemispheric dominance to find the role of hemispheric dominance in the pathogenesis of chronic bronchitis emphysema. All the 15 patients with chronic bronchitis emphysema were right-handed/left hemispheric dominant by the dichotic listening test. In patients with chronic bronchitis emphysema there was elevated digoxin synthesis, increased dolichol, and glycoconjugate levels, and low ubiquinone and elevated free radical levels. There was also an increase in tryptophan catabolites and a reduction in tyrosine catabolites. There was an increase in cholesterol:phospholipid ratio and a reduction in glycoconjugate levels of RBC membrane in patients with chronic bronchitis emphysema. The same biochemical patterns were obtained in individuals with right hemispheric dominance. Endogenous digoxin by activating the calcineurin signal transduction pathway of T-cell can contribute to immune activation in chronic bronchitis emphysema. Increased free radical generation can also lead to immune activation. Endogenous synthesis of nicotine can contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease. Altered glycoconjugate metabolism and membranogenesis can lead to defective lysosomal stability contributing to the disease process by increased release of lysosomal proteases. The role of an endogenous digoxin and hemispheric dominance in the pathogenesis of chronic bronchitis emphysema and in the regulation of lung structure/function is discussed. The biochemical patterns obtained in chronic bronchitis emphysema is similar to those obtained in left

  9. Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and interstitial lung disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-10-01

    The isoprenoid pathway produces three key metabolites--endogenous digoxin, dolichol, and ubiquinone. This was assessed in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and in individuals of differing hemispheric dominance to find out the role of hemispheric dominance in the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. All 15 cases of interstitial lung disease were right-handed/left hemispheric dominant by the dichotic listening test. The isoprenoidal metabolites--digoxin, dolichol, and ubiquinone, RBC membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase activity, serum magnesium, tyrosine/tryptophan catabolic patterns, free radical metabolism, glycoconjugate metabolism, and RBC membrane composition--were assessed in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis as well as in individuals with differing hemispheric dominance. In patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis there was elevated digoxin synthesis, increased dolichol and glycoconjugate levels, and low ubiquinone and elevated free radical levels. There was also an increase in tryptophan catabolites and a reduction in tyrosine catabolites. There was an increase in cholesterol phospholipid ratio and a reduction in glycoconjugate level of RBC membrane in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. Isoprenoid pathway dysfunction con tributes to the pathogenesis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The biochemical patterns obtained in interstitial lung disease are similar to those obtained in left-handed/right hemispheric chemically dominant individuals by the dichotic listening test. However, all the patients with interstitial lung disease were right-handed/left hemispheric dominant by the dichotic listening test. Hemispheric chemical dominance has no correlation with handedness or the dichotic listening test. Interstitial lung disease occurs in right hemispheric chemically dominant individuals and is a reflection of altered brain function.

  10. Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and mesenteric artery occlusion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Paramesware Achutha

    2003-12-01

    The role of the isoprenoid pathway in vascular thrombosis, especially mesenteric artery occlusion and its relation to hemispheric dominance, was assessed in this study. The following parameters were measured in patients with mesenteric artery occlusion and individuals with right hemispheric, left hemispheric, and bihemispheric dominance: (1) plasma HMG CoA reductase, digoxin, dolichol, ubiquinone, and magnesium levels; (2) tryptophan/tyrosine catabolic patterns; (3) free radical metabolism; (4) glycoconjugate metabolism; and (5) membrane composition. In patients with mesenteric artery occlusion there was elevated digoxin synthesis, increased dolichol and glycoconjugate levels, low ubiquinone, and elevated free radical levels. The RBC membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase activity and serum magnesium were decreased. There was also an increase in tryptophan catabolites and reduction in tyrosine catabolites in the serum. There was an increase in cholesterol:phospholipid ratio and a reduction in glycoconjugate level of RBC membrane in these patients. The biochemical patterns obtained in mesenteric artery occlusion is similar to those obtained in left-handed/right hemispheric dominant individuals by the dichotic listening test. But all the patients with mesenteric artery occlusion were right-handed/left hemispheric dominant by the dichotic listening test. Hemispheric chemical dominance has no correlation with handedness or the dichotic listening test. Mesenteric artery occlusion occurs in right hemispheric chemically dominant individuals and is a reflection of altered brain function. Hemispheric chemical dominance may thus control the risk for developing vascular thrombosis in individuals.

  11. Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and peptic ulcer disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-10-01

    The isoprenoid pathway produces three key metabolites--endogenous digoxin-like factor (EDLF) (membrane sodium-potassium ATPase inhibitor and regulator of neurotransmitter transport), ubiquinone (free radical scavenger), and dolichol (regulator of glycoconjugate metabolism). The pathway was assessed in peptic ulcer and acid peptic disease and its relation to hemispheric dominance studied. The activity of HMG CoA reductase, serum levels of EDLF, magnesium, tryptophan catabolites, and tyrosine catabolites were measured in acid peptic disease, right hemispheric dominant, left hemispheric dominant, and bihemispheric dominant individuals. All the patients with peptic ulcer disease were right-handed/left hemispheric dominant by the dichotic listening test. The pathway was upregulated with increased EDLF synthesis in peptic ulcer disease (PUD). There was increase in tryptophan catabolites and reduction in tyrosine catabolites in these patients. The ubiquinone levels were low and free radical production increased. Dolichol and glycoconjugate levels were increased and lysosomal stability reduced in patients with acid peptic disease (APD). There was increase in cholesterol:phospholipid ratio with decreased glyco conjugate levels in membranes of patients with PUD. Acid peptic disease represents an elevated EDLF state which can modulate gastric acid secretion and the structure of the gastric mucous barrier. It can also lead to persistence of Helicobacter pylori infection. The biochemical pattern obtained in peptic ulcer disease is similar to those obtained in left-handed/right hemispheric chemically dominant individuals. But all the patients with peptic ulcer disease were right-handed/left hemispheric dominant by the dichotic listen ing test. Hemispheric chemical dominance has no correlation with handedness or the dichotic listening test. Peptic ulcer disease occurs in right hemispheric chemically dominant individuals and is a reflection of altered brain function.

  12. Testing the Language of German Cerebral Palsy Patients with Right Hemispheric Language Organization after Early Left Hemispheric Damage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwilling, Eleonore; Krageloh-Mann, Ingeborg; Konietzko, Andreas; Winkler, Susanne; Lidzba, Karen

    2012-01-01

    Language functions are generally represented in the left cerebral hemisphere. After early (prenatally acquired or perinatally acquired) left hemispheric brain damage language functions may be salvaged by reorganization into the right hemisphere. This is different from brain lesions acquired in adulthood which normally lead to aphasia. Right…

  13. Right hemisphere grey matter structure and language outcomes in chronic left hemisphere stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xing, Shihui; Lacey, Elizabeth H; Skipper-Kallal, Laura M; Jiang, Xiong; Harris-Love, Michelle L; Zeng, Jinsheng; Turkeltaub, Peter E

    2016-01-01

    The neural mechanisms underlying recovery of language after left hemisphere stroke remain elusive. Although older evidence suggested that right hemisphere language homologues compensate for damage in left hemisphere language areas, the current prevailing theory suggests that right hemisphere engagement is ineffective or even maladaptive. Using a novel combination of support vector regression-based lesion-symptom mapping and voxel-based morphometry, we aimed to determine whether local grey matter volume in the right hemisphere independently contributes to aphasia outcomes after chronic left hemisphere stroke. Thirty-two left hemisphere stroke survivors with aphasia underwent language assessment with the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised and tests of other cognitive domains. High-resolution T1-weighted images were obtained in aphasia patients and 30 demographically matched healthy controls. Support vector regression-based multivariate lesion-symptom mapping was used to identify critical language areas in the left hemisphere and then to quantify each stroke survivor's lesion burden in these areas. After controlling for these direct effects of the stroke on language, voxel-based morphometry was then used to determine whether local grey matter volumes in the right hemisphere explained additional variance in language outcomes. In brain areas in which grey matter volumes related to language outcomes, we then compared grey matter volumes in patients and healthy controls to assess post-stroke plasticity. Lesion-symptom mapping showed that specific left hemisphere regions related to different language abilities. After controlling for lesion burden in these areas, lesion size, and demographic factors, grey matter volumes in parts of the right temporoparietal cortex positively related to spontaneous speech, naming, and repetition scores. Examining whether domain general cognitive functions might explain these relationships, partial correlations demonstrated that grey matter

  14. Left hemisphere regions are critical for language in the face of early left focal brain injury

    OpenAIRE

    Raja Beharelle, Anjali; Dick, Anthony Steven; Josse, Goulven; Solodkin, Ana; Huttenlocher, Peter R.; Levine, Susan C.; Small, Steven L.

    2010-01-01

    A predominant theory regarding early stroke and its effect on language development, is that early left hemisphere lesions trigger compensatory processes that allow the right hemisphere to assume dominant language functions, and this is thought to underlie the near normal language development observed after early stroke. To test this theory, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activity during category fluency in participants who had sustained pre- or perinatal left h...

  15. A voxel-based asymmetry study of the relationship between hemispheric asymmetry and language dominance in Wada tested patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keller, Simon S; Roberts, Neil; Baker, Gus; Sluming, Vanessa; Cezayirli, Enis; Mayes, Andrew; Eldridge, Paul; Marson, Anthony G; Wieshmann, Udo C

    2018-03-23

    Determining the anatomical basis of hemispheric language dominance (HLD) remains an important scientific endeavor. The Wada test remains the gold standard test for HLD and provides a unique opportunity to determine the relationship between HLD and hemispheric structural asymmetries on MRI. In this study, we applied a whole-brain voxel-based asymmetry (VBA) approach to determine the relationship between interhemispheric structural asymmetries and HLD in a large consecutive sample of Wada tested patients. Of 135 patients, 114 (84.4%) had left HLD, 10 (7.4%) right HLD, and 11 (8.2%) bilateral language representation. Fifty-four controls were also studied. Right-handed controls and right-handed patients with left HLD had comparable structural brain asymmetries in cortical, subcortical, and cerebellar regions that have previously been documented in healthy people. However, these patients and controls differed in structural asymmetry of the mesial temporal lobe and a circumscribed region in the superior temporal gyrus, suggesting that only asymmetries of these regions were due to brain alterations caused by epilepsy. Additional comparisons between patients with left and right HLD, matched for type and location of epilepsy, revealed that structural asymmetries of insula, pars triangularis, inferior temporal gyrus, orbitofrontal cortex, ventral temporo-occipital cortex, mesial somatosensory cortex, and mesial cerebellum were significantly associated with the side of HLD. Patients with right HLD and bilateral language representation were significantly less right-handed. These results suggest that structural asymmetries of an insular-fronto-temporal network may be related to HLD. © 2018 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  16. Personality, Hemispheric Dominance, and Cognitive Style.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hylton, Jaime; Hartman, Steve E.

    1997-01-01

    Shows that 154 medical students and 526 undergraduates (samples treated separately) who were judged left- or right-hemisphere dominant (by the Hemispheric Mode Indicator) were found to have very different personalities (as measured by the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator). Considers some of the practical ramifications of the psychometric overlap of…

  17. Why the Left Hemisphere Is Dominant for Speech Production: Connecting the Dots

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harvey Martin Sussman

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Evidence from seemingly disparate areas of speech/language research is reviewed to form a unified theoretical account for why the left hemisphere is specialized for speech production. Research findings from studies investigating hemispheric lateralization of infant babbling, the primacy of the syllable in phonological structure, rhyming performance in split-brain patients, rhyming ability and phonetic categorization in children diagnosed with developmental apraxia of speech, rules governing exchange errors in spoonerisms, organizational principles of neocortical control of learned motor behaviors, and multi-electrode recordings of human neuronal responses to speech sounds are described and common threads highlighted. It is suggested that the emergence, in developmental neurogenesis, of a hard-wired, syllabically-organized, neural substrate representing the phonemic sound elements of one’s language, particularly the vocalic nucleus, is the crucial factor underlying the left hemisphere’s dominance for speech production.

  18. Human-like brain hemispheric dominance in birdsong learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moorman, Sanne; Gobes, Sharon M H; Kuijpers, Maaike; Kerkhofs, Amber; Zandbergen, Matthijs A; Bolhuis, Johan J

    2012-07-31

    Unlike nonhuman primates, songbirds learn to vocalize very much like human infants acquire spoken language. In humans, Broca's area in the frontal lobe and Wernicke's area in the temporal lobe are crucially involved in speech production and perception, respectively. Songbirds have analogous brain regions that show a similar neural dissociation between vocal production and auditory perception and memory. In both humans and songbirds, there is evidence for lateralization of neural responsiveness in these brain regions. Human infants already show left-sided dominance in their brain activation when exposed to speech. Moreover, a memory-specific left-sided dominance in Wernicke's area for speech perception has been demonstrated in 2.5-mo-old babies. It is possible that auditory-vocal learning is associated with hemispheric dominance and that this association arose in songbirds and humans through convergent evolution. Therefore, we investigated whether there is similar song memory-related lateralization in the songbird brain. We exposed male zebra finches to tutor or unfamiliar song. We found left-sided dominance of neuronal activation in a Broca-like brain region (HVC, a letter-based name) of juvenile and adult zebra finch males, independent of the song stimulus presented. In addition, juvenile males showed left-sided dominance for tutor song but not for unfamiliar song in a Wernicke-like brain region (the caudomedial nidopallium). Thus, left-sided dominance in the caudomedial nidopallium was specific for the song-learning phase and was memory-related. These findings demonstrate a remarkable neural parallel between birdsong and human spoken language, and they have important consequences for our understanding of the evolution of auditory-vocal learning and its neural mechanisms.

  19. Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and inflammatory bowel disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-09-01

    The isoprenoid pathway produces three key metabolites--endogenous digoxin, dolichol, and ubiquinone. It was considered pertinent to assess the pathway in inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis and regional ileitis). Since endogenous digoxin can regulate neurotransmitter transport, the pathway and the related cascade were also assessed in individuals with differing hemispheric dominance to find out the role of hemispheric dominance in its pathogenesis. All the patients with inflammatory bowel disease were right-handed/left hemispheric dominant by the dichotic listening test. The following parameters were measured in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and in individuals with differing hemispheric dominance: (1) plasma HMG CoA reductase, digoxin, dolichol, ubiquinone, and magnesium levels; (2) tryptophan/tyrosine catabolic patterns; (3) free-radical metabolism; (4) glycoconjugate metabolism; and (5) membrane composition and RBC membrane Na+-K+ ATPase activity. Statistical analysis was done by ANOVA. In patients with inflammatory bowel disease there was elevated digoxin synthesis, increased dolichol and glycoconjugate levels, and low ubiquinone and elevated free radical levels. There was also an increase in tryptophan catabolites and a reduction in tyrosine catabolites. There was an increase in cholesterol:phospholipid ratio and a reduction in glycoconjugate level of RBC membrane in these groups of patients. Inflammatory bowel disease is associated with an upregulated isoprenoid pathway and elevated digoxin secretion from the hypothalamus. This can contribute to immune activation, defective glycoprotein bowel antigen presentation, and autoimmunity and a schizophreniform psychosis important in its pathogenesis. The biochemical patterns obtained in inflammatory bowel disease is similar to those obtained in left-handed/right hemispheric dominant individuals by the dichotic listening test. But all the patients with peptic ulcer disease were right

  20. Inter-hemispheric language functional reorganization in low-grade glioma patients after tumour surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kristo, Gert; Raemaekers, Mathijs; Rutten, Geert-Jan; de Gelder, Beatrice; Ramsey, Nick F

    2015-03-01

    Despite many claims of functional reorganization following tumour surgery, empirical studies that investigate changes in functional activation patterns are rare. This study investigates whether functional recovery following surgical treatment in patients with a low-grade glioma in the left hemisphere is linked to inter-hemispheric reorganization. Based on literature, we hypothesized that reorganization would induce changes in the spatial pattern of activation specifically in tumour homologue brain areas in the healthy right hemisphere. An experimental group (EG) of 14 patients with a glioma in the left hemisphere near language related brain areas, and a control group of 6 patients with a glioma in the right, non-language dominant hemisphere were scanned before and after resection. In addition, an age and gender matched second control group of 18 healthy volunteers was scanned twice. A verb generation task was used to map language related areas and a novel technique was used for data analysis. Contrary to our hypothesis, we found that functional recovery following surgery of low-grade gliomas cannot be linked to functional reorganization in language homologue brain areas in the healthy, right hemisphere. Although elevated changes in the activation pattern were found in patients after surgery, these were largest in brain areas in proximity to the surgical resection, and were very similar to the spatial pattern of the brain shift following surgery. This suggests that the apparent perilesional functional reorganization is mostly caused by the brain shift as a consequence of surgery. Perilesional functional reorganization can however not be excluded. The study suggests that language recovery after transient post-surgical language deficits involves recovery of functioning of the presurgical language system. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Hypothalamic-mediated model for systemic lupus erythematosis: relation to hemispheric chemical dominance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-11-01

    The isoprenoid pathway including endogenous digoxin was assessed in systemic lupus erythematosis (SLE). All the patients with SLE were right-handed/left hemispheric dominant by the dichotic listening test. This was also studied for comparison in patients with right hemispheric and left hemispheric dominance. The isoprenoid pathway was upregulated with increased digoxin synthesis in patients with SLE and in those with right hemispheric dominance. In this group of patients (i) the tryptophan catabolites were increased and the tyrosine catabolites reduced, (ii) the dolichol and glycoconjugate levels were elevated, (iii) lysosomal stability was reduced, (iv) ubiquinone levels were low and free radical levels increased, and (v) the membrane cholesterol:phospholipid ratios were increased and membrane glycoconjugates reduced. On the other hand, in patients with left hemispheric dominance the reverse patterns were obtained. The biochemical patterns obtained in SLE is similar to those obtained in left-handed/right hemispheric chemically dominant individuals. But all the patients with SLE were right-handed/left hemispheric dominant by the dichotic listening test. Hemispheric chemical dominance has no correlation with handedness or the dichotic listening test. SLE occurs in right hemispheric chemically dominant individuals, and is a reflection of altered brain function. The role of the isoprenoid pathway in the pathogenesis of SLE and its relation to hemispheric dominance is discussed.

  2. Hemispheric asymmetry in the influence of language on visual perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sun, Yanliang; Cai, Yongchun; Lu, Shena

    2015-07-01

    Many studies have shown that language can affect visual perception; however, our understanding of the neural basis of linguistic influence is inadequate. This can be investigated by examining the hemispheric asymmetry of linguistic influence. The left and right hemispheres are dominant in close and distant semantic processing, respectively. In this study, we investigated whether the hemispheric asymmetry of semantic processing led to hemispheric asymmetry for concept priming on the detection of objects degraded by continuous flash suppression. We combined a priming paradigm with the divided visual field paradigm and used continuous flash suppression, which renders objects invisible. The results indicated that the hemispheric asymmetry of semantic processing led to a right lateralization in the influence of more abstract concepts on visual perception. The lateralization of brain connectomes may be the underlying neural basis of this effect. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Hemispheric asymmetries in dorsal language pathway white-matter tracts: A magnetic resonance imaging tractography and functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silva, Guilherme; Citterio, Alberto

    2017-10-01

    Introduction Previous studies have shown that the arcuate fasciculus has a leftward asymmetry in right-handers that could be correlated with the language lateralisation defined by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Nonetheless, information about the asymmetry of the other fibres that constitute the dorsal language pathway is scarce. Objectives This study investigated the asymmetry of the white-matter tracts involved in the dorsal language pathway through the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) technique, in relation to language hemispheric dominance determined by task-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods We selected 11 patients (10 right-handed) who had been studied with task-dependent fMRI for language areas and DTI and who had no language impairment or structural abnormalities that could compromise magnetic resonance tractography of the fibres involved in the dorsal language pathway. Laterality indices (LI) for fMRI and for the volumes of each tract were calculated. Results In fMRI, all the right-handers had left hemispheric lateralisation, and the ambidextrous subject presented right hemispheric dominance. The arcuate fasciculus LI was strongly correlated with fMRI LI ( r = 0.739, p = 0.009), presenting the same lateralisation of fMRI in seven subjects (including the right hemispheric dominant). It was not asymmetric in three cases and had opposite lateralisation in one case. The other tracts presented predominance for rightward lateralisation, especially superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) II/III (nine subjects), but their LI did not correlate (directly or inversely) with fMRI LI. Conclusion The fibres that constitute the dorsal language pathway have an asymmetric distribution in the cerebral hemispheres. Only the asymmetry of the arcuate fasciculus is correlated with fMRI language lateralisation.

  4. Handedness results from Complementary Hemispheric Dominance, not Global Hemispheric Dominance: Evidence from Mechanically Coupled Bilateral Movements.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woytowicz, Elizabeth J; Westlake, Kelly P; Whitall, Jill; Sainburg, Robert L

    2018-05-09

    Two contrasting views of handedness can be described as 1) complementary dominance, in which each hemisphere is specialized for different aspects of motor control, and 2) global dominance, in which the hemisphere contralateral to the dominant arm is specialized for all aspects of motor control. The present study sought to determine which motor lateralization hypothesis best predicts motor performance during common bilateral task of stabilizing an object (e.g. bread) with one hand while applying forces to the object (e.g. slicing) using the other hand. We designed an experimental equivalent of this task, performed in a virtual environment with the unseen arms supported by frictionless air-sleds. The hands were connected by a spring, and the task was to maintain the position of one hand, while moving the other hand to a target. Thus, the reaching hand was required to take account of the spring load to make smooth and accurate trajectories, while the stabilizer hand was required to impede the spring load to keep a constant position. Right-handed subjects performed two task sessions (right hand reach and left hand stabilize; left hand reach and right hand stabilize) with the order of the sessions counterbalanced between groups. Our results indicate a hand by task-component interaction, such that the right hand showed straighter reaching performance while the left showed more stable holding performance. These findings provide support for the complementary dominance hypothesis and suggest that the specializations of each cerebral hemisphere for impedance and dynamic control mechanisms are expressed during bilateral interactive tasks.

  5. Resting-state functional connectivity predicts the strength of hemispheric lateralization for language processing in temporal lobe epilepsy and normals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doucet, Gaëlle E; Pustina, Dorian; Skidmore, Christopher; Sharan, Ashwini; Sperling, Michael R; Tracy, Joseph I

    2015-01-01

    In temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), determining the hemispheric specialization for language before surgery is critical to preserving a patient's cognitive abilities post-surgery. To date, the major techniques utilized are limited by the capacity of patients to efficiently realize the task. We determined whether resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) is a reliable predictor of language hemispheric dominance in right and left TLE patients, relative to controls. We chose three subregions of the inferior frontal cortex (pars orbitalis, pars triangularis, and pars opercularis) as the seed regions. All participants performed both a verb generation task and a resting-state fMRI procedure. Based on the language task, we computed a laterality index (LI) for the resulting network. This revealed that 96% of the participants were left-hemisphere dominant, although there remained a large degree of variability in the strength of left lateralization. We tested whether LI correlated with rsFC values emerging from each seed. We revealed a set of regions that was specific to each group. Unique correlations involving the epileptic mesial temporal lobe were revealed for the right and left TLE patients, but not for the controls. Importantly, for both TLE groups, the rsFC emerging from a contralateral seed was the most predictive of LI. Overall, our data depict the broad patterns of rsFC that support strong versus weak left hemisphere language laterality. This project provides the first evidence that rsFC data may potentially be used on its own to verify the strength of hemispheric dominance for language in impaired or pathologic populations. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  6. Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric dominance, and neurobiology of love and affection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-05-01

    The human hypothalamus produces an endogenous membrane Na+-K+ ATPase inhibitor, digoxin, which can regulate neuronal transmission. The digoxin status and neurotransmitter patterns were studied in individuals with a predilection to fall in love. It was also studied in individuals with differing hemispheric dominance to find out the role of cerebral dominance in this respect. In individuals with a predilection to fall in love there was decreased digoxin synthesis, increased membrane Na+-K+ ATPase activity, decreased tryptophan catabolites (serotonin, quinolinic acid, and nicotine), and increased tyrosine catabolites (dopamine, noradrenaline, and morphine). This pattern correlated with that obtained in left hemispheric chemical dominance. Hemispheric dominance and hypothalamic digoxin could regulate the predisposition to fall in love.

  7. Does the individual adaption of standardized speech paradigmas for clinical functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) effect the localization of the language-dominant hemisphere and of Broca's and Wernicke's areas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Konrad, F.; Nennig, E.; Kress, B.; Sartor, K.; Stippich, C.; Ochmann, H.

    2005-01-01

    Purpose: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) localizes Broca's area (B) and Wernicke's area (W) and the hemisphere dominant for language. In clinical fMRI, adapting the stimulation paradigms to each patient's individual cognitive capacity is crucial for diagnostic success. To interpret clinical fMRI findings correctly, we studied the effect of varying frequency and number of stimuli on functional localization, determination of language dominance and BOLD signals. Materials and Methods: Ten volunteers (VP) were investigated at 1.5 Tesla during visually triggered sentence generation using a standardized block design. In four different measurements, the stimuli were presented to each VP with frequencies of (1/1)s, (1/2)s,(1/3)s and (1/6)s. Results: The functional localizations and the correlations of the measured BOLD signals to the applied hemodynamic reference function (r) were almost independent from frequency and number of the stimuli in both hemispheres, whereas the relative BOLD signal changes (ΔS) in B and W increased with the stimulation rate, which also changed the lateralization indices. The strongest BOLD activations were achieved with the highest stimulation rate or with the maximum language production task, respectively. Conclusion: The adaptation of language paradigms necessary in clinical fMRI does not alter the functional localizations but changes the BOLD signals and language lateralization which should not be attributed to the underlying brain pathology. (orig.)

  8. [Does the individual adaptation of standardized speech paradigmas for clinical functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) effect the localization of the language-dominant hemisphere and of Broca's and Wernicke's areas].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Konrad, F; Nennig, E; Ochmann, H; Kress, B; Sartor, K; Stippich, C

    2005-03-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) localizes Broca's area (B) and Wernicke's area (W) and the hemisphere dominant for language. In clinical fMRI, adapting the stimulation paradigms to each patient's individual cognitive capacity is crucial for diagnostic success. To interpret clinical fMRI findings correctly, we studied the effect of varying frequency and number of stimuli on functional localization, determination of language dominance and BOLD signals. Ten volunteers (VP) were investigated at 1.5 Tesla during visually triggered sentence generation using a standardized block design. In four different measurements, the stimuli were presented to each VP with frequencies of 1/1 s, (1/2) s, (1/3) s and (1/6) s. The functional localizations and the correlations of the measured BOLD signals to the applied hemodynamic reference function (r) were almost independent from frequency and number of the stimuli in both hemispheres, whereas the relative BOLD signal changes (DeltaS) in B and W increased with the stimulation rate, which also changed the lateralization indices. The strongest BOLD activations were achieved with the highest stimulation rate or with the maximum language production task, respectively. The adaptation of language paradigms necessary in clinical fMRI does not alter the functional localizations but changes the BOLD signals and language lateralization which should not be attributed to the underlying brain pathology.

  9. Language and music: differential hemispheric dominance in detecting unexpected errors in the lyrics and melody of memorized songs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yasui, Takuya; Kaga, Kimitaka; Sakai, Kuniyoshi L

    2009-02-01

    Using magnetoencephalography (MEG), we report here the hemispheric dominance of the auditory cortex that is selectively modulated by unexpected errors in the lyrics and melody of songs (lyrics and melody deviants), thereby elucidating under which conditions the lateralization of auditory processing changes. In experiment 1 using familiar songs, we found that the dipole strength of responses to the lyrics deviants was left-dominant at 140 ms (M140), whereas that of responses to the melody deviants was right-dominant at 130 ms (M130). In experiment 2 using familiar songs with a constant syllable or pitch, the dipole strength of frequency mismatch negativity elicited by oddballs was left-dominant. There were significant main effects of experiment (1 and 2) for the peak latencies and for the coordinates of the dipoles, indicating that the M140 and M130 were not the frequency mismatch negativity. In experiment 3 using newly memorized songs, the right-dominant M130 was observed only when the presented note was unexpected one, independent of perceiving unnatural pitch transitions (i.e., perceptual saliency) and of selective attention to the melody of songs. The consistent right-dominance of the M130 between experiments 1 and 3 suggests that the M130 in experiment 1 is due to unexpected notes deviating from well-memorized songs. On the other hand, the left-dominant M140 was elicited by lyrics deviants, suggesting the influence of top-down linguistic information and the memory of the familiar songs. We thus conclude that the left- lateralized M140 and right-lateralized M130 reflect the expectation based on top-down information of language and music, respectively.

  10. Dynamics of hemispheric dominance for language assessed by magnetoencephalographic imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Findlay, Anne M; Ambrose, Josiah B; Cahn-Weiner, Deborah A; Houde, John F; Honma, Susanne; Hinkley, Leighton B N; Berger, Mitchel S; Nagarajan, Srikantan S; Kirsch, Heidi E

    2012-05-01

    The goal of the current study was to examine the dynamics of language lateralization using magnetoencephalographic (MEG) imaging, to determine the sensitivity and specificity of MEG imaging, and to determine whether MEG imaging can become a viable alternative to the intracarotid amobarbital procedure (IAP), the current gold standard for preoperative language lateralization in neurosurgical candidates. MEG was recorded during an auditory verb generation task and imaging analysis of oscillatory activity was initially performed in 21 subjects with epilepsy, brain tumor, or arteriovenous malformation who had undergone IAP and MEG. Time windows and brain regions of interest that best discriminated between IAP-determined left or right dominance for language were identified. Parameters derived in the retrospective analysis were applied to a prospective cohort of 14 patients and healthy controls. Power decreases in the beta frequency band were consistently observed following auditory stimulation in inferior frontal, superior temporal, and parietal cortices; similar power decreases were also seen in inferior frontal cortex prior to and during overt verb generation. Language lateralization was clearly observed to be a dynamic process that is bilateral for several hundred milliseconds during periods of auditory perception and overt speech production. Correlation with the IAP was seen in 13 of 14 (93%) prospective patients, with the test demonstrating a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 92%. Our results demonstrate excellent correlation between MEG imaging findings and the IAP for language lateralization, and provide new insights into the spatiotemporal dynamics of cortical speech processing. Copyright © 2012 American Neurological Association.

  11. Noninvasive determination of language dominance using functional MRI and near-infrared spectroscopy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ota, Takahiro; Kamada, Kyousuke; Saito, Nobuhito

    2009-01-01

    Identification of the language dominant hemisphere is important in cases necessary for partial encephalotomy due to epilepsy and tumor. Functional MRI (fMRI) essentially detects oxy-Hb/deoxy-Hb ratio in the brain region resulted from blood flow change and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), the Hb level change in the tissue, in which the image can be detected by light-receiving proves of NIR-light (780-1500 nm wavelength) irradiated and passed through the tissues. This paper describes the comparison of the two methods for determination of language dominance with reference to that identified by Wada test, a gold standard but inconvenient for both operators and patients. Subjects are 11 brain tumor and 11 epilepsy patients (M 10/F 12, av. age of 36.7 y, 19 right-handed), whose dominances are successfully determined previously by Wada test. fMRI is conducted with 3T machine (General Electric, USA) with phased-array coil in patients receiving various language tasks, and data are processed by Dr. View (Asahi Kasei) to calculate the laterality index for the dominance. NIRS is conducted with Hitachi-Medico ETG-4000 with 695 and 830 nm IR in patients receiving other different language tasks, on whose frontotemporal region of head surface 12-channel probes are equipped. Data are processed by the equipped software to calculate the difference of oxy-Hb change rates between the two hemispheres for the dominance determination. Consistency of fMRI in determining the dominance with Wada test is found 86.3% and of NIRS, 72.7%, which suggests the latter can be only supplementary to the former. However, NIRS is noted to be useful in atypical cases like those with right or bilateral dominance. (K.T.)

  12. Hypothalamic digoxin, hemispheric chemical dominance, and oncogenesis: evidence from multiple myeloma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Paramesware Achutha

    2003-12-01

    This study assessed the changes in the isoprenoid pathway and its metabolites digoxin, dolichol, and ubiquinone in multiple myeloma. The isoprenoid pathway and digoxin status were also studied for comparison in individuals of differing hemispheric dominance to find out the rote of cerebral dominance in the genesis of multiple myeloma and neoplasms. The following parameters were assessed: isoprenoid pathway metabolites, tyrosine and tryptophan catabolites, glycoconjugate metabolism, RBC membrane composition, and free radical metabolism--in multiple myeloma, as well as in individuals of differing hemispheric dominance. There was elevation in plasma HMG CoA reductase activity, serum digoxin, and dolichol, and a reduction in RBC membrane Na(+)-K+ ATPase activity, serum ubiquinone, and magnesium levels. Serum tryptophan, serotonin, nicotine, strychnine, and quinolinic acid were elevated, while tyrosine, dopamine, noradrenaline, and morphine were decreased. The total serum glycosaminoglycans and glycosaminoglycan fractions, the activity of GAG degrading enzymes and glycohydrolases, carbohydrate residues of glycoproteins, and serum glycolipids were elevated. The RBC membrane glycosaminoglycans, hexose, and fucose residues of glycoproteins, cholesterol, and phospholipids were reduced. The activity of all free-radical scavenging enzymes, concentration of glutathione, iron binding capacity, and ceruloplasmin decreased significantly, while the concentration of lipid peroxidation products and nitric oxide increased. Hyperdigoxinemia-related altered intracellular Ca++/Mg++ ratios mediated oncogene activation, dolichol-induced altered glycoconjugate metabolism, and ubiquinone deficiency-related mitochondrial dysfunction can contribute to the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma. The biochemical patterns obtained in multiple myeloma are similar to those obtained in left-handed/right hemispheric chemically dominant individuals by the dichotic listening test. But all the patients with

  13. Role of brain hemispheric dominance in anticipatory postural control strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cioncoloni, David; Rosignoli, Deborah; Feurra, Matteo; Rossi, Simone; Bonifazi, Marco; Rossi, Alessandro; Mazzocchio, Riccardo

    2016-07-01

    Most of the cerebral functions are asymmetrically represented in the two hemispheres. Moreover, dexterity and coordination of the distal segment of the dominant limbs depend on cortico-motor lateralization. In this study, we investigated whether postural control may be also considered a lateralized hemispheric brain function. To this aim, 15 young subjects were tested in standing position by measuring center of pressure (COP) shifts along the anteroposterior axis (COP-Y) during dynamic posturography before and after continuous Theta Burst Stimulation (cTBS) intervention applied to the dominant or non-dominant M1 hand area as well as to the vertex. We show that when subjects were expecting a forward platform translation, the COP-Y was positioned significantly backward or forward after dominant or non-dominant M1 stimulation, respectively. We postulate that cTBS applied on M1 may have disrupted the functional connectivity between intra- and interhemispheric areas implicated in the anticipatory control of postural stability. This study suggests a functional asymmetry between the two homologous primary motor areas, with the dominant hemisphere playing a critical role in the selection of the appropriate postural control strategy.

  14. Hypothalamic digoxin and hemispheric chemical dominance in relation to the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-08-01

    The isoprenoid pathway produces three key metabolites--digoxin (membrane sodium-potassium ATPase inhibitor and regulator of neurotransmitter transport), dolichol (regulator of N-glycosylation of proteins), and ubiquinone (free radical scavenger). The isoprenoid pathway was assessed in patients with bronchial asthma. The pathway was also assessed in patients with right hemispheric, left hemispheric, and bihemispheric dominance to find out the role of hemispheric dominance in the pathogenesis of bronchial asthma. The pathway was upregulated with increase in digoxin synthesis in bronchial asthma. There was an increase in tryptophan catabolites and a reduction in tyrosine catabolites in patients with bronchial asthma. The ubiquinone levels were low and lipid peroxidation increased in these patients. There was increase in dolichol and glycoconjugate levels and reduction in lysosomal stability in these patients. The cholesterol:phospholipid ratio was increased and glycoconjugate levels were reduced in the membranes of these patients. The patterns noticed in bronchial asthma were similar to those in patients with right hemispheric chemical dominance. Bronchial asthma occurs in right hemispheric chemically dominant individuals. Ninety percent of the patients with bronchial asthma were right-handed and left hemispheric dominant by the dichotic listening test. But their biochemical patterns were similar to those obtained in right hemispheric chemical dominance. Hemispheric chemical dominance is a different entity and has no correlation with handedness or the dichotic listening test.

  15. Choosing words: left hemisphere, right hemisphere, or both? Perspective on the lateralization of word retrieval

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ries, Stephanie K.; Dronkers, Nina F.; Knight, Robert T.

    2015-01-01

    Language is considered to be one of the most lateralized human brain functions. Left hemisphere dominance for language has been consistently confirmed in clinical and experimental settings and constitutes one of the main axioms of neurology and neuroscience. However, functional neuroimaging studies are finding that the right hemisphere also plays a role in diverse language functions. Critically, the right hemisphere may also compensate for the loss or degradation of language functions following extensive stroke-induced damage to the left hemisphere. Here, we review studies that focus on our ability to choose words as we speak. Although fluidly performed in individuals with intact language, this process is routinely compromised in aphasic patients. We suggest that parceling word retrieval into its sub-processes—lexical activation and lexical selection—and examining which of these can be compensated for after left hemisphere stroke can advance the understanding of the lateralization of word retrieval in speech production. In particular, the domain-general nature of the brain regions associated with each process may be a helpful indicator of the right hemisphere's propensity for compensation. PMID:26766393

  16. The effect of fMRI task combinations on determining the hemispheric dominance of language functions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niskanen, Eini; Koenoenen, Mervi; Villberg, Ville; Aeikiae, Marja; Nissi, Mikko; Ranta-aho, Perttu; Karjalainen, Pasi; Saeisaenen, Laura; Mervaala, Esa; Kaelviaeinen, Reetta; Vanninen, Ritva

    2012-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to establish the most suitable combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) language tasks for clinical use in determining language dominance and to define the variability in laterality index (LI) and activation power between different combinations of language tasks. Activation patterns of different fMRI analyses of five language tasks (word generation, responsive naming, letter task, sentence comprehension, and word pair) were defined for 20 healthy volunteers (16 right-handed). LIs and sums of T values were calculated for each task separately and for four combinations of tasks in predefined regions of interest. Variability in terms of activation power and lateralization was defined in each analysis. In addition, the visual assessment of lateralization of language functions based on the individual fMRI activation maps was conducted by an experienced neuroradiologist. A combination analysis of word generation, responsive naming, and sentence comprehension was the most suitable in terms of activation power, robustness to detect essential language areas, and scanning time. In general, combination analyses of the tasks provided higher overall activation levels than single tasks and reduced the number of outlier voxels disturbing the calculation of LI. A combination of auditory and visually presented tasks that activate different aspects of language functions with sufficient activation power may be a useful task battery for determining language dominance in patients. (orig.)

  17. The effect of fMRI task combinations on determining the hemispheric dominance of language functions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Niskanen, Eini [University of Eastern Finland, Department of Applied Physics, Kuopio (Finland); Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Clinical Radiology, Kuopio (Finland); Koenoenen, Mervi [Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Clinical Radiology, Kuopio (Finland); Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Kuopio (Finland); Villberg, Ville; Aeikiae, Marja [Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Neurology, Kuopio (Finland); Nissi, Mikko; Ranta-aho, Perttu; Karjalainen, Pasi [University of Eastern Finland, Department of Applied Physics, Kuopio (Finland); Saeisaenen, Laura; Mervaala, Esa [Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Kuopio (Finland); University of Eastern Finland, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Clinical Neurophysiology, Kuopio (Finland); Kaelviaeinen, Reetta [Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Neurology, Kuopio (Finland); University of Eastern Finland, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Neurology, Kuopio (Finland); Vanninen, Ritva [Kuopio University Hospital, Department of Clinical Radiology, Kuopio (Finland); University of Eastern Finland, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Clinical Radiology, Kuopio (Finland)

    2012-04-15

    The purpose of this study is to establish the most suitable combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) language tasks for clinical use in determining language dominance and to define the variability in laterality index (LI) and activation power between different combinations of language tasks. Activation patterns of different fMRI analyses of five language tasks (word generation, responsive naming, letter task, sentence comprehension, and word pair) were defined for 20 healthy volunteers (16 right-handed). LIs and sums of T values were calculated for each task separately and for four combinations of tasks in predefined regions of interest. Variability in terms of activation power and lateralization was defined in each analysis. In addition, the visual assessment of lateralization of language functions based on the individual fMRI activation maps was conducted by an experienced neuroradiologist. A combination analysis of word generation, responsive naming, and sentence comprehension was the most suitable in terms of activation power, robustness to detect essential language areas, and scanning time. In general, combination analyses of the tasks provided higher overall activation levels than single tasks and reduced the number of outlier voxels disturbing the calculation of LI. A combination of auditory and visually presented tasks that activate different aspects of language functions with sufficient activation power may be a useful task battery for determining language dominance in patients. (orig.)

  18. The effect of fMRI task combinations on determining the hemispheric dominance of language functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Niskanen, Eini; Könönen, Mervi; Villberg, Ville; Nissi, Mikko; Ranta-Aho, Perttu; Säisänen, Laura; Karjalainen, Pasi; Aikiä, Marja; Kälviäinen, Reetta; Mervaala, Esa; Vanninen, Ritva

    2012-04-01

    The purpose of this study is to establish the most suitable combination of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) language tasks for clinical use in determining language dominance and to define the variability in laterality index (LI) and activation power between different combinations of language tasks. Activation patterns of different fMRI analyses of five language tasks (word generation, responsive naming, letter task, sentence comprehension, and word pair) were defined for 20 healthy volunteers (16 right-handed). LIs and sums of T values were calculated for each task separately and for four combinations of tasks in predefined regions of interest. Variability in terms of activation power and lateralization was defined in each analysis. In addition, the visual assessment of lateralization of language functions based on the individual fMRI activation maps was conducted by an experienced neuroradiologist. A combination analysis of word generation, responsive naming, and sentence comprehension was the most suitable in terms of activation power, robustness to detect essential language areas, and scanning time. In general, combination analyses of the tasks provided higher overall activation levels than single tasks and reduced the number of outlier voxels disturbing the calculation of LI. A combination of auditory and visually presented tasks that activate different aspects of language functions with sufficient activation power may be a useful task battery for determining language dominance in patients.

  19. Agents with left and right dominant hemispheres and quantum statistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ezhov, Alexandr A.; Khrennikov, Andrei Yu.

    2005-01-01

    We present a multiagent model illustrating the emergence of two different quantum statistics, Bose-Einstein and Fermi-Dirac, in a friendly population of individuals with the right-brain dominance and in a competitive population of individuals with the left-brain hemisphere dominance, correspondingly. Doing so, we adduce the arguments that Lefebvre’s “algebra of conscience” can be used in a natural way to describe decision-making strategies of agents simulating people with different brain dominance. One can suggest that the emergence of the two principal statistical distributions is able to illustrate different types of society organization and also to be used in order to simulate market phenomena and psychic disorders, when a switching of hemisphere dominance is involved.

  20. The Effectiveness of 1 Hz rTMS Over the Primary Motor Area of the Unaffected Hemisphere to Improve Hand Function After Stroke Depends on Hemispheric Dominance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lüdemann-Podubecká, Jitka; Bösl, Kathrin; Theilig, Steven; Wiederer, Ralf; Nowak, Dennis Alexander

    2015-01-01

    Inhibition of motor cortex excitability of the contralesional hemisphere may improve dexterity of the affected hand after stroke. 40 patients (17 dominant hemispheric stroke, 23 non-dominant hemispheric stroke) with a mild to moderate upper limb motor impairment were enrolled in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial with two parallel-groups. Both groups received 15 daily sessions of motor training preceded by either 1 Hz rTMS or sham rTMS. Behavioral and neurophysiological evaluations were performed at baseline, after the first week and after the third week of treatment, and after a 6 months follow-up. In both groups motor function of the affected hand improved significantly. Patients with stroke of the non-dominant hemisphere made a similar improvement, regardless of whether the motor training was preceded by sham or 1 Hz rTMS. Patients with stroke of the dominant hemisphere had a less favorable improvement than those with stroke of the non-dominant hemisphere after motor training preceded by sham rTMS. However, when 1 Hz rTMS preceded the motor training, patients with stroke of the dominant hemisphere made a similar improvement as those with stroke of the non-dominant hemisphere. Motor recovery of the affected upper limb after stroke is determined by dominance of the affected hemisphere. Stroke of the dominant hemisphere is associated with per se poorer improvement of the affected hand. 1 Hz rTMS over the contralesional M1 significantly improves dexterity of the affected hand in patients with stroke of the dominant hemisphere, but not in those with stroke of the non-dominant hemisphere. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Correlating subcortical interhemispheric connectivity and cortical hemispheric dominance in brain tumor patients: A repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sollmann, Nico; Ille, Sebastian; Tussis, Lorena; Maurer, Stefanie; Hauck, Theresa; Negwer, Chiara; Bauer, Jan S; Ringel, Florian; Meyer, Bernhard; Krieg, Sandro M

    2016-02-01

    The present study aims to investigate the relationship between transcallosal interhemispheric connectivity (IC) and hemispheric language lateralization by using a novel approach including repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), hemispheric dominance ratio (HDR) calculation, and rTMS-based diffusion tensor imaging fiber tracking (DTI FT). 31 patients with left-sided perisylvian brain lesions underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and rTMS language mapping. Cortical language-positive rTMS spots were used to calculate HDRs (HDR: quotient of the left-sided divided by right-sided naming error rates for corresponding left- and right-sided cortical regions) and to create regions of interest (ROIs) for DTI FT. Then, fibers connecting the rTMS-based ROIs of both hemispheres were tracked, and the correlation of IC to HDRs was calculated via Spearman's rank correlation coefficient (rs). Fibers connecting rTMS-based ROIs of both hemispheres were detected in 12 patients (38.7%). Within the patients in which IC was detected, the mean number of subcortical IC fibers ± standard deviation (SD) was 138.0 ± 346.5 (median: 7.5; range: 1-1,217 fibers). Regarding rs for the correlation of HDRs and fiber numbers of patients that showed IC, only moderate correlation was revealed. Our approach might be beneficial and technically feasible for further investigation of the relationship between IC and language lateralization. However, only moderate correlation was revealed in the present study. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Hemispheric metacontrol and cerebral dominance in healthy individuals investigated by means of chimeric faces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urgesi, Cosimo; Bricolo, Emanuela; Aglioti, Salvatore M

    2005-08-01

    Cerebral dominance and hemispheric metacontrol were investigated by testing the ability of healthy participants to match chimeric, entire, or half faces presented tachistoscopically. The two hemi-faces compounding chimeric or entire stimuli were presented simultaneously or asynchronously at different exposure times. Participants did not consciously detect chimeric faces for simultaneous presentations lasting up to 40 ms. Interestingly, a 20 ms separation between each half-chimera was sufficient to induce detection of conflicts at a conscious level. Although the presence of chimeric faces was not consciously perceived, performance on chimeric faces was poorer than on entire- and half-faces stimuli, thus indicating an implicit processing of perceptual conflicts. Moreover, the precedence of hemispheric stimulation over-ruled the right hemisphere dominance for face processing, insofar as the hemisphere stimulated last appeared to influence the response. This dynamic reversal of cerebral dominance, however, was not caused by a shift in hemispheric specialization, since the level of performance always reflected the right hemisphere specialization for face recognition. Thus, the dissociation between hemispheric dominance and specialization found in the present study hints at the existence of hemispheric metacontrol in healthy individuals.

  3. Gender and rapid alterations of hemispheric dominance during planning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schuepbach, Daniel; Skotchko, Tatjana; Duschek, Stefan; Theodoridou, Anastasia; Grimm, Simone; Boeker, Heinz; Seifritz, Erich

    2012-01-01

    Mental planning and carrying out a plan provoke specific cerebral hemodynamic responses. Gender aspects of hemispheric laterality using rapid cerebral hemodynamics have not been reported. Here, we applied functional transcranial Doppler sonography to examine lateralization of cerebral hemodynamics of the middle cerebral arteries of 28 subjects (14 women and 14 men) performing a standard planning task. There were easy and difficult problems, and mental planning without motor activity was separated from movement execution. Difficult mental planning elicited lateralization to the right hemisphere after 2 or more seconds, a feature that was not observed during movement execution. In females, there was a dominance to the left hemisphere during movement execution. Optimized problem solving yielded an increased laterality change to the right during mental planning. Gender-related hemispheric dominance appears to be condition-dependent, and change of laterality to the right may play a role in optimized performance. Results are of relevance when considering laterality from a perspective of performance enhancement of higher cognitive functions, and also of psychiatric disorders with cognitive dysfunctions and abnormal lateralization patterns such as schizophrenia. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  4. Is the planum temporale surface area a marker of hemispheric or regional language lateralization?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie; Crivello, Fabrice; Mazoyer, Bernard

    2018-04-01

    We investigated the association between the left planum temporale (PT) surface area or asymmetry and the hemispheric or regional functional asymmetries during language production and perception tasks in 287 healthy adults (BIL&GIN) who were matched for sex and handedness. The measurements of the PT surface area were performed after manually delineating the region using brain magnetic resonance images (MRI) and considering the Heschl's gyrus (HG) duplication pattern; the measurements either included (PT tot ) or did not include (PT post ) the second gyrus. A region encompassing both the PT and HG (HGPT) was also studied. Regardless of the ROI measured, 80% of the sample had a positive left minus right PT asymmetry. We first tested whether the PT tot , PT post and HGPT surface areas in the left or right hemispheres or PT asymmetries differed in groups of individuals varying in language lateralization by assessing their hemispheric index during a sentence production minus word list production task. We then investigated the association between these different measures of the PT anatomy and the regional asymmetries measured during the task. Regardless of the anatomical definition used, we observed no correlations between the left surface areas or asymmetries and the hemispheric or regional functional asymmetries during the language production task. We then performed a similar analysis using the same sample measuring language functional lateralization during speech listening tasks (i.e., listening to sentences and lists of words). Although the hemispheric lateralization during speech listening was not correlated with the left PT tot , PT post or HGPT surface areas or the PT asymmetries, significant positive correlations were observed between the asymmetries in these regions and the regional functional asymmetries measured in areas adjacent to the end of the Sylvian fissure while participants listened to the word lists or sentences. The PT asymmetry thus appears to be

  5. Right Hemispheric Dominance in Gaze-Triggered Reflexive Shift of Attention in Humans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okada, Takashi; Sato, Wataru; Toichi, Motomi

    2006-01-01

    Recent findings suggest a right hemispheric dominance in gaze-triggered shifts of attention. The aim of this study was to clarify the dominant hemisphere in the gaze processing that mediates attentional shift. A target localization task, with preceding non-predicative gaze cues presented to each visual field, was undertaken by 44 healthy subjects,…

  6. Hemispheric dominance underlying the neural substrate for learned vocalizations develops with experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chirathivat, Napim; Raja, Sahitya C; Gobes, Sharon M H

    2015-06-22

    Many aspects of song learning in songbirds resemble characteristics of speech acquisition in humans. Genetic, anatomical and behavioural parallels have most recently been extended with demonstrated similarities in hemispheric dominance between humans and songbirds: the avian higher order auditory cortex is left-lateralized for processing song memories in juvenile zebra finches that already have formed a memory of their fathers' song, just like Wernicke's area in the left hemisphere of the human brain is dominant for speech perception. However, it is unclear if hemispheric specialization is due to pre-existing functional asymmetry or the result of learning itself. Here we show that in juvenile male and female zebra finches that had never heard an adult song before, neuronal activation after initial exposure to a conspecific song is bilateral. Thus, like in humans, hemispheric dominance develops with vocal proficiency. A left-lateralized functional system that develops through auditory-vocal learning may be an evolutionary adaptation that could increase the efficiency of transferring information within one hemisphere, benefiting the production and perception of learned communication signals.

  7. Writing and drawing with both hands as indicators of hemispheric dominance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Labak, Irena; Snajder, Darija; Srzentić, Mirna Kostović; Bensić, Mirta; Nist, Marina; Ilakovac, Vesna; Heffer, Marija

    2011-01-01

    Brain lateralization is a common term used to describe dominance of one brain hemisphere over another for a specific function. The right hand dominance in writing, controlled by the left hemisphere, is preceded by development of communicative gesticulation and followed by development of speech in the same hemisphere. We assumed that some people are not aware of their own capability of using the other hand for tasks involving fine motor sequential movements. To prove this hypothesis, the participants were asked to perform one trained task (writing) and one less-trained task (drawing) with a dominant and a non-dominant hand. The final sample was comprised of 1189 children from 14 elementary schools and 8 high schools in the Osijek area, of which 685 elementary school children were attending 1st to 4th grade and 504 high school children were attending 3rd and 4th grade. The participants were asked to write two words, draw a specific object (a vase with flowers) and fill out a questionnaire with 10 questions concerning the classification of handedness and cerebral hemisphere dominance. The self-reported cerebral lateralization assessed in the questionnaire was compared with the drawing and the writing performance. The self-reported and objectively measured hand dominance deviated in the cases of the ambidextrous who consider themselves right-handers. Given the fact that the number of ambidextrous persons was greater in elementary schools than in high schools, we concluded how training of the right hand decreases the ability of using both hands equally for either of the tested functions - writing and drawing.

  8. Fine-coarse semantic processing in schizophrenia: a reversed pattern of hemispheric dominance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeev-Wolf, Maor; Goldstein, Abraham; Levkovitz, Yechiel; Faust, Miriam

    2014-04-01

    Left lateralization for language processing is a feature of neurotypical brains. In individuals with schizophrenia, lack of left lateralization is associated with the language impairments manifested in this population. Beeman׳s fine-coarse semantic coding model asserts left hemisphere specialization in fine (i.e., conventionalized) semantic coding and right hemisphere specialization in coarse (i.e., non-conventionalized) semantic coding. Applying this model to schizophrenia would suggest that language impairments in this population are a result of greater reliance on coarse semantic coding. We investigated this hypothesis and examined whether a reversed pattern of hemispheric involvement in fine-coarse semantic coding along the time course of activation could be detected in individuals with schizophrenia. Seventeen individuals with schizophrenia and 30 neurotypical participants were presented with two word expressions of four types: literal, conventional metaphoric, unrelated (exemplars of fine semantic coding) and novel metaphoric (an exemplar of coarse semantic coding). Expressions were separated by either a short (250 ms) or long (750 ms) delay. Findings indicate that whereas during novel metaphor processing, controls displayed a left hemisphere advantage at 250 ms delay and right hemisphere advantage at 750 ms, individuals with schizophrenia displayed the opposite. For conventional metaphoric and unrelated expressions, controls showed left hemisphere advantage across times, while individuals with schizophrenia showed a right hemisphere advantage. Furthermore, whereas individuals with schizophrenia were less accurate than control at judging literal, conventional metaphoric and unrelated expressions they were more accurate when judging novel metaphors. Results suggest that individuals with schizophrenia display a reversed pattern of lateralization for semantic coding which causes them to rely more heavily on coarse semantic coding. Thus, for individuals with

  9. Left hemispheric dominance of vestibular processing indicates lateralization of cortical functions in rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Best, Christoph; Lange, Elena; Buchholz, Hans-Georg; Schreckenberger, Mathias; Reuss, Stefan; Dieterich, Marianne

    2014-11-01

    Lateralization of cortical functions such as speech dominance, handedness and processing of vestibular information are present not only in humans but also in ontogenetic older species, e.g. rats. In human functional imaging studies, the processing of vestibular information was found to be correlated with the hemispherical dominance as determined by the handedness. It is located mainly within the right hemisphere in right handers and within the left hemisphere in left handers. Since dominance of vestibular processing is unknown in animals, our aim was to study the lateralization of cortical processing in a functional imaging study applying small-animal positron emission tomography (microPET) and galvanic vestibular stimulation in an in vivo rat model. The cortical and subcortical network processing vestibular information could be demonstrated and correlated with data from other animal studies. By calculating a lateralization index as well as flipped region of interest analyses, we found that the vestibular processing in rats follows a strong left hemispheric dominance independent from the "handedness" of the animals. These findings support the idea of an early hemispheric specialization of vestibular cortical functions in ontogenetic older species.

  10. Vestibulo-cortical Hemispheric Dominance: the link between Anxiety and the Vestibular System?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bednarczuk, Nadja F; Casanovas Ortega, Marta; Fluri, Anne-Sophie; Arshad, Qadeer

    2018-05-16

    Vestibular processing and anxiety networks are functionally intertwined, as demonstrated by reports of reciprocal influences upon each other. Yet whether there is an underlying link between these two systems remains unknown Previous findings have highlighted the involvement of hemispheric lateralisation in processing of both anxiety and vestibular signals. Accordingly, we explored the interaction between vestibular cortical processing and anxiety by assessing the relationship between anxiety levels and the degree of hemispheric lateralisation of vestibulo-cortical processing in 64 right-handed, healthy individuals. Vestibulo-cortical hemispheric lateralisation was determined by gaging the degree of caloric-induced nystagmus suppression following modulation of cortical excitability using trans-cranial direct current stimulation targeted over the posterior parietal cortex, an area implicated in the processing of vestibular signals. The degree of nystagmus suppression yields an objective biomarker, allowing the quantification of the degree of right vestibulo-cortical hemisphere dominance. Anxiety levels were quantified using the Trait component of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Questionnaire. Our findings demonstrate that the degree of an individual's vestibulo-cortical hemispheric dominance correlates with their anxiety levels. That is, those individuals with greater right hemispheric vestibulo-cortical dominance exhibited lower levels of anxiety. By extension, our results support the notion that hemispheric lateralisation determines an individual's emotional processing, thereby linking cortical circuits involved in processing anxiety and vestibular signals respectively. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

  11. RELATIONSHIP AMONG BRAIN HEMISPHERIC DOMINANCE, ATTITUDE TOWARDS L1 AND L2, GENDER, AND LEARNING SUPRASEGMENTAL FEATURES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Hadi Mahmoodi

    2016-07-01

    Full Text Available Oral skills are important components of language competence. To have good and acceptable listening and speaking, one must have good pronunciation, which encompasses segmental and suprasegmental features. Despite extensive studies on the role of segmental features and related issues in listening and speaking, there is paucity of research on the role of suprasegmental features in the same domain. Conducting studies which aim at shedding light on the issues related to learning suprasegmental features can help language teachers and learners in the process of teaching/learning English as a foreign language. To this end, this study was designed to investigate the relationship among brain hemispheric dominance, gender, attitudes towards L1 and L2, and learning suprasegmental features in Iranian EFL learners. First, 200 Intermediate EFL learners were selected from different English language teaching institutes in Hamedan and Isfahan, two provinces in Iran, as the sample. Prior to the main stage of the study, Oxford Placement Test (OPT was used to homogenize the proficiency level of all the participants. Then, the participants were asked to complete the Edinburgh Handedness Questionnaire to determine their dominant hemisphere. They were also required to answer two questionnaires regarding their attitudes towards L1 and L2. Finally, the participants took suprasegmental features test. The results of the independent samples t-tests indicated left-brained language learners’ superiority in observing and learning suprasegmental features. It was also found that females are better than males in producing suprasegmental features. Furthermore, the results of Pearson Product Moment Correlations indicated that there is significant relationship between attitude towards L2 and learning suprasegmental features. However, no significant relationship was found between attitude towards L1 and learning English suprasegmental features. The findings of this study can

  12. Right Hemisphere Dominance for Emotion Processing in Baboons

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallez, Catherine; Vauclair, Jacques

    2011-01-01

    Asymmetries of emotional facial expressions in humans offer reliable indexes to infer brain lateralization and mostly revealed right hemisphere dominance. Studies concerned with oro-facial asymmetries in nonhuman primates largely showed a left-sided asymmetry in chimpanzees, marmosets and macaques. The presence of asymmetrical oro-facial…

  13. Determination of hemispheric dominance with mental rotation using functional transcranial Doppler sonography and FMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hattemer, Katja; Plate, Annika; Heverhagen, Johannes T; Haag, Anja; Keil, Boris; Klein, Karl Martin; Hermsen, Anke; Oertel, Wolfgang H; Hamer, Hajo M; Rosenow, Felix; Knake, Susanne

    2011-01-01

    the aim of this study was to investigate specific activation patterns and potential gender differences during mental rotation and to investigate whether functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD) lateralize hemispheric dominance concordantly. regional brain activation and hemispheric dominance during mental rotation (cube perspective test) were investigated in 10 female and 10 male healthy subjects using fMRI and fTCD. significant activation was found in the superior parietal lobe, at the parieto-occipital border, in the middle and superior frontal gyrus bilaterally, and the right inferior frontal gyrus using fMRI. Men showed a stronger lateralization to the right hemisphere during fMRI and a tendency toward stronger right-hemispheric activation during fTCD. Furthermore, more activation in frontal and parieto-occipital regions of the right hemisphere was observed using fMRI. Hemispheric dominance for mental rotation determined by the 2 methods correlated well (P= .008), but did not show concordant results in every single subject. the neural basis of mental rotation depends on a widespread bilateral network. Hemispheric dominance for mental rotation determined by fMRI and fTCD, though correlating well, is not always concordant. Hemispheric lateralization of complex cortical functions such as spatial rotation therefore should be investigated using multimodal imaging approaches, especially if used clinically as a tool for the presurgical evaluation of patients undergoing neurosurgery. Copyright © 2009 by the American Society of Neuroimaging.

  14. Changes in regional cerebral blood flow in the right cortex homologous to left language areas are directly affected by left hemispheric damage in aphasic stroke patients: evaluation by Tc-ECD SPECT and novel analytic software.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uruma, G; Kakuda, W; Abo, M

    2010-03-01

    The objective of this study was to clarify the influence of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) changes in language-relevant areas of the dominant hemisphere on rCBF in each region in the non-dominant hemisphere in post-stroke aphasic patients. The study subjects were 27 aphasic patients who suffered their first symptomatic stroke in the left hemisphere. In each subject, we measured rCBF by means of 99mTc-ethylcysteinate dimmer single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). The SPECT images were analyzed by the statistical imaging analysis programs easy Z-score Imaging System (eZIS) and voxel-based stereotactic extraction estimation (vbSEE). Segmented into Brodmann Area (BA) levels, Regions of Interest (ROIs) were set in language-relevant areas bilaterally, and changes in the relative rCBF as average negative and positive Z-values were computed fully automatically. To assess the relationship between rCBF changes of each ROIs in the left and right hemispheres, the Spearman ranked correlation analysis and stepwise multiple regression analysis were applied. Globally, a negative and asymmetric influence of rCBF changes in the language-relevant areas of the dominant hemisphere on the right hemisphere was found. The rCBF decrease in left BA22 significantly influenced the rCBF increase in right BA39, BA40, BA44 and BA45. The results suggested that the chronic increase in rCBF in the right language-relevant areas is due at least in part to reduction in the trancallosal inhibitory activity of the language-dominant left hemisphere caused by the stroke lesion itself and that these relationships are not always symmetric.

  15. Neural correlates of hemispheric dominance and ipsilaterality within the vestibular system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Janzen, J; Schlindwein, P; Bense, S; Bauermann, T; Vucurevic, G; Stoeter, P; Dieterich, M

    2008-10-01

    Earlier functional imaging studies on the processing of vestibular information mainly focused on cortical activations due to stimulation of the horizontal semicircular canals in right-handers. Two factors were found to determine its processing in the temporo-parietal cortex: a dominance of the non-dominant hemisphere and an ipsilaterality of the neural pathways. In an investigation of the role of these factors in the vestibular otoliths, we used vestibular evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) in a fMRI study of monaural saccular-otolith stimulation. Our aim was to (1) analyze the hemispheric dominance for saccular-otolith information in healthy left-handers, (2) determine if there is a predominance of the ipsilateral saccular-otolith projection, and (3) evaluate the impact of both factors on the temporo-parieto-insular activation pattern. A block design with three stimulation and rest conditions was applied: (1) 102 dB-VEMP stimulation; (2) 65 dB-control-acoustic stimulation, (3) 102 dB-white-noise-control stimulation. After subtraction of acoustic side effects, bilateral activations were found in the posterior insula, the superior/middle/transverse temporal gyri, and the inferior parietal lobule. The distribution of the saccular-otolith activations was influenced by the two factors but with topographic disparity: whereas the inferior parts of the temporo-parietal cortex were mainly influenced by the ipsilaterality of the pathways, the upper parts reflected the dominance of the non-dominant hemisphere. This is in contrast to the processing of acoustic stimulation, which showed a predominance of the contralateral pathways. Our study proves the importance of the hemispheric preponderance also in left-handers, which is of relevance in the superior parts of the insula gyrus V, the inferior parietal lobule, and the superior temporal gyri.

  16. Hemispheric lateralization in an analysis of speech sounds. Left hemisphere dominance replicated in Japanese subjects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koyama, S; Gunji, A; Yabe, H; Oiwa, S; Akahane-Yamada, R; Kakigi, R; Näätänen, R

    2000-09-01

    Evoked magnetic responses to speech sounds [R. Näätänen, A. Lehtokoski, M. Lennes, M. Cheour, M. Huotilainen, A. Iivonen, M. Vainio, P. Alku, R.J. Ilmoniemi, A. Luuk, J. Allik, J. Sinkkonen and K. Alho, Language-specific phoneme representations revealed by electric and magnetic brain responses. Nature, 385 (1997) 432-434.] were recorded from 13 Japanese subjects (right-handed). Infrequently presented vowels ([o]) among repetitive vowels ([e]) elicited the magnetic counterpart of mismatch negativity, MMNm (Bilateral, nine subjects; Left hemisphere alone, three subjects; Right hemisphere alone, one subject). The estimated source of the MMNm was stronger in the left than in the right auditory cortex. The sources were located posteriorly in the left than in the right auditory cortex. These findings are consistent with the results obtained in Finnish [R. Näätänen, A. Lehtokoski, M. Lennes, M. Cheour, M. Huotilainen, A. Iivonen, M.Vainio, P.Alku, R.J. Ilmoniemi, A. Luuk, J. Allik, J. Sinkkonen and K. Alho, Language-specific phoneme representations revealed by electric and magnetic brain responses. Nature, 385 (1997) 432-434.][T. Rinne, K. Alho, P. Alku, M. Holi, J. Sinkkonen, J. Virtanen, O. Bertrand and R. Näätänen, Analysis of speech sounds is left-hemisphere predominant at 100-150 ms after sound onset. Neuroreport, 10 (1999) 1113-1117.] and English [K. Alho, J.F. Connolly, M. Cheour, A. Lehtokoski, M. Huotilainen, J. Virtanen, R. Aulanko and R.J. Ilmoniemi, Hemispheric lateralization in preattentive processing of speech sounds. Neurosci. Lett., 258 (1998) 9-12.] subjects. Instead of the P1m observed in Finnish [M. Tervaniemi, A. Kujala, K. Alho, J. Virtanen, R.J. Ilmoniemi and R. Näätänen, Functional specialization of the human auditory cortex in processing phonetic and musical sounds: A magnetoencephalographic (MEG) study. Neuroimage, 9 (1999) 330-336.] and English [K. Alho, J. F. Connolly, M. Cheour, A. Lehtokoski, M. Huotilainen, J. Virtanen, R. Aulanko

  17. Reorganization of the Cerebro-Cerebellar Network of Language Production in Patients with Congenital Left-Hemispheric Brain Lesions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lidzba, K.; Wilke, M.; Staudt, M.; Krageloh-Mann, I.; Grodd, W.

    2008-01-01

    Patients with congenital lesions of the left cerebral hemisphere may reorganize language functions into the right hemisphere. In these patients, language production is represented homotopically to the left-hemispheric language areas. We studied cerebellar activation in five patients with congenital lesions of the left cerebral hemisphere to assess…

  18. Hypothalamic digoxin and hemispheric chemical dominance: relation to alcoholic addiction, alcoholic cirrhosis, and acquired hepatocerebral degeneration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-08-01

    The isoprenoid pathway produces three key metabolites--endogenous digoxin (modulate tryptophan/tyrosine transport), dolichol (important in N -glycosylation of proteins), and ubiquinone (free radical scavenger). It was considered pertinent to assess the pathway in alcoholic addiction, alcoholic cirrhosis, and acquired hepatocerebral degeneration. Since endogenous digoxin can regulate neurotransmitter transport, the pathway was also assessed in individuals with differing hemispheric dominance to find out the role of hemispheric dominance in its pathogenesis. In the patient group there was elevated digoxin synthesis, increased dolichol and glycoconjugate levels, and low ubiquinone and elevated free radical levels. There was also an increase in tryptophan catabolites and a reduction in tyrosine catabolites as reduced endogenous morphine synthesis from tyrosine. There was an increase in cholesterol:phospholipid ratio and a reduction in glycoconjugate level of RBC membrane in these groups of patients. The same patterns were obtained in individuals with right hemispheric chemical dominance. Alcoholic cirrhosis, alcoholic addiction, and acquired hepatocerebral degeneration are associated with an upregulated isoprenoid pathway and elevated digoxin secretion from the hypothalamus. This can contribute to NMDA excitotoxicity and altered connective tissue/lipid metabolism important in its pathogenesis. Endogenous morphine deficiency plays a role in alcoholic addiction. Alcoholic cirrhosis, addiction, and acquired hepato -cerebral degeneration occur in right hemispheric chemically dominant individuals. Ninety percent of the patients with alcoholic addiction, alcoholic cirrhosis, and acquired hepatocerebral degeneration were right-handed and left hemispheric dominant by the dichotic listening test. However, their biochemical patterns were similar to those obtained in right hemispheric chemical dominance. Hemispheric chemical dominance is a different entity and has no correlation

  19. Right Hemispheric Dominance in Processing of Unconscious Negative Emotion

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sato, Wataru; Aoki, Satoshi

    2006-01-01

    Right hemispheric dominance in unconscious emotional processing has been suggested, but remains controversial. This issue was investigated using the subliminal affective priming paradigm combined with unilateral visual presentation in 40 normal subjects. In either left or right visual fields, angry facial expressions, happy facial expressions, or…

  20. Right-hemispheric processing of non-linguistic word features: implications for mapping language recovery after stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baumgaertner, Annette; Hartwigsen, Gesa; Roman Siebner, Hartwig

    2013-06-01

    Verbal stimuli often induce right-hemispheric activation in patients with aphasia after left-hemispheric stroke. This right-hemispheric activation is commonly attributed to functional reorganization within the language system. Yet previous evidence suggests that functional activation in right-hemispheric homologues of classic left-hemispheric language areas may partly be due to processing nonlinguistic perceptual features of verbal stimuli. We used functional MRI (fMRI) to clarify the role of the right hemisphere in the perception of nonlinguistic word features in healthy individuals. Participants made perceptual, semantic, or phonological decisions on the same set of auditorily and visually presented word stimuli. Perceptual decisions required judgements about stimulus-inherent changes in font size (visual modality) or fundamental frequency contour (auditory modality). The semantic judgement required subjects to decide whether a stimulus is natural or man-made; the phonologic decision required a decision on whether a stimulus contains two or three syllables. Compared to phonologic or semantic decision, nonlinguistic perceptual decisions resulted in a stronger right-hemispheric activation. Specifically, the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), an area previously suggested to support language recovery after left-hemispheric stroke, displayed modality-independent activation during perceptual processing of word stimuli. Our findings indicate that activation of the right hemisphere during language tasks may, in some instances, be driven by a "nonlinguistic perceptual processing" mode that focuses on nonlinguistic word features. This raises the possibility that stronger activation of right inferior frontal areas during language tasks in aphasic patients with left-hemispheric stroke may at least partially reflect increased attentional focus on nonlinguistic perceptual aspects of language. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Post-Stroke Longitudinal Alterations of Inter-Hemispheric Correlation and Hemispheric Dominance in Mouse Pre-Motor Cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vallone, Fabio; Lai, Stefano; Spalletti, Cristina; Panarese, Alessandro; Alia, Claudia; Micera, Silvestro; Caleo, Matteo; Di Garbo, Angelo

    2016-01-01

    Limited restoration of function is known to occur spontaneously after an ischemic injury to the primary motor cortex. Evidence suggests that Pre-Motor Areas (PMAs) may "take over" control of the disrupted functions. However, little is known about functional reorganizations in PMAs. Forelimb movements in mice can be driven by two cortical regions, Caudal and Rostral Forelimb Areas (CFA and RFA), generally accepted as primary motor and pre-motor cortex, respectively. Here, we examined longitudinal changes in functional coupling between the two RFAs following unilateral photothrombotic stroke in CFA (mm from Bregma: +0.5 anterior, +1.25 lateral). Local field potentials (LFPs) were recorded from the RFAs of both hemispheres in freely moving injured and naïve mice. Neural signals were acquired at 9, 16 and 23 days after surgery (sub-acute period in stroke animals) through one bipolar electrode per hemisphere placed in the center of RFA, with a ground screw over the occipital bone. LFPs were pre-processed through an efficient method of artifact removal and analysed through: spectral,cross-correlation, mutual information and Granger causality analysis. Spectral analysis demonstrated an early decrease (day 9) in the alpha band power in both the RFAs. In the late sub-acute period (days 16 and 23), inter-hemispheric functional coupling was reduced in ischemic animals, as shown by a decrease in the cross-correlation and mutual information measures. Within the gamma and delta bands, correlation measures were already reduced at day 9. Granger analysis, used as a measure of the symmetry of the inter-hemispheric causal connectivity, showed a less balanced activity in the two RFAs after stroke, with more frequent oscillations of hemispheric dominance. These results indicate robust electrophysiological changes in PMAs after stroke. Specifically, we found alterations in transcallosal connectivity, with reduced inter-hemispheric functional coupling and a fluctuating dominance

  2. Post-Stroke Longitudinal Alterations of Inter-Hemispheric Correlation and Hemispheric Dominance in Mouse Pre-Motor Cortex.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabio Vallone

    Full Text Available Limited restoration of function is known to occur spontaneously after an ischemic injury to the primary motor cortex. Evidence suggests that Pre-Motor Areas (PMAs may "take over" control of the disrupted functions. However, little is known about functional reorganizations in PMAs. Forelimb movements in mice can be driven by two cortical regions, Caudal and Rostral Forelimb Areas (CFA and RFA, generally accepted as primary motor and pre-motor cortex, respectively. Here, we examined longitudinal changes in functional coupling between the two RFAs following unilateral photothrombotic stroke in CFA (mm from Bregma: +0.5 anterior, +1.25 lateral.Local field potentials (LFPs were recorded from the RFAs of both hemispheres in freely moving injured and naïve mice. Neural signals were acquired at 9, 16 and 23 days after surgery (sub-acute period in stroke animals through one bipolar electrode per hemisphere placed in the center of RFA, with a ground screw over the occipital bone. LFPs were pre-processed through an efficient method of artifact removal and analysed through: spectral,cross-correlation, mutual information and Granger causality analysis.Spectral analysis demonstrated an early decrease (day 9 in the alpha band power in both the RFAs. In the late sub-acute period (days 16 and 23, inter-hemispheric functional coupling was reduced in ischemic animals, as shown by a decrease in the cross-correlation and mutual information measures. Within the gamma and delta bands, correlation measures were already reduced at day 9. Granger analysis, used as a measure of the symmetry of the inter-hemispheric causal connectivity, showed a less balanced activity in the two RFAs after stroke, with more frequent oscillations of hemispheric dominance.These results indicate robust electrophysiological changes in PMAs after stroke. Specifically, we found alterations in transcallosal connectivity, with reduced inter-hemispheric functional coupling and a fluctuating

  3. Effective Connectivity Reveals Right-Hemisphere Dominance in Audiospatial Perception: Implications for Models of Spatial Neglect

    Science.gov (United States)

    Friston, Karl J.; Mattingley, Jason B.; Roepstorff, Andreas; Garrido, Marta I.

    2014-01-01

    Detecting the location of salient sounds in the environment rests on the brain's ability to use differences in sounds arriving at both ears. Functional neuroimaging studies in humans indicate that the left and right auditory hemispaces are coded asymmetrically, with a rightward attentional bias that reflects spatial attention in vision. Neuropsychological observations in patients with spatial neglect have led to the formulation of two competing models: the orientation bias and right-hemisphere dominance models. The orientation bias model posits a symmetrical mapping between one side of the sensorium and the contralateral hemisphere, with mutual inhibition of the ipsilateral hemisphere. The right-hemisphere dominance model introduces a functional asymmetry in the brain's coding of space: the left hemisphere represents the right side, whereas the right hemisphere represents both sides of the sensorium. We used Dynamic Causal Modeling of effective connectivity and Bayesian model comparison to adjudicate between these alternative network architectures, based on human electroencephalographic data acquired during an auditory location oddball paradigm. Our results support a hemispheric asymmetry in a frontoparietal network that conforms to the right-hemisphere dominance model. We show that, within this frontoparietal network, forward connectivity increases selectively in the hemisphere contralateral to the side of sensory stimulation. We interpret this finding in light of hierarchical predictive coding as a selective increase in attentional gain, which is mediated by feedforward connections that carry precision-weighted prediction errors during perceptual inference. This finding supports the disconnection hypothesis of unilateral neglect and has implications for theories of its etiology. PMID:24695717

  4. Right-hemispheric dominance for visual remapping in humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pisella, L; Alahyane, N; Blangero, A; Thery, F; Blanc, S; Pelisson, D

    2011-02-27

    We review evidence showing a right-hemispheric dominance for visuo-spatial processing and representation in humans. Accordingly, visual disorganization symptoms (intuitively related to remapping impairments) are observed in both neglect and constructional apraxia. More specifically, we review findings from the intervening saccade paradigm in humans--and present additional original data--which suggest a specific role of the asymmetrical network at the temporo-parietal junction (TPJ) in the right hemisphere in visual remapping: following damage to the right dorsal posterior parietal cortex (PPC) as well as part of the corpus callosum connecting the PPC to the frontal lobes, patient OK in a double-step saccadic task exhibited an impairment when the second saccade had to be directed rightward. This singular and lateralized deficit cannot result solely from the patient's cortical lesion and, therefore, we propose that it is due to his callosal lesion that may specifically interrupt the interhemispheric transfer of information necessary to execute accurate rightward saccades towards a remapped target location. This suggests a specialized right-hemispheric network for visuo-spatial remapping that subsequently transfers target location information to downstream planning regions, which are symmetrically organized.

  5. Determination of hemispheric language dominance using functional magnetic resonance imaging and the Shiritori (Japanese word chain) task in patients with epilepsy: Comparison with the Wada test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kashida, Yumi; Otsubo, Toshiaki; Hanaya, Ryosuke; Kodabashi, Atsushi; Tsumagari, Noriko; Sugata, Sei; Hosoyama, Hiroshi; Iida, Koji; Nakamura, Katsumi; Tokimura, Hiroshi; Fujimoto, Toshiro; Arita, Kazunori

    2016-08-01

    The Wada test has been the gold standard for determining hemispheric language dominance (HLD) in the presurgical evaluation of patients scheduled for neurosurgical procedures. As it poses inherent risks associated with intra-arterial catheter techniques and as it occasionally fails to indicate language dominance, an alternative reliable test is needed. We quantitatively assessed the results of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using the Shiritori task, a Japanese word chain, to identify the threshold for correctly predicting HLD. The subjects were 28 patients with intractable epilepsy scheduled to undergo the Wada test and focus resection. We set the region of interest (ROI) on the bilateral Brodmann areas 44 and 45 (BA 44 and 45). To compare the functional activity at both ROIs we calculated the language laterality index (LI) using the formula: [VL-VR]/[VL+VR]×100, where VL and VR indicated the number of activated voxels in the left and right ROIs, respectively. As 2 patients were excluded due to the lack of activation in either ROI, the final study population consisted of 26 patients. By the Wada test, HLD was left in 20, right in 3, and equivocal in 3. At a cut-off of LI+50, the predictive sensitivity and specificity for left HLD were 85% (17/20) and 100%; right HLD was predicted in a single patient (sensitivity 33.3%, specificity 100%). The fMRI using the Shiritori task showed good activation in ROI of BA 44 and 45. At a cut-off of LI+50, LI of BA 44 and 45 predicted HLD identified by the Wada test with high specificity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Hypothalamic digoxin and hemispheric chemical dominance--relation to the pathogenesis of senile osteoporosis, degenerative osteoarthritis, and spondylosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kurup, Ravi Kumar; Kurup, Parameswara Achutha

    2003-03-01

    The isoprenoid pathway produces three key metabolites: i) digoxin (a membrane sodium-potassium ATPase inhibitor which can regulate intracellular calcium/magnesium ratios), ii) dolichol (which regulates N-glycosylation of proteins), and iii) ubiquinone (a free radical scavenger), all of which are important in bone and joint metabolism. The pathway was assessed in senile osteoporosis, spondylosis, and osteoarthritis. Digoxin could possibly play a role in the genesis of cerebral dominance because it can regulate multiple neurotransmitter systems. The pathway was also assessed in individuals of differing hemispheric dominance for comparison and to find out the role of cerebral dominance in the pathogenesis of these diseases. The plasma/serum-activity of HMG CoA reductase, magnesium, digoxin, dolichol, ubiquinone, and tryptophan/tyrosine catabolic patterns, as well as RBC Na(+)-K+ ATPase activity, were measured in the above mentioned groups. The glycoconjugate metabolism, free radical metabolism, and membrane composition were also studied. The pathway was upregulated with increased digoxin synthesis in patients with spondylosis and osteoarthritis. In this group of patients, the glycoconjugate levels and dolichol levels were increased and lysosomal stability reduced. The ubiquinone levels were low and free radicals increased in spondylosis and osteoarthritis. On the other hand, in senile osteoporosis, the isoprenoid pathway was downregulated and digoxin synthesis reduced. The glycoconjugate and dolichol levels were low and lysosomal stability increased. The ubiquinone levels were increased and free radical production increased in senile osteoporosis. The significance of these changes in the pathogenesis of osteoarthritis, spondylosis, and osteoporosis is discussed. The hyperdigoxinemic state is seen in osteoarthritis and spondylosis and in right hemispheric dominance. The hypodigoxinemic state is seen in left hemispheric dominance and senile osteoporosis. Hemispheric

  7. Phonological memory in sign language relies on the visuomotor neural system outside the left hemisphere language network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kanazawa, Yuji; Nakamura, Kimihiro; Ishii, Toru; Aso, Toshihiko; Yamazaki, Hiroshi; Omori, Koichi

    2017-01-01

    Sign language is an essential medium for everyday social interaction for deaf people and plays a critical role in verbal learning. In particular, language development in those people should heavily rely on the verbal short-term memory (STM) via sign language. Most previous studies compared neural activations during signed language processing in deaf signers and those during spoken language processing in hearing speakers. For sign language users, it thus remains unclear how visuospatial inputs are converted into the verbal STM operating in the left-hemisphere language network. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, the present study investigated neural activation while bilinguals of spoken and signed language were engaged in a sequence memory span task. On each trial, participants viewed a nonsense syllable sequence presented either as written letters or as fingerspelling (4-7 syllables in length) and then held the syllable sequence for 12 s. Behavioral analysis revealed that participants relied on phonological memory while holding verbal information regardless of the type of input modality. At the neural level, this maintenance stage broadly activated the left-hemisphere language network, including the inferior frontal gyrus, supplementary motor area, superior temporal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule, for both letter and fingerspelling conditions. Interestingly, while most participants reported that they relied on phonological memory during maintenance, direct comparisons between letters and fingers revealed strikingly different patterns of neural activation during the same period. Namely, the effortful maintenance of fingerspelling inputs relative to letter inputs activated the left superior parietal lobule and dorsal premotor area, i.e., brain regions known to play a role in visuomotor analysis of hand/arm movements. These findings suggest that the dorsal visuomotor neural system subserves verbal learning via sign language by relaying gestural inputs to

  8. Hemispheric dominance underlying the neural substrate for learned vocalizations develops with experience

    OpenAIRE

    Chirathivat, Napim; Raja, Sahitya C.; Gobes, Sharon M. H.

    2015-01-01

    Many aspects of song learning in songbirds resemble characteristics of speech acquisition in humans. Genetic, anatomical and behavioural parallels have most recently been extended with demonstrated similarities in hemispheric dominance between humans and songbirds: the avian higher order auditory cortex is left-lateralized for processing song memories in juvenile zebra finches that already have formed a memory of their fathers? song, just like Wernicke?s area in the left hemisphere of the hum...

  9. What can atypical language hemispheric specialization tell us about cognitive functions?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Qing; Van der Haegen, Lise

    2015-04-01

    Recent studies have made substantial progress in understanding the interactions between cognitive functions, from language to cognitive control, attention, and memory. However, dissociating these functions has been hampered by the close proximity of regions involved, as in the case in the prefrontal and parietal cortex. In this article, we review a series of studies that investigated the relationship between language and other cognitive functions in an alternative way - by examining their functional (co-)lateralization. We argue that research on the hemispheric lateralization of language and its link with handedness can offer an appropriate starting-point to shed light on the relationships between different functions. Besides functional interactions, anatomical asymmetries in non-human primates and those underlying language in humans can provide unique information about cortical organization. Finally, some open questions and criteria are raised for an ideal theoretical model of the cortex based on hemispheric specialization.

  10. Right hemisphere dominance during spatial selective attention and target detection occurs outside the dorsal fronto-parietal network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shulman, Gordon L.; Pope, Daniel L. W.; Astafiev, Serguei V.; McAvoy, Mark P.; Snyder, Abraham Z.; Corbetta, Maurizio

    2010-01-01

    Spatial selective attention is widely considered to be right hemisphere dominant. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, however, have reported bilateral blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) responses in dorsal fronto-parietal regions during anticipatory shifts of attention to a location (Kastner et al., 1999; Corbetta et al., 2000; Hopfinger et al., 2000). Right-lateralized activity has mainly been reported in ventral fronto-parietal regions for shifts of attention to an unattended target stimulus (Arrington et al., 2000; Corbetta et al., 2000). However, clear conclusions cannot be drawn from these studies because hemispheric asymmetries were not assessed using direct voxel-wise comparisons of activity in left and right hemispheres. Here, we used this technique to measure hemispheric asymmetries during shifts of spatial attention evoked by a peripheral cue stimulus and during target detection at the cued location. Stimulus-driven shifts of spatial attention in both visual fields evoked right-hemisphere dominant activity in temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). Target detection at the attended location produced a more widespread right hemisphere dominance in frontal, parietal, and temporal cortex, including the TPJ region asymmetrically activated during shifts of spatial attention. However, hemispheric asymmetries were not observed during either shifts of attention or target detection in the dorsal fronto-parietal regions (anterior precuneus, medial intraparietal sulcus, frontal eye fields) that showed the most robust activations for shifts of attention. Therefore, right hemisphere dominance during stimulus-driven shifts of spatial attention and target detection reflects asymmetries in cortical regions that are largely distinct from the dorsal fronto-parietal network involved in the control of selective attention. PMID:20219998

  11. Left hemisphere EEG coherence in infancy predicts infant declarative pointing and preschool epistemic language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kühn-Popp, N; Kristen, S; Paulus, M; Meinhardt, J; Sodian, B

    2016-01-01

    Pointing plays a central role in preverbal communication. While imperative pointing aims at influencing another person's behavior, declarative gestures serve to convey epistemic information and to share interest in an object. Further, the latter are hypothesized to be a precursor ability of epistemic language. So far, little is known about their underlying brain maturation processes. Therefore, the present study investigated the relation between brain maturation processes and the production of imperative and declarative motives as well as epistemic language in N = 32 infants. EEG coherence scores were measured at 14 months, imperative and declarative point production at 15 months and epistemic language at 48 months. Results of correlational analyses suggest distinct behavioral and neural patterns for imperative and declarative pointing, with declarative pointing being associated with the maturation of the left hemisphere. Further, EEG coherence measures of the left hemisphere at 14 months and declarative pointing at 15 months are related to individual differences in epistemic language skills at 48 months, independently of child IQ. In regression analyses, coherence measures of the left hemisphere prove to be the most important predictor of epistemic language skills. Thus, neural processes of the left hemisphere seem particularly relevant to social communication.

  12. Left-handedness and language lateralization in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szaflarski, Jerzy P; Rajagopal, Akila; Altaye, Mekibib; Byars, Anna W; Jacola, Lisa; Schmithorst, Vincent J; Schapiro, Mark B; Plante, Elena; Holland, Scott K

    2012-01-18

    This fMRI study investigated the development of language lateralization in left- and righthanded children between 5 and 18 years of age. Twenty-seven left-handed children (17 boys, 10 girls) and 54 age- and gender-matched right-handed children were included. We used functional MRI at 3T and a verb generation task to measure hemispheric language dominance based on either frontal or temporo-parietal regions of interest (ROIs) defined for the entire group and applied on an individual basis. Based on the frontal ROI, in the left-handed group, 23 participants (85%) demonstrated left-hemispheric language lateralization, 3 (11%) demonstrated symmetric activation, and 1 (4%) demonstrated right-hemispheric lateralization. In contrast, 50 (93%) of the right-handed children showed left-hemispheric lateralization and 3 (6%) demonstrated a symmetric activation pattern, while one (2%) demonstrated a right-hemispheric lateralization. The corresponding values for the temporo-parietal ROI for the left-handed children were 18 (67%) left-dominant, 6 (22%) symmetric, 3 (11%) right-dominant and for the right-handed children 49 (91%), 4 (7%), 1 (2%), respectively. Left-hemispheric language lateralization increased with age in both groups but somewhat different lateralization trajectories were observed in girls when compared to boys. The incidence of atypical language lateralization in left-handed children in this study was similar to that reported in adults. We also found similar rates of increase in left-hemispheric language lateralization with age between groups (i.e., independent of handedness) indicating the presence of similar mechanisms for language lateralization in left- and right-handed children. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Hemispheric Dominance for Stereognosis in a Patient With an Infarct of the Left Postcentral Sensory Hand Area.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moll, Jorge; de Oliveira-Souza, Ricardo

    2017-09-01

    The concept of left hemispheric dominance for praxis, speech, and language has been one of the pillars of neurology since the mid-19th century. In 1906, Hermann Oppenheim reported a patient with bilateral stereoagnosia (astereognosis) caused by a left parietal lobe tumor and proposed that the left hemisphere was also dominant for stereognosis. Surprisingly, few cases of bilateral stereoagnosia caused by a unilateral cerebral lesion have been documented in the literature since then. Here we report a 75-year-old right-handed man who developed bilateral stereoagnosia after suffering a small infarct in the crown of the left postcentral gyrus. He could not recognize objects with either hand, but retained the ability to localize stimuli applied to the palm of his left (ipsilesional) hand. He was severely disabled in ordinary activities requiring the use of his hands. The lesion corresponded to Brodmann area 1, where probabilistic anatomic, functional, and electrophysiologic studies have located one of the multiple somatosensory representations of the hand. The lesion was in a strategic position to interrupt both the processing of afferent tactile information issuing from the primary somatosensory cortex (areas 3a and 3b) and the forward higher-order processing in area 2, the secondary sensory cortex, and the contralateral area 1. The lesion also deprived the motor hand area of its afferent regulation from the sensory hand area (grasping), while leaving intact the visuomotor projections from the occipital cortex (reaching). Our patient supports Oppenheim's proposal that the left postcentral gyrus of some individuals is dominant for stereognosis.

  14. Comparison between visual half-field performance and cerebral blood flow changes as indicators of language dominance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krach, S; Chen, L M; Hartje, W

    2006-03-01

    The determination of hemispheric language dominance (HLD) can be accomplished in two ways. One approach relies on hemispheric differences in cerebral blood flow velocity (CBFV) changes during language activity, while the other approach makes use of performance differences between the left and right visual field when verbal stimuli are presented in a tachistoscopic visual field paradigm. Since both methodologically different approaches claim to assess functional HLD, it seems plausible to expect that the respective laterality indices (LI) would correspond. To test this expectation we measured language lateralisation in 58 healthy right-handed, left-handed, and ambidextrous subjects with both approaches. CBFV changes were recorded with functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD). We applied a lexical decision task with bilateral visual field presentation of abstract nouns and, in addition, a task of mental word generation. In the lexical decision task, a highly significant right visual field advantage was observed for number of correct responses and reaction times, while at the same time and contrary to expectation the increase of CBFV was significantly higher in the right than left hemisphere. During mental word generation, the acceleration of CBF was significantly higher in the left hemisphere. A comparison between individual LI derived from CBF measurement during mental word generation and from visual field performances in the lexical decision task showed a moderate correspondence in classifying the subjects' HLD. However, the correlation between the corresponding individual LI was surprisingly low and not significant. The results are discussed with regard to the issue of a limited reliability of behavioural LI on the one hand and the possibility of a fundamental difference between the behavioural and the physiological indicators of laterality on the other hand.

  15. Language deficits as a possible symptom of right hemisphere dysfunctions in Asperger’s syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anita Bryńska

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Qualitative communication disorders belong to the key symptoms of pervasive developmental disorders (PDD. The severity of the symptoms of communication disorders varies depending on the type of PDD, from the lack of functional speech to overdeveloped verbal competencies measured by standardized scales. In Asperger’s syndrome (AS, observed language abnormalities include: pragmatics (application of language in social context, semantics (identifying different meanings of the same word and prosody (rhythm, intonation and modulation of speech. In the case of AS, the difference between formal language skills, i.e. within morphological, phonological and syntactic functions, and semantic and pragmatic deficits is clearly noticeable and distinctive. This situation arouses some questions about neurobiological conditions of these deficits. The language functions are among the first functions for which locations in the brain have been established. Traditionally they have been ascribed to some regions in the left hemisphere; they undergo lateralization and are accomplished owing to the activity of the primary, secondary and tertiary regions of associative cortex. However, there is also quite a lot of evidence suggesting that the right hemisphere plays an important role in communication processes, especially in some aspects of pragmatics and discourse. The analysis of communication deficits observed in patients with acquired right hemisphere damages and patients with AS as well as abnormal patterns of hemispheric asymmetry in this group of patients, suggest that the right hemisphere is involved in aetiology of PDD.

  16. Right hemispheric dominance and interhemispheric cooperation in gaze-triggered reflexive shift of attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okada, Takashi; Sato, Wataru; Kubota, Yasutaka; Toichi, Motomi; Murai, Toshiya

    2012-03-01

    The neural substrate for the processing of gaze remains unknown. The aim of the present study was to clarify which hemisphere dominantly processes and whether bilateral hemispheres cooperate with each other in gaze-triggered reflexive shift of attention. Twenty-eight normal subjects were tested. The non-predictive gaze cues were presented either in unilateral or bilateral visual fields. The subjects localized the target as soon as possible. Reaction times (RT) were shorter when gaze-cues were congruent toward than away from targets, whichever visual field they were presented in. RT were shorter in left than right visual field presentations. RT in mono-directional bilateral presentations were shorter than both of those in left and right presentations. When bi-directional bilateral cues were presented, RT were faster when valid cues were presented in the left than right visual fields. The right hemisphere appears to be dominant, and there is interhemispheric cooperation in gaze-triggered reflexive shift of attention. © 2012 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2012 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

  17. [Hemispheric asymmetry modulation for language processing in aging: meta-analysis of studies using the dichotic listening test].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanhoucke, Elodie; Cousin, Emilie; Baciu, Monica

    2013-03-01

    Growing evidence suggests that age impacts on interhemispheric representation of language. Dichotic listening test allows assessing language lateralization for spoken language and it generally reveals right-ear/left-hemisphere (LH) predominance for language in young adult subjects. According to reported results, elderly would display increasing LH predominance in some studies or stable LH language lateralization for language in others ones. The aim of this study was to depict the main pattern of results in respect with the effect of normal aging on the hemisphere specialization for language by using dichotic listening test. A meta-analysis based on 11 studies has been performed. The inter-hemisphere asymmetry does not seem to increase according to age. A supplementary qualitative analysis suggests that right-ear advantage seems to increase between 40 and 49 y old and becomes stable or decreases after 55 y old, suggesting right-ear/LH decline.

  18. Pilot Study: The Role of the Hemispheric Lateralization in Mental Disorders by Use of the Limb (Eye, Hand, Foot) Dominance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goodarzi, Naser; Dabbaghi, Parviz; Valipour, Habib; Vafadari, Behnam

    2015-04-01

    Based on the previous studies, we know that the hemispheric lateralization defects, increase the probability of psychological disorders. We also know that dominant limb is controlled by dominant hemisphere and limb preference is used as an indicator for hemisphere dominance. In this study we attempted to explore the hemispheric dominance by the use of three limbs (hand, foot and eye). We performed this survey on two samples, psychiatric patients compared with normal population. For this purpose, knowing that the organ dominance is stabilized in adolescence, and age has no effect on the people above 15, we used 48 high school girls and 65 boys as the final samples of normal population. The patient group included 57 male and 26 female who were chronic psychiatric patients. The result shows that left-eye dominance is more in patients than the normal group (P=0.000) but the handedness and footedness differences are not significance. In psychotic, bipolar and depressive disorders, eye dominance had significant difference (P=0.018). But this is not true about hand and foot dominance. Our findings proved that generally in psychiatric patients, left-eye dominance is more common, left-eye dominance is also more in psychotic and depressive disorders. It is less common in bipolar disorders.

  19. Interindividual variability in the hemispheric organization for speech.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tzourio-Mazoyer, N; Josse, G; Crivello, F; Mazoyer, B

    2004-01-01

    A PET activation study was designed to investigate hemispheric specialization during speech comprehension and production in right- and left-handed subjects. Normalized regional cerebral blood flow (NrCBF) was repeatedly monitored while subjects either listened to factual stories (Story) or covertly generated verbs semantically related to heard nouns (Gener), using silent resting (Rest) as a common control condition. NrCBF variations in each task, as compared to Rest, as well as functional asymmetry indices (FAI = right minus left NrCBF variations), were computed in anatomical regions of interest (AROIs) defined on the single-subject MNI template. FAIs were predominantly leftward in all regions during both tasks, although larger FAIs were observed during Gener. Subjects were declared "typical" for language hemispheric specialization based on the presence of significant leftward asymmetries (FAI Gener, and in the middle and inferior temporal AROIs during Story. Six subjects (including five LH) showed an atypical language representation. Among them, one presented a right hemisphere specialization during both tasks, another a shift in hemispheric specialization from production to comprehension (left during Gener, right during Story). The group of 14 typical subjects showed significant positive correlation between homologous left and right AROIs NrCBF variations in temporal areas during Story, and in temporal and inferior frontal areas during Gener, almost all regions presenting a leftward FAI. Such correlations were also present in deactivated areas with strong leftward asymmetry (supramarginalis gyrus, inferior parietal region). These results suggest that entry into a language task translates into a hemispheric reconfiguration of lateral cortical areas with global NrCBF increase in the dominant hemisphere and decrease in the minor hemisphere. This can be considered as the setting up of a "language mode", under the control of a mechanism that operates at a perisylvian

  20. Common hemisphericity of language and music in a musician. A case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hofman, S; Klein, C; Arlazoroff, A

    1993-06-01

    Aphasia coupled with amusia is reported in a 73-year-old male musician who was a lawyer by profession. This condition followed an ischemic stroke in the lateral aspect of the parieto-occipital region of the left hemisphere. The patient's music production exhibits jargon amusia, similar to that in his verbal production. This case supports the thesis that language and music may share a common hemisphere.

  1. The Issues in the Measurement of Bilingual Language Dominance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yeh, Mary C. L.

    This paper deals with measurement of language dominance at the early-childhood level using a rating scale to help bilingual programs with student classification and placement. Some of the assumptions unique in the measurement of language dominance are discussed and applied to the validation procedure on a Spanish/English language dominance scale…

  2. Hemispheric asymmetry and theory of mind: is there an association?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herzig, Daniela A; Sullivan, Sarah; Evans, Jonathan; Corcoran, Rhiannon; Mohr, Christine

    2012-01-01

    In autism and schizophrenia attenuated/atypical functional hemispheric asymmetry and theory of mind impairments have been reported, suggesting common underlying neuroscientific correlates. We here investigated whether impaired theory of mind performance is associated with attenuated/atypical hemispheric asymmetry. An association may explain the co-occurrence of both dysfunctions in psychiatric populations. Healthy participants (n=129) performed a left hemisphere (lateralised lexical decision task) and right hemisphere (lateralised face decision task) dominant task as well as a visual cartoon task to assess theory of mind performance. Linear regression analyses revealed inconsistent associations between theory of mind performance and functional hemisphere asymmetry: enhanced theory of mind performance was only associated with (1) faster right hemisphere language processing, and (2) reduced right hemisphere dominance for face processing (men only). The majority of non-significant findings suggest that theory of mind and functional hemispheric asymmetry are unrelated. Instead of "overinterpreting" the two significant results, discrepancies in the previous literature relating to the problem of the theory of mind concept, the variety of tasks, and the lack of normative data are discussed. We also suggest how future studies could explore a possible link between hemispheric asymmetry and theory of mind.

  3. MRI language dominance assessment in epilepsy patients at 1.0 T: region of interest analysis and comparison with intracarotid amytal testing

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deblaere, K.; Vandemaele, P.; Tieleman, A.; Achten, E.; Boon, P.A.; Vonck, K.; Vingerhoets, G.; Backes, W.; Defreyne, L.

    2004-01-01

    The primary goal of this study was to test the reliability of presurgical language lateralization in epilepsy patients with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with a 1.0-T MR scanner using a simple word generation paradigm and conventional equipment. In addition, hemispherical fMRI language lateralization analysis and region of interest (ROI) analysis in the frontal and temporo-parietal regions were compared with the intracarotid amytal test (IAT). Twenty epilepsy patients under presurgical evaluation were prospectively examined by both fMRI and IAT. The fMRI experiment consisted of a word chain task (WCT) using the conventional headphone set and a sparse sequence. In 17 of the 20 patients, data were available for comparison between the two procedures. Fifteen of these 17 patients were categorized as left hemispheric dominant, and 2 patients demonstrated bilateral language representation by both fMRI and IAT. The highest reliability for lateralization was obtained using frontal ROI analysis. Hemispherical analysis was less powerful and reliable in all cases but one, while temporo-parietal ROI analysis was unreliable as a stand-alone analysis when compared with IAT. The effect of statistical threshold on language lateralization prompted for the use of t-value-dependent lateralization index plots. This study illustrates that fMRI-determined language lateralization can be performed reliably in a clinical MR setting operating at a low field strength of 1 T without expensive stimulus presentation systems. (orig.)

  4. MRI language dominance assessment in epilepsy patients at 1.0 T: region of interest analysis and comparison with intracarotid amytal testing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deblaere, K.; Vandemaele, P.; Tieleman, A.; Achten, E. [Department of Neuroradiology, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000, Ghent (Belgium); Boon, P.A.; Vonck, K. [Reference Center for Refractory Epilepsy of the Department of Neurology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent (Belgium); Vingerhoets, G. [Labaratory for Neuropsychology, Neurology Section of the Department of Internal Medicine, Ghent University, Ghent (Belgium); Backes, W. [Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital Maastricht, Maastricht (Netherlands); Defreyne, L. [Department of Interventional Radiology, Ghent University Hospital, Ghent (Belgium)

    2004-06-01

    The primary goal of this study was to test the reliability of presurgical language lateralization in epilepsy patients with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with a 1.0-T MR scanner using a simple word generation paradigm and conventional equipment. In addition, hemispherical fMRI language lateralization analysis and region of interest (ROI) analysis in the frontal and temporo-parietal regions were compared with the intracarotid amytal test (IAT). Twenty epilepsy patients under presurgical evaluation were prospectively examined by both fMRI and IAT. The fMRI experiment consisted of a word chain task (WCT) using the conventional headphone set and a sparse sequence. In 17 of the 20 patients, data were available for comparison between the two procedures. Fifteen of these 17 patients were categorized as left hemispheric dominant, and 2 patients demonstrated bilateral language representation by both fMRI and IAT. The highest reliability for lateralization was obtained using frontal ROI analysis. Hemispherical analysis was less powerful and reliable in all cases but one, while temporo-parietal ROI analysis was unreliable as a stand-alone analysis when compared with IAT. The effect of statistical threshold on language lateralization prompted for the use of t-value-dependent lateralization index plots. This study illustrates that fMRI-determined language lateralization can be performed reliably in a clinical MR setting operating at a low field strength of 1 T without expensive stimulus presentation systems. (orig.)

  5. Functional MRI in Patients with Intracranial Lesions near Language Areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hakyemez, B; Erdogan, C; Yildirim, N; Bora, I; Bekar, A; Parlak, M

    2006-06-30

    We aimed to depict Broca's area and Wernicke's area by word generation and sentence formation paradigms in patients with various intracranial lesions adjacent to language areas using functional MRI technique and to evaluate the ability of functional MRI to lateralize the hemispheric dominance for language. Twenty-three right-handed patients were included in this study. Lesions were classified as low-grade glioma (n=8), high-grade glioma (n=9), metastasis (n=1), meningioma (n=1), arteriovenous malformation (n=2) and mesial temporal sclerosis (n=2). We performed blood-oxygenated-level-dependant functional MRI using a 1.5-T unit. Word generation and sentence formation tasks were used to activate language areas. Language areas were defined as Brodmann 44, 45 (Broca's area) and Brodmann 22 area (Wernicke's area). Laterality index was used to show the dominant hemisphere. Two poorly cooperative patients showed no activation and were excluded from the study. Broca's area was localized in 21 patients (100 %). Wernicke's area, on the other hand, could only be localized in eight of the 21 patients (38 %).The left hemisphere was dominant in 86% of patients while atypical language lateralization (right or bilateral) was demonstrated in 14% of the patients. Bilateral activation areas were shown in 10% of those patients while right cerebral hemisphere was dominant in 4% of the patients. Word generation and sentence formation tasks are especially helpful in localizing Broca's area. Wernicke's area could also be demonstrated in some of the cases. Functional MRI can be used as an important and useful means of demonstrating language areas in patients with lesions adjacent to those areas and depicting the hemispheric dominance.

  6. Right Hemisphere Dominance in Visual Statistical Learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roser, Matthew E.; Fiser, Jozsef; Aslin, Richard N.; Gazzaniga, Michael S.

    2011-01-01

    Several studies report a right hemisphere advantage for visuospatial integration and a left hemisphere advantage for inferring conceptual knowledge from patterns of covariation. The present study examined hemispheric asymmetry in the implicit learning of new visual feature combinations. A split-brain patient and normal control participants viewed…

  7. Unique Neural Characteristics of Atypical Lateralization of Language in Healthy Individuals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Szymon P. Biduła

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI in 63 healthy participants, including left-handed and ambidextrous individuals, we tested how atypical lateralization of language—i. e., bilateral or right hemispheric language representation—differs from the typical left-hemisphere dominance. Although regardless of their handedness, all 11 participants from the atypical group engaged classical language centers, i.e., Broca's and Wernicke's areas, the right-hemisphere components of the default mode network (DMN, including the angular gyrus and middle temporal gyrus, were also critically involved during the verbal fluency task. Importantly, activity in these regions could not be explained in terms of mirroring the typical language pattern because left-hemisphere dominant individuals did not exhibit similar significant signal modulations. Moreover, when spatial extent of language-related activity across whole brain was considered, the bilateral language organization entailed more diffuse functional processing. Finally, we detected significant differences between the typical and atypical group in the resting-state connectivity at the global and local level. These findings suggest that the atypical lateralization of language has unique features, and is not a simple mirror image of the typical left hemispheric language representation.

  8. Radiological consequences in New Zealand of a northern-hemisphere dominated nuclear war

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lassey, K.R.

    1987-01-01

    The doses delivered to the New Zealand population as a result of a postulated nuclear war are estimated. The postulated war is dominated by northern hemisphere exchanges with some detonations also over Australia; New Zealand is spared direct attack. The doses are estimated conservatively using models from the literature and are of similar order (a few mSv) from both the northern hemisphere conflict and Australian attacks. The impact of the latter supposes a near worst-case prevailing meteorology. The typical somatic effects of such doses are a few hundred cancer inductions protracted over half a century, and perhaps a significant incidence of thyroid disorders if no countermeasures prevent the production and consumption of contaminated milk

  9. Right hemisphere dominance directly predicts both baseline V1 cortical excitability and the degree of top-down modulation exerted over low-level brain structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arshad, Q; Siddiqui, S; Ramachandran, S; Goga, U; Bonsu, A; Patel, M; Roberts, R E; Nigmatullina, Y; Malhotra, P; Bronstein, A M

    2015-12-17

    Right hemisphere dominance for visuo-spatial attention is characteristically observed in most right-handed individuals. This dominance has been attributed to both an anatomically larger right fronto-parietal network and the existence of asymmetric parietal interhemispheric connections. Previously it has been demonstrated that interhemispheric conflict, which induces left hemisphere inhibition, results in the modulation of both (i) the excitability of the early visual cortex (V1) and (ii) the brainstem-mediated vestibular-ocular reflex (VOR) via top-down control mechanisms. However to date, it remains unknown whether the degree of an individual's right hemisphere dominance for visuospatial function can influence, (i) the baseline excitability of the visual cortex and (ii) the extent to which the right hemisphere can exert top-down modulation. We directly tested this by correlating line bisection error (or pseudoneglect), taken as a measure of right hemisphere dominance, with both (i) visual cortical excitability measured using phosphene perception elicited via single-pulse occipital trans-cranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and (ii) the degree of trans-cranial direct current stimulation (tDCS)-mediated VOR suppression, following left hemisphere inhibition. We found that those individuals with greater right hemisphere dominance had a less excitable early visual cortex at baseline and demonstrated a greater degree of vestibular nystagmus suppression following left hemisphere cathodal tDCS. To conclude, our results provide the first demonstration that individual differences in right hemisphere dominance can directly predict both the baseline excitability of low-level brain structures and the degree of top-down modulation exerted over them. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  10. The Influence of Hemispheric Dominance on Scores of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartman, Steve E.; And Others

    1997-01-01

    Results for 75 medical students and 248 undergraduates suggest that the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator appears to sample only 3 bipolar personality dimensions rather than the 4 that the use of "type tables" implies. One of these dimensions shares substantial variance with the cognitive model of hemispheric dominance. (SLD)

  11. Temporal Lobe White Matter Asymmetry and Language Laterality in Epilepsy Patients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellmore, Timothy M.; Beauchamp, Michael S.; Breier, Joshua I.; Slater, Jeremy D.; Kalamangalam, Giridhar P.; O’Neill, Thomas J.; Disano, Michael A.; Tandon, Nitin

    2009-01-01

    Recent studies using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) have advanced our knowledge of the organization of white matter subserving language function. It remains unclear, however, how DTI may be used to predict accurately a key feature of language organization: its asymmetric representation in one cerebral hemisphere. In this study of epilepsy patients with unambiguous lateralization on Wada testing (19 left and 4 right lateralized subjects; no bilateral subjects), the predictive value of DTI for classifying the dominant hemisphere for language was assessed relative to the existing standard - the intra-carotid Amytal (Wada) procedure. Our specific hypothesis is that language laterality in both unilateral left- and right-hemisphere language dominant subjects may be predicted by hemispheric asymmetry in the relative density of three white matter pathways terminating in the temporal lobe implicated in different aspects of language function: the arcuate (AF), uncinate (UF), and inferior longitudinal fasciculi (ILF). Laterality indices computed from asymmetry of high anisotropy AF pathways, but not the other pathways, classified the majority (19 of 23) of patients using the Wada results as the standard. A logistic regression model incorporating information from DTI of the AF, fMRI activity in Broca’s area, and handedness was able to classify 22 of 23 (95.6%) patients correctly according to their Wada score. We conclude that evaluation of highly anisotropic components of the AF alone has significant predictive power for determining language laterality, and that this markedly asymmetric distribution in the dominant hemisphere may reflect enhanced connectivity between frontal and temporal sites to support fluent language processes. Given the small sample reported in this preliminary study, future research should assess this method on a larger group of patients, including subjects with bihemispheric dominance. PMID:19874899

  12. Apraxia and spatial inattention dissociate in left hemisphere stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Timpert, David C; Weiss, Peter H; Vossel, Simone; Dovern, Anna; Fink, Gereon R

    2015-10-01

    Theories of lateralized cognitive functions propose a dominance of the left hemisphere for motor control and of the right hemisphere for spatial attention. Accordingly, spatial attention deficits (e.g., neglect) are more frequently observed after right-hemispheric stroke, whereas apraxia is a common consequence of left-hemispheric stroke. Clinical reports of spatial attentional deficits after left hemisphere (LH) stroke also exist, but are often neglected. By applying parallel analysis (PA) and voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) to data from a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment of 74 LH stroke patients, we here systematically investigate the relationship between spatial inattention and apraxia and their neural bases. PA revealed that apraxic (and language comprehension) deficits loaded on one common component, while deficits in attention tests were explained by another independent component. Statistical lesion analyses with the individual component scores showed that apraxic (and language comprehension) deficits were significantly associated with lesions of the left superior longitudinal fascicle (SLF). Data suggest that in LH stroke spatial attention deficits dissociate from apraxic (and language comprehension) deficits. These findings contribute to models of lateralised cognitive functions in the human brain. Moreover, our findings strongly suggest that LH stroke patients should be assessed systematically for spatial attention deficits so that these can be included in their rehabilitation regime. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Cerebellar language mapping and cerebral language dominance in pediatric epilepsy surgery patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer N. Gelinas, MD, PhD

    2014-01-01

    Conclusions: Cerebellar language activation occurs in homologous regions of Crus I/II contralateral to cerebral language activation in patients with both right and left cerebral language dominance. Cerebellar language laterality could contribute to comprehensive pre-operative evaluation of language lateralization in pediatric epilepsy surgery patients. Our data suggest that patients with atypical cerebellar language activation are at risk for having atypical cerebral language organization.

  14. Atypical right hemisphere specialization for object representations in an adolescent with specific language impairment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Timothy T. Brown

    2014-02-01

    Full Text Available Individuals with a diagnosis of specific language impairment (SLI show abnormal spoken language occurring alongside normal nonverbal abilities. Behaviorally, people with SLI exhibit diverse profiles of impairment involving phonological, grammatical, syntactic, and semantic aspects of language. In this study, we used a multimodal neuroimaging technique called anatomically constrained magnetoencephalography (aMEG to measure the dynamic functional brain organization of an adolescent with SLI. Using single-subject statistical maps of cortical activity, we compared this patient to a sibling and to a cohort of typically developing subjects during the performance of tasks designed to evoke semantic representations of concrete objects. Localized, real-time patterns of brain activity within the language impaired patient showed marked differences from the typical functional organization, with significant engagement of right hemisphere heteromodal cortical regions generally homotopic to the left hemisphere areas that usually show the greatest activity for such tasks. Functional neuroanatomical differences were evident at early sensoriperceptual processing stages and continued through later cognitive stages, observed specifically at latencies typically associated with semantic encoding operations. Our findings show with real-time temporal specificity evidence for an atypical right hemisphere specialization for the representation of concrete entities, independent of verbal motor demands. More broadly, our results demonstrate the feasibility and potential utility of using aMEG to characterize individual patient differences in the dynamic functional organization of the brain.

  15. Factors Influencing Right Hemisphere Engagement During Metaphor Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diaz, Michele T.; Eppes, Anna

    2018-01-01

    Although the left hemisphere is critical for language, clinical, behavioral, and neuroimaging research suggest that the right hemisphere also contributes to language comprehension. In particular, research has suggested that figurative language may be one type of language that preferentially engages right hemisphere regions. However, there is disagreement about whether these regions within the right hemisphere are sensitive to figurative language per se or to other factors that co-vary with figurativeness. In this article, we will review the neuroimaging literature on figurative language processing, focusing on metaphors, within the context of several theoretical perspectives that have been proposed about hemispheric function in language. Then we will examine three factors that may influence right hemisphere engagement: novelty, task difficulty, and context. We propose that factors that increase integration demands drive right hemisphere involvement in language processing, and that such recruitment is not limited to figurative language. PMID:29643825

  16. White-matter microstructure and language lateralization in left-handers: a whole-brain MRI analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perlaki, Gabor; Horvath, Reka; Orsi, Gergely; Aradi, Mihaly; Auer, Tibor; Varga, Eszter; Kantor, Gyongyi; Altbäcker, Anna; John, Flora; Doczi, Tamas; Komoly, Samuel; Kovacs, Norbert; Schwarcz, Attila; Janszky, Jozsef

    2013-08-01

    Most people are left-hemisphere dominant for language. However the neuroanatomy of language lateralization is not fully understood. By combining functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), we studied whether language lateralization is associated with cerebral white-matter (WM) microstructure. Sixteen healthy, left-handed women aged 20-25 were included in the study. Left-handers were targeted in order to increase the chances of involving subjects with atypical language lateralization. Language lateralization was determined by fMRI using a verbal fluency paradigm. Tract-based spatial statistics analysis of DTI data was applied to test for WM microstructural correlates of language lateralization across the whole brain. Fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity were used as indicators of WM microstructural organization. Right-hemispheric language dominance was associated with reduced microstructural integrity of the left superior longitudinal fasciculus and left-sided parietal lobe WM. In left-handed women, reduced integrity of the left-sided language related tracts may be closely linked to the development of right hemispheric language dominance. Our results may offer new insights into language lateralization and structure-function relationships in human language system. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Hemispheric differences in processing of vocalizations depend on early experience

    OpenAIRE

    Phan, Mimi L.; Vicario, David S.

    2010-01-01

    An intriguing phenomenon in the neurobiology of language is lateralization: the dominant role of one hemisphere in a particular function. Lateralization is not exclusive to language because lateral differences are observed in other sensory modalities, behaviors, and animal species. Despite much scientific attention, the function of lateralization, its possible dependence on experience, and the functional implications of such dependence have yet to be clearly determined. We have explored the r...

  18. Hemispheric Lateralization, Cerebral Dominance, Conjugate Saccadic Behavior and Their Use in Identifying the Creatively Gifted.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rekdal, C. K.

    1979-01-01

    In an effort to establish new means of locating the gifted creative productive thinker, an investigation of current brain research in the areas of hemispheric lateralization, cerebral dominance and conjugate saccadic behavior is analyzed. (Author/PHR)

  19. Single-session tDCS over the dominant hemisphere affects contralateral spectral EEG power, but does not enhance neurofeedback-guided event-related desynchronization of the non-dominant hemisphere's sensorimotor rhythm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mondini, Valeria; Mangia, Anna Lisa; Cappello, Angelo

    2018-01-01

    Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and neurofeedback-guided motor imagery (MI) have attracted considerable interest in neurorehabilitation, given their ability to influence neuroplasticity. As tDCS has been shown to modulate event-related desynchronization (ERD), the neural signature of motor imagery detected for neurofeedback, a combination of the techniques was recently proposed. One limitation of this approach is that the area targeted for stimulation is the same from which the signal for neurofeedback is acquired. As tDCS may interfere with proximal electroencephalographic (EEG) electrodes, in this study our aim was to test whether contralateral tDCS could have interhemispheric effects on the spectral power of the unstimulated hemisphere, possibly mediated by transcallosal connection, and whether such effects could be used to enhance ERD magnitudes. A contralateral stimulation approach would indeed facilitate co-registration, as the stimulation electrode would be far from the recording sites. Twenty right-handed healthy volunteers (aged 21 to 32) participated in the study: ten assigned to cathodal, ten to anodal versus sham stimulation. We applied stimulation over the dominant (left) hemisphere, and assessed ERD and spectral power over the non-dominant (right) hemisphere. The effect of tDCS was evaluated over time. Spectral power was assessed in theta, alpha and beta bands, under both rest and MI conditions, while ERD was evaluated in alpha and beta bands. Two main findings emerged: (1) contralateral alpha-ERD was reduced after anodal (p = 0.0147), but not enhanced after cathodal tDCS; (2) both stimulations had remote effects on the spectral power of the contralateral hemisphere, particularly in theta and alpha (significant differences in the topographical t-value maps). The absence of contralateral cathodal ERD enhancement suggests that the protocol is not applicable in the context of MI training. Nevertheless, ERD results of anodal and spectral

  20. Changes of right-hemispheric activation after constraint-induced, intensive language action therapy in chronic aphasia: fMRI evidence from auditory semantic processing1

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohr, Bettina; Difrancesco, Stephanie; Harrington, Karen; Evans, Samuel; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

    2014-01-01

    The role of the two hemispheres in the neurorehabilitation of language is still under dispute. This study explored the changes in language-evoked brain activation over a 2-week treatment interval with intensive constraint induced aphasia therapy (CIAT), which is also called intensive language action therapy (ILAT). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess brain activation in perilesional left hemispheric and in homotopic right hemispheric areas during passive listening to high and low-ambiguity sentences and non-speech control stimuli in chronic non-fluent aphasia patients. All patients demonstrated significant clinical improvements of language functions after therapy. In an event-related fMRI experiment, a significant increase of BOLD signal was manifest in right inferior frontal and temporal areas. This activation increase was stronger for highly ambiguous sentences than for unambiguous ones. These results suggest that the known language improvements brought about by intensive constraint-induced language action therapy at least in part relies on circuits within the right-hemispheric homologs of left-perisylvian language areas, which are most strongly activated in the processing of semantically complex language. PMID:25452721

  1. Psychometric function for NU-6 word recognition in noise: effects of first language and dominant language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Lu-Feng; Zaki, Nancy A

    2014-01-01

    The present study attempted to establish psychometric function in individuals whose first language is not English. Psychometric function was obtained for one of the most commonly used clinical tests, the Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 (Tillman & Carhart 1966), so that findings could be directly applied to everyday clinical practice. Five groups of 14 normal-hearing, adult listeners differing in their first language and dominant language (English monolinguals, English- and Arabic-dominant Arabic-English bilinguals, and English- and Russian-dominant Russian-English bilinguals) participated. Both forms of the Northwestern University Auditory Test No. 6 test (8 lists of 50 monosyllabic English words) were presented. The lists were randomly assigned to eight signal-to-noise ratios (-3 to 18 dB in 3 dB steps). Listeners responded verbally and in writing. Psychometric functions were derived via logistic regression and described by two parameters: the 50% correct performance level (θ) and the slope (k). Both English-dominant bilingual groups obtained psychometric functions comparable with monolinguals. The θ and k of the functions for these three groups of participants were consistent with the literature. Compared with these three groups, non-English-dominant bilinguals' functions grew significantly more gradually (i.e., a significantly higher θ and a significantly lower k). No differences in either θ or k were found between bilinguals with the same dominant language but different first languages. Bilinguals reporting themselves to be dominant in English generate monolingual-like psychometric functions. By contrast, a different set of psychometric properties describes the function of bilinguals dominant in their first language. Because first language did not appear to be a significant factor in determining bilinguals' functions, it is concluded that English learning history and English proficiency are more important variables than first language for

  2. Does the individual adaption of standardized speech paradigmas for clinical functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) effect the localization of the language-dominant hemisphere and of Broca's and Wernicke's areas; Beeinflusst die individuelle Anpassung standardisierter Sprachparadigmen fuer die klinische funktionelle Magnetresonanztomographie (fMRT) die Lokalisation der sprachdominanten Hemisphaere, des Broca- und des Wernicke-Sprachzentrums?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Konrad, F.; Nennig, E.; Kress, B.; Sartor, K.; Stippich, C. [Abteilung Neuroradiologie, Neurologische Klinik, Universitaetsklinikum Heidelberg (Germany); Ochmann, H. [Neurochirurgische Klinik, Universitaetsklinikum Heidelberg (Germany)

    2005-03-01

    Purpose: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) localizes Broca's area (B) and Wernicke's area (W) and the hemisphere dominant for language. In clinical fMRI, adapting the stimulation paradigms to each patient's individual cognitive capacity is crucial for diagnostic success. To interpret clinical fMRI findings correctly, we studied the effect of varying frequency and number of stimuli on functional localization, determination of language dominance and BOLD signals. Materials and Methods: Ten volunteers (VP) were investigated at 1.5 Tesla during visually triggered sentence generation using a standardized block design. In four different measurements, the stimuli were presented to each VP with frequencies of (1/1)s, (1/2)s,(1/3)s and (1/6)s. Results: The functional localizations and the correlations of the measured BOLD signals to the applied hemodynamic reference function (r) were almost independent from frequency and number of the stimuli in both hemispheres, whereas the relative BOLD signal changes ({delta}S) in B and W increased with the stimulation rate, which also changed the lateralization indices. The strongest BOLD activations were achieved with the highest stimulation rate or with the maximum language production task, respectively. Conclusion: The adaptation of language paradigms necessary in clinical fMRI does not alter the functional localizations but changes the BOLD signals and language lateralization which should not be attributed to the underlying brain pathology. (orig.)

  3. Neurological impressions on the organization of language networks in the human brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliveira, Fabricio Ferreira de; Marin, Sheilla de Medeiros Correia; Bertolucci, Paulo Henrique Ferreira

    2017-01-01

    More than 95% of right-handed individuals, as well as almost 80% of left-handed individuals, have left hemisphere dominance for language. The perisylvian networks of the dominant hemisphere tend to be the most important language systems in human brains, usually connected by bidirectional fibres originated from the superior longitudinal fascicle/arcuate fascicle system and potentially modifiable by learning. Neuroplasticity mechanisms take place to preserve neural functions after brain injuries. Language is dependent on a hierarchical interlinkage of serial and parallel processing areas in distinct brain regions considered to be elementary processing units. Whereas aphasic syndromes typically result from injuries to the dominant hemisphere, the extent of the distribution of language functions seems to be variable for each individual. Review of the literature Results: Several theories try to explain the organization of language networks in the human brain from a point of view that involves either modular or distributed processing or sometimes both. The most important evidence for each approach is discussed under the light of modern theories of organization of neural networks. Understanding the connectivity patterns of language networks may provide deeper insights into language functions, supporting evidence-based rehabilitation strategies that focus on the enhancement of language organization for patients with aphasic syndromes.

  4. Measuring language lateralisation with different language tasks: a systematic review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Abigail R. Bradshaw

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Language lateralisation refers to the phenomenon in which one hemisphere (typically the left shows greater involvement in language functions than the other. Measurement of laterality is of interest both to researchers investigating the neural organisation of the language system and to clinicians needing to establish an individual’s hemispheric dominance for language prior to surgery, as in patients with intractable epilepsy. Recently, there has been increasing awareness of the possibility that different language processes may develop hemispheric lateralisation independently, and to varying degrees. However, it is not always clear whether differences in laterality across language tasks with fMRI are reflective of meaningful variation in hemispheric lateralisation, or simply of trivial methodological differences between paradigms. This systematic review aims to assess different language tasks in terms of the strength, reliability and robustness of the laterality measurements they yield with fMRI, to look at variability that is both dependent and independent of aspects of study design, such as the baseline task, region of interest, and modality of the stimuli. Recommendations are made that can be used to guide task design; however, this review predominantly highlights that the current high level of methodological variability in language paradigms prevents conclusions as to how different language functions may lateralise independently. We conclude with suggestions for future research using tasks that engage distinct aspects of language functioning, whilst being closely matched on non-linguistic aspects of task design (e.g., stimuli, task timings etc; such research could produce more reliable and conclusive insights into language lateralisation. This systematic review was registered as a protocol on Open Science Framework: https://osf.io/5vmpt/.

  5. Language lateralization by functional MRI : a comparison with wada test-preliminary results

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ryoo, Jae Wook; Na, Dong Gyu; Byun, Hong Sik

    1999-01-01

    To evaluate the usefulness of functional MR imaging (fMRI) for the determination of language dominance and to assess differences in language lateralization according to activation task or activated area. Functional maps of the language area were obtained during word generation tasks(noun and verb) and a reading task in ten patients (9 right handed, 1 left handed) who had undergone the Wada test. MR examinations were performed using a 1.5T scanner and the EPI BOLD technique. The SPM program was employed for the postprocessing of images and the threshold for significance was set at p<0.001 or p<0.01. A lateralization index was calculated from the number of activated pixels in three hemispheric regions (whole hemisphere, frontal lobe, and temporoparietal lobe), and the results were compared with those of Wada tests. The results for lateralization of language area were compared among stimulation tasks and regions and used for calculation of lateralization indices. During the Wada test, nine patients were left dominant and one patient was right dominant for language. Language dominance based on activated signals in each hemisphere was consistent with the results of the Wada test in 87.5% (verb and noun generation tasks) and 90% (reading task) of patients. Language dominance determined by activated signals in the frontal lobe was consistent in 87.5%, 75%, and 80% of patients in each stimulation task (verb generation, noun generation, and reading), respectively. The consistency rate of activated signals in the temporoparietal lobe was 87.5%, 87.5% and 80% of patients in each task. the mean value of the lateralization index, calculated on the basis of activated signals in the temporoparietal lobe was higher than that in the hemisphere or frontal lobe. The verb generation task showed a higher lateralization index than the noun generation or reading task. The lateralization index was higher in the verb generation task and in the region of the temporoparietal lobe than in

  6. Language lateralization by functional MRI : a comparison with wada test-preliminary results

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ryoo, Jae Wook; Na, Dong Gyu; Byun, Hong Sik [Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan Univ. School of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)] (and others)

    1999-05-01

    To evaluate the usefulness of functional MR imaging (fMRI) for the determination of language dominance and to assess differences in language lateralization according to activation task or activated area. Functional maps of the language area were obtained during word generation tasks(noun and verb) and a reading task in ten patients (9 right handed, 1 left handed) who had undergone the Wada test. MR examinations were performed using a 1.5T scanner and the EPI BOLD technique. The SPM program was employed for the postprocessing of images and the threshold for significance was set at p<0.001 or p<0.01. A lateralization index was calculated from the number of activated pixels in three hemispheric regions (whole hemisphere, frontal lobe, and temporoparietal lobe), and the results were compared with those of Wada tests. The results for lateralization of language area were compared among stimulation tasks and regions and used for calculation of lateralization indices. During the Wada test, nine patients were left dominant and one patient was right dominant for language. Language dominance based on activated signals in each hemisphere was consistent with the results of the Wada test in 87.5% (verb and noun generation tasks) and 90% (reading task) of patients. Language dominance determined by activated signals in the frontal lobe was consistent in 87.5%, 75%, and 80% of patients in each stimulation task (verb generation, noun generation, and reading), respectively. The consistency rate of activated signals in the temporoparietal lobe was 87.5%, 87.5% and 80% of patients in each task. the mean value of the lateralization index, calculated on the basis of activated signals in the temporoparietal lobe was higher than that in the hemisphere or frontal lobe. The verb generation task showed a higher lateralization index than the noun generation or reading task. The lateralization index was higher in the verb generation task and in the region of the temporoparietal lobe than in

  7. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for Treating Depression in a Patient With Right Hemispheric Dominance: A Case Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shiozawa, Pedro; da Silva, Mailu Enokibara; Cordeiro, Quirino

    2015-09-01

    We report the case of a 66-year-old male patient with major depressive disorder for the last 6 months. The patient had been diagnosed with dyslexia during childhood and was left-handed. The intervention protocol consisted in 10 consecutive daily transcranial direct current stimulation sessions. However, after 5 days of stimulation, the patient presented with intensification of depressive symptoms and panic attacks. It was hypothetized that the intensification of symptoms may have been due to stimulation protocol itself. Considering the patient was left-handed and presented comorbidity with dyslexia, there was a plausible hypothesis of right hemispheric dominance. This was corroborated by the Edinburgh Handedness Scale. In fact, dyslexic patients present right hemisphere dominance more frequently. The patient also presented a single photon emission computed tomography with a hypoperfusion area over the left posterior parietal lobe. After the patients agreement, a 10-day experimental repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation low-frequency protocol over the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was started to inhibit the area, which was hypothetically hyperactivated following the rationale of right dominance. The patient presented amelioration of depressive and anxious symptoms. Given the hemispheric reversal we show in the present case study, however, it seems that therapies that are beneficial to right-handers could be detrimental to left-handers.

  8. Cortical activity in the left and right hemispheres during language-related brain functions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lassen, N A; Larsen, B

    1980-01-01

    of cortical activity seen during various language functions, emphasizing the practically symmetrical involvement in both hemispheres. A case of auditive agnosia (with complete cortical word deafness but preserved pure tone thresholds) is presented. The patient's normal speech constitutes evidence...

  9. Effects of hemisphere speech dominance and seizure focus on patterns of behavioral response errors for three types of stimuli.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rausch, R; MacDonald, K

    1997-03-01

    We used a protocol consisting of a continuous presentation of stimuli with associated response requests during an intracarotid sodium amobarbital procedure (IAP) to study the effects of hemisphere injected (speech dominant vs. nondominant) and seizure focus (left temporal lobe vs. right temporal lobe) on the pattern of behavioral response errors for three types of visual stimuli (pictures of common objects, words, and abstract forms). Injection of the left speech dominant hemisphere compared to the right nondominant hemisphere increased overall errors and affected the pattern of behavioral errors. The presence of a seizure focus in the contralateral hemisphere increased overall errors, particularly for the right temporal lobe seizure patients, but did not affect the pattern of behavioral errors. Left hemisphere injections disrupted both naming and reading responses at a rate similar to that of matching-to-sample performance. Also, a short-term memory deficit was observed with all three stimuli. Long-term memory testing following the left hemisphere injection indicated that only for pictures of common objects were there fewer errors during the early postinjection period than for the later long-term memory testing. Therefore, despite the inability to respond to picture stimuli, picture items, but not words or forms, could be sufficiently encoded for later recall. In contrast, right hemisphere injections resulted in few errors, with a pattern suggesting a mild general cognitive decrease. A selective weakness in learning unfamiliar forms was found. Our findings indicate that different patterns of behavioral deficits occur following the left vs. right hemisphere injections, with selective patterns specific to stimulus type.

  10. Measuring Second Language Proficiency with EEG Synchronization: How Functional Cortical Networks and Hemispheric Involvement Differ as a Function of Proficiency Level in Second Language Speakers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reiterer, Susanne; Pereda, Ernesto; Bhattacharya, Joydeep

    2009-01-01

    This article examines the question of whether university-based high-level foreign language and linguistic training can influence brain activation and whether different L2 proficiency groups have different brain activation in terms of lateralization and hemispheric involvement. The traditional and prevailing theory of hemispheric involvement in…

  11. Motor cortex hand area and speech: implications for the development of language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Meister, Ingo Gerrit; Boroojerdi, Babak; Foltys, Henrik; Sparing, Roland; Huber, Walter; Töpper, Rudolf

    2003-01-01

    Recently a growing body of evidence has suggested that a functional link exists between the hand motor area of the language dominant hemisphere and the regions subserving language processing. We examined the excitability of the hand motor area and the leg motor area during reading aloud and during non-verbal oral movements using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). During reading aloud, but not before or afterwards, excitability was increased in the hand motor area of the dominant hemisphere. This reading effect was found to be independent of the duration of speech. No such effect could be found in the contralateral hemisphere. The excitability of the leg area of the motor cortex remained unchanged during reading aloud. The excitability during non-verbal oral movements was slightly increased in both hemispheres. Our results are consistent with previous findings and may indicate a specific functional connection between the hand motor area and the cortical language network.

  12. Opposite patterns of hemisphere dominance for early auditory processing of lexical tones and consonants

    OpenAIRE

    Luo, Hao; Ni, Jing-Tian; Li, Zhi-Hao; Li, Xiao-Ou; Zhang, Da-Ren; Zeng, Fan-Gang; Chen, Lin

    2006-01-01

    in tonal languages such as Mandarin Chinese, a lexical tone carries semantic information and is preferentially processed in the left brain hemisphere of native speakers as revealed by the functional MRI or positron emission tomography studies, which likely measure the temporally aggregated neural events including those at an attentive stage of auditory processing. Here, we demonstrate that early auditory processing of a lexical tone at a preattentive stage is actually ...

  13. Dominant hemisphere lateralization of cortical parasympathetic control as revealed by frontotemporal dementia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Christine C.; Sturm, Virginia E.; Zhou, Juan; Gennatas, Efstathios D.; Trujillo, Andrew J.; Hua, Alice Y.; Crawford, Richard; Stables, Lara; Kramer, Joel H.; Rankin, Katherine; Levenson, Robert W.; Rosen, Howard J.; Miller, Bruce L.; Seeley, William W.

    2016-01-01

    The brain continuously influences and perceives the physiological condition of the body. Related cortical representations have been proposed to shape emotional experience and guide behavior. Although previous studies have identified brain regions recruited during autonomic processing, neurological lesion studies have yet to delineate the regions critical for maintaining autonomic outflow. Even greater controversy surrounds hemispheric lateralization along the parasympathetic–sympathetic axis. The behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD), featuring progressive and often asymmetric degeneration that includes the frontoinsular and cingulate cortices, provides a unique lesion model for elucidating brain structures that control autonomic tone. Here, we show that bvFTD is associated with reduced baseline cardiac vagal tone and that this reduction correlates with left-lateralized functional and structural frontoinsular and cingulate cortex deficits and with reduced agreeableness. Our results suggest that networked brain regions in the dominant hemisphere are critical for maintaining an adaptive level of baseline parasympathetic outflow. PMID:27071080

  14. Resting-State Functional MR Imaging for Determining Language Laterality in Intractable Epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    DeSalvo, Matthew N; Tanaka, Naoaki; Douw, Linda; Leveroni, Catherine L; Buchbinder, Bradley R; Greve, Douglas N; Stufflebeam, Steven M

    2016-10-01

    Purpose To measure the accuracy of resting-state functional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in determining hemispheric language dominance in patients with medically intractable focal epilepsies against the results of an intracarotid amobarbital procedure (IAP). Materials and Methods This study was approved by the institutional review board, and all subjects gave signed informed consent. Data in 23 patients with medically intractable focal epilepsy were retrospectively analyzed. All 23 patients were candidates for epilepsy surgery and underwent both IAP and resting-state functional MR imaging as part of presurgical evaluation. Language dominance was determined from functional MR imaging data by calculating a laterality index (LI) after using independent component analysis. The accuracy of this method was assessed against that of IAP by using a variety of thresholds. Sensitivity and specificity were calculated by using leave-one-out cross validation. Spatial maps of language components were qualitatively compared among each hemispheric language dominance group. Results Measurement of hemispheric language dominance with resting-state functional MR imaging was highly concordant with IAP results, with up to 96% (22 of 23) accuracy, 96% (22 of 23) sensitivity, and 96% (22 of 23) specificity. Composite language component maps in patients with typical language laterality consistently included classic language areas such as the inferior frontal gyrus, the posterior superior temporal gyrus, and the inferior parietal lobule, while those of patients with atypical language laterality also included non-classical language areas such as the superior and middle frontal gyri, the insula, and the occipital cortex. Conclusion Resting-state functional MR imaging can be used to measure language laterality in patients with medically intractable focal epilepsy. (©) RSNA, 2016 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

  15. Functional MRI language mapping in pre-surgical epilepsy patients ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Background. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is commonly applied to study the neural substrates of language in clinical research and for neurosurgical planning. fMRI language mapping is used to assess language lateralisation, or determine hemispheric dominance, and to localise regions of the brain ...

  16. Determination of language lateralization using functional MRI during the performance of shiritori tasks in neurosurgery patients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takayama, Hideichi; Kobayashi, Masahito; Sugishita, Morihiro; Onozuka, Satoshi; Kawase, Takeshi

    2001-01-01

    Assessment of language lateralization is crucial in patients considered for neurological surgery. The authors used functional MRI (fMRI) in conjunction with shiritori, a kind of word-generation task as paradigms, to determine language lateralization in the patients. We used a 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging devise with an echo-planar imaging sequence. Thirty-two patients undergoing neurological surgery would alternately rest and silently perform shiritori during fMRI acquisition. Language lateralization was determined in 29 out of 32 patients. Twenty-two patients were considered as left-hemisphere dominant and seven were right-hemisphere dominant. Brain activation was seen in the prefrontal area, premotor area, superior temporal gyrus and parietal lobe of the dominant hemisphere, which is consistent with the results in normal adults. Language lateralization was particularly useful in a case of meningioma in the left lateral ventricle and in a case of AVM in the left temporoparietal region. fMRI with shiritori tasks revealed right-hemisphere dominance in both cases, which was also confirmed by intracarotid amobarbital (Wada) testing. Both lesions were treated successfully without causing any further deficit to the patients' language function. These results suggest that fMRI with shiritori tasks can be used to assess language lateralization non-invasively, compared with the current techniques, such as intracarotid amobarbital testing and cortical electrostimulation mapping. Thus, fMRI with shiritori tasks has significant clinical potential as a presurgical evaluation tool. (author)

  17. Determination of language lateralization using functional MRI during the performance of shiritori tasks in neurosurgery patients

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Takayama, Hideichi; Kobayashi, Masahito [Mihara Memorial Hospital, Isesaki, Gunma (Japan); Sugishita, Morihiro; Onozuka, Satoshi; Kawase, Takeshi

    2001-03-01

    Assessment of language lateralization is crucial in patients considered for neurological surgery. The authors used functional MRI (fMRI) in conjunction with shiritori, a kind of word-generation task as paradigms, to determine language lateralization in the patients. We used a 1.5 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging devise with an echo-planar imaging sequence. Thirty-two patients undergoing neurological surgery would alternately rest and silently perform shiritori during fMRI acquisition. Language lateralization was determined in 29 out of 32 patients. Twenty-two patients were considered as left-hemisphere dominant and seven were right-hemisphere dominant. Brain activation was seen in the prefrontal area, premotor area, superior temporal gyrus and parietal lobe of the dominant hemisphere, which is consistent with the results in normal adults. Language lateralization was particularly useful in a case of meningioma in the left lateral ventricle and in a case of AVM in the left temporoparietal region. fMRI with shiritori tasks revealed right-hemisphere dominance in both cases, which was also confirmed by intracarotid amobarbital (Wada) testing. Both lesions were treated successfully without causing any further deficit to the patients' language function. These results suggest that fMRI with shiritori tasks can be used to assess language lateralization non-invasively, compared with the current techniques, such as intracarotid amobarbital testing and cortical electrostimulation mapping. Thus, fMRI with shiritori tasks has significant clinical potential as a presurgical evaluation tool. (author)

  18. Effect of unilateral dominance of the cerebral hemispheres on the radiographic appearance of the cervical spine

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jirout, J

    1980-10-01

    The results of dynamic radiographic studies of the cervical spine following isometric exercise of the shoulders and the upper extremities appear to indicate that the commonly seen asymmetries of the joints in the craniocervical and cervicothoracic junction are due to asymmetry in the function of the muscles. The obvious dominance of the muscles on the right side demonstrates the dominance of the left cerebral hemisphere. The clinical importance of this is pointed out.

  19. Damage to white matter bottlenecks contributes to language impairments after left hemispheric stroke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joseph C. Griffis

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Damage to the white matter underlying the left posterior temporal lobe leads to deficits in multiple language functions. The posterior temporal white matter may correspond to a bottleneck where both dorsal and ventral language pathways are vulnerable to simultaneous damage. Damage to a second putative white matter bottleneck in the left deep prefrontal white matter involving projections associated with ventral language pathways and thalamo-cortical projections has recently been proposed as a source of semantic deficits after stroke. Here, we first used white matter atlases to identify the previously described white matter bottlenecks in the posterior temporal and deep prefrontal white matter. We then assessed the effects of damage to each region on measures of verbal fluency, picture naming, and auditory semantic decision-making in 43 chronic left hemispheric stroke patients. Damage to the posterior temporal bottleneck predicted deficits on all tasks, while damage to the anterior bottleneck only significantly predicted deficits in verbal fluency. Importantly, the effects of damage to the bottleneck regions were not attributable to lesion volume, lesion loads on the tracts traversing the bottlenecks, or damage to nearby cortical language areas. Multivariate lesion-symptom mapping revealed additional lesion predictors of deficits. Post-hoc fiber tracking of the peak white matter lesion predictors using a publicly available tractography atlas revealed evidence consistent with the results of the bottleneck analyses. Together, our results provide support for the proposal that spatially specific white matter damage affecting bottleneck regions, particularly in the posterior temporal lobe, contributes to chronic language deficits after left hemispheric stroke. This may reflect the simultaneous disruption of signaling in dorsal and ventral language processing streams.

  20. Sensitivity and reliability of language laterality assessment with a free reversed association task - a fMRI study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fesl, Gunther; Brueckmann, Hartmut; Bruhns, Philipp; Rau, Sabine; Ilmberger, Josef; Wiesmann, Martin; Kegel, Gerd

    2010-01-01

    The aim of the study was to evaluate the sensitivity and reliability of assessing hemispheric language dominance with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using a 'free reversed association task.' Thirty-nine healthy subjects (13 dextrals, 13 sinistrals and 13 bimanuals) underwent two repeated fMRI sessions. In the active phases sets of words were presented via headphones, and an associated target item was named. During the baseline phases a standard answer was given after listening to unintelligible stimuli. Data were preprocessed with SPM, and then laterality indices (LI) and reliability coefficients (RC) were calculated. Extensive frontal, temporal and parietal activations were found. Seventy-eight percent of the subjects showed left-hemispheric dominance, 5% showed right-hemispheric dominance, and 17% had bilateral language representations. The incidence of right-hemispheric language dominance was 4.3 times higher in a left-hander with a handedness quotient (HQ) of -90 than in a right-hander with a HQ of +90. The RC was 0.61 for combined ROIs (global network). Strong correlations were found between the two session LIs (r = 0.95 for the global network). 'Free reversed association' is a sensitive and reliable task for the determination of individual language lateralization. This suggests that the task may be used in a clinical setting. (orig.)

  1. Human brain mapping of language-related function on 1.5T magnetic resonance system: focused on motor language function

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jung, Hee Young; Kim, Jae Hyoung; Shin, Taemin; Piao, Xiang Hao; Kim, Jae Soo; Lee, Gyung Kyu; Park, Il Soon; Park, Ji Hoon; Kang, Su Jin; You, Jin Jong; Chung, Sung Hoon

    1998-01-01

    To investigate the feasibility of functional MR imaging of motor language function and its usefulness in the determination of hemispheric language dominance. In order to activate the motor center of language, six subjects ( 5 right-handed, 1 left-handed: 3 males: 3 females) generated words. They were requested to do this silently, without physical articulation, in response to English letters presented visually. Gradient-echo images (TR/TE/flip angle, 80/60/40 deg; 64 x 128 matrix; 10 mm thickness) were obtained in three axial planes including the inferior frontal gyrus. Functional maps were created by the postprocessing of gradient-echo images, including subtraction and statistics. Areas of activation were topographically analyzed and numbers of activated pixels in each region were compared between right and left sides. The reproducibility of functional maps was tested by repetition of functional imaging in the same subjects. Our results suggest that functional MR imaging can depict the activation of motor language function in the brain and can be used a useful non-invasive method for determining the hemispheric dominance of language. (author). 26 refs., 3 figs

  2. Caffeine improves left hemisphere processing of positive words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuchinke, Lars; Lux, Vanessa

    2012-01-01

    A positivity advantage is known in emotional word recognition in that positive words are consistently processed faster and with fewer errors compared to emotionally neutral words. A similar advantage is not evident for negative words. Results of divided visual field studies, where stimuli are presented in either the left or right visual field and are initially processed by the contra-lateral brain hemisphere, point to a specificity of the language-dominant left hemisphere. The present study examined this effect by showing that the intake of caffeine further enhanced the recognition performance of positive, but not negative or neutral stimuli compared to a placebo control group. Because this effect was only present in the right visual field/left hemisphere condition, and based on the close link between caffeine intake and dopaminergic transmission, this result points to a dopaminergic explanation of the positivity advantage in emotional word recognition.

  3. Caffeine improves left hemisphere processing of positive words.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lars Kuchinke

    Full Text Available A positivity advantage is known in emotional word recognition in that positive words are consistently processed faster and with fewer errors compared to emotionally neutral words. A similar advantage is not evident for negative words. Results of divided visual field studies, where stimuli are presented in either the left or right visual field and are initially processed by the contra-lateral brain hemisphere, point to a specificity of the language-dominant left hemisphere. The present study examined this effect by showing that the intake of caffeine further enhanced the recognition performance of positive, but not negative or neutral stimuli compared to a placebo control group. Because this effect was only present in the right visual field/left hemisphere condition, and based on the close link between caffeine intake and dopaminergic transmission, this result points to a dopaminergic explanation of the positivity advantage in emotional word recognition.

  4. The effect of unilateral dominance of the cerebral hemispheres on the radiographic appearance of the cervical spine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jirout, J.

    1980-01-01

    The results of dynamic radiographic studies of the cervical spine following isometric exercise of the shoulders and the upper extremities appear to indicate that the commonly seen asymmetries of the joints in the craniocervical and cervicothoracic junction are due to asymmetry in the function of the muscles. The obvious dominance of the muscles on the right side demonstrates the dominance of the left cerebral hemisphere. The clinical importance of this is pointed out. (orig.) [de

  5. Reduced Language Connectivity in Pediatric Epilepsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leigh N., Sepeta; Louise J., Croft; Lauren A., Zimmaro; Elizabeth S., Duke; Virginia K., Terwilliger; Benjamin E., Yerys; Xiaozhen., You; Chandan J., Vaidya; William D., Gaillard; Madison M., Berl

    2014-01-01

    Objective Functional connectivity (FC) among language regions is decreased in adults with epilepsy compared to controls, but less is known about FC in children with epilepsy. We sought to determine if language FC is reduced in pediatric epilepsy, and examined clinical factors that associate with language FC in this population. Methods We assessed FC during an age-adjusted language task in children with left-hemisphere focal epilepsy (n=19) compared to controls (n=19). Time series data were extracted for three left ROIs and their right homologues: inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and Wernicke's area (WA) using SPM8. Associations between FC and factors such as cognitive performance, language dominance, and epilepsy duration were assessed. Results Children with epilepsy showed decreased interhemispheric connectivity compared to controls, particularly between core left language regions (IFG, WA) and their right hemisphere homologues, as well as decreased intrahemispheric right frontal FC. Increased intrahemispheric FC between left IFG and left WA was a positive predictor of language skills overall, and naming ability in particular. FC of language areas was not affected by language dominance, as the effects remained when only examining study participants with left language dominance. Overall FC did not differ according to duration of epilepsy or age of onset. Significance FC during a language task is reduced in children, similar to findings in adults. In specific, children with left focal epilepsy demonstrated decreased interhemispheric FC in temporal and frontal language connections and decreased intrahemispheric right frontal FC. These differences were present near the onset of epilepsy. Greater FC between left language centers is related to better language ability. Our results highlight that connectivity of language areas has a developmental pattern and is related to cognitive ability. PMID:25516399

  6. Ancestral Exposure to Stress Generates New Behavioral Traits and a Functional Hemispheric Dominance Shift.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ambeskovic, Mirela; Soltanpour, Nasrin; Falkenberg, Erin A; Zucchi, Fabiola C R; Kolb, Bryan; Metz, Gerlinde A S

    2017-03-01

    In a continuously stressful environment, the effects of recurrent prenatal stress (PS) accumulate across generations and generate new behavioral traits in the absence of genetic variation. Here, we investigated if PS or multigenerational PS across 4 generations differentially affect behavioral traits, laterality, and hemispheric dominance in male and female rats. Using skilled reaching and skilled walking tasks, 3 findings support the formation of new behavioral traits and shifted laterality by multigenerational stress. First, while PS in the F1 generation did not alter paw preference, multigenerational stress in the F4 generation shifted paw preference to favor left-handedness only in males. Second, multigenerational stress impaired skilled reaching and skilled walking movement abilities in males, while improving these abilities in females beyond the levels of controls. Third, the shift toward left-handedness in multigenerationally stressed males was accompanied by increased dendritic complexity and greater spine density in the right parietal cortex. Thus, cumulative multigenerational stress generates sexually dimorphic left-handedness and dominance shift toward the right hemisphere in males. These findings explain the origins of apparently heritable behavioral traits and handedness in the absence of DNA sequence variations while proposing epigenetic mechanisms. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  7. Interaction of cerebral hemispheres and artistic thinking

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nikolaenko, Nikolay N.

    1998-07-01

    Study of drawings by patients with local lesions of the right or left hemisphere allows to understand how artistic thinking is supported by brain structures. The role of the right hemisphere is significant at the early stage of creative process. The right hemisphere is a generator of nonverbal visuo-spatial thinking. It operates with blurred nonverbal images and arrange them in a visual space. With the help of iconic signs the right hemisphere reflects the world and creates perceptive visual standards which are stored in the long-term right hemisphere memory. The image, which appeared in the `inner' space, should be transferred into a principally different language, i.e. a left hemispheric sign language. This language operates with a number of discrete units, logical succession and learned grammar rules. This process can be explained by activation (information) transfer from the right hemisphere to the left one. Thus, natural and spontaneous creative process, which is finished by a conscious effort, can be understood as an activation impulse transfer from the right hemisphere to the left one and back.

  8. Localization of the native Chinese speakers language cortex by magnetic source imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun Jilin; Wu Jie; Li Sumin; Wu Jing; Zhao Huadong; Wu Yujin; Liu Lianxiang

    2003-01-01

    Objective: To localize the language cortex associated with Chinese word processing by magnetic source imaging (MSI). Methods: Eight right handed and one left handed healthy native Chinese speakers, including 5 men and 4 women, aged from 14 to 32 years, were examined by magnetoencephalography (MEG) and 1.5 T MR unit. All subjects were given 50 times pure tone stimuli (intensity was 80 dB sound pressure level), then 150 pairs of Chinese words (the meaning of the words was related or not related) auditory stimuli (intensity was 80 dB sound pressure level), and then 50 times pure tone stimuli at last (intensity was 80 dB sound pressure level). Evoked response fields (ERFs) time locked to the pure tone and Chinese words were recorded in a magnetically shielded room using a whole-head neuromagnetometer (Model Vectorview 306, made by 4-D Neuroimaging company, Finland) in real-time. The acquired data were averaged by the acquisition computer according to the response to the pure tone, related pairs of words and not related pairs of words. The data obtained by the MEG could be superimposed on MRI. Results: There were two obvious higher magnetic waves named M50 and M100 (two peaks occurred about 50 ms and 100 ms after giving the subjects binaurally stimuli). M50 and M100 in all subjects were localized in the bilateral transverse temporal gyri. The responses to the pairs of Chinese words (the meaning of the words was related or not related) were similar in the same hemisphere of the same subjects. There was a higher peak during 300-600 ms in the right hemisphere in the left handed subject, but there was no peak during 300-600 ms in his left hemisphere. It indicated that the language dominant hemisphere localized in the right hemisphere. Superimposing the MEG data on MRI, the language area was localized in the Wernicke's areas. There were two 300-600 ms response peaks in the bilateral hemispheres (the amplitude of the 300-600 ms response peaks in the bilateral hemisphere was

  9. Sensitivity and reliability of language laterality assessment with a free reversed association task - a fMRI study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fesl, Gunther; Brueckmann, Hartmut [University of Munich, Department of Neuroradiology, Campus Grosshadern, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, Munich (Germany); Bruhns, Philipp [University of Munich, Department of Neuroradiology, Campus Grosshadern, Marchioninistr. 15, 81377, Munich (Germany); University of Munich, Department of Psycholinguistics, Munich (Germany); Rau, Sabine; Ilmberger, Josef [University of Munich, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Munich (Germany); Wiesmann, Martin [Helios Hospitals Schwerin, Department of Radiology and Neuroradiology, Schwerin (Germany); Kegel, Gerd [University of Munich, Department of Psycholinguistics, Munich (Germany)

    2010-03-15

    The aim of the study was to evaluate the sensitivity and reliability of assessing hemispheric language dominance with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) using a 'free reversed association task.' Thirty-nine healthy subjects (13 dextrals, 13 sinistrals and 13 bimanuals) underwent two repeated fMRI sessions. In the active phases sets of words were presented via headphones, and an associated target item was named. During the baseline phases a standard answer was given after listening to unintelligible stimuli. Data were preprocessed with SPM, and then laterality indices (LI) and reliability coefficients (RC) were calculated. Extensive frontal, temporal and parietal activations were found. Seventy-eight percent of the subjects showed left-hemispheric dominance, 5% showed right-hemispheric dominance, and 17% had bilateral language representations. The incidence of right-hemispheric language dominance was 4.3 times higher in a left-hander with a handedness quotient (HQ) of -90 than in a right-hander with a HQ of +90. The RC was 0.61 for combined ROIs (global network). Strong correlations were found between the two session LIs (r = 0.95 for the global network). 'Free reversed association' is a sensitive and reliable task for the determination of individual language lateralization. This suggests that the task may be used in a clinical setting. (orig.)

  10. Lesion-induced pseudo-dominance at functional magnetic resonance imaging: implications for preoperative assessments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulmer, John L; Hacein-Bey, Lotfi; Mathews, Vincent P; Mueller, Wade M; DeYoe, Edgar A; Prost, Robert W; Meyer, Glenn A; Krouwer, Hendrikus G; Schmainda, Kathleen M

    2004-09-01

    To illustrate how lesion-induced neurovascular uncoupling at functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can mimic hemispheric dominance opposite the side of a lesion preoperatively. We retrospectively reviewed preoperative fMRI mapping data from 50 patients with focal brain abnormalities to establish patterns of hemispheric dominance of language, speech, visual, or motor system functions. Abnormalities included gliomas (31 patients), arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) (11 patients), other congenital lesions (4 patients), encephalomalacia (3 patients), and tumefactive encephalitis (1 patient). A laterality ratio of fMRI hemispheric dominance was compared with actual hemispheric dominance as verified by electrocortical stimulation, Wada testing, postoperative and posttreatment deficits, and/or lesion-induced deficits. fMRI activation maps were generated with cross-correlation (P frontal gyrus gliomas and in one patient with focal tumefactive meningoencephalitis, fMRI incorrectly suggested strong right hemispheric speech dominance. In two patients with lateral precentral gyrus region gliomas and one patient with a left central sulcus AVM, the fMRI pattern incorrectly suggested primary corticobulbar motor dominance contralateral to the side of the lesion. In a patient with a right superior frontal gyrus AVM, fMRI revealed pronounced left dominant supplementary motor area activity in response to a bilateral complex motor task, but right superior frontal gyrus perilesional hemorrhage and edema subsequently caused left upper-extremity plegia. Pathophysiological factors that might have caused neurovascular uncoupling and facilitated pseudo-dominance at fMRI in these patients included direct tumor infiltration, neovascularity, cerebrovascular inflammation, and AVM-induced hemodynamic effects. Sixteen patients had proven (1 patient), probable (2 patients), or possible (13 patients) but unproven lesion-induced homotopic cortical reorganization. Lesion-induced neurovascular

  11. Hemispheric differences in the voluntary control of spatial attention: direct evidence for a right-hemispheric dominance within frontal cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duecker, Felix; Formisano, Elia; Sack, Alexander T

    2013-08-01

    Lesion studies in neglect patients have inspired two competing models of spatial attention control, namely, Heilman's "hemispatial" theory and Kinsbourne's "opponent processor" model. Both assume a functional asymmetry between the two hemispheres but propose very different mechanisms. Neuroimaging studies have identified a bilateral dorsal frontoparietal network underlying voluntary shifts of spatial attention. However, lateralization of attentional processes within this network has not been consistently reported. In the current study, we aimed to provide direct evidence concerning the functional asymmetry of the right and left FEF during voluntary shifts of spatial attention. To this end, we applied fMRI-guided neuronavigation to disrupt individual FEF activation foci with a longer-lasting inhibitory patterned TMS protocol followed by a spatial cueing task. Our results indicate that right FEF stimulation impaired the ability of shifting spatial attention toward both hemifields, whereas the effects of left FEF stimulation were limited to the contralateral hemifield. These results provide strong direct evidence for right-hemispheric dominance in spatial attention within frontal cortex supporting Heilman's "hemispatial" theory. This complements previous TMS studies that generally conform to Kinsbourne's "opponent processor" model after disruption of parietal cortex, and we therefore propose that both theories are not mutually exclusive.

  12. Awake right hemisphere brain surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hulou, M Maher; Cote, David J; Olubiyi, Olutayo I; Smith, Timothy R; Chiocca, E Antonio; Johnson, Mark D

    2015-12-01

    We report the indications and outcomes of awake right hemispheric brain surgery, as well as a rare patient with crossed aphasia. Awake craniotomies are often performed to protect eloquent cortex. We reviewed the medical records for 35 of 96 patients, in detail, who had awake right hemisphere brain operations. Intraoperative cortical mapping of motor and/or language function was performed in 29 of the 35 patients. A preoperative speech impairment and left hand dominance were the main indicators for awake right-sided craniotomies in patients with right hemisphere lesions. Four patients with lesion proximity to eloquent areas underwent awake craniotomies without cortical mapping. In addition, one patient had a broncho-pulmonary fistula, and another had a recent major cardiac procedure that precluded awake surgery. An eloquent cortex representation was identified in 14 patients (48.3%). Postoperatively, seven of 17 patients (41.1%) who presented with weakness, experienced improvements in their motor functions, 11 of 16 (68.7%) with seizures became seizure-free, and seven of nine (77.7%) with moderate to severe headaches and one of two with a visual field deficit improved significantly. There were also improvements in speech and language functions in all patients who presented with speech difficulties. A right sided awake craniotomy is an excellent option for left handed patients, or those with right sided cortical lesions that result in preoperative speech impairments. When combined with intraoperative cortical mapping, both speech and motor function can be well preserved. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Discourses of Linguistic dominance: A Historical Consideration of French Language Ideology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kasuya, Keisuke

    2001-07-01

    The paper offers a historical perspective on the linguistic and cultural imperialism embedded in the struggle to maintain French as a leading international language. France was the nation-state where the ideology of national language was first clearly formulated and directly extended to overseas colonies. This shows the close relationship between linguistic nationalism and imperialism. It was believed that French was the language of universal human reason and had the power to civilize people who spoke it. This myth of the "clarté française" and the "mission civilisatrice" had a strong influence on various kinds of metalinguistic discourses that created the taken-for-granted representation of French as dominant language. It is the essential strategy of language dominance to establish the hierarchy of languages as if it were natural order of things. When French was obliged to yield the status of international language to English, there emerged the ideology of "Francophonie" which tried to defend its privilege against the monopoly of English, but the same ideology is also directed against minorities' claims for their own linguistic human right. It could be said that these discourses form a recursive prototype of language dominance whose variations are to be found in other shapes almost all over the world.

  14. On the Relationship between Right- brain and Left- brain Dominance and Reading Comprehension Test Performance of Iranian EFL Learners

    OpenAIRE

    Hassan Soleimani; Fateme Sharifi Matin

    2012-01-01

    A tremendous amount of works have been conducted by psycholinguistics to identify hemisphere processing during second/ foreign language learning, or in other words to investigate the role of the brain hemisphere dominance in language performance of learners. Most of these researches have focused on single words and word pairs (e.g., Anaki et al., 1998; Arzouan et. al., 2007; Faust & Mahal, 2007) or simple sentences (Rapp et al., 2007; Kacinik & Chiarello, 2007), and it has bee...

  15. A Dextral Primary Progressive Aphasia Patient with Right Dominant Hypometabolism and Tau Accumulation and Left Dominant Amyloid Accumulation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Young Kyoung Jang

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available Background: Primary progressive aphasia (PPA is a degenerative disease that presents as progressive decline of language ability with preservation of other cognitive functions in the early stages. Three subtypes of PPA are known: progressive nonfluent aphasia, semantic dementia, and logopenic aphasia (LPA. Patients and Methods: We report the case of a 77-year-old patient with PPA whose clinical findings did not correspond to the three subtypes but mainly fit LPA. Unlike other LPA patients, however, this patient showed a right hemisphere predominant glucose hypometabolism and tau accumulation and a left hemisphere predominant amyloid deposition. The right-handed patient presented with comprehension difficulty followed by problems naming familiar objects. This isolated language problem had deteriorated rapidly for 2 years, followed by memory difficulties and impairment of daily activities. Using a Korean version of the Western Aphasia Battery, aphasia was consistent with a severe form of Wernicke's aphasia. According to the brain magnetic resonance imaging and 18F-fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography results, right hemisphere atrophy and hypometabolism, more predominant on the right hemisphere than the left, were apparent despite the fact that Edinburgh Handedness Questionnaire scores indicated strong right-handedness. On Pittsburgh compound B-PET, amyloid accumulation was asymmetrical with the left hemisphere being more predominant than the right, whereas 18F-T807-PET showed a right dominant tau accumulation. Conclusions: This is the first report of atypical PPA, in which the patient exhibited crossed aphasia and asymmetrical amyloid accumulation.

  16. Music and language: musical alexia and agraphia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brust, J C

    1980-06-01

    Two aphasic right-handed professional musicians with left hemispheric lesions had disturbed musical function, especially musical alexia and agraphia. In Case 1 aphasia was of transcortical sensory type, with severe agraphia and decreased comprehension of written words, although she could match them with pictures. Except for reading and writing, musical ability was normal; she could sing in five languages. Musical alexia and agraphia affected pitch symbols more than rhythm. Case 2 had conduction aphasia and severe expressive amusia, especially for rhythm. Although his language alexia and agraphia were milder than Case 1's, his musical alexia and agraphia were more severe, affecting rhythm as much as pitch. In neither patient were those aspects of musical notation either closest to verbal language or most dependent upon temporal (sequential) processing maximally impaired. These cases are consistent with the literature in suggesting that the presence or absence of aphasia or of right or left hemispheric damage fails to predict the presence, type, or severity of amusia, including musical alexia and agraphia. The popular notion that receptive amusia follows lesions of the language-dominant temporal lobe, whereas expressive amusia follows non-dominant frontal lobe damage, is an over-simplification, as is the view that increasing musical sophistication causes a shift of musical processing from the right hemisphere to the left.

  17. A comparison of brain activity associated with language production in brain tumor patients with left and right sided language laterality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jansma, J M; Ramsey, N; Rutten, G J

    2015-12-01

    Language dominance is an important factor for clinical decision making in brain tumor surgery. Functional MRI can provide detailed information about the organization of language in the brain. One often used measure derived from fMRI data is the laterality index (LI). The LI is typically based on the ratio between left and right brain activity in a specific region associated with language. Nearly all fMRI language studies show language-related activity in both hemispheres, and as a result the LI shows a large range of values. The clinical significance of the variation in language laterality as measured with the LI is still under debate. In this study, we tested two hypotheses in relation to the LI, measured in Broca's region, and it's right hemisphere homologue: 1: the level of activity in Broca's and it's right hemisphere homologue is mirrored for subjects with an equal but opposite LI; 2: the whole brain language activation pattern differs between subjects with an equal but opposite LI. One hundred sixty-three glioma and meningioma patients performed a verb generation task as part of a standard clinical protocol. We calculated the LI in the pars orbitalis, pars triangularis and pars opercularis of the left inferior frontal gyrus, referred to as Broca's region from here on. In our database, 21 patients showed right lateralized activity, with a moderate average level (-0.32). A second group of 21 patients was selected from the remaining group, for equal but opposite LI (0.32). We compared the level and distribution of activity associated with language production in the left and right hemisphere in these two groups. Patients with left sided laterality showed a significantly higher level of activity in Broca's region than the patients with right sided laterality. However, both groups showed no difference in level of activity in Broca's homologue region in the right hemisphere. Also, we did not see any difference in the pattern of activity between patients with left

  18. Speech processing: from peripheral to hemispheric asymmetry of the auditory system.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lazard, Diane S; Collette, Jean-Louis; Perrot, Xavier

    2012-01-01

    Language processing from the cochlea to auditory association cortices shows side-dependent specificities with an apparent left hemispheric dominance. The aim of this article was to propose to nonspeech specialists a didactic review of two complementary theories about hemispheric asymmetry in speech processing. Starting from anatomico-physiological and clinical observations of auditory asymmetry and interhemispheric connections, this review then exposes behavioral (dichotic listening paradigm) as well as functional (functional magnetic resonance imaging and positron emission tomography) experiments that assessed hemispheric specialization for speech processing. Even though speech at an early phonological level is regarded as being processed bilaterally, a left-hemispheric dominance exists for higher-level processing. This asymmetry may arise from a segregation of the speech signal, broken apart within nonprimary auditory areas in two distinct temporal integration windows--a fast one on the left and a slower one on the right--modeled through the asymmetric sampling in time theory or a spectro-temporal trade-off, with a higher temporal resolution in the left hemisphere and a higher spectral resolution in the right hemisphere, modeled through the spectral/temporal resolution trade-off theory. Both theories deal with the concept that lower-order tuning principles for acoustic signal might drive higher-order organization for speech processing. However, the precise nature, mechanisms, and origin of speech processing asymmetry are still being debated. Finally, an example of hemispheric asymmetry alteration, which has direct clinical implications, is given through the case of auditory aging that mixes peripheral disorder and modifications of central processing. Copyright © 2011 The American Laryngological, Rhinological, and Otological Society, Inc.

  19. Assessment of language lateralization with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Salagierska-Barwinska, A.; Goraj, B.

    2004-01-01

    fMRI offers powerful methods to delineate which brain regions are engaged in language processing in the intact brain. Until now hemisphere dominance for language has been usually assessed by means of the intraoperative methods: the Wada test or electrocortical stimulation mapping. Recently functional MRI becomes the valuable method in determining hemisphere dominance for language. fMRI study was proved to be concordant with invasive measures. fMRI was carried out in 30 healthy selected participants (15 females: 10 strongly right-handed and 5 strongly left-handed; 15 males: 10 strongly right-handed and 5 strongly left-handed). The subject's handedness was assessed by standardized psychological tests inter alia the 'lateralization inventory'. Two different language tasks were used: a verb generation task and a phonological task. Subjects were scanned,while performing experimental block. The block contained alternately 8 active (language task) and 8 control conditions. Statistical analysis of evoked blood oxygenation level-dependent BOLD) responses, measured with echo planar imagining (1.5 T) were used. During a verb generation task in strongly right or left handed subjects the inferior frontal region was activated on the side opposite to the subject's handedness determined by the psychological test. Our fMRI studies demonstrated no gender effects on brain during these language tasks. Our study suggests that fMRI is a good device for the study of the language organization. The advantage of fMRI is its capacity for exact localization of activated areas. fMRI together with adequate neurolinguistic test could be promising routine preoperative tool in identification hemisphere dominance for language. These results encourage to further investigation for evaluating correlation in patients with brain injuries. (author)

  20. Improving language mapping in clinical fMRI through assessment of grammar.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Połczyńska, Monika; Japardi, Kevin; Curtiss, Susan; Moody, Teena; Benjamin, Christopher; Cho, Andrew; Vigil, Celia; Kuhn, Taylor; Jones, Michael; Bookheimer, Susan

    2017-01-01

    Brain surgery in the language dominant hemisphere remains challenging due to unintended post-surgical language deficits, despite using pre-surgical functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) and intraoperative cortical stimulation. Moreover, patients are often recommended not to undergo surgery if the accompanying risk to language appears to be too high. While standard fMRI language mapping protocols may have relatively good predictive value at the group level, they remain sub-optimal on an individual level. The standard tests used typically assess lexico-semantic aspects of language, and they do not accurately reflect the complexity of language either in comprehension or production at the sentence level. Among patients who had left hemisphere language dominance we assessed which tests are best at activating language areas in the brain. We compared grammar tests (items testing word order in actives and passives, wh -subject and object questions, relativized subject and object clauses and past tense marking) with standard tests (object naming, auditory and visual responsive naming), using pre-operative fMRI. Twenty-five surgical candidates (13 females) participated in this study. Sixteen patients presented with a brain tumor, and nine with epilepsy. All participants underwent two pre-operative fMRI protocols: one including CYCLE-N grammar tests (items testing word order in actives and passives, wh-subject and object questions, relativized subject and object clauses and past tense marking); and a second one with standard fMRI tests (object naming, auditory and visual responsive naming). fMRI activations during performance in both protocols were compared at the group level, as well as in individual candidates. The grammar tests generated more volume of activation in the left hemisphere (left/right angular gyrus, right anterior/posterior superior temporal gyrus) and identified additional language regions not shown by the standard tests (e.g., left anterior

  1. Right-hemispheric processing of non-linguistic word features

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Baumgaertner, Annette; Hartwigsen, Gesa; Roman Siebner, Hartwig

    2013-01-01

    -hemispheric homologues of classic left-hemispheric language areas may partly be due to processing nonlinguistic perceptual features of verbal stimuli. We used functional MRI (fMRI) to clarify the role of the right hemisphere in the perception of nonlinguistic word features in healthy individuals. Participants made...... perceptual, semantic, or phonological decisions on the same set of auditorily and visually presented word stimuli. Perceptual decisions required judgements about stimulus-inherent changes in font size (visual modality) or fundamental frequency contour (auditory modality). The semantic judgement required......, the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), an area previously suggested to support language recovery after left-hemispheric stroke, displayed modality-independent activation during perceptual processing of word stimuli. Our findings indicate that activation of the right hemisphere during language tasks may...

  2. Dissociated language functions: a matter of atypical language lateralization or cerebral plasticity?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Acioly, Marcus Andre; Gharabaghi, Alireza; Zimmermann, Christoph; Erb, Michael; Heckl, Stefan; Tatagiba, Marcos

    2014-01-01

    The left hemisphere is generally considered to harbor language functions. Atypical cortical language lateralization is mainly demonstrated in left-handed and ambidextrous individuals, whereas dissociated language functions have been reported in association with brain injuries as a part of the reorganization process. We present a thoughtful discussion on the underlying mechanisms of dissociated language functions through an illustrative case of dissociated expressive language. A 31-year-old left-handed woman presented with a recurrent left frontal glioma. Preoperative language functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) panel revealed right-sided dominance for two different language tasks (verbal fluency and visual naming), and the word chain task demonstrated maximal activation in the left hemisphere at the posterior margin of the tumor. The patient was operated on awake to assess language functions intraoperatively. Preoperative fMRI findings were confirmed revealing a task-specific dissociation of expressive language functions. Surgical resection was taken to the functional boundaries. Postoperatively, no language dysfunction occurred. Dissociated language functions are prone to occur in long-standing lesions. Different patterns of dissociation may be encountered due to interindividual particularities and cerebral plasticity. The presented patient is unique by demonstrating new insight into expressive language dissociation, emphasizing the role of a preoperative language fMRI panel and the capability of intraoperative language mapping for identifying special language networks. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.

  3. Presurgical language lateralization assessment by fMRI and dichotic listening of pediatric patients with intractable epilepsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norrelgen, Fritjof; Lilja, Anders; Ingvar, Martin; Åmark, Per; Fransson, Peter

    2014-01-01

    Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical use of a method to assess hemispheric language dominance in pediatric candidates for epilepsy surgery. The method is designed for patients but has previously been evaluated with healthy children. Methods Nineteen patients, 8–18 years old, with intractable epilepsy and candidates for epilepsy surgery were assessed. The assessment consisted of two functional MRI protocols (fMRI) intended to target frontal and posterior language networks respectively, and a behavioral dichotic listening task (DL). Regional left/right indices for each fMRI task from the frontal, temporal and parietal lobe were calculated, and left/right indices of the DL task were calculated from responses of consonants and vowels, separately. A quantitative analysis of each patient's data set was done in two steps based on clearly specified criteria. First, fMRI data and DL data were analyzed separately to determine whether the result from each of these assessments were conclusive or not. Thereafter, the results from the individual assessments were combined to reach a final conclusion regarding hemispheric language dominance. Results For 14 of the 19 subjects (74%) a conclusion was reached about their hemispheric language dominance. Nine subjects had a left-sided and five subjects had a right-sided hemispheric dominance. In three cases (16%) DL provided critical data to reach a conclusive result. Conclusions The success rate of conclusive language lateralization assessments in this study is comparable to reported rates on similar challenged pediatric populations. The results are promising but data from more patients than in the present study will be required to conclude on the clinical applicability of the method. PMID:25610785

  4. BRAIN Journal - On the Relationship between Right- brain and Left- brain Dominance and Reading Comprehension Test Performance of Iranian EFL Learners

    OpenAIRE

    Hassan Soleimani; Fateme Sharifi Matin

    2012-01-01

    ABSTRACT A tremendous amount of works have been conducted by psycholinguistics to identify hemisphere processing during second/ foreign language learning, or in other words to investigate the role of the brain hemisphere dominance in language performance of learners. Most of these researches have focused on single words and word pairs (e.g., Anaki et al., 1998; Arzouan et. al., 2007; Faust & Mahal, 2007) or simple sentences (Rapp et al., 2007; Kacinik & Chiarello, 2007), and it has been d...

  5. Language dominance shapes non-linguistic rhythmic grouping in bilinguals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molnar, Monika; Carreiras, Manuel; Gervain, Judit

    2016-07-01

    To what degree non-linguistic auditory rhythm perception is governed by universal biases (e.g., Iambic-Trochaic Law; Hayes, 1995) or shaped by native language experience is debated. It has been proposed that rhythmic regularities in spoken language, such as phrasal prosody affect the grouping abilities of monolinguals (e.g., Iversen, Patel, & Ohgushi, 2008). Here, we assessed the non-linguistic tone grouping biases of Spanish monolinguals, and three groups of Basque-Spanish bilinguals with different levels of Basque experience. It is usually assumed in the literature that Basque and Spanish have different phrasal prosodies and even linguistic rhythms. To confirm this, first, we quantified Basque and Spanish phrasal prosody (Experiment 1a) and duration patterns used in the classification of languages into rhythm classes (Experiment 1b). The acoustic measurements revealed that regularities in phrasal prosody systematically differ across Basque and Spanish; by contrast, the rhythms of the two languages are only minimally dissimilar. In Experiment 2, participants' non-linguistic rhythm preferences were assessed in response to non-linguistic tones alternating in either intensity (Intensity condition) or in duration (Duration condition). In the Intensity condition, all groups showed a trochaic grouping bias, as predicted by the Iambic-Trochaic Law. In the Duration Condition the Spanish monolingual and the most Basque-dominant bilingual group exhibited opposite grouping preferences in line with the phrasal prosodies of their native/dominant languages, trochaic in Basque, iambic in Spanish. The two other bilingual groups showed no significant biases, however. Overall, results indicate that duration-based grouping mechanisms are biased toward the phrasal prosody of the native and dominant language; also, the presence of an L2 in the environment interacts with the auditory biases. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  6. Surgery of language-eloquent tumors in patients not eligible for awake surgery: the impact of a protocol based on navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation on presurgical planning and language outcome, with evidence of tumor-induced intra-hemispheric plasticity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Raffa, Giovanni; Quattropani, Maria C; Scibilia, Antonino; Conti, Alfredo; Angileri, Filippo Flavio; Esposito, Felice; Sindorio, Carmela; Cardali, Salvatore Massimiliano; Germanò, Antonino; Tomasello, Francesco

    2018-05-01

    Awake surgery and intraoperative monitoring represent the gold standard for surgery of brain tumors located in the perisylvian region of the dominant hemisphere due to their ability to map and preserve the language network during surgery. Nevertheless, in some cases awake surgery is not feasible. This could increase the risk of postoperative language deficit. Navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) and nTMS-based DTI fiber tracking (DTI-FT) provide a preoperative mapping and reconstruction of the cortico-subcortical language network. This can be used to plan and guide the surgical strategy to preserve the language function. The objective if this study is to describe the impact of a non-invasive preoperative protocol for mapping the language network through the nTMS and nTMS-based DTI-FT in patients not eligible for awake surgery and thereby operated under general anesthesia for suspected language-eloquent brain tumors. We reviewed clinical data of patients not eligible for awake surgery and operated under general anaesthesia between 2015 and 2016. All patients underwent nTMS language cortical mapping and nTMS-based DTI-FT of subcortical language fascicles. The nTMS findings were used to plan and guide the maximal safe resection of the tumor. The impact on postoperative language outcome and the accuracy of the nTMS-based mapping in predicting language deficits were evaluated. Twenty patients were enrolled in the study. The nTMS-based reconstruction of the language network was successful in all patients. Interestingly, we observed a significant association between tumor localization and the cortical distribution of the nTMS errors (p = 0.004), thereby suggesting an intra-hemispheric plasticity of language cortical areas, probably induced by the tumor itself. The nTMS mapping disclosed the true-eloquence of lesions in 12 (60%) of all suspected cases. In the remaining 8 cases (40%) the suspected eloquence of the lesion was disproved. The n

  7. Sound to language: different cortical processing for first and second languages in elementary school children as revealed by a large-scale study using fNIRS.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sugiura, Lisa; Ojima, Shiro; Matsuba-Kurita, Hiroko; Dan, Ippeita; Tsuzuki, Daisuke; Katura, Takusige; Hagiwara, Hiroko

    2011-10-01

    A large-scale study of 484 elementary school children (6-10 years) performing word repetition tasks in their native language (L1-Japanese) and a second language (L2-English) was conducted using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Three factors presumably associated with cortical activation, language (L1/L2), word frequency (high/low), and hemisphere (left/right), were investigated. L1 words elicited significantly greater brain activation than L2 words, regardless of semantic knowledge, particularly in the superior/middle temporal and inferior parietal regions (angular/supramarginal gyri). The greater L1-elicited activation in these regions suggests that they are phonological loci, reflecting processes tuned to the phonology of the native language, while phonologically unfamiliar L2 words were processed like nonword auditory stimuli. The activation was bilateral in the auditory and superior/middle temporal regions. Hemispheric asymmetry was observed in the inferior frontal region (right dominant), and in the inferior parietal region with interactions: low-frequency words elicited more right-hemispheric activation (particularly in the supramarginal gyrus), while high-frequency words elicited more left-hemispheric activation (particularly in the angular gyrus). The present results reveal the strong involvement of a bilateral language network in children's brains depending more on right-hemispheric processing while acquiring unfamiliar/low-frequency words. A right-to-left shift in laterality should occur in the inferior parietal region, as lexical knowledge increases irrespective of language.

  8. Right Hemisphere Grey Matter Volume and Language Functions in Stroke Aphasia

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    Sladjana Lukic

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The role of the right hemisphere (RH in recovery from aphasia is incompletely understood. The present study quantified RH grey matter (GM volume in individuals with chronic stroke-induced aphasia and cognitively healthy people using voxel-based morphometry. We compared group differences in GM volume in the entire RH and in RH regions-of-interest. Given that lesion site is a critical source of heterogeneity associated with poststroke language ability, we used voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM to examine the relation between lesion site and language performance in the aphasic participants. Finally, using results derived from the VLSM as a covariate, we evaluated the relation between GM volume in the RH and language ability across domains, including comprehension and production processes both at the word and sentence levels and across spoken and written modalities. Between-subject comparisons showed that GM volume in the RH SMA was reduced in the aphasic group compared to the healthy controls. We also found that, for the aphasic group, increased RH volume in the MTG and the SMA was associated with better language comprehension and production scores, respectively. These data suggest that the RH may support functions previously performed by LH regions and have important implications for understanding poststroke reorganization.

  9. Age-related shifts in hemispheric dominance for syntactic processing.

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    Leckey, Michelle; Federmeier, Kara D

    2017-12-01

    Recent ERP data from young adults have revealed that simple syntactic anomalies elicit different patterns of lateralization in right-handed participants depending upon their familial sinistrality profile (whether or not they have left-handed biological relatives). Right-handed participants who do not have left-handed relatives showed a strongly lateralized response pattern, with P600 responses following left-hemisphere-biased presentations and N400 responses following right-hemisphere-biased presentations. Given that the literature on aging has documented a tendency to change across adulthood from asymmetry of function to a more bilateral pattern, we tested the stability of this asymmetric response to syntactic violations by recording ERPs as 24 older adults (age 60+) with no history of familial sinistrality made grammaticality judgments on simple two-word phrases. Results showed that the asymmetric pattern observed in right-handed adults without familial sinistrality indeed changes with age, such that P600 responses come to be elicited not only with left-hemisphere-biased but also with right-hemisphere-biased presentations in older adults. These findings suggest that, as with many other cognitive functions, syntactic processing becomes more bilateral with age. © 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.

  10. Evaluation of the factors influencing brain language laterality in presurgical planning.

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    Batouli, Seyed Amir Hossein; Hasani, Nafiseh; Gheisari, Sara; Behzad, Ebrahim; Oghabian, Mohammad Ali

    2016-10-01

    Brain lesions cause functional deficits, and one treatment for this condition is lesion resection. In most cases, presurgical planning (PSP) and the information from laterality indices are necessary for maximum preservation of the critical functions after surgery. Language laterality index (LI) is reliably estimated using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); however, this measure is under the influence of some external factors. In this study, we investigated the influence of a number of factors on language LI, using data from 120 patients (mean age=35.65 (±13.4) years) who underwent fMRI for PSP. Using two proposed language tasks from our previous works, brain left hemisphere was showed to be dominant for the language function, although a higher LI was obtained using the "Word Generation" task, compared to the "Reverse Word Reading". In addition, decline of LIs with age, and lower LI when the lesion invaded brain language area were observed. Meanwhile, gender, lesion side (affected hemisphere), LI calculation strategy, and fMRI analysis Z-values did not statistically show any influences on the LIs. Although fMRI is widely used to estimate language LI, it is shown here that in order to present a reliable language LI and to correctly select the dominant hemisphere of the brain, the influence of external factors should be carefully considered. Copyright © 2016 Associazione Italiana di Fisica Medica. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. The Influence of Context on Hemispheric Recruitment during Metaphor Processing

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    Diaz, Michele T.; Hogstrom, Larson J.

    2011-01-01

    Although the left hemisphere's prominence in language is well established, less emphasis has been placed on possible roles for the right hemisphere. Behavioral, patient, and neuroimaging research suggests that the right hemisphere may be involved in processing figurative language. Additionally, research has demonstrated that context can modify…

  12. Language function distribution in left-handers: A navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation study.

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    Tussis, Lorena; Sollmann, Nico; Boeckh-Behrens, Tobias; Meyer, Bernhard; Krieg, Sandro M

    2016-02-01

    Recent studies suggest that in left-handers, the right hemisphere (RH) is more involved in language function when compared to right-handed subjects. Since data on lesion-based approaches is lacking, we aimed to investigate language distribution of left-handers by repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Thus, rTMS was applied to the left hemisphere (LH) and RH in 15 healthy left-handers during an object-naming task, and resulting naming errors were categorized. Then, we calculated error rates (ERs=number of errors per number of stimulations) for both hemispheres separately and defined a laterality score as the quotient of the LH ER - RH ER through the LH ER + RH ER (abbreviated as (L-R)/(L+R)). In this context, (L-R)/(L+R)>0 indicates that the LH is dominant, whereas (L-R)/(L+R)left-handers and right-handers (source data of another study) for all errors (mean 0.01±0.14 vs. 0.19±0.20, p=0.0019) and all errors without hesitation (mean -0.02±0.20 vs. 0.19±0.28, p=0.0051) was revealed, whereas the comparison for no responses did not show a significant difference (mean: -0.004±0.27 vs. 0.09±0.44, p=0.64). Accordingly, left-handers present a comparatively equal language distribution across both hemispheres with language dominance being nearly equally distributed between hemispheres in contrast to right-handers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. The association between hemispheric specialization for language production and for spatial attention depends on left-hand preference strength.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zago, Laure; Petit, Laurent; Mellet, Emmanuel; Jobard, Gaël; Crivello, Fabrice; Joliot, Marc; Mazoyer, Bernard; Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie

    2016-12-01

    Cerebral lateralization for language production and spatial attention and their relationships with manual preference strength (MPS) were assessed in a sample of 293 healthy volunteers, including 151 left-handers, using fMRI during covert sentence production (PROD) and line bisection judgment (LBJ) tasks, as compared to high- and low-level reference tasks. At the group level, we found the expected complementary hemispheric specialization (HS) with leftward asymmetries for PROD within frontal and temporal regions and rightward asymmetries for LBJ within frontal and posterior occipito-parieto-temporal regions. Individual hemispheric (HLI) and regional (frontal and occipital) lateralization indices (LI) were then calculated on the activation maps for PROD and LBJ. We found a correlation between the degree of rightward cerebral asymmetry and the leftward behavioral attentional bias recorded during LBJ task. This correlation was found when LBJ-LI was computed over the hemispheres, in the frontal lobes, but not in the occipital lobes. We then investigated whether language production and spatial attention cerebral lateralization relate to each other, and whether manual preference was a variable that impacted the complementary HS of these functions. No correlation was found between spatial and language LIs in the majority of our sample of participants, including right-handers with a strong right-hand preference (sRH, n=97) and mixed-handers (MH, n=97), indicating that these functions lateralized independently. By contrast, in the group of left-handers with a strong left-hand preference (sLH, n= 99), a negative correlation was found between language and spatial lateralization. This negative correlation was found when LBJ-LI and PROD-LI were computed over the hemispheres, in the frontal lobes and between the occipital lobes for LBJ and the frontal lobes for PROD. These findings underline the importance to include sLH in the study sample to reveal the underlying mechanisms of

  14. Transcranial magnetic stimulation: language function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Epstein, C M

    1998-07-01

    Studies of language using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) have focused both on identification of language areas and on elucidation of function. TMS may result in either inhibition or facilitation of language processes and may operate directly at a presumptive site of language cortex or indirectly through intracortical networks. TMS has been used to create reversible "temporary lesions," similar to those produced by Wada tests and direct cortical electrical stimulation, in cerebral cortical areas subserving language function. Rapid-rate TMS over the left inferior frontal region blocks speech output in most subjects. However, the results are not those predicted from classic models of language organization. Speech arrest is obtained most easily over facial motor cortex, and true aphasia is rare, whereas right hemisphere or bilateral lateralization is unexpectedly prominent. A clinical role for these techniques is not yet fully established. Interfering with language comprehension and verbal memory is currently more difficult than blocking speech output, but numerous TMS studies have demonstrated facilitation of language-related tasks, including oral word association, story recall, digit span, and picture naming. Conversely, speech output also facilitates motor responses to TMS in the dominant hemisphere. Such new and often-unexpected findings may provide important insights into the organization of language.

  15. On the Relationship between Brain Laterality and Language Proficiency in L2: A Replication Study

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    Nima Shakouri

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The present paper attempted to investigate whether there is any significant relationship between participants' brain laterality and L2 proficiency level. To carry out the experiment, 30 participants administered in the present study. Fifteen of them did not have any English language learning experience and were at the start of language learning, while the rest had attended L2 learning classes for about 2 years in a popular English language center, located in Bandar-e Anzali, Iran. Finally, the researchers concluded that the activity of the right hemisphere went up by the increase in language proficiency among bilinguals. Thereupon, the result of the paper was at variance with Albert and Obler's (1978 early work on hemispheric differentiation, which indicated that bilinguals were less hemispheric dominant than monolinguals.

  16. Relationships between Learning Styles and Academic Achievement and Brain Hemispheric Dominance and Academic Performance in Business and Accounting Courses.

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    Carthey, Joseph H.

    A study determined if relationships exist between learning styles and academic achievement and brain hemispheric dominance and academic performance in the courses of principles of management, business law, intermediate accounting, and principles of economics. All second-year accounting students (64 students) at Northeast Iowa Community College…

  17. Cognitive outcome after awake surgery for left and right hemisphere tumours

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    Elke De Witte

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: Awake surgery in eloquent brain regions is performed to preserve language and other cognitive functions. Although in general, no major permanent cognitive deficits are found after awake brain surgery, clinically relevant impairments are detected and cognitive recovery takes longer than generally assumed (3 months (Santini et al., 2012; Satoer et al., 2014; Talacchi et al., 2012. However, as there is a lack of extensive cognitive follow-up data it is unknown when recovery takes place. In addition, the influence of critical language sites identified by direct electrical stimulation (DES and tumour variables (e.g. left/right tumour location, tumour grade on long-term cognitive findings remains unclear. METHODS: In this longitudinal study the short-term and long-term effects of awake surgery on cognition were investigated in 40 patients (29 patients with left and 11 with right hemisphere tumours. Language, memory, attentional, executive and visuospatial functions were assessed in the preoperative phase, at short-term follow-up (6 weeks postsurgery and at long-term follow-up (6 months postsurgery with a neuropsychological protocol. In addition, the effect of intraoperative critical language sites, left/right tumour location, hemispheric language dominance, extent of resection and adjuvant treatment on cognitive change was studied. RESULTS: Both pre- and postoperatively, the mean performance of the patients was worse (impairment = z-score below -2 than the performance of the normal population in the language domain, the memory domain, the attentional and executive domain (p .05. Awake surgery negatively affected language, attentional and executive functions but not memory and visuospatial functions. At 6 weeks postsurgery, performance on all language, attentional and executive tasks deteriorated (object/action naming, semantic/phonological fluency from DuLIP, Token test; Trail Making Test A & B, Stroop I, II, & III. At 6 months

  18. Quantifying cerebral asymmetries for language in dextrals and adextrals with random-effects meta analysis.

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    David Peter Carey

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available Speech and language-related functions tend to depend on the left hemisphere more than the right in most right-handed (dextral participants. This relationship is less clear in non-right handed (adextral people, resulting in surprisingly polarised opinion on whether or not they are as lateralised as right handers. The present analysis investigates this issue by largely ignoring methodological differences between the different neuroscientific approaches to language lateralization, as well as discrepancies in how dextral and adextral participants were recruited or defined. Here we evaluate the tendency for dextrals to be more left hemisphere dominant than adextrals, using random effects meta analyses. In spite of several limitations, including sample size (in the adextrals in particular, missing details on proportions of groups who show directional effects in many experiments, and so on, the different paradigms all point to proportionally increased left hemispheric dominance in the dextrals. These results are analysed in light of the theoretical importance of these subtle differences for understanding the cognitive neuroscience of language, as well as the unusual asymmetry in most adextrals.

  19. Quantifying cerebral asymmetries for language in dextrals and adextrals with random-effects meta analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carey, David P.; Johnstone, Leah T.

    2014-01-01

    Speech and language-related functions tend to depend on the left hemisphere more than the right in most right-handed (dextral) participants. This relationship is less clear in non-right handed (adextral) people, resulting in surprisingly polarized opinion on whether or not they are as lateralized as right handers. The present analysis investigates this issue by largely ignoring methodological differences between the different neuroscientific approaches to language lateralization, as well as discrepancies in how dextral and adextral participants were recruited or defined. Here we evaluate the tendency for dextrals to be more left hemisphere dominant than adextrals, using random effects meta analyses. In spite of several limitations, including sample size (in the adextrals in particular), missing details on proportions of groups who show directional effects in many experiments, and so on, the different paradigms all point to proportionally increased left hemispheric dominance in the dextrals. These results are analyzed in light of the theoretical importance of these subtle differences for understanding the cognitive neuroscience of language, as well as the unusual asymmetry in most adextrals. PMID:25408673

  20. Assessment of grammar optimizes language tasks for the intracarotid amobarbital procedure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Połczyńska, Monika; Kuhn, Taylor; You, S Christine; Walshaw, Patricia; Curtiss, Susan; Bookheimer, Susan

    2017-11-01

    A previous study showed that assessment of language laterality could be improved by adding grammar tests to the recovery phase of the intracarotid amobarbital procedure (IAP) (Połczyńska et al. 2014). The aim of this study was to further investigate the extent to which grammar tests lateralize language function during the recovery phase of the IAP in a larger patient sample. Forty patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (14 females, thirty-two right-handed, mean age 38.5years, SD=10.6) participated in this study. On EEG, 24 patients had seizures originating in the left hemisphere (LH), 13 in the right hemisphere (RH), and 4 demonstrated mixed seizure origin. Thirty participants (75%) had bilateral injections, and ten (25%) had unilateral injections (five RH and five LH). Based on results from the encoding phase, we segregated our study participants to a LH language dominant and a mixed dominance group. In the recovery phase of the IAP, the participants were administered a new grammar test (the CYCLE-N) and a standard language test. We analyzed the laterality index measure and effect sizes in the two tests. In the LH-dominant group, the CYCLE-N generated more profound language deficits in the recovery phase than the standard after injection to either hemisphere (pgrammar tasks was still higher than for the standard tests. Critically, the CYCLE-N administered in the recovery phase was nearly as effective as the standard tests given during the encoding phase. The results may be significant for individuals with epilepsy undergoing IAP. The grammar tests may be a highly efficient measure for lateralizing language function in the recovery phase. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Pseudo-reorganization of language cortical function at fMR imaging: a consequence of tumor-induced neurovascular uncoupling.

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    Ulmer, John L; Krouwer, Hendrikus G; Mueller, Wade M; Ugurel, M Sahin; Kocak, Mehmet; Mark, Leighton P

    2003-02-01

    A left-handed patient with a grade II left frontal lobe astrocytoma had spontaneous seizures causing speech arrest and uncontrolled right upper extremity movements. Word-generation functional MR (fMR) imaging showed activity nearly exclusively in the right inferior frontal gyrus. The clinical history of the speech arrest and the intraoperative mapping proved left-hemisphere language dominance. Tumor involvement of the left inferior frontal gyrus caused uncoupling of the blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) and neuronal response, leading to the erroneous fMR imaging appearance of right-hemisphere language dominance. Discrepancies between BOLD and intraoperative mapping in areas near lesions illustrate the complementary nature of these techniques.

  2. Brain Dominance And Speaking Strategy Use of Iranian EFL Learners

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    Nastaran Mireskandari

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available The present study investigated the effect of brain dominance on the use of Language learning speaking strategies. One hundred forty two undergraduate students of Shiraz University, Iran, participated in this study. The Hemispheric Dominance Test (HDT was employed to categorize participants as right-, left- and whole-brain dominant, and a Speaking Strategy Questionnaire was administered to evaluate their use of speaking strategies. The results were analyzed using a one-way between groups analysis of variance (ANOVA to investigate whether there were any significant differences between the three brain dominant groups in their overall use of speaking strategies. A MANOVA was also run to investigate whether the groups had preferences regarding the use of any particular strategy type. Results indicated a statistically significant difference between the whole brain dominant participants and both left brain and right brain dominant learners for using compensation speaking strategies. To teach and learn more effectively, instructors and learners need to better understand and appreciate individual differences and how they can affect the learning process. They could find ways to combine activities that accommodate both left and right brain learners, employing not only the usual linear, verbal model, but also the active, image-rich, visuo-spatial models so that learners would be able to use both hemispheres.

  3. A Pan-Pacific Samoan Population/Language Dominance Survey.

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    van Naerssen, Margaret M.

    Population and language dominance data were gathered on Samoans from New Zealand to the West Coast of the United States, in order to assist educational programs in coordinating the development of classroom and teacher training materials and programs for Samoan students. It is hoped that by pinpointing locations where Samoans are most likely to be…

  4. Laterality across languages: Results from a global dichotic listening study using a smartphone application.

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    Bless, Josef J; Westerhausen, René; von Koss Torkildsen, Janne; Gudmundsen, Magne; Kompus, Kristiina; Hugdahl, Kenneth

    2015-01-01

    Left-hemispheric language dominance has been suggested by observations in patients with brain damages as early as the 19th century, and has since been confirmed by modern behavioural and brain imaging techniques. Nevertheless, most of these studies have been conducted in small samples with predominantly Anglo-American background, thus limiting generalization and possible differences between cultural and linguistic backgrounds may be obscured. To overcome this limitation, we conducted a global dichotic listening experiment using a smartphone application for remote data collection. The results from over 4,000 participants with more than 60 different language backgrounds showed that left-hemispheric language dominance is indeed a general phenomenon. However, the degree of lateralization appears to be modulated by linguistic background. These results suggest that more emphasis should be placed on cultural/linguistic specificities of psychological phenomena and on the need to collect more diverse samples.

  5. On the Relationship between Right- brain and Left- brain Dominance and Reading Comprehension Test Performance of Iranian EFL Learners

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    Hassan Soleimani

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available A tremendous amount of works have been conducted by psycholinguistics to identify hemisphere processing during second/ foreign language learning, or in other words to investigate the role of the brain hemisphere dominance in language performance of learners. Most of these researches have focused on single words and word pairs (e.g., Anaki et al., 1998; Arzouan et. al., 2007; Faust & Mahal, 2007 or simple sentences (Rapp et al., 2007; Kacinik & Chiarello, 2007, and it has been discovered that there is an advantage of right hemisphere for metaphors and an
    advantage of left hemisphere for literal text. But the present research was designed to study Iranian EFL learners' performance in different reading tasks, so there could be differences between the consequences of the former research and the results of the present study due to the context. Here left-brain and right-brain dominance was investigated in 60 individuals (20 right-handed and 10 left-handed male, 20 right-handed and 10 left-handed female via the Edinburg Handedness Questionnaire (EHQ. The research results suggested that the right-handed learners who are supposed to be left-brain outperformed the left-handed ones; and regarding participant's gender, male learners outperformed female learners on reading comprehension test tasks.

  6. Rigidity, Chaos and Integration: Hemispheric Interaction and Individual Differences in Metaphor Comprehension

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    Miriam eFaust

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Neurotypical individuals cope flexibly with the full range of semantic relations expressed in human language, including metaphoric relations. This impressive semantic ability may be associated with distinct and flexible patterns of hemispheric interaction, including higher right hemisphere (RH involvement for processing novel metaphors. However, this ability may be impaired in specific clinical conditions, such as Asperger syndrome and schizophrenia. The impaired semantic processing is accompanied by different patterns of hemispheric interaction during semantic processing, showing either reduced (in Asperger or excessive (in schizophrenia RH involvement. This paper interprets these individual differences using the terms Rigidity, Chaos and Integration, which describe patterns of semantic memory network states that either lead to semantic well-being or are disruptive of it. We argue that these semantic network states lie on a rigidity-chaos semantic continuum. We define these terms via network science terminology and provide network, cognitive and neural evidence to support our claim. This continuum includes LH hyper-rigid semantic memory state on one end (e.g., in persons with Asperger syndrome, and RH chaotic and over-flexible semantic memory state on the other end (e.g., in persons with schizophrenia. In between these two extremes lie different states of semantic memory structure which are related to individual differences in semantic creativity. We suggest that efficient semantic processing is achieved by semantic integration, a balance between semantic rigidity and semantic chaos. Such integration is achieved via intra-hemispheric communication. However, impairments to this well-balanced and integrated pattern of hemispheric interaction, e.g., when one hemisphere dominates the other, may lead to either semantic rigidity or semantic chaos, moving away from semantic integration and thus impairing the processing of metaphoric language.

  7. Is a lone right hemisphere enough? Neurolinguistic architecture in a case with a very early left hemispherectomy.

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    Danelli, Laura; Cossu, Giuseppe; Berlingeri, Manuela; Bottini, Gabriella; Sberna, Maurizio; Paulesu, Eraldo

    2013-01-01

    We studied the linguistic profile and neurolinguistic organization of a 14-year-old adolescent (EB) who underwent a left hemispherectomy at the age of 2.5 years. After initial aphasia, his language skills recovered within 2 years, with the exception of some word finding problems. Over the years, the neuropsychological assessments showed that EB's language was near-to-normal, with the exception of lexical competence, which lagged slightly behind for both auditory and written language. Moreover, EB's accuracy and speed in both reading and writing words and non-words were within the normal range, whereas difficulties emerged in reading loan words and in tasks with homophones. EB's functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) patterns for several linguistic and metalinguistic tasks were similar to those observed in the dominant hemisphere of controls, suggesting that his language network conforms to a left-like linguistic neural blueprint. However, a stronger frontal recruitment suggests that linguistic tasks are more demanding for him. Finally, no specific reading activation was found in EB's occipitotemporal region, a finding consistent with the surface dyslexia-like behavioral pattern of the patient. While a lone right hemisphere may not be sufficient to guarantee full blown linguistic competences after early hemispherectomy, EB's behavioral and fMRI patterns suggest that his lone right hemisphere followed a left-like blueprint of the linguistic network.

  8. A Surface-based Analysis of Language Lateralization and Cortical Asymmetry

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    Greve, Douglas N.; Van der Haegen, Lise; Cai, Qing; Stufflebeam, Steven; Sabuncu, Mert R.; Fischl, Bruce; Bysbaert, Marc

    2013-01-01

    Among brain functions, language is one of the most lateralized. Cortical language areas are also some of the most asymmetrical in the brain. An open question is whether the asymmetry in function is linked to the asymmetry in anatomy. To address this question, we measured anatomical asymmetry in 34 participants shown with fMRI to have language dominance of the left hemisphere (LLD) and 21 participants shown to have atypical right hemisphere dominance (RLD). All participants were healthy and left-handed, and most (80%) were female. Gray matter (GM) volume asymmetry was measured using an automated surface-based technique in both ROIs and exploratory analyses. In the ROI analysis, a significant difference between LLD and RLD was found in the insula. No differences were found in planum temporale (PT), pars opercularis (POp), pars triangularis (PTr), or Heschl’s gyrus (HG). The PT, POp, insula, and HG were all significantly left lateralized in both LLD and RLD participants. Both the positive and negative ROI findings replicate a previous study using manually labeled ROIs in a different cohort [Keller, S. S., Roberts, N., Garcia-Finana, M., Mohammadi, S., Ringelstein, E. B., Knecht, S., et al. Can the language-dominant hemisphere be predicted by brain anatomy? Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 23, 2013–2029, 2011]. The exploratory analysis was accomplished using a new surface-based registration that aligns cortical folding patterns across both subject and hemisphere. A small but significant cluster was found in the superior temporal gyrus that overlapped with the PT. A cluster was also found in the ventral occipitotemporal cortex corresponding to the visual word recognition area. The surface-based analysis also makes it possible to disentangle the effects of GM volume, thickness, and surface area while removing the effects of curvature. For both the ROI and exploratory analyses, the difference between LLD and RLD volume laterality was most strongly driven by

  9. "Juntos pero no revueltos": microaggressions and language in the mathematics education of non-dominant Latinas/os

    Science.gov (United States)

    LópezLeiva, Carlos A.; Khisty, Lena Licón

    2014-06-01

    In this paper, we discuss the characteristics of microaggressions based on minority language(s) as a form of discriminatory practice against non-dominant students in the mathematics context. Microaggressions are subtle, brief, and commonplace verbal, behavioral, or visual negative slights or insults toward people of color. We extend the concept of microaggression to include discrimination based on a minority language. We draw on our work with Latinas/os in the USA to demonstrate the occurrence of microaggressions in the teaching act. Revealing microaggressions based on language has the potential of creating more equitable learning environments for non-dominant students and can point to possible directions for future research and improvements in the preparation of teachers who serve non-dominant students who speak a language other than the school's official language.

  10. A vision of graded hemispheric specialization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Behrmann, Marlene; Plaut, David C

    2015-11-01

    Understanding the process by which the cerebral hemispheres reach their mature functional organization remains challenging. We propose a theoretical account in which, in the domain of vision, faces and words come to be represented adjacent to retinotopic cortex by virtue of the need to discriminate among homogeneous exemplars. Orthographic representations are further constrained to be proximal to typically left-lateralized language-related information to minimize connectivity length between visual and language areas. As reading is acquired, orthography comes to rely more heavily (albeit not exclusively) on the left fusiform region to bridge vision and language. Consequently, due to competition from emerging word representations, face representations that were initially bilateral become lateralized to the right fusiform region (albeit, again, not exclusively). We review recent research that describes constraints that give rise to this graded hemispheric arrangement. We then summarize empirical evidence from a variety of studies (behavioral, evoked response potential, functional imaging) across different populations (children, adolescents, and adults; left handers and individuals with developmental dyslexia) that supports the claims that hemispheric lateralization is graded rather than binary and that this graded organization emerges dynamically over the course of development. Perturbations of this system either during development or in adulthood provide further insights into the principles governing hemispheric organization. © 2015 New York Academy of Sciences.

  11. Left hemispheric dominance during auditory processing in a noisy environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ross Bernhard

    2007-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background In daily life, we are exposed to different sound inputs simultaneously. During neural encoding in the auditory pathway, neural activities elicited by these different sounds interact with each other. In the present study, we investigated neural interactions elicited by masker and amplitude-modulated test stimulus in primary and non-primary human auditory cortex during ipsi-lateral and contra-lateral masking by means of magnetoencephalography (MEG. Results We observed significant decrements of auditory evoked responses and a significant inter-hemispheric difference for the N1m response during both ipsi- and contra-lateral masking. Conclusion The decrements of auditory evoked neural activities during simultaneous masking can be explained by neural interactions evoked by masker and test stimulus in peripheral and central auditory systems. The inter-hemispheric differences of N1m decrements during ipsi- and contra-lateral masking reflect a basic hemispheric specialization contributing to the processing of complex auditory stimuli such as speech signals in noisy environments.

  12. A case of expressive-vocal amusia in a right-handed patient with left hemispheric cerebral infarction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Uetsuki, Shizuka; Kinoshita, Hiroshi; Takahashi, Ryuichi; Obata, Satoshi; Kakigi, Tatsuya; Wada, Yoshiko; Yokoyama, Kazumasa

    2016-03-01

    A 53-year-old right-handed woman had an extensive lesion in the left hemisphere due to an infarction caused by vasospasm secondary to subarachnoid bleeding. She exhibited persistent expressive-vocal amusia with no symptoms of aphasia. Evaluation of the patient's musical competence using the Montreal Battery for Evaluation of Amusia, rhythm reproduction tests, acoustic analysis of pitch upon singing familiar music, Japanese standard language tests, and other detailed clinical examinations revealed that her amusia was more dominantly related to pitch production. The intactness of her speech provided strong evidence that the right hemisphere played a major role in her linguistic processing. Data from functional magnetic resonance imaging while she was singing a familiar song, a scale, and reciting lyrics indicated that perilesional residual activation in the left hemisphere was associated with poor pitch production, while right hemispheric activation was involved in linguistic processing. The localization of infarction more anterior to the left Sylvian fissure might be related to the dominant deficits in expressive aspects of the singing of the patient. Compromised motor programming producing a single tone may have made a major contribution to her poor singing. Imperfect auditory feedback due to borderline perceptual ability or improper audio-motor associations might also have played a role. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Hemispheric involvement in the processing of Chinese idioms: An fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Jie; Li, Ping; Fang, Xiaoping; Shu, Hua; Liu, Youyi; Chen, Lang

    2016-07-01

    Although the left hemisphere is believed to handle major language functions, the role of the right hemisphere in language comprehension remains controversial. Recently researchers have investigated hemispheric language processing with figurative language materials (e.g., metaphors, jokes, and idioms). The current study capitalizes on the pervasiveness and distinct features of Chinese idioms to examine the brain mechanism of figurative language processing. Native Chinese speakers performed a non-semantic task while reading opaque idioms, transparent idioms, and non-idiomatic literal phrases. Whole-brain analyses indicated strong activations for all three conditions in an overlapping brain network that includes the bilateral inferior/middle frontal gyrus and the temporo-parietal and occipital-temporal regions. The two idiom conditions elicited additional activations in the right superior parietal lobule and right precuneus. Item-based modulation analyses further demonstrated that activation amplitudes in the right angular gyrus, right superior parietal lobule and right precuneus, as well as left inferior temporo-occipital cortex, are negatively correlated with the semantic transparency of the idioms. These results suggest that both hemispheres are involved in idiom processing but they play different roles. Implications of the findings are discussed in light of theories of figurative language processing and hemispheric functions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Functional magnetic resonance imaging: lateralization and localization of language in healthy volunteers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brinkhoff, C.

    2000-08-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the localization and hemispheric dominance of language in 21 right-handed and 21 left-handed healthy volunteers by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Method: For language stimulation two tasks were used: phonological word generation, where subjects were asked to generate words starting with a given input letter (s, t, k), and a language perception and comprehension task requiring subjects to listen closely to the paragraph recall section of the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test (RBMT) (1). In both tasks, 3 periods of activation were alternated with 3 rest periods of equal length. Activation were measured simultaneously in 15 horizontal slices using echoplanar imaging on a 1.5 T magnetic resonance scanner. Activated pixels were counted and anatomical localization was determined by using the Talairach Atlas of the brain (2). The pixel count in defined regions of the cortex in each hemisphere was taken as indicating the degree of language activation and was correlated with three conventional neuropsychological lateralization tasks: handedness was determined by Edinburgh Handedness Questionnaire (EHI) (3), manual dexterity was assessed by a pegboard test measuring the time to place all pegs for the right and left hand separately. A well-standardized dichotic listening paradigm using paired presentations of CV syllables was employed (4) in a non-forced condition to assess the (right or left ear) advantage indicating left or right hemisphere speech dominance. Results: Activation patterns differed significantly in both paradigms. Language comprehension caused maximum responses in temporal regions of both hemispheres, especially in the superior and the middle temporal gyrus. Independent from handedness, the language perception and comprehension paradigm exhibited bilateral activation predominantly. 52.4 % of right-handed subjects showed a bilateral activation pattern, whereas 33.3 % showed fMRI changes

  15. Cerebral Lateralization of Face-Selective and Body-Selective Visual Areas Depends on Handedness

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Willems, R.M.; Peelen, M.V.; Hagoort, P.

    2010-01-01

    The left-hemisphere dominance for language is a core example of the functional specialization of the cerebral hemispheres. The degree of left-hemisphere dominance for language depends on hand preference: Whereas the majority of right-handers show left-hemispheric language lateralization, this number

  16. Cerebral lateralization of face-selective and body-selective visual areas depends on handedness

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Willems, R.M.; Peelen, M.V.; Hagoort, P.

    2010-01-01

    The left-hemisphere dominance for language is a core example of the functional specialization of the cerebral hemispheres. The degree of left-hemisphere dominance for language depends on hand preference: Whereas the majority of right-handers show left-hemispheric language lateralization, this number

  17. Hand Preference for Precision Grasping Predicts Language Lateralization

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzalez, Claudia L. R.; Goodale, Melvyn A.

    2009-01-01

    We investigated whether or not there is a relationship between hand preference for grasping and hemispheric dominance for language--and how each of these is related to other traditional measures of handedness. To do this we asked right- and left-handed participants to put together two different sets of 3D puzzles made out of big or very small…

  18. Grammar tests increase the ability to lateralize language function in the Wada test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Połczyńska, Monika; Curtiss, Susan; Walshaw, Particia; Siddarth, Prabha; Benjamin, Chris; Moseley, Brian D; Vigil, Celia; Jones, Michael; Eliashiv, Dawn; Bookheimer, Susan

    2014-12-01

    Grammar is a core component of the language system, yet it is rarely assessed during the Wada (intracarotid amobarbital) test. It is hypothesized that adding grammar tests to the recovery phase of the Wada test will increase our ability to lateralize language function. Sixteen individuals (nine females, fifteen right-handed, mean age 38.4 years, SD=10.7) with medically refractory temporal lobe epilepsy participated in the study. On EEG ten patients had seizures originating in the left hemisphere (LH), five in the right hemisphere (RH), and one was insufficiently lateralized. We included only patients who were LH-dominant on the standard test in the encoding phase of the Wada test. In the recovery phase of Wada testing the participants underwent evaluation with a standard language and a new test of grammar, the CYCLE-N. Ten patients underwent bilateral injections, six unilateral (one RH, five LH). As expected, injection in the LH decreased language performance to a greater extent than injection to the RH on both tests. However, the CYCLE-N produced more profound language deficits in the injected LH compared to the RH (p=0.01), whereas the standard tests did not cause such pronounced differences (p=0.2). The results suggest that the standard tests did not significantly differentiate the effects of the injections and the CYCLE-N, for the most part, did. Our results are of particular relevance to patients who are too obtunded to speak in the encoding phase. In sum, the CYCLE-N may be helpful in assessing hemispheric dominance for language. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. A method for the automated assessment of temporal characteristics of functional hemispheric lateralization by transcranial Doppler sonography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Deppe, M; Knecht, S; Lohmann, H; Ringelstein, E B

    2004-07-01

    Transcranial Doppler sonography (TCD) can guide and complement investigations based on functional magnetic resonance and positron emission tomography imaging by providing continuous information on cerebral perfusion changes correlated to cerebral activation. So far, however, the role of functional TCD has been limited by a lack of sensitivity. Here, the authors present an outline of a method that increases the potential of TCD to detect perfusion changes within a vascular territory. Sensitivity on the order of 1% can be achieved by transformation of Doppler envelope curves, which accounts for systemic quasi-periodic and irregular spontaneous blood flow modulations and artificial disturbances related to the recording. A statistical technique is introduced that allows the automatic detection of time periods of significant hemispheric lateralization in evoked flow studies. Furthermore, an index of laterality is defined quantifying the extent of hemispheric dominance during stimulus processing. The analysis technique described in this article has been successfully employed in recent examinations on vision, motor activation, language, language recovery, and other cognitive tasks. The novel functional TCD technique permits valid and reproducible assessments of the temporal characteristics of functional hemispheric lateralization.

  20. Awake surgery for WHO Grade II gliomas within "noneloquent" areas in the left dominant hemisphere: toward a "supratotal" resection. Clinical article.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yordanova, Yordanka N; Moritz-Gasser, Sylvie; Duffau, Hugues

    2011-08-01

    It has been demonstrated that an extensive resection (total or subtotal) may significantly increase the overall survival in patients with WHO Grade II gliomas (low-grade gliomas [LGGs]). Yet, recent data have shown that conventional MR imaging underestimates the spatial extent of LGG, since tumor cells were found up to 20 mm around MR imaging abnormalities. Thus, it was hypothesized that an extended resection with a margin beyond MR imaging-defined abnormalities-a "supratotal" resection-might improve the outcome of LGG. However, because of the frequent location of LGG within "eloquent" brain areas, it is often difficult to achieve such a supratotal resection. This could nevertheless be possible when LGGs involve "noneloquent" areas, even in the left dominant hemisphere. The authors report on their use of awake electrical mapping to tailor the resection according to functional boundaries, that is, to pursue the resection beyond MR imaging-defined abnormalities, until corticosubcortical eloquent structures are encountered. Their aim was to apply this reliable surgical technique to LGGs located not within eloquent areas but distant from eloquent areas, to take a margin around the LGG visible on MR imaging while preserving brain function. Fifteen right-handed patients with a total of 17 tumors underwent resection of WHO Grade II gliomas involving nonfunctional areas within the left dominant hemisphere. In all patients, seizures were the initial manifestation of the tumors. Awake surgery with intraoperative electrostimulation was performed in all cases. The resection was continued until the surgeon reached cortical and subcortical areas crucial for brain function, especially language, as defined by the intrasurgical electrical mapping. The extent of resection was evaluated on postoperative FLAIR-weighted MR images. Despite transient neurological worsening in 60% of cases, all patients recovered and returned to a normal life. Seizure control was obtained in all patients

  1. A case report of a Wada test after dominant hemisphere multiple hippocampal transections: Pathophysiology of confusion after amobarbital injection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patrick Landazuri

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Dialepsis is defined as a predominant alteration of consciousness with preservation of motor tone and the ability to perform movements. While dialepsis is a common feature of both focal and generalized epilepsies, its precise symptomatogenic zone and pathogenesis remain undefined. This case report describes a patient who underwent intracarotid amobarbital procedures before and after dominant hemisphere multiple hippocampal transections. From our observations, we propose a possible pathogenesis for the generation of dialeptic seizures.

  2. Recovery of injured Broca's portion of arcuate fasciculus in the dominant hemisphere in a patient with traumatic brain injury

    OpenAIRE

    Jang, Sung Ho; Ha, Ji Wan; Kim, Hyun Young; Seo, You Sung

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Rationale: Recovery of injured AF in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) has not been reported. In this study, we report on a patient with TBI who recovered from an injury to Broca's portion of AF in the dominant hemisphere, diagnosed by diffusion tensor tractography (DTT). Patient concerns: A 28-year-old right-handed male patient suffered head trauma resulting from sliding while riding a motorcycle. Diagnoses: He was diagnosed with a traumatic contusional hemorrhage in the le...

  3. Hemispheric asymmetries in speech perception: sense, nonsense and modulations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stuart Rosen

    Full Text Available The well-established left hemisphere specialisation for language processing has long been claimed to be based on a low-level auditory specialization for specific acoustic features in speech, particularly regarding 'rapid temporal processing'.A novel analysis/synthesis technique was used to construct a variety of sounds based on simple sentences which could be manipulated in spectro-temporal complexity, and whether they were intelligible or not. All sounds consisted of two noise-excited spectral prominences (based on the lower two formants in the original speech which could be static or varying in frequency and/or amplitude independently. Dynamically varying both acoustic features based on the same sentence led to intelligible speech but when either or both acoustic features were static, the stimuli were not intelligible. Using the frequency dynamics from one sentence with the amplitude dynamics of another led to unintelligible sounds of comparable spectro-temporal complexity to the intelligible ones. Positron emission tomography (PET was used to compare which brain regions were active when participants listened to the different sounds.Neural activity to spectral and amplitude modulations sufficient to support speech intelligibility (without actually being intelligible was seen bilaterally, with a right temporal lobe dominance. A left dominant response was seen only to intelligible sounds. It thus appears that the left hemisphere specialisation for speech is based on the linguistic properties of utterances, not on particular acoustic features.

  4. Bilinguals Have Different Hemispheric Lateralization in Visual Word Processing from Monolinguals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sze-Man Lam

    2011-05-01

    Full Text Available Previous bilingual studies showed reduced hemispheric asymmetry in visual tasks such as face perception in bilinguals compared with monolinguals, suggesting experience in reading one or two languages could be a modulating factor. Here we examined whether difference in hemispheric asymmetry in visual tasks can also be observed in bilinguals who have different language backgrounds. We compared the behavior of three language groups in a tachistoscopic English word sequential matching task: English monolinguals (or alphabetic monolinguals, A-Ms, bilinguals with an alphabetic-L1 and English-L2 (alphabetic-alphabetic bilinguals, AA-Bs, and bilinguals with Chinese-L1 and English-L2 (logographic-alphabetic bilinguals, LA-Bs. The results showed that AA-Bs had a stronger right visual field/ left hemispheric (LH advantage than A-Ms and LA-Bs, suggesting that different language learning experiences can influence how visual words are processed in the brain. In addition, we showed that this effect could be accounted for by a computational model that implements a theory of hemispheric asymmetry in perception (i.e., the Double Filtering by Frequency theory; Ivry & Robertson, 1998; the modeling data suggested that this difference may be due to both the difference in participants' vocabulary size and the difference in word-to-sound mapping between alphabetic and logographic languages.

  5. Social dominance in context and in individuals: contextual moderation of robust effects of social dominance orientation in 15 languages and 20 countries

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pratto, F.; Cidam, A.; Stewart, E.L.; Bou Zeinedinne, F.; Aranda, M.; Aiello, M.; Chryssochoou, X.; Cichocka, A.; Cohrs, C.; Durrheim, K.; Eicher, V.; Foels, R.; Górska, P.; Lee, I-C; Licata, L.; Liu, L.; Liu, J.H.; Meyer, I.; Morselli, D.; Muldoon, O.; Muluk, H.; Petrovic, I.; Petrovic, N.; Prati, F.; Papastamou, S.; Prodromitis, G.; Rubini, M.; Saab, R.; van Stekelenburg, J.; Sweetman, J.; Zheng, W.; Henkel, K.

    2013-01-01

    We tested the internal reliability and predictive validity of a new 4-item Short Social Dominance Orientation (SSDO) scale among adults in 20 countries, using 15 languages (N = 2,130). Low scores indicate preferring group inclusion and equality to dominance. As expected, cross-nationally, the lower

  6. Hemispherical dominance of glucose metabolic rate in the brain of the 'normal' ageing population

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cutts, D.A.; Spyrou, N.M.

    2004-01-01

    In the 'normal' ageing brain a decrease in the cerebral metabolic rate has been determined across many brain regions. It is determined whether age differences would affect metabolic rates in regions and different hemispheres of the brain. The regional metabolic rate of glucose (rCMRGlu) was examined in a group of 72 subjects, ages 22 to 82 years, with 36 regions of interest chosen from both hemispheres of the cortex, midbrain and cerebellum. To determine metabolic rates the in-vivo technique of positron emission tomography (PET) was employed. Three age groups were chosen to compare hemispherical differences. In both young and intermediate age groups the left hemisphere had higher rCMRGlu values than those of the right for the majority of regions with, although less pronounced in the intermediate group. Importantly, the older age group displayed little difference between hemispheres. (author)

  7. Long-term hemispheric variation of the flare index

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feng Song; Deng Lin-Hua; Xu Shi-Chun

    2013-01-01

    The long-term hemispheric variation of the flare index is investigated. It is found that, (1) the phase difference of the flare index between the northern and southern hemispheres is about 6–7 months, which is near the time delay between flare activity and sunspot activity; (2) both the dominant and phase-leading hemisphere of the flare index is the northern hemisphere in the considered time interval, implying that the hemispheric asynchrony of solar activity has a close connection with the N-S asymmetry of solar activity. (research papers)

  8. Left hemisphere lateralization for lexical and acoustic pitch processing in Cantonese speakers as revealed by mismatch negativity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Feng; Zhang, Caicai; Hu, Axu; Zhao, Guoping

    2013-12-01

    For nontonal language speakers, speech processing is lateralized to the left hemisphere and musical processing is lateralized to the right hemisphere (i.e., function-dependent brain asymmetry). On the other hand, acoustic temporal processing is lateralized to the left hemisphere and spectral/pitch processing is lateralized to the right hemisphere (i.e., acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry). In this study, we examine whether the hemispheric lateralization of lexical pitch and acoustic pitch processing in tonal language speakers is consistent with the patterns of function- and acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry in nontonal language speakers. Pitch contrast in both speech stimuli (syllable /ji/ in Experiment 1) and nonspeech stimuli (harmonic tone in Experiment 1; pure tone in Experiment 2) was presented to native Cantonese speakers in passive oddball paradigms. We found that the mismatch negativity (MMN) elicited by lexical pitch contrast was lateralized to the left hemisphere, which is consistent with the pattern of function-dependent brain asymmetry (i.e., left hemisphere lateralization for speech processing) in nontonal language speakers. However, the MMN elicited by acoustic pitch contrast was also left hemisphere lateralized (harmonic tone in Experiment 1) or showed a tendency for left hemisphere lateralization (pure tone in Experiment 2), which is inconsistent with the pattern of acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry (i.e., right hemisphere lateralization for acoustic pitch processing) in nontonal language speakers. The consistent pattern of function-dependent brain asymmetry and the inconsistent pattern of acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry between tonal and nontonal language speakers can be explained by the hypothesis that the acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry is the consequence of a carryover effect from function-dependent brain asymmetry. Potential evolutionary implication of this hypothesis is discussed. © 2013.

  9. Age of language acquisition and cortical language organization in multilingual patients undergoing awake brain mapping.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernández-Coello, Alejandro; Havas, Viktória; Juncadella, Montserrat; Sierpowska, Joanna; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni; Gabarrós, Andreu

    2017-06-01

    OBJECTIVE Most knowledge regarding the anatomical organization of multilingualism is based on aphasiology and functional imaging studies. However, the results have still to be validated by the gold standard approach, namely electrical stimulation mapping (ESM) during awake neurosurgical procedures. In this ESM study the authors describe language representation in a highly specific group of 13 multilingual individuals, focusing on how age of acquisition may influence the cortical organization of language. METHODS Thirteen patients who had a high degree of proficiency in multiple languages and were harboring lesions within the dominant, left hemisphere underwent ESM while being operated on under awake conditions. Demographic and language data were recorded in relation to age of language acquisition (for native languages and early- and late-acquired languages), neuropsychological pre- and postoperative language testing, the number and location of language sites, and overlapping distribution in terms of language acquisition time. Lesion growth patterns and histopathological characteristics, location, and size were also recorded. The distribution of language sites was analyzed with respect to age of acquisition and overlap. RESULTS The functional language-related sites were distributed in the frontal (55%), temporal (29%), and parietal lobes (16%). The total number of native language sites was 47. Early-acquired languages (including native languages) were represented in 97 sites (55 overlapped) and late-acquired languages in 70 sites (45 overlapped). The overlapping distribution was 20% for early-early, 71% for early-late, and 9% for late-late. The average lesion size (maximum diameter) was 3.3 cm. There were 5 fast-growing and 7 slow-growing lesions. CONCLUSIONS Cortical language distribution in multilingual patients is not homogeneous, and it is influenced by age of acquisition. Early-acquired languages have a greater cortical representation than languages acquired

  10. Modulating transcallosal and intra-hemispheric brain connectivity with tDCS: Implications for interventions in Aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Xin; Dai, Weiying; Alsop, David C; Schlaug, Gottfried

    2016-07-25

    time. Using an MR-compatible DC stimulator we showed that ASL-MRI can detect tDCS-induced modulation of brain connectivity within and between hemispheres. These findings might affect trial designs focusing on modulating the non-dominant hemisphere to enhance language/speech-motor functions.

  11. Mapping hemispheric symmetries, relative asymmetries, and absolute asymmetries underlying the auditory laterality effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westerhausen, René; Kompus, Kristiina; Hugdahl, Kenneth

    2014-01-01

    Functional hemispheric differences for speech and language processing have been traditionally studied by using verbal dichotic-listening paradigms. The commonly observed right-ear preference for the report of dichotically presented syllables is taken to reflect the left hemispheric dominance for speech processing. However, the results of recent functional imaging studies also show that both hemispheres - not only the left - are engaged by dichotic listening, suggesting a more complex relationship between behavioral laterality and functional hemispheric activation asymmetries. In order to more closely examine the hemispheric differences underlying dichotic-listening performance, we report an analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data of 104 right-handed subjects, for the first time combining an interhemispheric difference and conjunction analysis. This approach allowed for a distinction of homotopic brain regions which showed symmetrical (i.e., brain region significantly activated in both hemispheres and no activation difference between the hemispheres), relative asymmetrical (i.e., activated in both hemispheres but significantly stronger in one than the other hemisphere), and absolute asymmetrical activation patterns (i.e., activated only in one hemisphere and this activation is significantly stronger than in the other hemisphere). Symmetrical activation was found in large clusters encompassing temporal, parietal, inferior frontal, and medial superior frontal regions. Relative and absolute left-ward asymmetries were found in the posterior superior temporal gyrus, located adjacent to symmetrically activated areas, and creating a lateral-medial gradient from symmetrical towards absolute asymmetrical activation within the peri-Sylvian region. Absolute leftward asymmetry was also found in the post-central and medial superior frontal gyri, while rightward asymmetries were found in middle temporal and middle frontal gyri. We conclude that dichotic

  12. [Amusia and aphasia of Bolero's creator--influence of the right hemisphere on music].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tudor, Lorraine; Sikirić, Predrag; Tudor, Katarina Ivana; Cambi-Sapunar, Liana; Radonić, Vedran; Tudor, Mario; Buca, Ante; Carija, Robert

    2008-07-01

    The experience with cortical localization (BA 44, 45, 22) of language (Broca, Wernicke and others) in the left hemisphere has been repeatedly tested over the last 150 years and is now generally accepted. A single case report with autopsy findings (Leborgne, Tan tan), has enabled to localize the seat of spoken language in the left third frontal convolution. As music and language have a lot in common and even share the same hearing system, it is logical to try to localize the cognitive centers for music too. The disabling neurological disease illness of Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), a French impressionist composer, is not the right example to localize music center as that of Broca's language center, but it demonstrates the role of the right hemisphere in music production. In the last five years of his life, Ravel suffered from an unknown disease that affected the left hemisphere causing aphasia, apraxia, alexia, agraphia and amusia. It was the reason why Ravel could not compose during the last years of his life. In contrast to Ravel, Shebalin and Britten continued writing music works of their own although aphasic after having sustained two strokes to the left hemisphere. While lacking clinical cases with selective ablative brain lesions, research into the music localization can be done using modern imaging technologies such as fMRI and PET. Exercising music (professionally) develops analytical process in the left hemisphere whereas other individuals process music in their right hemisphere. There is right ear (left hemisphere) predominance in musicians and vice versa in musical amateurs. Music lateralization towards the right hemisphere is seen in women and in inattentive listeners. It can be subject to cultural influence, so the Japanese process their traditional popular music in the left hemisphere, whereas Westerners process the same music in the right hemisphere. Music and language are processed separately; they are localized in homologous regions of the opposite

  13. Intraoperative subcortical mapping of a language-associated deep frontal tract connecting the superior frontal gyrus to Broca's area in the dominant hemisphere of patients with glioma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fujii, Masazumi; Maesawa, Satoshi; Motomura, Kazuya; Futamura, Miyako; Hayashi, Yuichiro; Koba, Itsuko; Wakabayashi, Toshihiko

    2015-06-01

    tract should be recognized by clinicians to preserve language function during brain tumor surgery, especially for tumors located in the deep frontal lobe on the language-dominant side.

  14. Reevaluating split-fovea processing in word recognition: hemispheric dominance, retinal location, and the word-nonword effect.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jordan, Timothy R; Paterson, Kevin B; Kurtev, Stoyan

    2009-03-01

    Many studies have claimed that hemispheric projections are split precisely at the foveal midline and so hemispheric asymmetry affects word recognition right up to the point of fixation. To investigate this claim, four-letter words and nonwords were presented to the left or right of fixation, either close to fixation in foveal vision or farther from fixation in extrafoveal vision. Presentation accuracy was controlled using an eyetracker linked to a fixation-contingent display. Words presented foveally produced identical performance on each side of fixation, but words presented extrafoveally showed a clear left-hemisphere (LH) advantage. Nonwords produced no evidence of hemispheric asymmetry in any location. Foveal stimuli also produced an identical word-nonword effect on each side of fixation, whereas extrafoveal stimuli produced a word-nonword effect only for LH (not right-hemisphere) displays. These findings indicate that functional unilateral projections to contralateral hemispheres exist in extrafoveal locations but provide no evidence of a functional division in hemispheric processing at fixation.

  15. Behavioral evidence for left-hemisphere specialization of motor planning

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Janssen, L.; Meulenbroek, R.G.; Steenbergen, B.

    2011-01-01

    Recent studies suggest that the left hemisphere is dominant for the planning of motor actions. This left-hemisphere specialization hypothesis was proposed in various lines of research, including patient studies, motor imagery studies, and studies involving neurophysiological techniques. However,

  16. Behavioural relevance of atypical language lateralization in healthy subjects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knecht, S; Dräger, B; Flöel, A; Lohmann, H; Breitenstein, C; Deppe, M; Henningsen, H; Ringelstein, E B

    2001-08-01

    In most humans, language is lateralized to the left side of the brain. It has been speculated that this hemispheric specialization is a prerequisite for the full realization of linguistic potential. Using standardized questionnaires and performance measures, we attempted to determine if there are behavioural correlates of atypical, i.e. right-hemispheric and bilateral, language lateralization. The side and degree of language lateralization were determined by measuring the hemispheric perfusion differences by functional transcranial Doppler ultrasonography during a word generation task in healthy volunteers. Subjects with left (n = 264), bilateral (n = 31) or right (n = 31) hemisphere language representation did not differ significantly with respect to mastery of foreign languages, academic achievement, artistic talents, verbal fluency or (as assessed in a representative subgroup) in intelligence or speed of linguistic processing. These findings suggest that atypical hemispheric specialization for language, i.e. right-hemisphere or bilateral specialization, is not associated with major impairments of linguistic faculties in otherwise healthy subjects.

  17. Belief Reasoning and Emotion Understanding in Balanced Bilingual and Language-Dominant Mexican American Young Children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weimer, Amy A; Gasquoine, Philip G

    2016-01-01

    Belief reasoning and emotion understanding were measured among 102 Mexican American bilingual children ranging from 4 to 7 years old. All children were tested in English and Spanish after ensuring minimum comprehension in each language. Belief reasoning was assessed using 2 false and 1 true belief tasks. Emotion understanding was measured using subtests from the Test for Emotion Comprehension. The influence of family background variables of yearly income, parental education level, and number of siblings on combined Spanish and English vocabulary, belief reasoning, and emotion understanding was assessed by regression analyses. Age and emotion understanding predicted belief reasoning. Vocabulary and belief reasoning predicted emotion understanding. When the sample was divided into language-dominant and balanced bilingual groups on the basis of language proficiency difference scores, there were no significant differences on belief reasoning or emotion understanding. Language groups were demographically similar with regard to child age, parental educational level, and family income. Results suggest Mexican American language-dominant and balanced bilinguals develop belief reasoning and emotion understanding similarly.

  18. Reorganization of syntactic processing following left-hemisphere brain damage: does right-hemisphere activity preserve function?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tyler, Lorraine K; Wright, Paul; Randall, Billi; Marslen-Wilson, William D; Stamatakis, Emmanuel A

    2010-11-01

    The extent to which the human brain shows evidence of functional plasticity across the lifespan has been addressed in the context of pathological brain changes and, more recently, of the changes that take place during healthy ageing. Here we examine the potential for plasticity by asking whether a strongly left-lateralized system can successfully reorganize to the right-hemisphere following left-hemisphere brain damage. To do this, we focus on syntax, a key linguistic function considered to be strongly left-lateralized, combining measures of tissue integrity, neural activation and behavioural performance. In a functional neuroimaging study participants heard spoken sentences that differentially loaded on syntactic and semantic information. While healthy controls activated a left-hemisphere network of correlated activity including Brodmann areas 45/47 and posterior middle temporal gyrus during syntactic processing, patients activated Brodmann areas 45/47 bilaterally and right middle temporal gyrus. However, voxel-based morphometry analyses showed that only tissue integrity in left Brodmann areas 45/47 was correlated with activity and performance; poor tissue integrity in left Brodmann area 45 was associated with reduced functional activity and increased syntactic deficits. Activity in the right-hemisphere was not correlated with damage in the left-hemisphere or with performance. Reduced neural integrity in the left-hemisphere through brain damage or healthy ageing results in increased right-hemisphere activation in homologous regions to those left-hemisphere regions typically involved in the young. However, these regions do not support the same linguistic functions as those in the left-hemisphere and only indirectly contribute to preserved syntactic capacity. This establishes the unique role of the left hemisphere in syntax, a core component in human language.

  19. Hemispheric specialization and creative thinking: a meta-analytic review of lateralization of creativity

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Mihov, K.M.; Denzler, M.; Förster, J.

    2010-01-01

    In the last two decades research on the neurophysiological processes of creativity has found contradicting results. Whereas most research suggests right hemisphere dominance in creative thinking, left-hemisphere dominance has also been reported. The present research is a meta-analytic review of the

  20. Motivation and motor control: hemispheric specialization for approach motivation reverses with handedness.

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    Brookshire, Geoffrey; Casasanto, Daniel

    2012-01-01

    According to decades of research on affective motivation in the human brain, approach motivational states are supported primarily by the left hemisphere and avoidance states by the right hemisphere. The underlying cause of this specialization, however, has remained unknown. Here we conducted a first test of the Sword and Shield Hypothesis (SSH), according to which the hemispheric laterality of affective motivation depends on the laterality of motor control for the dominant hand (i.e., the "sword hand," used preferentially to perform approach actions) and the nondominant hand (i.e., the "shield hand," used preferentially to perform avoidance actions). To determine whether the laterality of approach motivation varies with handedness, we measured alpha-band power (an inverse index of neural activity) in right- and left-handers during resting-state electroencephalography and analyzed hemispheric alpha-power asymmetries as a function of the participants' trait approach motivational tendencies. Stronger approach motivation was associated with more left-hemisphere activity in right-handers, but with more right-hemisphere activity in left-handers. The hemispheric correlates of approach motivation reversed between right- and left-handers, consistent with the way they typically use their dominant and nondominant hands to perform approach and avoidance actions. In both right- and left-handers, approach motivation was lateralized to the same hemisphere that controls the dominant hand. This covariation between neural systems for action and emotion provides initial support for the SSH.

  1. Presurgical language mapping in epilepsy: Using fMRI of reading to identify functional reorganization in a patient with long-standing temporal lobe epilepsy

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    Layla Gould

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available We report a 55-year-old, right-handed patient with intractable left temporal lobe epilepsy, who previously had a partial left temporal lobectomy. The patient could talk during seizures, suggesting that he might have language dominance in the right hemisphere. Presurgical fMRI localization of language processing including reading of exception and regular words, pseudohomophones, and dual meaning words confirmed the clinical hypothesis of right language dominance, with only small amounts of activation near the planned surgical resection and, thus, minimal eloquent cortex to avoid during surgery. Postoperatively, the patient was rendered seizure-free without speech deficits.

  2. An Electrophysiological Contribution to the Study of Language Lateralization and Prognosis of Aphasia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cobianchi, Andrea

    2010-01-01

    The study is aimed at identifying hemispheric language dominance in both the right-handed and left-handed participants. Eighteen right-handed and 18 left-handed young volunteers were invited to listen for 80 times to a 720 ms duration Italian word. Signals from 16 electrodes were averaged and displayed both as traces and maps. When the word was…

  3. Hemispheric Specialization and Creative Thinking: A Meta-Analytic Review of Lateralization of Creativity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mihov, Konstantin M.; Denzler, Markus; Forster, Jens

    2010-01-01

    In the last two decades research on the neurophysiological processes of creativity has found contradicting results. Whereas most research suggests right hemisphere dominance in creative thinking, left-hemisphere dominance has also been reported. The present research is a meta-analytic review of the literature to establish how creative thinking…

  4. Right is not always wrong: DTI and fMRI evidence for the reliance of reading comprehension on language-comprehension networks in the right hemisphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Horowitz-Kraus, Tzipi; Grainger, Molly; DiFrancesco, Mark; Vannest, Jennifer; Holland, Scott K

    2015-03-01

    The Simple View theory suggests that reading comprehension relies on automatic recognition of words combined with language comprehension. The goal of the current study was to examine the structural and functional connectivity in networks supporting reading comprehension and their relationship with language comprehension within 7-9 year old children using Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and fMRI during a Sentence Picture Matching task. Fractional Anisotropy (FA) values in the left and right Inferior Longitudinal Fasciculus (ILF) and Superior Longitudinal Fasciculus (SLF), known language-related tracts, were correlated from DTI data with scores from the Woodcock-Johnson III (WJ-III) Passage Comprehension sub-test. Brodmann areas most proximal to white-matter regions with significant correlation to Passage Comprehension scores were chosen as Regions-of-Interest (ROIs) and used as seeds in a functional connectivity analysis using the Sentence Picture Matching task. The correlation between percentile scores for the WJ-III Passage Comprehension subtest and the FA values in the right and left ILF and SLF indicated positive correlation in language-related ROIs, with greater distribution in the right hemisphere, which in turn showed strong connectivity in the fMRI data from the Sentence Picture Matching task. These results support the participation of the right hemisphere in reading comprehension and may provide physiologic support for a distinction between different types of reading comprehension deficits vs difficulties in technical reading.

  5. Reading the Wrong Way with the Right Hemisphere

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    Ian J. Kirk

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Reading is a complex process, drawing on a variety of brain functions in order to link symbols to words and concepts. The three major brain areas linked to reading and phonological analysis include the left temporoparietal region, the left occipitotemporal region and the inferior frontal gyrus. Decreased activation of the left posterior language system in dyslexia is well documented but there is relatively limited attention given to the role of the right hemisphere. The current study investigated differences in right and left hemisphere activation between individuals with dyslexia and non-impaired readers in lexical decision tasks (regular words, irregular words, pseudowords during functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI. Results revealed the expected hypo-activation in the left posterior areas in those with dyslexia but also areas of overactivation in the right hemisphere. During pseudoword decisions, for example, adults with dyslexia showed more right inferior occipital gyrus activation than controls. In general the increased activation of left-hemisphere language areas found in response to both regular and pseudowords was absent in dyslexics. Laterality indices showed that while controls showed left lateralised activation of the temporal lobe during lexical decision making, dyslexic readers showed right activation. Findings will inform theories of reading and will have implications for the design of reading interventions.

  6. Reading the wrong way with the right hemisphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Waldie, Karen E; Haigh, Charlotte E; Badzakova-Trajkov, Gjurgjica; Buckley, Jude; Kirk, Ian J

    2013-07-17

    Reading is a complex process, drawing on a variety of brain functions in order to link symbols to words and concepts. The three major brain areas linked to reading and phonological analysis include the left temporoparietal region, the left occipitotemporal region and the inferior frontal gyrus. Decreased activation of the left posterior language system in dyslexia is well documented but there is relatively limited attention given to the role of the right hemisphere. The current study investigated differences in right and left hemisphere activation between individuals with dyslexia and non-impaired readers in lexical decision tasks (regular words, irregular words, pseudowords) during functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Results revealed the expected hypo-activation in the left posterior areas in those with dyslexia but also areas of overactivation in the right hemisphere. During pseudoword decisions, for example, adults with dyslexia showed more right inferior occipital gyrus activation than controls. In general the increased activation of left-hemisphere language areas found in response to both regular and pseudowords was absent in dyslexics. Laterality indices showed that while controls showed left lateralised activation of the temporal lobe during lexical decision making, dyslexic readers showed right activation. Findings will inform theories of reading and will have implications for the design of reading interventions.

  7. Recovery of injured Broca's portion of arcuate fasciculus in the dominant hemisphere in a patient with traumatic brain injury.

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    Jang, Sung Ho; Ha, Ji Wan; Kim, Hyun Young; Seo, You Sung

    2017-12-01

    Recovery of injured AF in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) has not been reported. In this study, we report on a patient with TBI who recovered from an injury to Broca's portion of AF in the dominant hemisphere, diagnosed by diffusion tensor tractography (DTT). A 28-year-old right-handed male patient suffered head trauma resulting from sliding while riding a motorcycle. He was diagnosed with a traumatic contusional hemorrhage in the left frontal lobe, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and subdural hemorrhage in the left fronto-temporal lobe. He underwent craniectomy on the left fronto-temporal area, and hematoma removal for the subdural hemorrhage in the neurosurgery department of a university hospital. Two weeks after the injury, he was transferred to the rehabilitation department of another university hospital. He showed severe aphasia and brain MRI showed leukomalactic lesion in the left frontal lobe. The result WAB for the patient showed severe aphasia, with an aphasia quotient of 45.3 percentile. However, his aphasia improved rapidly by 9 months with an aphasia quotient at the 100.0 percentile. 2-week DTT detected discontinuity in the subcortical white matter at the branch to Broca's area of left AF. By contrast, on 9-month DTT, the discontinued portion of left AF was elongated to the left Broca's area. Recovery of injured Broca's portion of AF in the dominant hemisphere along with excellent improvement of aphasia was demonstrated in a patient with TBI. This study has important implications in brain rehabilitation because the mechanism of recovery from aphasia following TBI has not been elucidated. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Early Heritage-Language Education and the Abrupt Shift to a Dominant-Language Classroom: Impact on the Personal and Collective Esteem of Inuit Children in Arctic Quebec

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bougie, Evelyne; Wright, Stephen C.; Taylor, Donald M.

    2003-01-01

    This research explored the impact of the abrupt shift from heritage-language to dominant-language education on Inuit children's personal and collective self-esteem. Specifically, the following question was addressed: will early heritage-language education serve as an inoculation against the potential negative impact of being submerged in a…

  9. Bilingual Word Recognition in Deaf and Hearing Signers: Effects of Proficiency and Language Dominance on Cross-Language Activation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morford, Jill P.; Kroll, Judith F.; Piñar, Pilar; Wilkinson, Erin

    2014-01-01

    Recent evidence demonstrates that American Sign Language (ASL) signs are active during print word recognition in deaf bilinguals who are highly proficient in both ASL and English. In the present study, we investigate whether signs are active during print word recognition in two groups of unbalanced bilinguals: deaf ASL-dominant and hearing…

  10. Hemispheric lateralization of topological organization in structural brain networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caeyenberghs, Karen; Leemans, Alexander

    2014-09-01

    The study on structural brain asymmetries in healthy individuals plays an important role in our understanding of the factors that modulate cognitive specialization in the brain. Here, we used fiber tractography to reconstruct the left and right hemispheric networks of a large cohort of 346 healthy participants (20-86 years) and performed a graph theoretical analysis to investigate this brain laterality from a network perspective. Findings revealed that the left hemisphere is significantly more "efficient" than the right hemisphere, whereas the right hemisphere showed higher values of "betweenness centrality" and "small-worldness." In particular, left-hemispheric networks displayed increased nodal efficiency in brain regions related to language and motor actions, whereas the right hemisphere showed an increase in nodal efficiency in brain regions involved in memory and visuospatial attention. In addition, we found that hemispheric networks decrease in efficiency with age. Finally, we observed significant gender differences in measures of global connectivity. By analyzing the structural hemispheric brain networks, we have provided new insights into understanding the neuroanatomical basis of lateralized brain functions. Copyright © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. Brain Stimulation and the Role of the Right Hemisphere in Aphasia Recovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turkeltaub, Peter E

    2015-11-01

    Aphasia is a common consequence of left hemisphere stroke and causes a disabling loss of language and communication ability. Current treatments for aphasia are inadequate, leaving a majority of aphasia sufferers with ongoing communication difficulties for the rest of their lives. In the past decade, two forms of noninvasive brain stimulation, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation and transcranial direct current stimulation, have emerged as promising new treatments for aphasia. The most common brain stimulation protocols attempt to inhibit the intact right hemisphere based on the hypothesis that maladaptive activity in the right hemisphere limits language recovery in the left. There is now sufficient evidence to demonstrate that this approach, at least for repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation, improves specific language abilities in aphasia. However, the biological mechanisms that produce these behavioral improvements remain poorly understood. Taken in the context of the larger neurobiological literature on aphasia recovery, the role of the right hemisphere in aphasia recovery remains unclear. Additional research is needed to understand biological mechanisms of recovery, in order to optimize brain stimulation treatments for aphasia. This article summarizes the current evidence on noninvasive brain stimulation methods for aphasia and the neuroscientific considerations surrounding treatments using right hemisphere inhibition. Suggestions are provided for further investigation and for clinicians whose patients ask about brain stimulation treatments for aphasia.

  12. Language Lateralization in Children Aged 10 to 11 Years: A Combined fMRI and Dichotic Listening Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Norrelgen, Fritjof; Lilja, Anders; Ingvar, Martin; Gisselgård, Jens; Fransson, Peter

    2012-01-01

    Objective The aims of this study were to develop and assess a method to map language networks in children with two auditory fMRI protocols in combination with a dichotic listening task (DL). The method is intended for pediatric patients prior to epilepsy surgery. To evaluate the potential clinical usefulness of the method we first wanted to assess data from a group of healthy children. Methods In a first step language test materials were developed, intended for subsequent implementation in fMRI protocols. An evaluation of this material was done in 30 children with typical development, 10 from the 1st, 4th and the 7th grade, respectively. The language test material was then adapted and implemented in two fMRI protocols intended to target frontal and posterior language networks. In a second step language lateralization was assessed in 17 typical 10–11 year olds with fMRI and DL. To reach a conclusion about language lateralization, firstly, quantitative analyses of the index data from the two fMRI tasks and the index data from the DL task were done separately. In a second step a set of criteria were applied to these results to reach a conclusion about language lateralization. The steps of these analyses are described in detail. Results The behavioral assessment of the language test material showed that it was well suited for typical children. The results of the language lateralization assessments, based on fMRI data and DL data, showed that for 15 of the 17 subjects (88%) a conclusion could be reached about hemispheric language dominance. In 2 cases (12%) DL provided critical data. Conclusions The employment of DL combined with language mapping using fMRI for assessing hemispheric language dominance is novel and it was deemed valuable since it provided additional information compared to the results gained from each method individually. PMID:23284796

  13. Language lateralization in children aged 10 to 11 years: a combined fMRI and dichotic listening study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fritjof Norrelgen

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The aims of this study were to develop and assess a method to map language networks in children with two auditory fMRI protocols in combination with a dichotic listening task (DL. The method is intended for pediatric patients prior to epilepsy surgery. To evaluate the potential clinical usefulness of the method we first wanted to assess data from a group of healthy children. METHODS: In a first step language test materials were developed, intended for subsequent implementation in fMRI protocols. An evaluation of this material was done in 30 children with typical development, 10 from the 1(st, 4(th and the 7(th grade, respectively. The language test material was then adapted and implemented in two fMRI protocols intended to target frontal and posterior language networks. In a second step language lateralization was assessed in 17 typical 10-11 year olds with fMRI and DL. To reach a conclusion about language lateralization, firstly, quantitative analyses of the index data from the two fMRI tasks and the index data from the DL task were done separately. In a second step a set of criteria were applied to these results to reach a conclusion about language lateralization. The steps of these analyses are described in detail. RESULTS: The behavioral assessment of the language test material showed that it was well suited for typical children. The results of the language lateralization assessments, based on fMRI data and DL data, showed that for 15 of the 17 subjects (88% a conclusion could be reached about hemispheric language dominance. In 2 cases (12% DL provided critical data. CONCLUSIONS: The employment of DL combined with language mapping using fMRI for assessing hemispheric language dominance is novel and it was deemed valuable since it provided additional information compared to the results gained from each method individually.

  14. Evidence for a basal temporal visual language center: cortical stimulation producing pure alexia.

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    Mani, J; Diehl, B; Piao, Z; Schuele, S S; Lapresto, E; Liu, P; Nair, D R; Dinner, D S; Lüders, H O

    2008-11-11

    Dejerine and Benson and Geschwind postulated disconnection of the dominant angular gyrus from both visual association cortices as the basis for pure alexia, emphasizing disruption of white matter tracts in the dominant temporooccipital region. Recently functional imaging studies provide evidence for direct participation of basal temporal and occipital cortices in the cognitive process of reading. The exact location and function of these areas remain a matter of debate. To confirm the participation of the basal temporal region in reading. Extraoperative electrical stimulation of the dominant hemisphere was performed in three subjects using subdural electrodes, as part of presurgical evaluation for refractory epilepsy. Pure alexia was reproduced during cortical stimulation of the dominant posterior fusiform and inferior temporal gyri in all three patients. Stimulation resulted in selective reading difficulty with intact auditory comprehension and writing. Reading difficulty involved sentences and words with intact letter by letter reading. Picture naming difficulties were also noted at some electrodes. This region is located posterior to and contiguous with the basal temporal language area (BTLA) where stimulation resulted in global language dysfunction in visual and auditory realms. The location corresponded with the visual word form area described on functional MRI. These observations support the existence of a visual language area in the dominant fusiform and occipitotemporal gyri, contiguous with basal temporal language area. A portion of visual language area was exclusively involved in lexical processing while the other part of this region processed both lexical and nonlexical symbols.

  15. Gradient language dominance affects talker learning.

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    Bregman, Micah R; Creel, Sarah C

    2014-01-01

    Traditional conceptions of spoken language assume that speech recognition and talker identification are computed separately. Neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies imply some separation between the two faculties, but recent perceptual studies suggest better talker recognition in familiar languages than unfamiliar languages. A familiar-language benefit in talker recognition potentially implies strong ties between the two domains. However, little is known about the nature of this language familiarity effect. The current study investigated the relationship between speech and talker processing by assessing bilingual and monolingual listeners' ability to learn voices as a function of language familiarity and age of acquisition. Two effects emerged. First, bilinguals learned to recognize talkers in their first language (Korean) more rapidly than they learned to recognize talkers in their second language (English), while English-speaking participants showed the opposite pattern (learning English talkers faster than Korean talkers). Second, bilinguals' learning rate for talkers in their second language (English) correlated with age of English acquisition. Taken together, these results suggest that language background materially affects talker encoding, implying a tight relationship between speech and talker representations. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  16. Acoustic-Phonetic Versus Lexical Processing in Nonnative Listeners Differing in Their Dominant Language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shi, Lu-Feng; Koenig, Laura L

    2016-09-01

    Nonnative listeners have difficulty recognizing English words due to underdeveloped acoustic-phonetic and/or lexical skills. The present study used Boothroyd and Nittrouer's (1988)j factor to tease apart these two components of word recognition. Participants included 15 native English and 29 native Russian listeners. Fourteen and 15 of the Russian listeners reported English (ED) and Russian (RD) to be their dominant language, respectively. Listeners were presented 119 consonant-vowel-consonant real and nonsense words in speech-spectrum noise at +6 dB SNR. Responses were scored for word and phoneme recognition, the logarithmic quotient of which yielded j. Word and phoneme recognition was comparable between native and ED listeners but poorer in RD listeners. Analysis of j indicated less effective use of lexical information in RD than in native and ED listeners. Lexical processing was strongly correlated with the length of residence in the United States. Language background is important for nonnative word recognition. Lexical skills can be regarded as nativelike in ED nonnative listeners. Compromised word recognition in ED listeners is unlikely a result of poor lexical processing. Performance should be interpreted with caution for listeners dominant in their first language, whose word recognition is affected by both lexical and acoustic-phonetic factors.

  17. Reorganization of Language Areas in Patient with a Frontal Lobe Low Grade Glioma – fMRI Case Study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kośla, Katarzyna; Bryszewski, Bartosz; Jaskólski, Dariusz; Błasiak-Kołacińska, Nina; Stefańczyk, Ludomir; Majos, Agata

    2015-01-01

    Functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) studies results in case of an adult patient with low grade glioma (LGG) in dominant hemisphere suggest brain plasticity process with acquisition of language functions by the non-dominant hemisphere speech regions. A 36-years old right-handed woman was admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery for surgical treatment of brain tumor. An MRI examination revealed a pathological mass in the left frontal lobe, in close topographical relationship to the Broca’s area. A left fronto-parietal craniotomy was performed, with an intraoperative awake language mapping procedure. A total resection of the pathological mass was achieved. The tumor was examined histologically as LGG. In the follow-up MRI exam 32 months after the operation a tumor recurrence was suggested. The fMRI exams performed preoperative and 3, 32 and 41 months after the operation showed changes in language regions activation patterns, with a progressive right-sided activation of Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas. Pre- and postoperative cognitive evaluation by a neuropsychologist did not detect any language impairment. We present a running process of reorganization of language areas in a patient after brain tumor resection, from strong left-sided to symmetrical lateralization. 1. FMRI results in comparison with the psychological status of the patient proved contribution of functional reorganization to the preservation of language performance. 2. A slow growing LGG as well as the recurrence of the tumor near the left Broca’s area might be the factors leading to reorganization of language-related areas by recruiting the right hemisphe

  18. Right Hemispheric Dominance of Creative Insight: An Event-Related Potential Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shen, Wangbing; Liu, Chang; Zhang, Xiaojiang; Zhao, Xiaojun; Zhang, Jing; Yuan, Yuan; Chen, Yalin

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to investigate the hemispheric effect of creative insight. This study used high-density ERPs to record participants' brain activity while they performed an insight task. Results showed that both insight solutions and incomprehension solutions elicited a more negative ERP deflection (N320~550) than noninsight solutions…

  19. Ipsilateral deficits in 1-handed shoe tying after left or right hemisphere stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poole, Janet L; Sadek, Joseph; Haaland, Kathleen Y

    2009-10-01

    Poole JL, Sadek J, Haaland KY. Ipsilateral deficits in 1-handed shoe tying after left or right hemisphere stroke. To examine 1-handed shoe tying performance and whether cognitive deficits more associated with left or right hemisphere damage differentially affect it after unilateral stroke. Observational cohort comparing ipsilesional shoe tying, spatial and language skills, and limb praxis. Primary care Veterans Affairs and private medical center. Not applicable. Volunteer right-handed sample of adults with left or right hemisphere damage and healthy demographically matched adults. The number of correct trials and the total time to complete 10 trials tying a shoe using the 1-handed method. Both stroke groups had fewer correct trials and were significantly slower tying the shoe than the control group. Spatial skills predicted accuracy and speed after right hemisphere damage. After left hemisphere damage, accuracy was predicted by spatial skills and limb praxis, while speed was predicted by limb praxis only. Ipsilesional shoe tying is similarly impaired after left or right hemisphere damage, but for different reasons. Spatial deficits had a greater influence after right hemisphere damage, and limb apraxia had a greater influence after left hemisphere damage. Language deficits did not affect performance, indicating that aphasia does not preclude using this therapy approach. These results suggest that rehabilitation professionals should consider assessment of limb apraxia and ipsilesional skill training in the performance of everyday tasks.

  20. Theories of inter-hemispheric interactions in aphasia: the role of tDCS in rehabilitation of post-stroke aphasia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roy H Hamilton

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Mounting data from behavioral and neuroimaging studies have shown that the process of recovery from aphasia is largely driven by the reorganization of brain networks related to language. Evidence implicates a variety of potential mechanisms in this reorganization, some of which involve substantive changes in brain functional activity within and between cerebral hemispheres. These changes include intrahemispheric recruitment of perilesional left-hemisphere regions and transcallosal interhemispheric interactions between lesioned left-hemisphere language areas and homologous regions in the right hemisphere. With respect to the role of the right hemisphere, it is debated whether interhemispheric interactions are beneficial or deleterious to recovering language networks. Recent years have also seen the emergence of noninvasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS as potential novel treatments for post-stroke aphasia. Because these techniques are predicated on either focal excitation or inhibition of brain areas, characterization of the functional roles of the left and right hemispheres and transcallosal interactions in aphasia recovery is of central importance to the development and refinement of stimulation-based therapies. However, most treatment studies involving noninvasive brain stimulation in aphasia have tacitly accepted the interhemispheric inhibition model, in which right hemisphere activity interferes with language recovery that is mediated by left hemisphere perisylvian regions. Based on this account, many studies in aphasia involving TMS and tDCS have adopted one of two approaches consistent with the model: left hemisphere excitation or right hemisphere inhibition. In this presentation, we will review both clinical and cognitive neuroscience evidence that elucidates different hemispheric mechanisms that influence recovery from aphasia after stroke

  1. Nasal cycle dominance and hallucinations in an adult schizophrenic female.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shannahoff-Khalsa, David; Golshan, Shahrokh

    2015-03-30

    Nasal dominance, at the onset of hallucinations, was studied as a marker of both the lateralized ultradian rhythm of the autonomic nervous system and the tightly coupled ultradian rhythm of alternating cerebral hemispheric dominance in a single case study of a schizophrenic female. Over 1086 days, 145 hallucination episodes occurred with left nostril dominance significantly greater than the right nostril dominant phase of the nasal cycle. A right nostril breathing exercise, that primarily stimulates the left hemisphere, reduces symptoms more quickly for hallucinations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. When One Hemisphere Takes Control: Metacontrol in Pigeons (Columba livia)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adam, Ruth; Güntürkün, Onur

    2009-01-01

    Background Vertebrate brains are composed of two hemispheres that receive input, compute, and interact to form a unified response. How the partially different processes of both hemispheres are integrated to create a single output is largely unknown. In some cases one hemisphere takes charge of the response selection – a process known as metacontrol. Thus far, this phenomenon has only been shown in a handful of studies with primates, mostly conducted in humans. Metacontrol, however, is even more relevant for animals like birds with laterally placed eyes and complete chiasmatic decussation since visual input to the hemispheres is largely different. Methodology/Principal Findings Homing pigeons (Columba livia) were trained with a color discrimination task. Each hemisphere was trained with a different color pair and therefore had a different experience. Subsequently, the pigeons were binocularly examined with two additional stimuli that combined the positive color of one hemisphere with a negative color that had been shown to the other, omitting the availability of a coherent solution and confronting the pigeons with a conflicting situation. Some of the pigeons responded to both stimuli, indicating that none of the hemispheres dominated the overall preference. Some birds, however, responded primarily to one of the conflicting stimuli, showing that they based their choice on the left- or right-monocularly learned color pair, indicating hemispheric metacontrol. Conclusions/Significance We could demonstrate for the first time that metacontrol is a widespread phenomenon that also exists in birds, and thus in principle requires no corpus callosum. Our results are closely similar to those in humans: monocular performance was higher than binocular one and animals displayed different modes of hemispheric dominance. Thus, metacontrol is a dynamic and widely distributed process that possibly constitutes a requirement for all animals with a bipartite brain to confront the

  3. When one hemisphere takes control: metacontrol in pigeons (Columba livia.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ruth Adam

    Full Text Available Vertebrate brains are composed of two hemispheres that receive input, compute, and interact to form a unified response. How the partially different processes of both hemispheres are integrated to create a single output is largely unknown. In some cases one hemisphere takes charge of the response selection--a process known as metacontrol. Thus far, this phenomenon has only been shown in a handful of studies with primates, mostly conducted in humans. Metacontrol, however, is even more relevant for animals like birds with laterally placed eyes and complete chiasmatic decussation since visual input to the hemispheres is largely different.Homing pigeons (Columba livia were trained with a color discrimination task. Each hemisphere was trained with a different color pair and therefore had a different experience. Subsequently, the pigeons were binocularly examined with two additional stimuli that combined the positive color of one hemisphere with a negative color that had been shown to the other, omitting the availability of a coherent solution and confronting the pigeons with a conflicting situation. Some of the pigeons responded to both stimuli, indicating that none of the hemispheres dominated the overall preference. Some birds, however, responded primarily to one of the conflicting stimuli, showing that they based their choice on the left- or right-monocularly learned color pair, indicating hemispheric metacontrol.We could demonstrate for the first time that metacontrol is a widespread phenomenon that also exists in birds, and thus in principle requires no corpus callosum. Our results are closely similar to those in humans: monocular performance was higher than binocular one and animals displayed different modes of hemispheric dominance. Thus, metacontrol is a dynamic and widely distributed process that possibly constitutes a requirement for all animals with a bipartite brain to confront the problem of choosing between two hemisphere

  4. A review of theories of dominat hemisphere and cerebral lateralization%优势半球或脑功能偏侧化学说的评价

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    杨建霞; 张桂青; 胡浴桓

    2002-01-01

    To review the theory of dominant hemisphere from the literature of western world intend to find the inadeguacies of it.Inadequacies of the theory:⑴ The theory of dominane hemisphere are only from the results of studies of phonograhic language.⑵ Most literature about the theory are only from the results of clinical studies.There were scanty of large scale of patients by community or popural based studies.The transcultural or transethnical studies were still more scanty.⑶ The results of experiments were perplexed.Look forward to the future: ⑴ Must pay attention of basic research of epidemiologic transcultural and transethnical studies.(2)Experimental studies must be suitable for language itself, traditional culture and ethical condition of the country and nationality.⑶ Some mcdern means such as fMRI and TMS etc.are difficult to popularize at present time.They may also be difficult to cumulate a large sample of patients.

  5. Prominent microglial activation in cortical white matter is selectively associated with cortical atrophy in primary progressive aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohm, Daniel T; Kim, Garam; Gefen, Tamar; Rademaker, Alfred; Weintraub, Sandra; Bigio, Eileen; Mesulam, M-Marsel; Rogalski, Emily; Geula, Changiz

    2018-04-21

    Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is a clinical syndrome characterized by selective language impairments associated with focal cortical atrophy favouring the language dominant hemisphere. PPA is associated with Alzheimer's disease (AD), frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD), and significant accumulation of activated microglia. Activated microglia can initiate an inflammatory cascade that may contribute to neurodegeneration, but their quantitative distribution in cortical white matter and their relationship with cortical atrophy are unknown. We investigated white matter activated microglia and their association with grey matter atrophy in 10 PPA cases with either AD or FTLD-TDP pathology. Activated microglia were quantified with optical density measures of HLA-DR immunoreactivity in two regions with peak cortical atrophy, and one non-atrophied region within the language dominant hemisphere of each PPA case. Non-atrophied contralateral homologues of the language dominant regions were examined for hemispheric asymmetry. Qualitatively, greater densities of activated microglia were observed in cortical white matter when compared to grey matter. Quantitative analyses revealed significantly greater densities of activated microglia in the white matter of atrophied regions compared to non-atrophied regions in the language dominant hemisphere (p<0.05). Atrophied regions of the language dominant hemisphere also showed significantly more activated microglia compared to contralateral homologues (p<0.05). White matter activated microglia accumulate more in atrophied regions in the language dominant hemisphere of PPA. While microglial activation may constitute a response to neurodegenerative processes in white matter, the resultant inflammatory processes may also exacerbate disease progression and contribute to cortical atrophy. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

  6. Síndromes del hemisferio no dominante Syndrome of cerebral non-dominant hemisphere

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    Newra Rotta

    2007-01-01

    Full Text Available En este trabajo de revisión se discute lo que entendemos de las funciones hemisféricas y se abordan los principales hallazgos que forman parte del síndrome del hemisferio cerebral no dominante, que en la mayor parte de los casos es el derecho, con énfasis en las alteraciones de la sustancia blanca o sea de las fibras comisurales, de asociación y de proyección. Los diferentes aspectos de los síndromes tienen relación con la etiología, localización, extensión y etapa del desarrollo en que el daño ocurrió. Se observan: hemiplejía izquierda; alteración de la prosodia, así como alteraciones en la comunicación no verbal; percepción visuo-espacial; organización, secuenciación de actividades e interacción social. Estos comportamientos se observan también en trastornos del desarrollo, tales como disturbio de déficit de atención/hiperactividad, y síndrome de Asperger. Con el objetivo de destacar cuáles son los hallazgos más frecuentes y más persistentes en niños con lesión adquirida en el hemisferio derecho, presentamos siete casos de accidente vascular isquémico. Todos los pacientes fueron controlados por más de dos años y se les realizó examen neurológico, examen neurológico evolutivo y evaluación psicológica. Con el seguimiento de los siete casos fue posible observar que las alteraciones motoras son menos severas y menos definitivas que las alteraciones cognitivas, afectivas y conductuales.In this review the meaning of cerebral hemispheric function is discussed with special emphasis in non-dominant cerebral hemisphere and particularly in the lesion of commissural, association, projection of white matter fibers. Clinical characteristics depend on etiology, localization, extension and particularly the period of brain development. The following are common findings in these patients: left hemiplegia, abnormal prosody and non verbal communication, anomalies visiospatial perception, organization, and social interaction

  7. Language Lateralization in Individuals with Callosal Agenesis: An fMRI Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pelletier, Isabelle; Paquette, Natacha; Lepore, Franco; Rouleau, Isabelle; Sauerwein, Catherine H.; Rosa, Christine; Leroux, Jean-Maxime; Gravel, Pierre; Valois, Katja; Andermann, Frederick; Saint-Amour, Dave; Lassonde, Maryse

    2011-01-01

    Since the seminal work of Broca in 1861, it is well established that language is essentially processed in the left hemisphere. However, the origin of hemispheric specialization remains controversial. Some authors posit that language lateralization is genetically determined, while others have suggested that hemispheric specialization develops with…

  8. Questions of Brain Hemispheric Specialization and Gender Difference in Spatial Tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McWhinnie, Harold J.

    This paper presents a review of selected literature relevant to a general question of hemispheric specialization (right or left brain) and questions of gender differences in spatial abilities among a group of art students. Three basic questions for discussion are proposed: (1) is there a relationship between hemispheric dominance and spatial…

  9. The modulation of venlafaxine on cortical activation of language area in healthy subjects with fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Qi; Liu, Yan; Li, Chun-Yong; Song, Xue-Zhu; Wang, Jun; Han, Li-Xin; Bai, Hong-Min

    2012-10-01

    Previous studies have shown that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, activators of the cortex, apparently improved language functional recovery after brain damage rather than simply affective disorders. Our aim was to determine whether venlafaxine (an agonist of both norepinephrine and 5-hydroxytryptamine) could modulate language cortex function. A double-blind, crossover, randomized design was used to compare two 7-day treatment sessions with either venlafaxine (75 mg per day) or placebo. A functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment and two language function tests were performed on eight healthy males (mean age, 28.25 ± 3.15 years) at the end of each session, i.e., study entry, after venlafaxine, and after placebo (days 0, 7, and 18). Hyperactivation (venlafaxine minus placebo >0) or hypoactivation (placebo minus venlafaxine >0) by venlaxafine was assessed on the basis of the activation-baseline contrast. The naming score (P gyrus frontalis medius and the bilateral fusiform gyrus and the bilateral outer occipital lobes, (2) hyperactivation was observed in the adjoining area of posterior upper Broca area and premotor area in the dominant hemisphere in venlafaxine session (after venlafaxine), (3) the hyperactivation of the left gyrus frontalis medius on fMRI and the increase in naming test score were positively correlated, and (4) by contrast, we observed hypoactivation in the temporo-parieto-occipital region in venlafaxine session (after venlafaxine). This improvement may be related to increased phonics-related output in the frontal language cortex of the dominant hemisphere.

  10. Right hemispheric dominance of visual phenomena evoked by intracerebral stimulation of the human visual cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jonas, Jacques; Frismand, Solène; Vignal, Jean-Pierre; Colnat-Coulbois, Sophie; Koessler, Laurent; Vespignani, Hervé; Rossion, Bruno; Maillard, Louis

    2014-07-01

    Electrical brain stimulation can provide important information about the functional organization of the human visual cortex. Here, we report the visual phenomena evoked by a large number (562) of intracerebral electrical stimulations performed at low-intensity with depth electrodes implanted in the occipito-parieto-temporal cortex of 22 epileptic patients. Focal electrical stimulation evoked primarily visual hallucinations with various complexities: simple (spot or blob), intermediary (geometric forms), or complex meaningful shapes (faces); visual illusions and impairments of visual recognition were more rarely observed. With the exception of the most posterior cortical sites, the probability of evoking a visual phenomenon was significantly higher in the right than the left hemisphere. Intermediary and complex hallucinations, illusions, and visual recognition impairments were almost exclusively evoked by stimulation in the right hemisphere. The probability of evoking a visual phenomenon decreased substantially from the occipital pole to the most anterior sites of the temporal lobe, and this decrease was more pronounced in the left hemisphere. The greater sensitivity of the right occipito-parieto-temporal regions to intracerebral electrical stimulation to evoke visual phenomena supports a predominant role of right hemispheric visual areas from perception to recognition of visual forms, regardless of visuospatial and attentional factors. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. Analyzing functional, structural, and anatomical correlation of hemispheric language lateralization in healthy subjects using functional MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and voxel-based morphometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    James, Jija S; Kumari, Sheela R; Sreedharan, Ruma Madhu; Thomas, Bejoy; Radhkrishnan, Ashalatha; Kesavadas, Chandrasekharan

    2015-01-01

    To evaluate the efficacy of diffusion fiber tractography (DFT) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) for lateralizing language in comparison with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to noninvasively assess hemispheric language lateralization in normal healthy volunteers. The aim of the present study is to evaluate the concordance of language lateralization obtained by diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and VBM to fMRI, and thus to see whether there exists an anatomical correlate for language lateralization result obtained using fMRI. This is an advanced neuroimaging study conducted in normal healthy volunteers. Fifty-seven normal healthy subjects (39 males and 18 females; age range: 15-40 years) underwent language fMRI and 30 underwent direction DTI. fMRI language laterality index (LI), fiber tract asymmetry index (AI), and tract-based statistics of dorsal and ventral language pathways were calculated. The combined results were correlated with VBM-based volumetry of Heschl's gyrus (HG), planum temporale (PT), and insula for lateralization of language function. A linear regression analysis was done to study the correlation between fMRI, DTI, and VBM measurements. A good agreement was found between language fMRI LI and fiber tract AI, more specifically for arcuate fasciculus (ArcF) and inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF). The study demonstrated significant correlations (P based statistics, and PT and HG volumetry for determining language lateralization. A strong one-to-one correlation between fMRI, laterality index, DTI tractography measures, and VBM-based volumetry measures for determining language lateralization exists.

  12. Workflow Generation from the Two-Hemisphere Model

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    Gusarovs Konstantīns

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Model-Driven Software Development (MDSD is a trend in Software Development that focuses on code generation from various kinds of models. To perform such a task, it is necessary to develop an algorithm that performs source model transformation into the target model, which ideally is an actual software code written in some kind of a programming language. However, at present a lot of methods focus on Unified Modelling Language (UML diagram generation. The present paper describes a result of authors’ research on Two-Hemisphere Model (2HM processing for easier code generation.

  13. Effects of Neurological Damage on Production of Formulaic Language

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidtis, Diana; Canterucci, Gina; Katsnelson, Dora

    2009-01-01

    Early studies reported preserved formulaic language in left hemisphere damaged subjects and reduced incidence of formulaic expressions in the conversational speech of stroke patients with right hemispheric damage. Clinical observations suggest a possible role also of subcortical nuclei. This study examined formulaic language in the spontaneous…

  14. Exploring telicity and transitivity in primordial thought language and body boundary imagery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cariola, Laura A

    2014-12-01

    Linguistics research on 'unconscious knowledge' related to the right brain-hemisphere represents a shift from the prevalent scientific investigation of the linguistic processes of grammatical structures associated with the dominant 'verbal' left brain-hemisphere. This study explores the relationship among primordial thought language, body boundary awareness and syntactic features--i.e., telicity, perfectivity and transitivity-in autobiographical narratives of everyday and dream memories. The results showed that event descriptions with atelic predicates and intransitive structures were more frequent in dream recall than in narratives of everyday memories. Primordial thought language and body boundary awareness, however, decreased with atelic predicates and transitive structures, which might indicate both the tendency of events to describe result states, such as achievements and accomplishments, as a means to bring about an unconscious wish fulfilment and the emphasis on event arguments to be realised without the inclusion of an external object. In narratives of everyday memories, penetration imagery increased with imperfective verb forms and decreased with perfective verb forms, and emotion lexis increased with atelic predicates and transitive structures, but not in dream memories.

  15. Points in the set-up of tests for fMRI. Toward the delineation of language-competent areas in clinical practice

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takashima, Hisaharu; Ejima, Mitsuhiro; Takeyama, Mamoru; Yamaguchi, Masami; Sato, Yoshino

    2001-01-01

    This hospital has performed fMRI of language-competent areas of the brain to identify the language-dominant hemisphere and obtain the configuration of the focus in the language-dominant side of the brain. Until now, signals have been detected in only two of fifteen patients who were diagnosed by language tests of a last-syllable word chain. In the present experiment, we tried to have subjects select the type of test. The result was that changes in signals were detected in eight of ten patients. Although the set-up of tests for fMRI is said to hold significant value, clear-cut studies to back this up have rarely been seen. Because clinical medicine treats patients who have difficulty in communication or suffer from aphasia, it is important to take into consideration individual variations and to set up a test suitable for, or achievable by, these individuals. The present method enabled us to avoid failure in examination caused by unsuccessful tests. (author)

  16. Points in the set-up of tests for fMRI. Toward the delineation of language-competent areas in clinical practice

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Takashima, Hisaharu; Ejima, Mitsuhiro; Takeyama, Mamoru; Yamaguchi, Masami; Sato, Yoshino [Tokyo Women' s Medical Coll. (Japan). Hospital

    2001-06-01

    This hospital has performed fMRI of language-competent areas of the brain to identify the language-dominant hemisphere and obtain the configuration of the focus in the language-dominant side of the brain. Until now, signals have been detected in only two of fifteen patients who were diagnosed by language tests of a last-syllable word chain. In the present experiment, we tried to have subjects select the type of test. The result was that changes in signals were detected in eight of ten patients. Although the set-up of tests for fMRI is said to hold significant value, clear-cut studies to back this up have rarely been seen. Because clinical medicine treats patients who have difficulty in communication or suffer from aphasia, it is important to take into consideration individual variations and to set up a test suitable for, or achievable by, these individuals. The present method enabled us to avoid failure in examination caused by unsuccessful tests. (author)

  17. Functional MRI approach for assessing hemispheric predominance of regions activated by a phonological and a semantic task

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cousin, Emilie; Peyrin, Carole; Pichat, Cedric [Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, UMR CNRS 5105, Universite Pierre Mendes-France, BP 47, 38040 Grenoble Cedex 09 (France); Lamalle, Laurent; Le Bas, Jean-Francois [Unite IRM, IFR1, CHU Grenoble (France); Baciu, Monica [Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, UMR CNRS 5105, Universite Pierre Mendes-France, BP 47, 38040 Grenoble Cedex 09 (France)], E-mail: mbaciu@upmf-grenoble.fr

    2007-08-15

    This fMRI study performed in healthy subjects aimed at using a statistical approach in order to determine significant functional differences between hemispheres and to assess specialized regions activated during a phonological and during a semantic task. This approach ('flip' method and subsequent statistical analyses of the parameter estimates extracted from regions of interest) allows identifying: (a) hemispheric specialized regions for each language task [semantic (living categorization) and phonological (rhyme detection)] and (b) condition-specific regions with respect to paradigm conditions (task and control). Our results showed that the rhyme-specific task regions were the inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and left inferior parietal (BA 40, 39) lobules. Furthermore, within the inferior parietal lobule, the angular gyrus was specific to target (rhyming) items (related to successfully grapho-phonemic processing). The categorization-specific task regions were the left inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and superior temporal (BA 22) cortices. Furthermore, the superior temporal gyrus was related to non-target (non-living) items (correlated to task difficulty). The relatively new approach used in this study has the advantage of providing: (a) statistical significance of the hemispheric specialized regions for a given language task and (b) supplementary information in terms of paradigm condition-specificity of the activated regions. The results (standard hemispheric specialized regions for a semantic and for a phonological task) obtained in healthy subjects may constitute a basement for mapping language and assessing hemispheric predominance in epileptic patients before surgery and avoiding post-surgical impairments of language.

  18. Functional MRI approach for assessing hemispheric predominance of regions activated by a phonological and a semantic task

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cousin, Emilie; Peyrin, Carole; Pichat, Cedric; Lamalle, Laurent; Le Bas, Jean-Francois; Baciu, Monica

    2007-01-01

    This fMRI study performed in healthy subjects aimed at using a statistical approach in order to determine significant functional differences between hemispheres and to assess specialized regions activated during a phonological and during a semantic task. This approach ('flip' method and subsequent statistical analyses of the parameter estimates extracted from regions of interest) allows identifying: (a) hemispheric specialized regions for each language task [semantic (living categorization) and phonological (rhyme detection)] and (b) condition-specific regions with respect to paradigm conditions (task and control). Our results showed that the rhyme-specific task regions were the inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and left inferior parietal (BA 40, 39) lobules. Furthermore, within the inferior parietal lobule, the angular gyrus was specific to target (rhyming) items (related to successfully grapho-phonemic processing). The categorization-specific task regions were the left inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and superior temporal (BA 22) cortices. Furthermore, the superior temporal gyrus was related to non-target (non-living) items (correlated to task difficulty). The relatively new approach used in this study has the advantage of providing: (a) statistical significance of the hemispheric specialized regions for a given language task and (b) supplementary information in terms of paradigm condition-specificity of the activated regions. The results (standard hemispheric specialized regions for a semantic and for a phonological task) obtained in healthy subjects may constitute a basement for mapping language and assessing hemispheric predominance in epileptic patients before surgery and avoiding post-surgical impairments of language

  19. Hemispheric asymmetry in holistic processing of words.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ventura, Paulo; Delgado, João; Ferreira, Miguel; Farinha-Fernandes, António; Guerreiro, José C; Faustino, Bruno; Leite, Isabel; Wong, Alan C-N

    2018-05-13

    Holistic processing has been regarded as a hallmark of face perception, indicating the automatic and obligatory tendency of the visual system to process all face parts as a perceptual unit rather than in isolation. Studies involving lateralized stimulus presentation suggest that the right hemisphere dominates holistic face processing. Holistic processing can also be shown with other categories such as words and thus it is not specific to faces or face-like expertize. Here, we used divided visual field presentation to investigate the possibly different contributions of the two hemispheres for holistic word processing. Observers performed same/different judgment on the cued parts of two sequentially presented words in the complete composite paradigm. Our data indicate a right hemisphere specialization for holistic word processing. Thus, these markers of expert object recognition are domain general.

  20. Gender differences in hemispheric asymmetry for face processing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matarazzo Silvia

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Current cognitive neuroscience models predict a right-hemispheric dominance for face processing in humans. However, neuroimaging and electromagnetic data in the literature provide conflicting evidence of a right-sided brain asymmetry for decoding the structural properties of faces. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether this inconsistency might be due to gender differences in hemispheric asymmetry. Results In this study, event-related brain potentials (ERPs were recorded in 40 healthy, strictly right-handed individuals (20 women and 20 men while they observed infants' faces expressing a variety of emotions. Early face-sensitive P1 and N1 responses to neutral vs. affective expressions were measured over the occipital/temporal cortices, and the responses were analyzed according to viewer gender. Along with a strong right hemispheric dominance for men, the results showed a lack of asymmetry for face processing in the amplitude of the occipito-temporal N1 response in women to both neutral and affective faces. Conclusion Men showed an asymmetric functioning of visual cortex while decoding faces and expressions, whereas women showed a more bilateral functioning. These results indicate the importance of gender effects in the lateralization of the occipito-temporal response during the processing of face identity, structure, familiarity, or affective content.

  1. Pre-surgical evaluation of the cerebral tumor in the left language related areas by functional MRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zou Zhitong; Ma Lin; Weng Xuchu

    2010-01-01

    Objective: To evaluate the application of combination of BOLD-fMRI and diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) in pre-operative evaluation of cerebral tumors located at the left language related areas. Methods: A non-vocal button pressing semantic judging paradigm was developed and validated in 10 right-handed volunteers at 3 T. After validation, this protocol combined with DTI were applied to 15 patients with left cerebral tumor prior to surgical resection, and 3 of them had aphasia. fMRI data analysis was on subject-specific basis by one-sampled t-test. The distance from the tumor to Broca area and pre-central 'hand-knot' area were measured separately. Functional language laterality index (LI) was calculated by taking out Broca area and Wernicke area. Three dimensional architecture of frontal lobe white matter fibers, especially arcuate fasciculus, were visualized using diffusion tensor tractography on Volume-one software. The images demonstrating relationship among tumor, language activation areas and white matter fibers were reviewed by neurosurgeons as part of pre-operative planning. One year after the operation, patients were followed up with MRI and language function test. Results: The non-vocal semantic judging paradigm successfully detect Broca area, Wernicke area and pre-central 'hand-knot' area. In 12 of 15 patients, the relationship of Broca area and pre-central motor area to the left brain tumor in language related areas was identified, which make the pre-operative neurosurgical plan applicable to minimize the disruption of language and motor. 8 patients had the left language dominant hemisphere, 3 patients with the right language dominant hemisphere and 1 patient with bilateral dominance. The other 3 patients' fMRI data were corrupted by patients' motion. Diffusion tensor images were corrupted by motion in 1 patient but demonstrated the impact of tumor on left accouter fasciculus in 14 patients. Diffusion tensor tractography showed disruption of left

  2. Nonverbal behavior in soccer: the influence of dominant and submissive body language on the impression formation and expectancy of success of soccer players.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Furley, Philip; Dicks, Matt; Memmert, Daniel

    2012-02-01

    In the present article, we investigate the effects of specific nonverbal behaviors signaling dominance and submissiveness on impression formation and outcome expectation in the soccer penalty kick situation. In Experiment 1, results indicated that penalty takers with dominant body language are perceived more positively by soccer goalkeepers and players and are expected to perform better than players with a submissive body language. This effect was similar for both video and point-light displays. Moreover, in contrast to previous studies, we found no effect of clothing (red vs. white) in the video condition. In Experiment 2, we used the implicit association test to demonstrate that dominant body language is implicitly associated with a positive soccer player schema whereas submissive body language is implicitly associated with a negative soccer player schema. The implications of our findings are discussed with reference to future implications for theory and research in the study of person perception in sport.

  3. LANGUAGE COMPETENCE OF STUDENT TOWARD RIGHT HEMISPHER BRAIN FUNCTION : A Neuropragmatic Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Handoko Handoko

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available It has been known that the right hemisphere is contributed to language processing, especially in macro level, including macrostructure or discourse processing. This research is aimed at evaluating the students’ ability in language processing concerning macrostructure and the right hemispher brain function. This research is based on Dharmaperwira-prins method “Right Hemisphere Communication Assessment” (Pemeriksaan Komunikasi Hemisfer Kanan/PKHK. Research on students’ ability in macrostructure processing is important to conduct since students nowadays are regarded lack of ability in well being communication. The research is conducted toward 38 students of English Department of Andalas University. The data are taken by paper test which is designed to evaluate the students’ ability in macrostructure. The result of research shows that most students have problems in providing important information, adjective, and feeling. By this result, it can be assumed that the participants have problem in right hemisphere competence concerning to language processing. These problems evoke not by accident or lesion in right hemisphere, yet it is caused by brain development which is focused on left hemisphere only. Keyword: Right Hemisphere, Language Assessment, Lexical Semantic, Macrostructure, Pragmatic

  4. What Does the Right Hemisphere Know about Phoneme Categories?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolmetz, Michael; Poeppel, David; Rapp, Brenda

    2011-01-01

    Innate auditory sensitivities and familiarity with the sounds of language give rise to clear influences of phonemic categories on adult perception of speech. With few exceptions, current models endorse highly left-hemisphere-lateralized mechanisms responsible for the influence of phonemic category on speech perception, based primarily on results…

  5. Cognitive Effects of Bilingualism: Digging Deeper for the Contributions of Language Dominance, Linguistic Knowledge, Socio-Economic Status and Cognitive Abilities

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mueller Gathercole, Virginia C.; Thomas, Enlli Mon; Jones, Leah; Guasch, Nestor Vinas; Young, Nia; Hughes, Emma K.

    2010-01-01

    This study explores the extent to which a bilingual advantage can be observed for executive function tasks in children of varying levels of language dominance, and examines the contributions of general cognitive knowledge, linguistic abilities, language use and socio-economic level to performance. Welsh-English bilingual and English monolingual…

  6. Investment in the Western Hemisphere energy market

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gillam, P.J.

    1991-01-01

    This paper reports that the main characteristics of Western Hemisphere energy markets are well known to those in the energy industry. The United States sits in the northern half of the hemisphere, importing more and more oil from the rest of the world. Brazil, with a market one-tenth of the size of the United Sates, sits in the southern half of the hemisphere, importing less and less oil from the rest of the world. Venezuela sits in the center with an eye to the future as a long-term player in the world petroleum industry. Venezuela has 6 or 7 percent of the world's known conventional petroleum reserves, plus an uncountable bitumen resource which is now being commercialized as Orimulsion, a low-emission substitute for coal. The United States is circled by major producing countries with smaller exports, such as Mexico and Canada, and there are smaller producing or consuming countries of which Colombia is the largest exporter and Argentian the largest importer. The United States dominates the numbers. Half of British Petroleum's (BP) investments have been in the energy industry of the Western Hemisphere. We are maintaining that proportion, but opportunities are becoming more difficult to find

  7. Cross-Linguistic Differences in the Neural Representation of Human Language: Evidence from Users of Signed Languages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Corina, David P.; Lawyer, Laurel A.; Cates, Deborah

    2013-01-01

    Studies of deaf individuals who are users of signed languages have provided profound insight into the neural representation of human language. Case studies of deaf signers who have incurred left- and right-hemisphere damage have shown that left-hemisphere resources are a necessary component of sign language processing. These data suggest that, despite frank differences in the input and output modality of language, core left perisylvian regions universally serve linguistic function. Neuroimaging studies of deaf signers have generally provided support for this claim. However, more fine-tuned studies of linguistic processing in deaf signers are beginning to show evidence of important differences in the representation of signed and spoken languages. In this paper, we provide a critical review of this literature and present compelling evidence for language-specific cortical representations in deaf signers. These data lend support to the claim that the neural representation of language may show substantive cross-linguistic differences. We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings with respect to an emerging understanding of the neurobiology of language. PMID:23293624

  8. Cholecystokinin A receptor (CCKAR gene variation is associated with language lateralization.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sebastian Ocklenburg

    Full Text Available Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder associated with atypical handedness and language lateralization. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these functional changes are still poorly understood. Therefore, the present study was aimed at investigating whether variation in schizophrenia-related genes modulates individual lateralization patterns. To this end, we genotyped 16 single nucleotide polymorphisms that have previously been linked to schizophrenia on a meta-analysis level in a sample of 444 genetically unrelated healthy participants and examined the association of these polymorphisms with handedness, footedness and language lateralization. We found a significant association of the cholecystokinin-A receptor (CCKAR gene variation rs1800857 and language lateralization assessed using the dichotic listening task. Individuals carrying the schizophrenia risk allele C of this polymorphism showed a marked reduction of the typical left-hemispheric dominance for language processing. Since the cholecystokinin A receptor is involved in dopamine release in the central nervous system, these findings suggest that genetic variation in this receptor may modulate language lateralization due to its impact on dopaminergic pathways.

  9. Hemispheric asymmetries in discourse processing: evidence from false memories for lists and texts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ben-Artzi, Elisheva; Faust, Miriam; Moeller, Edna

    2009-01-01

    Previous research suggests that the right hemisphere (RH) may contribute uniquely to discourse and text processing by activating and maintaining a wide range of meanings, including more distantly related meanings. The present study used the word-lists false memory paradigm [Roediger, H. L., III, & McDermott, K. B. (1995). Creating false memories: Remembering words not presented in lists. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 21, 803-814.] to examine the hypothesis that difference between the two cerebral hemispheres in discourse processing may be due, at least partly, to memory representations for implicit text-related semantic information. Specifically, we tested the susceptibility of the left hemisphere (LH) and RH to unpresented target words following the presentation of semantically related words appearing in either word lists or short texts. Findings showed that the RH produced more false alarms than the LH for unpresented target words following either word lists or texts. These findings reveal hemispheric differences in memory for semantically related information and suggest that RH advantage in long-term maintenance of a wide range of text-related word meanings may be one aspect of its unique contribution to the construction of a discourse model. The results support the RH coarse semantic coding theory [Beeman, M. (1998). Coarse semantic coding and discourse comprehension. In M. Beeman & C. Chiarello (Eds.), Right hemisphere language comprehension: Perspectives from cognitive neuroscience (pp. 255-284). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.] and suggest that hemispheric differences in semantic processing during language comprehension extend also to verbal memory.

  10. Neural Dissociation in the Production of Lexical versus Classifier Signs in ASL: Distinct Patterns of Hemispheric Asymmetry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hickok, Gregory; Pickell, Herbert; Klima, Edward; Bellugi, Ursula

    2009-01-01

    We examine the hemispheric organization for the production of two classes of ASL signs, lexical signs and classifier signs. Previous work has found strong left hemisphere dominance for the production of lexical signs, but several authors have speculated that classifier signs may involve the right hemisphere to a greater degree because they can…

  11. Inhibitory non-invasive brain stimulation to homologous language regions as an adjunct to speech and language therapy in post-stroke aphasia: a meta-analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Begonya eOtal

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Chronic communication impairment is common after stroke, and conventional speech and language therapy (SLT strategies have limited effectiveness in post-stroke aphasia. Neurorehabilitation with non-invasive brain stimulation techniques (NIBS ‒ particularly repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS or transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS ‒ may enhance the effects of SLT in selected patients. Applying inhibitory NIBS to specific homologous language regions may induce neural reorganization and reduce interhemispheric competition. This mini review highlights randomized controlled trials (RCTs and randomized cross-over trials using low-frequency rTMS or cathodal tDCS over the non-lesioned non-language dominant hemisphere and performs an exploratory meta-analysis of those trials considered combinable. Using a random-effects model, a meta-analysis of nine eligible trials involving 215 participants showed a significant mean effect size of 0.51 (95% CI = 0.24 to 0.79 for the main outcome accuracy of naming in language assessment. No heterogeneity was observed (I2 = 0%. More multicenter RCTs with larger populations and homogenous intervention protocols are required to confirm these and the longer-term effects.

  12. Combined DTI Tractography and Functional MRI Study of the Language Connectome in Healthy Volunteers: Extensive Mapping of White Matter Fascicles and Cortical Activations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    François Vassal

    Full Text Available Despite a better understanding of brain language organization into large-scale cortical networks, the underlying white matter (WM connectivity is still not mastered. Here we combined diffusion tensor imaging (DTI fiber tracking (FT and language functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI in twenty healthy subjects to gain new insights into the macroscopic structural connectivity of language. Eight putative WM fascicles for language were probed using a deterministic DTI-FT technique: the arcuate fascicle (AF, superior longitudinal fascicle (SLF, uncinate fascicle (UF, temporo-occipital fascicle, inferior fronto-occipital fascicle (IFOF, middle longitudinal fascicle (MdLF, frontal aslant fascicle and operculopremotor fascicle. Specific measurements (i.e. volume, length, fractional anisotropy and precise cortical terminations were derived for each WM fascicle within both hemispheres. Connections between these WM fascicles and fMRI activations were studied to determine which WM fascicles are related to language. WM fascicle volumes showed asymmetries: leftward for the AF, temporoparietal segment of SLF and UF, and rightward for the frontoparietal segment of the SLF. The lateralization of the AF, IFOF and MdLF extended to differences in patterns of anatomical connections, which may relate to specific hemispheric abilities. The leftward asymmetry of the AF was correlated to the leftward asymmetry of fMRI activations, suggesting that the lateralization of the AF is a structural substrate of hemispheric language dominance. We found consistent connections between fMRI activations and terminations of the eight WM fascicles, providing a detailed description of the language connectome. WM fascicle terminations were also observed beyond fMRI-confirmed language areas and reached numerous cortical areas involved in different functional brain networks. These findings suggest that the reported WM fascicles are not exclusively involved in language and might be

  13. Combined DTI Tractography and Functional MRI Study of the Language Connectome in Healthy Volunteers: Extensive Mapping of White Matter Fascicles and Cortical Activations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vassal, François; Schneider, Fabien; Boutet, Claire; Jean, Betty; Sontheimer, Anna; Lemaire, Jean-Jacques

    2016-01-01

    Despite a better understanding of brain language organization into large-scale cortical networks, the underlying white matter (WM) connectivity is still not mastered. Here we combined diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) fiber tracking (FT) and language functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in twenty healthy subjects to gain new insights into the macroscopic structural connectivity of language. Eight putative WM fascicles for language were probed using a deterministic DTI-FT technique: the arcuate fascicle (AF), superior longitudinal fascicle (SLF), uncinate fascicle (UF), temporo-occipital fascicle, inferior fronto-occipital fascicle (IFOF), middle longitudinal fascicle (MdLF), frontal aslant fascicle and operculopremotor fascicle. Specific measurements (i.e. volume, length, fractional anisotropy) and precise cortical terminations were derived for each WM fascicle within both hemispheres. Connections between these WM fascicles and fMRI activations were studied to determine which WM fascicles are related to language. WM fascicle volumes showed asymmetries: leftward for the AF, temporoparietal segment of SLF and UF, and rightward for the frontoparietal segment of the SLF. The lateralization of the AF, IFOF and MdLF extended to differences in patterns of anatomical connections, which may relate to specific hemispheric abilities. The leftward asymmetry of the AF was correlated to the leftward asymmetry of fMRI activations, suggesting that the lateralization of the AF is a structural substrate of hemispheric language dominance. We found consistent connections between fMRI activations and terminations of the eight WM fascicles, providing a detailed description of the language connectome. WM fascicle terminations were also observed beyond fMRI-confirmed language areas and reached numerous cortical areas involved in different functional brain networks. These findings suggest that the reported WM fascicles are not exclusively involved in language and might be related to

  14. Three- and four-dimensional mapping of speech and language in patients with epilepsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakai, Yasuo; Jeong, Jeong-won; Brown, Erik C.; Rothermel, Robert; Kojima, Katsuaki; Kambara, Toshimune; Shah, Aashit; Mittal, Sandeep; Sood, Sandeep

    2017-01-01

    We have provided 3-D and 4D mapping of speech and language function based upon the results of direct cortical stimulation and event-related modulation of electrocorticography signals. Patients estimated to have right-hemispheric language dominance were excluded. Thus, 100 patients who underwent two-stage epilepsy surgery with chronic electrocorticography recording were studied. An older group consisted of 84 patients at least 10 years of age (7367 artefact-free non-epileptic electrodes), whereas a younger group included 16 children younger than age 10 (1438 electrodes). The probability of symptoms transiently induced by electrical stimulation was delineated on a 3D average surface image. The electrocorticography amplitude changes of high-gamma (70–110 Hz) and beta (15–30 Hz) activities during an auditory-naming task were animated on the average surface image in a 4D manner. Thereby, high-gamma augmentation and beta attenuation were treated as summary measures of cortical activation. Stimulation data indicated the causal relationship between (i) superior-temporal gyrus of either hemisphere and auditory hallucination; (ii) left superior-/middle-temporal gyri and receptive aphasia; (iii) widespread temporal/frontal lobe regions of the left hemisphere and expressive aphasia; and (iv) bilateral precentral/left posterior superior-frontal regions and speech arrest. On electrocorticography analysis, high-gamma augmentation involved the bilateral superior-temporal and precentral gyri immediately following question onset; at the same time, high-gamma activity was attenuated in the left orbitofrontal gyrus. High-gamma activity was augmented in the left temporal/frontal lobe regions, as well as left inferior-parietal and cingulate regions, maximally around question offset, with high-gamma augmentation in the left pars orbitalis inferior-frontal, middle-frontal, and inferior-parietal regions preceded by high-gamma attenuation in the contralateral homotopic regions

  15. Holocene sea-level fluctuation in the southern hemisphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isla, Federico Ignacio

    If rising sea levels dominate in the northern hemisphere (NH), falling or fluctuating sea levels predominate in the southern hemisphere (SH). Endogenic processes (tectonics, isostasy or geoidal changes) could explain local or regional mean sea level (MSL) fluctuations but not an hemispherical one. Evidence from South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia and the Pacific and Indian Oceans suggest that the Holocene transgression rose above the present MSL, in higher latitudes before the tropics. By plotting latitude against the age of MSL arrival at present coasts, good correlation is observed. Oceanic salinity mixing has been already proposed to explain this mid-Holocene sea-level fluctuation. Climate could be the only factor responsible for this hemisphere-wide behavior of MSL. It has been suggested previously that the climate of the SH precedes that of the NH by 3000 years. The climatic optimum, or maximum warmth, occurred predominantly about 6000 BP in the NH, but about 10-9000 BP in the SH. Short-term climatic effects on the sea level (monsoons, southern oscillation/El Niño phenomena) should have significant occurrences during the past in the windiest oceanic hemisphere. This latitudinal trend in former MSL should be considered when using shorelines as reference points for measuring vertical crustal movements.

  16. Looking at eye dominance from a different angle: is sighting strength related to hand preference?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carey, David P; Hutchinson, Claire V

    2013-10-01

    Sighting dominance (the behavioural preference for one eye over the other under monocular viewing conditions) has traditionally been thought of as a robust individual trait. However, Khan and Crawford (2001) have shown that, under certain viewing conditions, eye preference reverses as a function of horizontal gaze angle. Remarkably, the reversal of sighting from one eye to the other depends on which hand is used to reach out and grasp the target. Their procedure provides an ideal way to measure the strength of monocular preference for sighting, which may be related to other indicators of hemispheric specialisation for speech, language and motor function. Therefore, we hypothesised that individuals with consistent side preferences (e.g., right hand, right eye) should have more robust sighting dominance than those with crossed lateral preferences. To test this idea, we compared strength of eye dominance in individuals who are consistently right or left sided for hand and foot preference with those who are not. We also modified their procedure in order to minimise a potential image size confound, suggested by Banks et al. (2004) as an explanation of Khan and Crawford's results. We found that the sighting dominance switch occurred at similar eccentricities when we controlled for effects of hand occlusion and target size differences. We also found that sighting dominance thresholds change predictably with the hand used. However, we found no evidence for relationships between strength of hand preference as assessed by questionnaire or by pegboard performance and strength of sighting dominance. Similarly, participants with consistent hand and foot preferences did not show stronger eye preference as assessed using the Khan and Crawford procedure. These data are discussed in terms of indirect relationships between sighting dominance, hand preference and cerebral specialisation for language and motor control. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. The Visual Word Form Area remains in the dominant hemisphere for language in late-onset left occipital lobe epilepsies: A postsurgery analysis of two cases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopes, Ricardo; Nunes, Rita Gouveia; Simões, Mário Rodrigues; Secca, Mário Forjaz; Leal, Alberto

    2015-05-01

    Automatic recognition of words from letter strings is a critical processing step in reading that is lateralized to the left-hemisphere middle fusiform gyrus in the so-called Visual Word Form Area (VWFA). Surgical lesions in this location can lead to irreversible alexia. Very early left hemispheric lesions can lead to transfer of the VWFA to the nondominant hemisphere, but it is currently unknown if this capability is preserved in epilepsies developing after reading acquisition. In this study, we aimed to determine the lateralization of the VWFA in late-onset left inferior occipital lobe epilepsies and also the effect of surgical disconnection from the adjacent secondary visual areas. Two patients with focal epilepsies with onset near the VWFA underwent to surgery for epilepsy, with sparing of this area. Neuropsychology evaluations were performed before and after surgery, as well as quantitative evaluation of the speed of word reading. Comparison of the surgical localization of the lesion, with the BOLD activation associated with the contrast of words-strings, was performed, as well as a study of the associated main white fiber pathways using diffusion-weighted imaging. Neither of the patients developed alexia after surgery (similar word reading speed before and after surgery) despite the fact that the inferior occipital surgical lesions reached the neighborhood (less than 1cm) of the VWFA. Surgeries partly disconnected the VWFA from left secondary visual areas, suggesting that pathways connecting to the posterior visual ventral stream were severely affected but did not induce alexia. The anterior and superior limits of the resection suggest that the critical connection between the VWFA and the Wernicke's Angular Gyrus cortex was not affected, which is supported by the detection of this tract with probabilistic tractography. Left occipital lobe epilepsies developing after reading acquisition did not produce atypical localizations of the VWFA, even with foci in the

  18. The role of the putamen in language: a meta-analytic connectivity modeling study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viñas-Guasch, Nestor; Wu, Yan Jing

    2017-12-01

    The putamen is a subcortical structure that forms part of the dorsal striatum of basal ganglia, and has traditionally been associated with reinforcement learning and motor control, including speech articulation. However, recent studies have shown involvement of the left putamen in other language functions such as bilingual language processing (Abutalebi et al. 2012) and production, with some authors arguing for functional segregation of anterior and posterior putamen (Oberhuber et al. 2013). A further step in exploring the role of putamen in language would involve identifying the network of coactivations of not only the left, but also the right putamen, given the involvement of right hemisphere in high order language functions (Vigneau et al. 2011). Here, a meta-analytic connectivity modeling technique was used to determine the patterns of coactivation of anterior and bilateral putamen in the language domain. Based on previous evidence, we hypothesized that left putamen coactivations would include brain regions directly associated with language processing, whereas right putamen coactivations would encompass regions involved in broader semantic processes, such as memory and visual imagery. The results showed that left anterior putamen coactivated with clusters predominantly in left hemisphere, encompassing regions directly associated with language processing, a left posterior putamen network spanning both hemispheres, and cerebellum. In right hemisphere, coactivations were in both hemispheres, in regions associated with visual and orthographic processing. These results confirm the differential involvement of right and left putamen in different language components, thus highlighting the need for further research into the role of putamen in language.

  19. Reaching Across the Hemispheres with Science, Language, Arts and Technology

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sparrow, E. B.; Zicus, S.; Miller, A.; Baird, A.; Page, G.

    2009-12-01

    Twelve Alaskan elementary and middle school classes (grades 3-8) partnered with twelve Australian middle school classes, with each pair using web-based strategies to develop a collaborative ice-mystery fictional book incorporating authentic polar science. Three professional development workshops were held, bringing together educators and polar scientists in two IPY education outreach projects. The Alaska workshop provided an opportunity to bring together the North American teachers for lessons on arctic and antarctic science and an earth system science program Seasons and Biomes measurement protocols, as well as methods in collaborative e-writing and art in Ice e-Mysteries: Global Student Polar e-books project. Teachers worked with University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) and Australian scientists to become familiar with Arctic science research, science artifacts and resources available at UAF and the University of Alaska Museum of the North. In Australia, teachers received a similar project training through the Tasmania Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) Center for Learning and Discovery on Antarctic science and the University of Tasmania. The long-distance collaboration was accomplished through Skype, emails and a TMAG supported website. A year later, Northern Hemisphere and Southern Hemisphere teacher partners met in a joint workshop in Tasmania, to share their experiences, do project assessments and propose activities for future collaborations. The Australian teachers received training on Seasons and Biomes scientific measurements and the Alaskan teachers, on Tasmanian vegetation, fauna and indigenous culture, Antarctic and Southern ocean studies. This innovative project produced twelve e-polar books written and illustrated by students; heightened scientific literacy about the polar regions and the earth system; increased awareness of the environment and indigenous cultures; stronger connections to the scientific community; and lasting friendships. It also resulted in

  20. High Q diamond hemispherical resonators: fabrication and energy loss mechanisms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernstein, Jonathan J; Bancu, Mirela G; Bauer, Joseph M; Cook, Eugene H; Kumar, Parshant; Nyinjee, Tenzin; Perlin, Gayatri E; Ricker, Joseph A; Teynor, William A; Weinberg, Marc S; Newton, Eric

    2015-01-01

    We have fabricated polycrystalline diamond hemispheres by hot-filament CVD (HFCVD) in spherical cavities wet-etched into a high temperature glass substrate CTE matched to silicon. Hemispherical resonators 1.4 mm in diameter have a Q of up to 143 000 in the fundamental wineglass mode, for a ringdown time of 2.4 s. Without trimming, resonators have the two degenerate wineglass modes frequency matched as close as 2 Hz, or 0.013% of the resonant frequency (∼16 kHz). Laser trimming was used to match resonant modes on hemispheres to 0.3 Hz. Experimental and FEA energy loss studies on cantilevers and hemispheres examine various energy loss mechanisms, showing that surface related losses are dominant. Diamond cantilevers with a Q of 400 000 and a ringdown time of 15.4 s were measured, showing the potential of polycrystalline diamond films for high Q resonators. These resonators show great promise for use as hemispherical resonant gyroscopes (HRGs) on a chip. (paper)

  1. From the Left to the Right: How the Brain Compensates Progressive Loss of Language Function

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thiel, Alexander; Habedank, Birgit; Herholz, Karl; Kessler, Josef; Winhuisen, Lutz; Haupt, Walter F.; Heiss, Wolf-Dieter

    2006-01-01

    In normal right-handed subjects language production usually is a function of the left brain hemisphere. Patients with aphasia following brain damage to the left hemisphere have a considerable potential to compensate for the loss of this function. Sometimes, but not always, areas of the right hemisphere which are homologous to language areas of the…

  2. PATTERNS OF DOMINANCE OF LANGUAGE VITALITIES AMONG MALAYSIAN STUDENTS IN PRIMARY NATIONAL-TYPE AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Soo Ying How

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Multilingualism is embedded in the Malaysian Education Blueprint (2015-2025 as a stated goal towards nation building. The education system provides opportunity to learn Malay which is the national language, the mother tongue (Mandarin or Tamil and the English language as part of formal schooling. In fact, Malaysian primary schools are classified into two major divisions. Students can opt to study in national schools in which the medium of instruction is Malay with the provision for the learning of English and a mother tongue. The other option allows students to enrol in national-type schools of which the medium of instruction is either Mandarin or Tamil, with English and Malay taught as academic subjects. At secondary level, the medium of instruction in national schools is Malay and students are provided the opportunity to learn their mother tongue and English. Other than in school, other social milieus also allow the use and practice of these languages. Given this linguistic environment, there exists a myriad of language experiences within and outside formal learning which together would influence the totality of language vitality. This paper investigates language vitality featured in this multilingual environment. It focuses on the vitality of the English language among students that appears to co-exist with the learning and use of other languages as they progress through the primary and secondary levels. The vitality is measured by the following indicators: language preference, choice, dominance, use, attitude and motivation and proficiency which were used to develop a questionnaire to obtain data on strength evaluation of these languages. The methodology encompasses random and convenient sampling to obtain representative responses from students with different levels of education and language experiences. The study reveals relative vitalities of languages used and highlights values attached to languages at different points of language

  3. Hemispherical dominance of glucose metabolic rate in the brain of the 'normal' ageing population

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Cutts, DA; Maguire, RP; Leenders, KL; Spyrou, NM

    2004-01-01

    In the 'normal' ageing brain a decrease in the cerebral metabolic rate has been determined across many brain regions. This study determines whether age differences would affect metabolic rates in regions and different hemispheres of the brain. The regional metabolic rate of glucose (rCMRGlu) was

  4. Behavioral laterality of the brain: support for the binary construct of hemisity

    OpenAIRE

    Morton, Bruce E.

    2013-01-01

    Three terms define brain behavioral laterality: hemispheric dominance identifies the cerebral hemisphere producing one's first language. Hemispheric asymmetry locates the brain side of non-language skills. A third term is needed to describe a person's binary thinking, learning, and behaving styles. Since the 1950s split-brain studies, evidence has accumulated that individuals with right or left brain behavioral orientations (RPs or LPs) exist. Originally, hemisphericity sought, but failed, to...

  5. Plane and hemispherical potential structures in magnetically expanding plasmas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takahashi, Kazunori; Igarashi, Yuichi; Fujiwara, Tamiya

    2010-01-01

    Two-dimensional potential structures are measured for different gas pressure in expanding argon plasma using permanent magnets, where the magnetic field is about 100 G in the source and several gauss in the diffusion chamber. The plane potential drop is observed near the source exit for 0.35 mTorr, while the potential structure becomes hemispherical when increasing up to 1 mTorr; the hemispherical structure results in the radial divergence of the ion beam. It is found that the trajectories of the accelerated ions and the electrons overcoming the potential drop are dominated by the potential structure and magnetic-field lines, respectively.

  6. Manual praxis in stone tool manufacture: implications for language evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ruck, Lana

    2014-12-01

    Alternative functions of the left-hemisphere dominant Broca's region have induced hypotheses regarding the evolutionary parallels between manual praxis and language in humans. Many recent studies on Broca's area reveal several assumptions about the cognitive mechanisms that underlie both functions, including: (1) an accurate, finely controlled body schema, (2) increasing syntactical abilities, particularly for goal-oriented actions, and (3) bilaterality and fronto-parietal connectivity. Although these characteristics are supported by experimental paradigms, many researchers have failed to acknowledge a major line of evidence for the evolutionary development of these traits: stone tools. The neuroscience of stone tool manufacture is a viable proxy for understanding evolutionary aspects of manual praxis and language, and may provide key information for evaluating competing hypotheses on the co-evolution of these cognitive domains in our species. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Wada test for evaluation of language and memory function in medically intractable epilepsy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hong, Yong Kook; Chung, Tae Sub; Suh, Jung Ho; Kim, Dong Ik; Kim, Eun Kyung; Lee, Byung In; Huh, Kyun

    1992-01-01

    The Wada test was performed for lateralization of language and memory function, using intracarotid injection of Sodium Amytal. But the internal carotid artery (ICA) Wada test has some limitations for testing memory function. The posterior cerebral artery (PCA) Wada test has been designed to modify the ICA Wada test for testing memory function selectively. In our study, 10 patients out of 12 patients with intractable seizure underwent only the ICA Wada test and the other 2 patients underwent both the ICA and the selective PCA Wada test. In all 12 patients undergoing the ICA Wada test, we successfully localized speech and language dominance. Four of 12 patients who underwent the ICA Wada test for evaluation of memory function displayed superior memory functions in one hemisphere, but the other hemisphere also significantly contributed to memory. The selective PCA Wada test, performed in 2 patients, showed successful results of memory function test in both patients. Four of 12 patients underwent temporal lobectomy and there was no major post-operative language or memory deficits. We concluded that the ICA and PCA Wada tests are useful for preoperative evaluation of medically intractable epilepsy, and the PCA Wada test is valuable in memory evaluation in some patients who have high risk of postoperative global amnesia after temporal lobectomy following equivocal results of memory function by the ICA Wada test

  8. Wada test for evaluation of language and memory function in medically intractable epilepsy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hong, Yong Kook; Chung, Tae Sub; Suh, Jung Ho; Kim, Dong Ik; Kim, Eun Kyung; Lee, Byung In; Huh, Kyun [College of Medicine, Yonsei University, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    1992-05-15

    The Wada test was performed for lateralization of language and memory function, using intracarotid injection of Sodium Amytal. But the internal carotid artery (ICA) Wada test has some limitations for testing memory function. The posterior cerebral artery (PCA) Wada test has been designed to modify the ICA Wada test for testing memory function selectively. In our study, 10 patients out of 12 patients with intractable seizure underwent only the ICA Wada test and the other 2 patients underwent both the ICA and the selective PCA Wada test. In all 12 patients undergoing the ICA Wada test, we successfully localized speech and language dominance. Four of 12 patients who underwent the ICA Wada test for evaluation of memory function displayed superior memory functions in one hemisphere, but the other hemisphere also significantly contributed to memory. The selective PCA Wada test, performed in 2 patients, showed successful results of memory function test in both patients. Four of 12 patients underwent temporal lobectomy and there was no major post-operative language or memory deficits. We concluded that the ICA and PCA Wada tests are useful for preoperative evaluation of medically intractable epilepsy, and the PCA Wada test is valuable in memory evaluation in some patients who have high risk of postoperative global amnesia after temporal lobectomy following equivocal results of memory function by the ICA Wada test.

  9. Language localization in cases of left temporal lobe arachnoid cyst : Evidence against interhemispheric reorganization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stowe, LA; Go, KG; Pruim, J; den Dunnen, W; Meiners, LC; Paans, AMJ

    2000-01-01

    We investigated whether left-hemisphere arachnoid cysts lead to reorganization of the language function using PET. A group analysis demonstrated that patients showed no more right-hemisphere activation than a matched control group. Several patients had clear language localizations in the left

  10. Determination of hemispheric emotional valence in individual subjects: A new approach with research and therapeutic implications

    OpenAIRE

    Schiffer, Fredric; Teicher, Martin H; Anderson, Carl; Tomoda, Akemi; Polcari, Ann; Navalta, Carryl P; Andersen, Susan L

    2007-01-01

    Abstract Background Much has been theorized about the emotional properties of the hemispheres. Our review of the dominant hypotheses put forth by Schore, Joseph, Davidson, and Harmon-Jones on hemispheric emotional valences (HEV) shows that none are supported by robust data. Instead, we propose that individual's hemispheres are organized to have differing HEVs that can be lateralized in either direction. Methods Probe auditory evoked potentials (AEP) recorded during a neutral and an upsetting ...

  11. Low-frequency rTMS with language therapy over a 3-month period for sensory-dominant aphasia: case series of two post-stroke Japanese patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kakuda, Wataru; Abo, Masahiro; Uruma, Go; Kaito, Nobuyoshi; Watanabe, Motoi

    2010-01-01

    To examine the safety and feasibility of therapeutic application of low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) combined with language therapy for post-stroke patients with sensory-dominant aphasia. Two post-stroke Japanese patients with sensory-dominant aphasia were studied. In both patients, 10 sessions of 20-minute low-frequency rTMS with 1 Hz to the Wernicke's area were provided throughout 6-day hospitalization, followed by weekly outpatient rTMS treatment for 3 months. The language therapy was also provided through the period of in- and out-patient treatment. Language function was evaluated using the Token test and the Standard Language Test of Aphasia (SLTA) at the start and end of the in-patient treatment and the end of the outpatient treatment. The therapeutic protocol was well tolerated throughout the in- and out-patient treatments, without any adverse effects. The scores of the Token test and certain sub-categories of SLTA increased in both patients after the in-patient rTMS treatment. Persistent improvement of the score was noted over the 3-month post-discharge period. The proposed protocol of long-term application of low-frequency rTMS to the Wernicke's area and language therapy is considered a safe and feasible therapeutic approach for post-stroke patients with sensory-dominant aphasia.

  12. Structural asymmetry of cortical visual areas is related to ocular dominance

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jensen, Bettina H; Hougaard, Anders; Amin, Faisal M

    2015-01-01

    lateralized visual areas were identified, both right>left and left>right. When correlating the asymmetries to the functional parameters, we found a significant correlation to ocular dominance (P...The grey matter of the human brain is asymmetrically distributed between the cerebral hemispheres. This asymmetry includes visual areas, but its relevance to visual function is not understood. Voxel-based morphometry is a well-established technique for localization and quantification of cerebral...... was identified to be significantly larger in the left hemisphere for right-eyed participants and vice versa. These results suggest a cerebral basis for ocular dominance....

  13. Hemispheric speech lateralisation in the developing brain is related to motor praxis ability

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jessica C. Hodgson

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Commonly displayed functional asymmetries such as hand dominance and hemispheric speech lateralisation are well researched in adults. However there is debate about when such functions become lateralised in the typically developing brain. This study examined whether patterns of speech laterality and hand dominance were related and whether they varied with age in typically developing children. 148 children aged 3–10 years performed an electronic pegboard task to determine hand dominance; a subset of 38 of these children also underwent functional Transcranial Doppler (fTCD imaging to derive a lateralisation index (LI for hemispheric activation during speech production using an animation description paradigm. There was no main effect of age in the speech laterality scores, however, younger children showed a greater difference in performance between their hands on the motor task. Furthermore, this between-hand performance difference significantly interacted with direction of speech laterality, with a smaller between-hand difference relating to increased left hemisphere activation. This data shows that both handedness and speech lateralisation appear relatively determined by age 3, but that atypical cerebral lateralisation is linked to greater performance differences in hand skill, irrespective of age. Results are discussed in terms of the common neural systems underpinning handedness and speech lateralisation.

  14. Contrast of Hemispheric Lateralization for Oro-Facial Movements between Learned Attention-Getting Sounds and Species-Typical Vocalizations in Chimpanzees: Extension in a Second Colony

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallez, Catherine; Schaeffer, Jennifer; Meguerditchian, Adrien; Vauclair, Jacques; Schapiro, Steven J.; Hopkins, William D.

    2012-01-01

    Studies involving oro-facial asymmetries in nonhuman primates have largely demonstrated a right hemispheric dominance for communicative signals and conveyance of emotional information. A recent study on chimpanzee reported the first evidence of significant left-hemispheric dominance when using attention-getting sounds and rightward bias for…

  15. Moral judgement by the disconnected left and right cerebral hemispheres: a split-brain investigation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steckler, Conor M; Hamlin, J Kiley; Miller, Michael B; King, Danielle; Kingstone, Alan

    2017-07-01

    Owing to the hemispheric isolation resulting from a severed corpus callosum, research on split-brain patients can help elucidate the brain regions necessary and sufficient for moral judgement. Notably, typically developing adults heavily weight the intentions underlying others' moral actions, placing greater importance on valenced intentions versus outcomes when assigning praise and blame. Prioritization of intent in moral judgements may depend on neural activity in the right hemisphere's temporoparietal junction, an area implicated in reasoning about mental states. To date, split-brain research has found that the right hemisphere is necessary for intent-based moral judgement. When testing the left hemisphere using linguistically based moral vignettes, split-brain patients evaluate actions based on outcomes, not intentions. Because the right hemisphere has limited language ability relative to the left, and morality paradigms to date have involved significant linguistic demands, it is currently unknown whether the right hemisphere alone generates intent-based judgements. Here we use nonlinguistic morality plays with split-brain patient J.W. to examine the moral judgements of the disconnected right hemisphere, demonstrating a clear focus on intent. This finding indicates that the right hemisphere is not only necessary but also sufficient for intent-based moral judgement, advancing research into the neural systems supporting the moral sense.

  16. Wave-current generated turbulence over hemisphere bottom roughness

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barman, Krishnendu; Roy, Sayahnya; Debnath, Koustuv

    2018-03-01

    The present paper explores the effect of wave-current interaction on the turbulence characteristics and the distribution of eddy structure over artificially crammed rough bed prepared with hemispheres. The effect of the surface wave on temporal and spatial-averaged mean velocity, intensity, Reynolds shear stress over, within cavity and above the hemispherical bed are discussed. Detailed three-dimensional time series velocity components were measured in a tilting flume using 3-D Micro-Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (ADV) at a Reynolds number, 62 × 103. This study reports the fractional contributions of burst-sweep cycles dominating the total shear stress near hemispherical rough surface both for current only flow as well as for wave-induced cases. Wavelet analysis of the fluctuating velocity signal shows that the superimposed wave of frequency 1 Hz is capable of modulating the energy containing a range of velocity fluctuations at the mid-depth of the cavity region (formed due to the crammed arrangement of the hemispheres). As a result, the large-scale eddies (with large values of wavelet coefficients) are concentrated at a pseudo-frequency which is equal to the wave oscillating frequency. On the other hand, it is observed that the higher wave frequency (2 Hz) is incapable of modulating the eddy structures at that particular region.

  17. Correlation between language function and the left arcuate fasciculus detected by diffusion tensor imaging tractography after brain tumor surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hayashi, Yutaka; Kinoshita, Masashi; Nakada, Mitsutoshi; Hamada, Jun-ichiro

    2012-11-01

    Disturbance of the arcuate fasciculus in the dominant hemisphere is thought to be associated with language-processing disorders, including conduction aphasia. Although the arcuate fasciculus can be visualized in vivo with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography, its involvement in functional processes associated with language has not been shown dynamically using DTI tractography. In the present study, to clarify the participation of the arcuate fasciculus in language functions, postoperative changes in the arcuate fasciculus detected by DTI tractography were evaluated chronologically in relation to postoperative changes in language function after brain tumor surgery. Preoperative and postoperative arcuate fasciculus area and language function were examined in 7 right-handed patients with a brain tumor in the left hemisphere located in proximity to part of the arcuate fasciculus. The arcuate fasciculus was depicted, and its area was calculated using DTI tractography. Language functions were measured using the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB). After tumor resection, visualization of the arcuate fasciculus was increased in 5 of the 7 patients, and the total WAB score improved in 6 of the 7 patients. The relative ratio of postoperative visualized area of the arcuate fasciculus to preoperative visualized area of the arcuate fasciculus was increased in association with an improvement in postoperative language function (p = 0.0039). The role of the left arcuate fasciculus in language functions can be evaluated chronologically in vivo by DTI tractography after brain tumor surgery. Because increased postoperative visualization of the fasciculus was significantly associated with postoperative improvement in language functions, the arcuate fasciculus may play an important role in language function, as previously thought. In addition, postoperative changes in the arcuate fasciculus detected by DTI tractography could represent a predicting factor for postoperative language

  18. Anatomical variability in the cortical representation of first and second language.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dehaene, S; Dupoux, E; Mehler, J; Cohen, L; Paulesu, E; Perani, D; van de Moortele, P F; Lehéricy, S; Le Bihan, D

    1997-12-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to assess inter-subject variability in the cortical representation of language comprehension processes. Moderately fluent French-English bilinguals were scanned while they listened to stories in their first language (L1 = French) or in a second language (L2 = English) acquired at school after the age of seven. In all subjects, listening to L1 always activated a similar set of areas in the left temporal lobe, clustered along the left superior temporal sulcus. Listening to L2, however, activated a highly variable network of left and right temporal and frontal areas, sometimes restricted only to right-hemispheric regions. These results support the hypothesis that first language acquisition relies on a dedicated left-hemispheric cerebral network, while late second language acquisition is not necessarily associated with a reproducible biological substrate. The postulated contribution of the right hemisphere to L2 comprehension is found to hold only on average, individual subjects varying from complete right lateralization to standard left lateralization for L2.

  19. Response inhibition is modulated by functional cerebral asymmetries for facial expression perception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sebastian eOcklenburg

    2013-11-01

    Full Text Available The efficacy of executive functions is critically modulated by information processing in earlier cognitive stages. For example, initial processing of verbal stimuli in the language-dominant left-hemisphere leads to more efficient response inhibition than initial processing of verbal stimuli in the non-dominant right hemisphere. However, it is unclear whether this organizational principle is specific for the language system, or a general principle that also applies to other types of lateralized cognition. To answer this question, we investigated the neurophysiological correlates of early attentional processes, facial expression perception and response inhibition during tachistoscopic presentation of facial ‘Go’ and ‘Nogo’ stimuli in the left and the right visual field. Participants committed fewer false alarms after Nogo-stimulus presentation in the left compared to the right visual field. This right-hemispheric asymmetry on the behavioral level was also reflected in the neurophysiological correlates of face perception, specifically in a right-sided asymmetry in the N170 amplitude. Moreover, the right-hemispheric dominance for facial expression processing also affected event-related potentials typically related to response inhibition, namely the Nogo-N2 and Nogo-P3. These findings show that an effect of hemispheric asymmetries in early information processing on the efficacy of higher cognitive functions is not limited to left-hemispheric language functions, but can be generalized to predominantly right-hemispheric functions.

  20. Northern Hemisphere forcing of Southern Hemisphere climate during the last deglaciation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    He, Feng; Shakun, Jeremy D; Clark, Peter U; Carlson, Anders E; Liu, Zhengyu; Otto-Bliesner, Bette L; Kutzbach, John E

    2013-02-07

    According to the Milankovitch theory, changes in summer insolation in the high-latitude Northern Hemisphere caused glacial cycles through their impact on ice-sheet mass balance. Statistical analyses of long climate records supported this theory, but they also posed a substantial challenge by showing that changes in Southern Hemisphere climate were in phase with or led those in the north. Although an orbitally forced Northern Hemisphere signal may have been transmitted to the Southern Hemisphere, insolation forcing can also directly influence local Southern Hemisphere climate, potentially intensified by sea-ice feedback, suggesting that the hemispheres may have responded independently to different aspects of orbital forcing. Signal processing of climate records cannot distinguish between these conditions, however, because the proposed insolation forcings share essentially identical variability. Here we use transient simulations with a coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation model to identify the impacts of forcing from changes in orbits, atmospheric CO(2) concentration, ice sheets and the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) on hemispheric temperatures during the first half of the last deglaciation (22-14.3 kyr BP). Although based on a single model, our transient simulation with only orbital changes supports the Milankovitch theory in showing that the last deglaciation was initiated by rising insolation during spring and summer in the mid-latitude to high-latitude Northern Hemisphere and by terrestrial snow-albedo feedback. The simulation with all forcings best reproduces the timing and magnitude of surface temperature evolution in the Southern Hemisphere in deglacial proxy records. AMOC changes associated with an orbitally induced retreat of Northern Hemisphere ice sheets is the most plausible explanation for the early Southern Hemisphere deglacial warming and its lead over Northern Hemisphere temperature; the ensuing rise in atmospheric CO(2

  1. Effectiveness of four different clinical fMRI paradigms for preoperative regional determination of language lateralization in patients with brain tumors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zaca, Domenico; Deib, Gerard; Pillai, Jay J. [Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Division of Neuroradiology, Russell H. Morgan Department of Radiology and Radiological Science, Baltimore, MD (United States); Nickerson, Joshua P. [University of Vermont School of Medicine/Fletcher Allen Healthcare, Department of Radiology, Burlington, VT (United States)

    2012-09-15

    Blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has demonstrated its capability to provide comparable results to gold standard intracarotid sodium amobarbital (Wada) testing for preoperative determination of language hemispheric dominance. However, thus far, no consensus has been established regarding which fMRI paradigms are the most effective for the determination of hemispheric language lateralization in specific categories of patients and specific regions of interest (ROIs). Forty-one brain tumor patients who performed four different language tasks - rhyming (R), silent word generation (SWG) sentence completion, and sentence listening comprehension (LC) - for presurgical language mapping by fMRI were included in this study. A statistical threshold-independent lateralization index (LI) was calculated and compared among the paradigms in four different ROIs for language activation: functional Broca's (BA) and Wernicke's areas (WA) as well as larger anatomically defined expressive (EA) and receptive (RA) areas. The two expressive paradigms evaluated in this study are very good lateralizing tasks in expressive language areas; specifically, a significantly higher mean LI value was noted for SWG (0.36 {+-} 0.25) compared to LC (0.16 {+-} 0.24, p = 0.009) and for R (0.40 {+-} 0.22) compared to LC (0.16 {+-} 0.24, p = 0.001) in BA. SWG LI (0.28 {+-} 0.19) was higher than LC LI (0.12 {+-} 0.16, p = 0.01) also in EA. No significant differences in LI were found among these paradigms in WA or RA. SWG and R are sufficient for the determination of lateralization in expressive language areas, whereas new semantic or receptive paradigms need to be designed for an improved assessment of lateralization in receptive language areas. (orig.)

  2. LANGUAGE COMPETENCE OF STUDENT TOWARD RIGHT HEMISPHER BRAIN FUNCTION : A Neuropragmatic Study

    OpenAIRE

    Handoko, Handoko; Sastra, Gusdi; Revita, Ike

    2015-01-01

    It has been known that the right hemisphere is contributed to language processing, especially in macro level, including macrostructure or discourse processing. This research is aimed at evaluating the students’ ability in language processing concerning macrostructure and the right hemispher brain function. This research is based on Dharmaperwira-prins method “Right Hemisphere Communication Assessment” (Pemeriksaan Komunikasi Hemisfer Kanan/PKHK). Research on students’ ability in macrostructur...

  3. The Impact of Sex and Language Dominance on Material-Specific Memory Before and After Left Temporal Lobe Surgery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helmstaedter, C.; Brosch, T.; Kurthen, M.; Elger, C. E.

    2004-01-01

    Recent findings raised evidence that in early-onset left temporal lobe epilepsy, women show greater functional plasticity for verbal memory than men. In particular, women with lesion- or epilepsy-driven atypical language dominance show an advantage over men. The question asked in this study was whether there is evidence of sex- and language…

  4. Application of Awake Craniotomy and Intraoperative Brain Mapping for Surgical Resection of Insular Gliomas of the Dominant Hemisphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alimohamadi, Maysam; Shirani, Mohammad; Shariat Moharari, Reza; Pour-Rashidi, Ahmad; Ketabchi, Mehdi; Khajavi, Mohammadreza; Arami, Mohamadali; Amirjamshidi, Abbas

    2016-08-01

    Radical resection of dominant insular gliomas is difficult because of their close vicinity with internal capsule, basal ganglia, and speech centers. Brain mapping techniques can be used to maximize the extent of tumor removal and to minimize postoperative morbidities by precise localization of eloquent cortical and subcortical areas. Patients with newly diagnosed gliomas of dominant insula were enrolled. The exclusion criteria were severe cognitive disturbances, communication difficulty, age greater than 75 years, severe obesity, difficult airways for intubation and severe cardiopulmonary diseases. All were evaluated preoperatively with contrast-enhanced brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional brain MRI, and diffusion tensor tractography of language and motor systems. All underwent awake craniotomy with the same anesthesiology protocol. Intraoperative monitoring included continuous motor-evoked potential, electromyography, electrocorticography, direct electrical stimulation of cortex, and subcortical tracts. The patients were followed with serial neurologic examination and imaging. Ten patients were enrolled (4 men, 6 women) with a mean age of 43.6 years. Seven patients suffered from low-grade glioma, and 3 patients had high-grade glioma. The most common clinical presentation was seizure followed by speech disturbance, hemiparesis, and memory loss. Extent of tumor resection ranged from 73% to 100%. No mortality or new major postoperative neurologic deficit was encountered. Seizure control improved in three fourths of patients with medical refractory epilepsy. In one patient with speech disorder at presentation, the speech problem became worse after surgery. Brain mapping during awake craniotomy helps to maximize extent of tumor resection while preserving neurologic function in patients with dominant insular lobe glioma. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  5. Bilateral versus ipsilesional cortico-subcortical activity patterns in stroke show hemispheric dependence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vidal, Ana C; Banca, Paula; Pascoal, Augusto G; Cordeiro, Gustavo; Sargento-Freitas, João; Gouveia, Ana; Castelo-Branco, Miguel

    2018-01-01

    Background Understanding of interhemispheric interactions in stroke patients during motor control is an important clinical neuroscience quest that may provide important clues for neurorehabilitation. In stroke patients bilateral overactivation in both hemispheres has been interpreted as a poor prognostic indicator of functional recovery. In contrast, ipsilesional patterns have been linked with better motor outcomes. Aim We investigated the pathophysiology of hemispheric interactions during limb movement without and with contralateral restraint, to mimic the effects of constraint-induced movement therapy. We used neuroimaging to probe brain activity with such a movement-dependent interhemispheric modulation paradigm. Methods We used a functional magnetic resonance imaging block design during which the plegic/paretic upper limb was recruited/mobilized to perform unilateral arm elevation, as a function of presence versus absence of contralateral limb restriction (n = 20, with balanced left/right lesion sites). Results Analysis of 10 right hemispheric stroke participants yielded bilateral sensorimotor cortex activation in all movement phases in contrast with the unilateral dominance seen in the 10 left hemispheric stroke participants. Superimposition of contralateral restriction led to a prominent shift from activation to deactivation response patterns, in particular in cortical and basal ganglia motor areas in right hemispheric stroke. Left hemispheric stroke was, in general, characterized by reduced activation patterns, even in the absence of restriction, which induced additional cortical silencing. Conclusion The observed hemispheric-dependent activation/deactivation shifts is novel and these pathophysiological observations suggest short-term neuroplasticity that may be useful for hemisphere-tailored neurorehabilitation.

  6. Developing novel peat isotope proxies from vascular plant-dominated peatlands of New Zealand to reconstruct Southern Hemisphere climate dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roland, T.; Amesbury, M. J.; Charman, D.; Newnham, R.; Royles, J.; Griffiths, H.; Ratcliffe, J.; Rees, A.; Campbell, D.; Baisden, T.; Keller, E. D.

    2017-12-01

    The Southern Annular Mode (SAM) is a key control on the strength and position of the southern westerly winds (SWW), which are a major influence on Southern Hemisphere (SH) mid- to high-latitude climate. A shift towards a more positive SAM has occurred since the 1950s, driven by ozone layer thinning and enhanced by greenhouse gas driven warming. Although these recent changes are thought to be unprecedented over the last 1000 years, the longer-term behaviour of the SAM is poorly understood. We are developing stable isotope proxies from plant cellulose in vascular plant-dominated (Empodisma spp.) peatlands in New Zealand that we hypothesise are related to changes in past temperature (δ13C) and precipitation moisture source (δ18O). The moisture source signal is driven by the balance between Southern Ocean sources (depleted δ18O) and sub-tropical sources (enriched δ18O), reflecting the relative states of SAM and the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. We aim to provide palaeoclimatic context for the recent positive trend in the SAM, and explore the long-term relationship between the SAM and ENSO, testing the contention that tropical Pacific variability is a key influence on past and future SAM variability. Terrestrial palaeoclimate records in the Southern Hemisphere are often spatially isolated and temporally fragmented. However, New Zealand is ideally placed to test such hypotheses as it registers strong correlations between SAM, temperature and precipitation, and it straddles the zone of interaction between the SWW and sub-tropical moisture sources, reflected in a strong precipitation δ18O gradient. We report data from surface samples across New Zealand and explore the spatial and temporal patterns in stable isotopes in cellulose and water that we will use to interpret the palaeoenvironmental data. Preliminary downcore data will be used to demonstrate the efficacy of this approach to reconstructing moisture sources and temperature linked to moisture source variability.

  7. Suppression and Narrative Time Shifts in Adults with Right-Hemisphere Brain Damage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scharp, Victoria L.; Tompkins, Connie A.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: This study examined the functioning of a central comprehension mechanism, suppression, in adults with right-hemisphere damage (RHD) while they processed narratives that cued a shift in time frame. In normal language comprehension, mental activation of concepts from a prior time frame is suppressed. The (re)activation of information…

  8. Left and Right Hemisphere Brain Functions and Symbolic vs. Spontaneous Communication Processes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buck, Ross

    Recent findings on the communicative functions of the left versus the right hemisphere of the brain may suggest that there is a distinction between the intentional use of symbols for the sending of specific messages or propositions (language, signing, pantomime) and spontaneous expressive behaviors that signal their meaning through a natural…

  9. Unmasking Language Lateralization in Human Brain Intrinsic Activity

    Science.gov (United States)

    McAvoy, Mark; Mitra, Anish; Coalson, Rebecca S.; d'Avossa, Giovanni; Keidel, James L.; Petersen, Steven E.; Raichle, Marcus E.

    2016-01-01

    Lateralization of function is a fundamental feature of the human brain as exemplified by the left hemisphere dominance of language. Despite the prominence of lateralization in the lesion, split-brain and task-based fMRI literature, surprisingly little asymmetry has been revealed in the increasingly popular functional imaging studies of spontaneous fluctuations in the fMRI BOLD signal (so-called resting-state fMRI). Here, we show the global signal, an often discarded component of the BOLD signal in resting-state studies, reveals a leftward asymmetry that maps onto regions preferential for semantic processing in left frontal and temporal cortex and the right cerebellum and a rightward asymmetry that maps onto putative attention-related regions in right frontal, temporoparietal, and parietal cortex. Hemispheric asymmetries in the global signal resulted from amplitude modulation of the spontaneous fluctuations. To confirm these findings obtained from normal, healthy, right-handed subjects in the resting-state, we had them perform 2 semantic processing tasks: synonym and numerical magnitude judgment and sentence comprehension. In addition to establishing a new technique for studying lateralization through functional imaging of the resting-state, our findings shed new light on the physiology of the global brain signal. PMID:25636911

  10. Vocal reaction times to unilaterally presented concrete and abstract words: towards a theory of differential right hemispheric semantic processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rastatter, M; Dell, C W; McGuire, R A; Loren, C

    1987-03-01

    Previous studies investigating hemispheric organization for processing concrete and abstract nouns have provided conflicting results. Using manual reaction time tasks some studies have shown that the right hemisphere is capable of analyzing concrete words but not abstract. Others, however, have inferred that the left hemisphere is the sole analyzer of both types of lexicon. The present study tested these issues further by measuring vocal reaction times of normal subjects to unilaterally presented concrete and abstract items. Results were consistent with a model of functional localization which suggests that the minor hemisphere is capable of differentially processing both types of lexicon in the presence of a dominant left hemisphere.

  11. Neuromagnetic index of hemispheric asymmetry prognosticating the outcome of sudden hearing loss.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lieber Po-Hung Li

    Full Text Available The longitudinal relationship between central plastic changes and clinical presentations of peripheral hearing impairment remains unknown. Previously, we reported a unique plastic pattern of "healthy-side dominance" in acute unilateral idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSNHL. This study aimed to explore whether such hemispheric asymmetry bears any prognostic relevance to ISSNHL along the disease course. Using magnetoencephalography (MEG, inter-hemispheric differences in peak dipole amplitude and latency of N100m to monaural tones were evaluated in 21 controls and 21 ISSNHL patients at two stages: initial and fixed stage (1 month later. Dynamics/Prognostication of hemispheric asymmetry were assessed by the interplay between hearing level/hearing gain and ipsilateral/contralateral ratio (I/C of N100m latency and amplitude. Healthy-side dominance of N100m amplitude was observed in ISSNHL initially. The pattern changed with disease process. There is a strong correlation between the hearing level at the fixed stage and initial I/C(amplitude on affected-ear stimulation in ISSNHL. The optimal cut-off value with the best prognostication effect for the hearing improvement at the fixed stage was an initial I/C(latency on affected-ear stimulation of 1.34 (between subgroups of complete and partial recovery and an initial I/C(latency on healthy-ear stimulation of 0.76 (between subgroups of partial and no recovery, respectively. This study suggested that a dynamic process of central auditory plasticity can be induced by peripheral lesions. The hemispheric asymmetry at the initial stage bears an excellent prognostic potential for the treatment outcomes and hearing level at the fixed stage in ISSNHL. Our study demonstrated that such brain signature of central auditory plasticity in terms of both N100m latency and amplitude at defined time can serve as a prognostication predictor for ISSNHL. Further studies are needed to explore the long

  12. Land-sea coupling of early Pleistocene glacial cycles in the southern North Sea exhibit dominant Northern Hemisphere forcing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Donders, Timme H.; van Helmond, Niels A. G. M.; Verreussel, Roel; Munsterman, Dirk; ten Veen, Johan; Speijer, Robert P.; Weijers, Johan W. H.; Sangiorgi, Francesca; Peterse, Francien; Reichart, Gert-Jan; Sinninghe Damsté, Jaap S.; Lourens, Lucas; Kuhlmann, Gesa; Brinkhuis, Henk

    2018-03-01

    synchronous between land and sea, but lead the relative sea level change by 3000-8000 years. The record provides evidence for a dominantly Northern Hemisphere-driven cooling that leads the glacial buildup and varies on the obliquity timescale. Southward migration of Arctic surface water masses during glacials, indicated by cool-water dinoflagellate cyst assemblages, is furthermore relevant for the discussion on the relation between the intensity of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and ice sheet growth.

  13. Hemispheric association and dissociation of voice and speech information processing in stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jones, Anna B; Farrall, Andrew J; Belin, Pascal; Pernet, Cyril R

    2015-10-01

    As we listen to someone speaking, we extract both linguistic and non-linguistic information. Knowing how these two sets of information are processed in the brain is fundamental for the general understanding of social communication, speech recognition and therapy of language impairments. We investigated the pattern of performances in phoneme versus gender categorization in left and right hemisphere stroke patients, and found an anatomo-functional dissociation in the right frontal cortex, establishing a new syndrome in voice discrimination abilities. In addition, phoneme and gender performances were most often associated than dissociated in the left hemisphere patients, suggesting a common neural underpinnings. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Temporal processing asymmetries between the cerebral hemispheres: evidence and implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicholls, M E

    1996-07-01

    This paper reviews a large body of research which has investigated the capacities of the cerebral hemispheres to process temporal information. This research includes clinical, non-clinical, and electrophysiological experimentation. On the whole, the research supports the notion of a left hemisphere advantage for temporal resolution. The existence of such an asymmetry demonstrates that cerebral lateralisation is not limited to the higher-order functions such as language. The capacity for the resolution of fine temporal events appears to play an important role in other left hemisphere functions which require a rapid sequential processor. The functions that are facilitated by such a processor include verbal, textual, and fine movement skills. The co-development of these functions with an efficient temporal processor can be accounted for with reference to a number of evolutionary scenarios. Physiological evidence favours a temporal processing mechanism located within the left temporal cortex. The function of this mechanism may be described in terms of intermittency or travelling moment models of temporal processing. The travelling moment model provides the most plausible account of the asymmetry.

  15. Peatmoss (Sphagnum) diversification associated with Miocene Northern Hemisphere climatic cooling?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaw, A Jonathan; Devos, Nicolas; Cox, Cymon J; Boles, Sandra B; Shaw, Blanka; Buchanan, Alex M; Cave, Lynette; Seppelt, Rodney

    2010-06-01

    Global climate changes sometimes spark biological radiations that can feed back to effect significant ecological impacts. Northern Hemisphere peatlands dominated by living and dead peatmosses (Sphagnum) harbor almost 30% of the global soil carbon pool and have functioned as a net carbon sink throughout the Holocene, and probably since the late Tertiary. Before that time, northern latitudes were dominated by tropical and temperate plant groups and ecosystems. Phylogenetic analyses of mosses (phylum Bryophyta) based on nucleotide sequences from the plastid, mitochondrial, and nuclear genomes indicate that most species of Sphagnum are of recent origin (ca. Sphagnum species are not only well-adapted to boreal peatlands, they create the conditions that promote development of peatlands. The recent radiation that gave rise to extant diversity of peatmosses is temporally associated with Miocene climatic cooling in the Northern Hemisphere. The evolution of Sphagnum has had profound influences on global biogeochemistry because of the unique biochemical, physiological, and morphological features of these plants, both while alive and after death. 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Preferred Learning Styles in the Second Language Classroom.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cincotta, Madeline Strong

    1998-01-01

    Outlines the preferred learning styles of students studying second languages, offering suggestions for their application in second-language classrooms. The paper describes the right-brain/left-brain theory and how the two brain hemispheres are involved in learning; presents four classroom strategies (diversification, contextualization,…

  17. Interhemispheric Transfer Time Asymmetry of Visual Information Depends on Eye Dominance: An Electrophysiological Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Romain Chaumillon

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available The interhemispheric transfer of information is a fundamental process in the human brain. When a visual stimulus appears eccentrically in one visual-hemifield, it will first activate the contralateral hemisphere but also the ipsilateral one with a slight delay due to the interhemispheric transfer. This interhemispheric transfer of visual information is believed to be faster from the right to the left hemisphere in right-handers. Such an asymmetry is considered as a relevant fact in the context of the lateralization of the human brain. We show here using current source density (CSD analyses of visually evoked potential (VEP that, in right-handers and, to a lesser extent in left-handers, this asymmetry is in fact dependent on the sighting eye dominance, the tendency we have to prefer one eye for monocular tasks. Indeed, in right-handers, a faster interhemispheric transfer of visual information from the right to left hemisphere was observed only in participants with a right dominant eye (DE. Right-handers with a left DE showed the opposite pattern, with a faster transfer from the left to the right hemisphere. In left-handers, albeit a smaller number of participants has been tested and hence confirmation is required, only those with a right DE showed an asymmetrical interhemispheric transfer with a faster transfer from the right to the left hemisphere. As a whole these results demonstrate that eye dominance is a fundamental determinant of asymmetries in interhemispheric transfer of visual information and suggest that it is an important factor of brain lateralization.

  18. Interhemispheric Transfer Time Asymmetry of Visual Information Depends on Eye Dominance: An Electrophysiological Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaumillon, Romain; Blouin, Jean; Guillaume, Alain

    2018-01-01

    The interhemispheric transfer of information is a fundamental process in the human brain. When a visual stimulus appears eccentrically in one visual-hemifield, it will first activate the contralateral hemisphere but also the ipsilateral one with a slight delay due to the interhemispheric transfer. This interhemispheric transfer of visual information is believed to be faster from the right to the left hemisphere in right-handers. Such an asymmetry is considered as a relevant fact in the context of the lateralization of the human brain. We show here using current source density (CSD) analyses of visually evoked potential (VEP) that, in right-handers and, to a lesser extent in left-handers, this asymmetry is in fact dependent on the sighting eye dominance, the tendency we have to prefer one eye for monocular tasks. Indeed, in right-handers, a faster interhemispheric transfer of visual information from the right to left hemisphere was observed only in participants with a right dominant eye (DE). Right-handers with a left DE showed the opposite pattern, with a faster transfer from the left to the right hemisphere. In left-handers, albeit a smaller number of participants has been tested and hence confirmation is required, only those with a right DE showed an asymmetrical interhemispheric transfer with a faster transfer from the right to the left hemisphere. As a whole these results demonstrate that eye dominance is a fundamental determinant of asymmetries in interhemispheric transfer of visual information and suggest that it is an important factor of brain lateralization.

  19. Interhemispheric Transfer Time Asymmetry of Visual Information Depends on Eye Dominance: An Electrophysiological Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaumillon, Romain; Blouin, Jean; Guillaume, Alain

    2018-01-01

    The interhemispheric transfer of information is a fundamental process in the human brain. When a visual stimulus appears eccentrically in one visual-hemifield, it will first activate the contralateral hemisphere but also the ipsilateral one with a slight delay due to the interhemispheric transfer. This interhemispheric transfer of visual information is believed to be faster from the right to the left hemisphere in right-handers. Such an asymmetry is considered as a relevant fact in the context of the lateralization of the human brain. We show here using current source density (CSD) analyses of visually evoked potential (VEP) that, in right-handers and, to a lesser extent in left-handers, this asymmetry is in fact dependent on the sighting eye dominance, the tendency we have to prefer one eye for monocular tasks. Indeed, in right-handers, a faster interhemispheric transfer of visual information from the right to left hemisphere was observed only in participants with a right dominant eye (DE). Right-handers with a left DE showed the opposite pattern, with a faster transfer from the left to the right hemisphere. In left-handers, albeit a smaller number of participants has been tested and hence confirmation is required, only those with a right DE showed an asymmetrical interhemispheric transfer with a faster transfer from the right to the left hemisphere. As a whole these results demonstrate that eye dominance is a fundamental determinant of asymmetries in interhemispheric transfer of visual information and suggest that it is an important factor of brain lateralization. PMID:29515351

  20. Plutonium in Southern Hemisphere Ocean Waters

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hirose, K. [Sophia University, Tokyo (Japan); Aoyama, M. [Meteorological Research Institute, Tsukuba (Japan); Gastaud, J.; Levy, I. [Marine Environment Laboratories, International Atomic Energy Agency (Monaco); Fukasawa, M. [Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology Yokosuka (Japan); Kim, C. -S. [Environment Laboratories, International Atomic Energy Agency, Seibersdorf (Austria); Povinec, P. P. [Comenius University, Bratislava (Slovakia); Roos, P. [Riso National Laboratory, Roskilde (Denmark); Sanchez-Cabeza, J. A. [Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra (Spain); Yim, S. A. [Korea Institute of Nuclear Safety, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

    2013-07-15

    Plutonium in seawater collected by the BEAGLE2003 cruise was determined using ICP-SF-MS and alpha spectrometry after Fe co-precipitation and radiochemical purification. Levels and distributions of dissolved plutonium activity concentrations in Southern Hemisphere ocean waters are summarized here, including historical data. Pu-239 concentrations in surface water of the central South Pacific (32.5{sup o}S) in 2003 were around 1 mBq/m{sup 3}. The {sup 239}Pu concentrations in the Indian Ocean surface waters (20{sup o}S) were similar to that in the South Pacific, whereas the {sup 239}Pu concentrations in the South Atlantic surface waters (30{sup o}S) were markedly lower than those in the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. The {sup 239}Pu vertical profile pattern was similar to that in the North Pacific subtropical gyre, although {sup 239}Pu concentrations in the deep South Pacific were significantly lower than those in the North Pacific. One of the dominant factors controlling plutonium distributions in the Southern Hemisphere oceans is biogeochemical processes including particle scavenging. (author)

  1. Cerebral organization of oral and signed language responses: case study evidence from amytal and cortical stimulation studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mateer, C A; Rapport, R L; Kettrick, C

    1984-01-01

    A normally hearing left-handed patient familiar with American Sign Language (ASL) was assessed under sodium amytal conditions and with left cortical stimulation in both oral speech and signed English. Lateralization was mixed but complementary in each language mode: the right hemisphere perfusion severely disrupted motoric aspects of both types of language expression, the left hemisphere perfusion specifically disrupted features of grammatical and semantic usage in each mode of expression. Both semantic and syntactic aspects of oral and signed responses were altered during left posterior temporal-parietal stimulation. Findings are discussed in terms of the neurological organization of ASL and linguistic organization in cases of early left hemisphere damage.

  2. Effectiveness of four different clinical fMRI paradigms for preoperative regional determination of language lateralization in patients with brain tumors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zaca, Domenico; Deib, Gerard; Pillai, Jay J.; Nickerson, Joshua P.

    2012-01-01

    Blood oxygen level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has demonstrated its capability to provide comparable results to gold standard intracarotid sodium amobarbital (Wada) testing for preoperative determination of language hemispheric dominance. However, thus far, no consensus has been established regarding which fMRI paradigms are the most effective for the determination of hemispheric language lateralization in specific categories of patients and specific regions of interest (ROIs). Forty-one brain tumor patients who performed four different language tasks - rhyming (R), silent word generation (SWG) sentence completion, and sentence listening comprehension (LC) - for presurgical language mapping by fMRI were included in this study. A statistical threshold-independent lateralization index (LI) was calculated and compared among the paradigms in four different ROIs for language activation: functional Broca's (BA) and Wernicke's areas (WA) as well as larger anatomically defined expressive (EA) and receptive (RA) areas. The two expressive paradigms evaluated in this study are very good lateralizing tasks in expressive language areas; specifically, a significantly higher mean LI value was noted for SWG (0.36 ± 0.25) compared to LC (0.16 ± 0.24, p = 0.009) and for R (0.40 ± 0.22) compared to LC (0.16 ± 0.24, p = 0.001) in BA. SWG LI (0.28 ± 0.19) was higher than LC LI (0.12 ± 0.16, p = 0.01) also in EA. No significant differences in LI were found among these paradigms in WA or RA. SWG and R are sufficient for the determination of lateralization in expressive language areas, whereas new semantic or receptive paradigms need to be designed for an improved assessment of lateralization in receptive language areas. (orig.)

  3. Hemispheric Asymmetries Depend on the Phonetic Feature: A Dichotic Study of Place of Articulation and Voicing in French Stops

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bedoin, Nathalie; Ferragne, Emmanuel; Marsico, Egidio

    2010-01-01

    Dichotic listening experiments show a right-ear advantage (REA), reflecting a left-hemisphere (LH) dominance. However, we found a decrease in REA when the initial stop consonants of two simultaneous French CVC words differed in voicing rather than place of articulation (Experiment 1). This result suggests that the right hemisphere (RH) is more…

  4. Imaging network level language recovery after left PCA stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sebastian, Rajani; Long, Charltien; Purcell, Jeremy J; Faria, Andreia V; Lindquist, Martin; Jarso, Samson; Race, David; Davis, Cameron; Posner, Joseph; Wright, Amy; Hillis, Argye E

    2016-05-11

    The neural mechanisms that support aphasia recovery are not yet fully understood. Our goal was to evaluate longitudinal changes in naming recovery in participants with posterior cerebral artery (PCA) stroke using a case-by-case analysis. Using task based and resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and detailed language testing, we longitudinally studied the recovery of the naming network in four participants with PCA stroke with naming deficits at the acute (0 week), sub acute (3-5 weeks), and chronic time point (5-7 months) post stroke. Behavioral and imaging analyses (task related and resting state functional connectivity) were carried out to elucidate longitudinal changes in naming recovery. Behavioral and imaging analysis revealed that an improvement in naming accuracy from the acute to the chronic stage was reflected by increased connectivity within and between left and right hemisphere "language" regions. One participant who had persistent moderate naming deficit showed weak and decreasing connectivity longitudinally within and between left and right hemisphere language regions. These findings emphasize a network view of aphasia recovery, and show that the degree of inter- and intra- hemispheric balance between the language-specific regions is necessary for optimal recovery of naming, at least in participants with PCA stroke.

  5. Atmospheric mercury in the Southern Hemisphere tropics: seasonal and diurnal variations and influence of inter-hemispheric transport

    Science.gov (United States)

    Howard, Dean; Nelson, Peter F.; Edwards, Grant C.; Morrison, Anthony L.; Fisher, Jenny A.; Ward, Jason; Harnwell, James; van der Schoot, Marcel; Atkinson, Brad; Chambers, Scott D.; Griffiths, Alan D.; Werczynski, Sylvester; Williams, Alastair G.

    2017-09-01

    Mercury is a toxic element of serious concern for human and environmental health. Understanding its natural cycling in the environment is an important goal towards assessing its impacts and the effectiveness of mitigation strategies. Due to the unique chemical and physical properties of mercury, the atmosphere is the dominant transport pathway for this heavy metal, with the consequence that regions far removed from sources can be impacted. However, there exists a dearth of long-term monitoring of atmospheric mercury, particularly in the tropics and Southern Hemisphere. This paper presents the first 2 years of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) measurements taken at the Australian Tropical Atmospheric Research Station (ATARS) in northern Australia, as part of the Global Mercury Observation System (GMOS). Annual mean GEM concentrations determined at ATARS (0.95 ± 0.12 ng m-3) are consistent with recent observations at other sites in the Southern Hemisphere. Comparison with GEM data from other Australian monitoring sites suggests a concentration gradient that decreases with increasing latitude. Seasonal analysis shows that GEM concentrations at ATARS are significantly lower in the distinct wet monsoon season than in the dry season. This result provides insight into alterations of natural mercury cycling processes as a result of changes in atmospheric humidity, oceanic/terrestrial fetch, and convective mixing, and invites future investigation using wet mercury deposition measurements. Due to its location relative to the atmospheric equator, ATARS intermittently samples air originating from the Northern Hemisphere, allowing an opportunity to gain greater understanding of inter-hemispheric transport of mercury and other atmospheric species. Diurnal cycles of GEM at ATARS show distinct nocturnal depletion events that are attributed to dry deposition under stable boundary layer conditions. These cycles provide strong further evidence supportive of a multi-hop model of GEM

  6. Sea surface temperature inter-hemispheric dipole and its relation to tropical precipitation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sun, Cheng; Li, Jianping; Ding, Ruiqiang; Jin, Fei-Fei

    2013-01-01

    Using different SST datasets, the variability of zonal mean SSTs is investigated. Besides the global warming mode, the variability is dominated by one equatorially symmetric mode and one antisymmetric mode. The former is most pronounced in the Pacific and dominated by interannual variability, corresponding to the ENSO signature. The latter features an inter-hemispheric dipole-like pattern and is referred to as the SST inter-hemispheric dipole (SSTID). The SSTID and Atlantic multidecadal oscillation are found to be related but distinct in the spatial pattern. Observational analysis shows that the SSTID significantly influences tropical rainfall and contributes to the north–south asymmetry of tropical precipitation on multidecadal timescales. The observed SSTID and its relation to the tropical rainfall are realistically reproduced in a control simulation with the UKMO-HadCM3 climate model. Results from the UKMO-HadCM3 simulation suggest that the SSTID is related to the variability of the global ocean northward cross-equatorial heat transport. (letter)

  7. Independent and Collaborative Contributions of the Cerebral Hemispheres to Emotional Processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shobe, Elizabeth R.

    2014-01-01

    Presented is a model suggesting that the right hemisphere (RH) directly mediates the identification and comprehension of positive and negative emotional stimuli, whereas the left hemisphere (LH) contributes to higher level processing of emotional information that has been shared via the corpus callosum. RH subcortical connections provide initial processing of emotional stimuli, and their innervation to cortical structures provides a secondary pathway by which the hemispheres process emotional information more fully. It is suggested that the LH contribution to emotion processing is in emotional regulation, social well-being, and adaptation, and transforming the RH emotional experience into propositional and verbal codes. Lastly, it is proposed that the LH has little ability at the level of emotion identification, having a default positive bias and no ability to identify a stimulus as negative. Instead, the LH must rely on the transfer of emotional information from the RH to engage higher-order emotional processing. As such, either hemisphere can identify positive emotions, but they must collaborate for complete processing of negative emotions. Evidence presented draws from behavioral, neurological, and clinical research, including discussions of subcortical and cortical pathways, callosal agenesis, commissurotomy, emotion regulation, mood disorders, interpersonal interaction, language, and handedness. Directions for future research are offered. PMID:24795597

  8. Gender differences in functional hemispheric asymmetry during processing of vowels as reflected by the human brain magnetic response

    OpenAIRE

    Obleser, Jonas; Eulitz, Carsten; Lahiri, Aditi; Elbert, Thomas

    2001-01-01

    A number of findings indicate gender differences in language-related functional hemispheric brain asymmetry. To test if such gender-specific laterality is already present at the level of vowel-processing, the auditory evoked magnetic field was recorded in healthy right-handed male and female participants in response to the German synthetic vowels [a], [e] and [i]. Female participants exhibited stronger N100m responses than male participants over the left hemisphere. This observation was highl...

  9. Early Childhood Stuttering and Electrophysiological Indices of Language Processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weber-Fox, Christine; Wray, Amanda Hampton; Arnold, Hayley

    2013-01-01

    We examined neural activity mediating semantic and syntactic processing in 27 preschool-age children who stutter (CWS) and 27 preschool-age children who do not stutter (CWNS) matched for age, nonverbal IQ and language abilities. All participants displayed language abilities and nonverbal IQ within the normal range. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) were elicited while participants watched a cartoon video and heard naturally spoken sentences that were either correct or contained semantic or syntactic (phrase structure) violations. ERPs in CWS, compared to CWNS, were characterized by longer N400 peak latencies elicited by semantic processing. In the CWS, syntactic violations elicited greater negative amplitudes for the early time window (150–350 ms) over medial sites compared to CWNS. Additionally, the amplitude of the P600 elicited by syntactic violations relative to control words was significant over the left hemisphere for the CWNS but showed the reverse pattern in CWS, a robust effect only over the right hemisphere. Both groups of preschoolage children demonstrated marked and differential effects for neural processes elicited by semantic and phrase structure violations; however, a significant proportion of young CWS exhibit differences in the neural functions mediating language processing compared to CWNS despite normal language abilities. These results are the first to show that differences in event-related brain potentials reflecting language processing occur as early as the preschool years in CWS and provide the first evidence that atypical lateralization of hemispheric speech/language functions previously observed in the brains of adults who stutter begin to emerge near the onset of developmental stuttering. PMID:23773672

  10. Activations in gray and white matter are modulated by uni-manual responses during within and inter-hemispheric transfer: effects of response hand and right-handedness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Diwadkar, Vaibhav A; Bellani, Marcella; Chowdury, Asadur; Savazzi, Silvia; Perlini, Cinzia; Marinelli, Veronica; Zoccatelli, Giada; Alessandrini, Franco; Ciceri, Elisa; Rambaldelli, Gianluca; Ruggieri, Mirella; Carlo Altamura, A; Marzi, Carlo A; Brambilla, Paolo

    2017-08-14

    Because the visual cortices are contra-laterally organized, inter-hemispheric transfer tasks have been used to behaviorally probe how information briefly presented to one hemisphere of the visual cortex is integrated with responses resulting from the ipsi- or contra-lateral motor cortex. By forcing rapid information exchange across diverse regions, these tasks robustly activate not only gray matter regions, but also white matter tracts. It is likely that the response hand itself (dominant or non-dominant) modulates gray and white matter activations during within and inter-hemispheric transfer. Yet the role of uni-manual responses and/or right hand dominance in modulating brain activations during such basic tasks is unclear. Here we investigated how uni-manual responses with either hand modulated activations during a basic visuo-motor task (the established Poffenberger paradigm) alternating between inter- and within-hemispheric transfer conditions. In a large sample of strongly right-handed adults (n = 49), we used a factorial combination of transfer condition [Inter vs. Within] and response hand [Dominant(Right) vs. Non-Dominant (Left)] to discover fMRI-based activations in gray matter, and in narrowly defined white matter tracts. These tracts were identified using a priori probabilistic white matter atlases. Uni-manual responses with the right hand strongly modulated activations in gray matter, and notably in white matter. Furthermore, when responding with the left hand, activations during inter-hemispheric transfer were strongly predicted by the degree of right-hand dominance, with increased right-handedness predicting decreased fMRI activation. Finally, increasing age within the middle-aged sample was associated with a decrease in activations. These results provide novel evidence of complex relationships between uni-manual responses in right-handed subjects, and activations during within- and inter-hemispheric transfer suggest that the organization of the

  11. Right-hemispheric dominance of spatial memory in split-brain mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shinohara, Yoshiaki; Hosoya, Aki; Yamasaki, Nobuyuki; Ahmed, Hassan; Hattori, Satoko; Eguchi, Megumi; Yamaguchi, Shun; Miyakawa, Tsuyoshi; Hirase, Hajime; Shigemoto, Ryuichi

    2012-02-01

    Left-right asymmetry of human brain function has been known for a century, although much of molecular and cellular basis of brain laterality remains to be elusive. Recent studies suggest that hippocampal CA3-CA1 excitatory synapses are asymmetrically arranged, however, the functional implication of the asymmetrical circuitry has not been studied at the behavioral level. In order to address the left-right asymmetry of hippocampal function in behaving mice, we analyzed the performance of "split-brain" mice in the Barnes maze. The "split-brain" mice received ventral hippocampal commissure and corpus callosum transection in addition to deprivation of visual input from one eye. In such mice, the hippocampus in the side of visual deprivation receives sensory-driven input. Better spatial task performance was achieved by the mice which were forced to use the right hippocampus than those which were forced to use the left hippocampus. In two-choice spatial maze, forced usage of left hippocampus resulted in a comparable performance to the right counterpart, suggesting that both hippocampal hemispheres are capable of conducting spatial learning. Therefore, the results obtained from the Barnes maze suggest that the usage of the right hippocampus improves the accuracy of spatial memory. Performance of non-spatial yet hippocampus-dependent tasks (e.g. fear conditioning) was not influenced by the laterality of the hippocampus. Copyright © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. Primary progressive aphasia and the evolving neurology of the language network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mesulam, M-Marsel; Rogalski, Emily J; Wieneke, Christina; Hurley, Robert S; Geula, Changiz; Bigio, Eileen H; Thompson, Cynthia K; Weintraub, Sandra

    2014-10-01

    Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) is caused by selective neurodegeneration of the language-dominant cerebral hemisphere; a language deficit initially arises as the only consequential impairment and remains predominant throughout most of the course of the disease. Agrammatic, logopenic and semantic subtypes, each reflecting a characteristic pattern of language impairment and corresponding anatomical distribution of cortical atrophy, represent the most frequent presentations of PPA. Such associations between clinical features and the sites of atrophy have provided new insights into the neurology of fluency, grammar, word retrieval, and word comprehension, and have necessitated modification of concepts related to the functions of the anterior temporal lobe and Wernicke's area. The underlying neuropathology of PPA is, most commonly, frontotemporal lobar degeneration in the agrammatic and semantic forms, and Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology in the logopenic form; the AD pathology often displays atypical and asymmetrical anatomical features consistent with the aphasic phenotype. The PPA syndrome reflects complex interactions between disease-specific neuropathological features and patient-specific vulnerability. A better understanding of these interactions might help us to elucidate the biology of the language network and the principles of selective vulnerability in neurodegenerative diseases. We review these aspects of PPA, focusing on advances in our understanding of the clinical features and neuropathology of PPA and what they have taught us about the neural substrates of the language network.

  13. Hemispheric lateralization of linguistic prosody recognition in comparison to speech and speaker recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kreitewolf, Jens; Friederici, Angela D; von Kriegstein, Katharina

    2014-11-15

    an inter-hemispheric mechanism which exploits both a right-hemispheric sensitivity to pitch information and a left-hemispheric dominance in speech processing. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  14. Preserved visual lexicosemantics in global aphasia: a right-hemisphere contribution?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gold, B T; Kertesz, A

    2000-12-01

    Extensive testing of a patient, GP, who encountered large-scale destruction of left-hemisphere (LH) language regions was undertaken in order to address several issues concerning the ability of nonperisylvian areas to extract meaning from printed words. Testing revealed recognition of superordinate boundaries of animals, tools, vegetables, fruit, clothes, and furniture. GP was able to distinguish proper names from other nouns and from nonwords. GP was also able to differentiate words representing living things from those denoting nonliving things. The extent of LH infarct resulting in a global impairment to phonological and syntactic processing suggests LH specificity for these functions but considerable right-hemisphere (RH) participation in visual lexicosemantic processing. The relative preservation of visual lexicosemantic abilities despite severe impairment to all aspects of phonological coding demonstrates the importance of the direct route to the meaning of single printed words.

  15. Variations and Regularities in the Hemispheric Distributions in Sunspot Groups of Various Classes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Peng-Xin

    2018-05-01

    The present study investigates the variations and regularities in the distributions in sunspot groups (SGs) of various classes in the northern and southern hemispheres from Solar Cycles (SCs) 12 to 23. Here, we use the separation scheme that was introduced by Gao, Li, and Li ( Solar Phys. 292, 124, 2017), which is based on A/U ( A is the corrected area of the SG, and U is the corrected umbral area of the SG), in order to separate SGs into simple SGs (A/U ≤ 4.5) and complex SGs (A/U > 6.2). The time series of Greenwich photoheliographic results from 1875 to 1976 (corresponding to complete SCs 12 - 20) and Debrecen photoheliographic data during the period 1974 - 2015 (corresponding to complete SCs 21 - 23) are used to show the distributions of simple and complex SGs in the northern and southern hemispheres. The main results we obtain are reported as follows: i) the larger of the maximum annual simple SG numbers in the two hemispheres and the larger of the maximum annual complex SG numbers in the two hemispheres occur in different hemispheres during SCs 12, 14, 18, and 19; ii) the relative changing trends of two curves - cumulative SG numbers in the northern and southern hemispheres - for simple SGs are different from those for complex SGs during SCs 12, 14, 18, and 21; and iii) there are discrepancies between the dominant hemispheres of simple and complex SGs for SCs 12, 14, 18, and 21.

  16. Land–sea coupling of early Pleistocene glacial cycles in the southern North Sea exhibit dominant Northern Hemisphere forcing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. H. Donders

    2018-03-01

    warm–cold alterations are synchronous between land and sea, but lead the relative sea level change by 3000–8000 years. The record provides evidence for a dominantly Northern Hemisphere-driven cooling that leads the glacial buildup and varies on the obliquity timescale. Southward migration of Arctic surface water masses during glacials, indicated by cool-water dinoflagellate cyst assemblages, is furthermore relevant for the discussion on the relation between the intensity of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation and ice sheet growth.

  17. Hemispheric Processing of Idioms and Irony in Adults with and without Pervasive Developmental Disorder

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saban-Bezalel, Ronit; Mashal, Nira

    2015-01-01

    Previous studies on individuals with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD) have pointed to difficulties in comprehension of figurative language. Using the divided visual field paradigm, the present study examined hemispheric processing of idioms and irony in 23 adults with PDD and in 24 typically developing (TD) adults. The results show that…

  18. Pragmatics and adult language disorders: past achievements and future directions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cummings, Louise

    2007-05-01

    In this article, the current state of our knowledge of pragmatic disorders in adults with language impairment is assessed. A brief historical background of clinical pragmatics is presented, and the place of adult language pathology within the development of this field is discussed. A comprehensive review is undertaken of pragmatic deficits in adults with language impairments of diverse etiologies. Specifically, pragmatic deficits are examined in adults with left-hemisphere damage, often resulting in aphasia, and in adults with right-hemisphere damage, traumatic brain injury, schizophrenia, and neurodegenerative disorders (principally, Alzheimer's disease). Although many pragmatic phenomena have been examined in these clinical populations, studies have also tended to neglect important areas of pragmatic functioning in adults with these disorders. Several such areas are identified within a wider discussion of how researchers and clinicians can best pursue future investigations of pragmatics in adults with language impairment.

  19. Relationship between the change of language symptoms and the change of regional cerebral blood flow in the recovery process of two children with acquired aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kozuka, Junko; Uno, Akira; Matsuda, Hiroshi; Toyoshima, Yoshiya; Hamano, Shin-Ichiro

    2017-06-01

    This study aimed to investigate the relationship between the change of language symptoms and the change of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in the recovery process of two children with acquired aphasia caused by infarctions from Moyamoya disease with an onset age of 8years. We compared the results for the Standard Language Test of Aphasia (SLTA) with rCBF changes in 7 language regions in the left hemisphere and their homologous regions in the right hemisphere at 4 time points from 3weeks for up to 5years after the onset of aphasia, while controlling for the effect of age. In both cases, strong correlations were seen within a hemisphere between adjacent regions or regions that are connected by neuronal fibers, and between some language regions in the left hemisphere and their homologous regions in the right hemisphere. Conversely, there were differences between the two cases in the time course of rCBF changes during their recovery process. Consistent with previous studies, the current study suggested that both hemispheres were involved in the long-term recovery of language symptoms in children with acquired aphasia. We suggest that the differences between both cases during their recovery process might be influenced by the brain states before aphasia, by which hemisphere was affected, and by the timing of the surgical revascularization procedure. However, the changes were observed in the data obtained for rCBF with strong correlations with the changes in language performance, so it is possible that rCBF could be used as a biomarker for language symptom changes. Copyright © 2017 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Hemifield columns co-opt ocular dominance column structure in human achiasma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olman, Cheryl A; Bao, Pinglei; Engel, Stephen A; Grant, Andrea N; Purington, Chris; Qiu, Cheng; Schallmo, Michael-Paul; Tjan, Bosco S

    2018-01-01

    In the absence of an optic chiasm, visual input to the right eye is represented in primary visual cortex (V1) in the right hemisphere, while visual input to the left eye activates V1 in the left hemisphere. Retinotopic mapping In V1 reveals that in each hemisphere left and right visual hemifield representations are overlaid (Hoffmann et al., 2012). To explain how overlapping hemifield representations in V1 do not impair vision, we tested the hypothesis that visual projections from nasal and temporal retina create interdigitated left and right visual hemifield representations in V1, similar to the ocular dominance columns observed in neurotypical subjects (Victor et al., 2000). We used high-resolution fMRI at 7T to measure the spatial distribution of responses to left- and right-hemifield stimulation in one achiasmic subject. T 2 -weighted 2D Spin Echo images were acquired at 0.8mm isotropic resolution. The left eye was occluded. To the right eye, a presentation of flickering checkerboards alternated between the left and right visual fields in a blocked stimulus design. The participant performed a demanding orientation-discrimination task at fixation. A general linear model was used to estimate the preference of voxels in V1 to left- and right-hemifield stimulation. The spatial distribution of voxels with significant preference for each hemifield showed interdigitated clusters which densely packed V1 in the right hemisphere. The spatial distribution of hemifield-preference voxels in the achiasmic subject was stable between two days of testing and comparable in scale to that of human ocular dominance columns. These results are the first in vivo evidence showing that visual hemifield representations interdigitate in achiasmic V1 following a similar developmental course to that of ocular dominance columns in V1 with intact optic chiasm. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  1. Onsite-effects of dual-hemisphere versus conventional single-hemisphere transcranial direct current stimulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwon, Yong Hyun; Jang, Sung Ho

    2012-01-01

    We performed functional MRI examinations in six right-handed healthy subjects. During functional MRI scanning, transcranial direct current stimulation was delivered with the anode over the right primary sensorimotor cortex and the cathode over the left primary sensorimotor cortex using dual-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation. This was compared to a cathode over the left supraorbital area using conventional single-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation. Voxel counts and blood oxygenation level-dependent signal intensities in the right primary sensorimotor cortex regions were estimated and compared between the two transcranial direct current stimulation conditions. Our results showed that dual-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation induced greater cortical activities than single-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation. These findings suggest that dual-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation may provide more effective cortical stimulation than single-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation. PMID:25624815

  2. A functional MRI study of language networks in left medial temporal lobe epilepsy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yu Aihong, E-mail: yuaihong163@tom.com [Department of Radiology, the 4th Medical College of Peking University, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing 100035 (China); Wang Xiaoyi; Xu Guoqing [Beijing Normal University, State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing 100875 (China); Li Yongjie [Beijing Institute of Functional Neurosurgery, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053 (China); Qin Wen; Li Kuncheng [Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital University of Medical Sciences (China); Wang, Yuping [Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital University of Medical Sciences (China)

    2011-11-15

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the abnormality of language networks in left medial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) using fMRI. Materials and methods: Eight patients with left MTLE and 15 healthy subjects were evaluated. An auditory semantic judgment (AJ) paradigm was used. The fMRI data were collected on a 3T MR system and analyzed by AFNI (analysis of functional neuroimages) to generate the activation map. Results: Behavioral data showed that the reaction time of the left MTLE patients was significantly longer than that of controls on the AJ task (t = -3.396, P < 0.05). The left MTLE patients also exhibited diffusively decreased activation in the AJ task. Right hemisphere dominance of Broca's and Wernicke's areas was demonstrated in left MTLE patients. Conclusions: Long-term activation of spikes in left MTLE patients results in language impairment, which is associated with an abnormality of the brain neural network.

  3. A functional MRI study of language networks in left medial temporal lobe epilepsy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu Aihong; Wang Xiaoyi; Xu Guoqing; Li Yongjie; Qin Wen; Li Kuncheng; Wang, Yuping

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the abnormality of language networks in left medial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) using fMRI. Materials and methods: Eight patients with left MTLE and 15 healthy subjects were evaluated. An auditory semantic judgment (AJ) paradigm was used. The fMRI data were collected on a 3T MR system and analyzed by AFNI (analysis of functional neuroimages) to generate the activation map. Results: Behavioral data showed that the reaction time of the left MTLE patients was significantly longer than that of controls on the AJ task (t = -3.396, P < 0.05). The left MTLE patients also exhibited diffusively decreased activation in the AJ task. Right hemisphere dominance of Broca's and Wernicke's areas was demonstrated in left MTLE patients. Conclusions: Long-term activation of spikes in left MTLE patients results in language impairment, which is associated with an abnormality of the brain neural network.

  4. Resounding failure to replicate links between developmental language disorder and cerebral lateralisation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bishop, Dorothy V.M.

    2018-01-01

    Background It has been suggested that failure to establish cerebral lateralisation may be related to developmental language disorder (DLD). There has been weak support for any link with handedness, but more consistent reports of associations with functional brain lateralisation for language. The consistency of lateralisation across different functions may also be important. We aimed to replicate previous findings of an association between DLD and reduced laterality on a quantitative measure of hand preference (reaching across the midline) and on language laterality assessed using functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound (fTCD). Methods From a sample of twin children aged from 6;0 to 11;11 years, we identified 107 cases of DLD and 156 typically-developing comparison cases for whom we had useable data from fTCD yielding a laterality index (LI) for language function during an animation description task. Handedness data were also available for these children. Results Indices of handedness and language laterality for this twin sample were similar to those previously reported for single-born children. There were no differences between the DLD and TD groups on measures of handedness or language lateralisation, or on a categorical measure of consistency of left hemisphere dominance. Contrary to prediction, there was a greater incidence of right lateralisation for language in the TD group (19.90%) than the DLD group (9.30%), confirming that atypical laterality is not inconsistent with typical language development. We also failed to replicate associations between language laterality and language test scores. Discussion and Conclusions Given the large sample studied here and the range of measures, we suggest that previous reports of atypical manual or language lateralisation in DLD may have been false positives. PMID:29333343

  5. Resounding failure to replicate links between developmental language disorder and cerebral lateralisation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander C. Wilson

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Background It has been suggested that failure to establish cerebral lateralisation may be related to developmental language disorder (DLD. There has been weak support for any link with handedness, but more consistent reports of associations with functional brain lateralisation for language. The consistency of lateralisation across different functions may also be important. We aimed to replicate previous findings of an association between DLD and reduced laterality on a quantitative measure of hand preference (reaching across the midline and on language laterality assessed using functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound (fTCD. Methods From a sample of twin children aged from 6;0 to 11;11 years, we identified 107 cases of DLD and 156 typically-developing comparison cases for whom we had useable data from fTCD yielding a laterality index (LI for language function during an animation description task. Handedness data were also available for these children. Results Indices of handedness and language laterality for this twin sample were similar to those previously reported for single-born children. There were no differences between the DLD and TD groups on measures of handedness or language lateralisation, or on a categorical measure of consistency of left hemisphere dominance. Contrary to prediction, there was a greater incidence of right lateralisation for language in the TD group (19.90% than the DLD group (9.30%, confirming that atypical laterality is not inconsistent with typical language development. We also failed to replicate associations between language laterality and language test scores. Discussion and Conclusions Given the large sample studied here and the range of measures, we suggest that previous reports of atypical manual or language lateralisation in DLD may have been false positives.

  6. Language policy, translation and language development in Zimbabwe

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The language policy is usually inferred from the language practices that characterise various spheres of life. This article attempts to show how the language policy, which primarily influences text production in the country, has nurtured translation practice. The dominating role of English sees many texts, particularly technical ...

  7. Switching between global and local levels: the level repetition effect and its hemispheric asymmetry

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kéïta, Luc; Bedoin, Nathalie; Burack, Jacob A.; Lepore, Franco

    2014-01-01

    The global level of hierarchical stimuli (Navon’s stimuli) is typically processed quicker and better than the local level; further differential hemispheric dominance is described for local (left hemisphere, LH) and global (right hemisphere, RH) processing. However, neuroimaging and behavioral data indicate that stimulus category (letter or object) could modulate the hemispheric asymmetry for the local level processing. Besides, when the targets are unpredictably displayed at the global or local level, the participant has to switch between levels, and the magnitude of the switch cost increases with the number of repeated-level trials preceding the switch. The hemispheric asymmetries associated with level switching is an unresolved issue. LH areas may be involved in carrying over the target level information in case of level repetition. These areas may also largely participate in the processing of level-changed trials. Here we hypothesized that RH areas underly the inhibitory mechanism performed on the irrelevant level, as one of the components of the level switching process. In an experiment using a within-subject design, hierarchical stimuli were briefly presented either to the right or to the left visual field. 32 adults were instructed to identify the target at the global or local level. We assessed a possible RH dominance for the non-target level inhibition by varying the attentional demands through the manipulation of level repetitions (two or gour repeated-level trials before the switch). The behavioral data confirmed a LH specialization only for the local level processing of letter-based stimuli, and detrimental effect of increased level repetitions before a switch. Further, data provides evidence for a RH advantage in inhibiting the non-target level. Taken together, the data supports the notion of the existence of multiple mechanisms underlying level-switch effects. PMID:24723903

  8. Hemispheric and facial asymmetry: faces of academe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, W M

    1998-11-01

    Facial asymmetry (facedness) of selected academic faculty members was studied in relation to brain asymmetry and cognitive specialization. Comparisons of facedness were made among humanities faculty (H), faculty members of mathematics and physics (M-P), psychologists (P), and a group of randomly selected individuals (R). Facedness was defined in terms of the relative sizes (in square centimeters) of the two hemifaces. It was predicted that the four groups would show differences in facedness, namely, H, right face bias; M-P, left face bias; P, no bias; and R, no bias. The predictions were confirmed, and the results interpreted in terms of known differences in hemispheric specialization of cognitive functions as they relate to the dominant cognitive activity of each of the different groups. In view of the contralateral control of the two hemifaces (below the eyes) by the two hemispheres of the brain, the two sides of the face undergo differential muscular development, thus creating facial asymmetry. Other factors, such as gender, also may affect facial asymmetry. Suggestions for further research on facedness are discussed.

  9. Right-ear precedence and vocal emotion contagion: The role of the left hemisphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schepman, Astrid; Rodway, Paul; Cornmell, Louise; Smith, Bethany; de Sa, Sabrina Lauren; Borwick, Ciara; Belfon-Thompson, Elisha

    2018-05-01

    Much evidence suggests that the processing of emotions is lateralized to the right hemisphere of the brain. However, under some circumstances the left hemisphere might play a role, particularly for positive emotions and emotional experiences. We explored whether emotion contagion was right-lateralized, lateralized valence-specifically, or potentially left-lateralized. In two experiments, right-handed female listeners rated to what extent emotionally intoned pseudo-sentences evoked target emotions in them. These sound stimuli had a 7 ms ear lead in the left or right channel, leading to stronger stimulation of the contralateral hemisphere. In both experiments, the results revealed that right ear lead stimuli received subtly but significantly higher evocation scores, suggesting a left hemisphere dominance for emotion contagion. A control experiment using an emotion identification task showed no effect of ear lead. The findings are discussed in relation to prior findings that have linked the processing of emotional prosody to left-hemisphere brain regions that regulate emotions, control orofacial musculature, are involved in affective empathy processing areas, or have an affinity for processing emotions socially. Future work is needed to eliminate alternative interpretations and understand the mechanisms involved. Our novel binaural asynchrony method may be useful in future work in auditory laterality.

  10. Bimanual tapping of a syncopated rhythm reveals hemispheric preferences for relative movement frequencies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pflug, Anja; Gompf, Florian; Kell, Christian Alexander

    2017-08-01

    In bimanual multifrequency tapping, right-handers commonly use the right hand to tap the relatively higher rate and the left hand to tap the relatively lower rate. This could be due to hemispheric specializations for the processing of relative frequencies. An extension of the double-filtering-by-frequency theory to motor control proposes a left hemispheric specialization for the control of relatively high and a right hemispheric specialization for the control of relatively low tapping rates. We investigated timing variability and rhythmic accentuation in right handers tapping mono- and multifrequent bimanual rhythms to test the predictions of the double-filtering-by-frequency theory. Yet, hemispheric specializations for the processing of relative tapping rates could be masked by a left hemispheric dominance for the control of known sequences. Tapping was thus either performed in an overlearned quadruple meter (tap of the slow rhythm on the first auditory beat) or in a syncopated quadruple meter (tap of the slow rhythm on the fourth auditory beat). Independent of syncopation, the right hand outperformed the left hand in timing accuracy for fast tapping. A left hand timing benefit for slow tapping rates as predicted by the double-filtering-by-frequency theory was only found in the syncopated tapping group. This suggests a right hemisphere preference for the control of slow tapping rates when rhythms are not overlearned. Error rates indicate that overlearned rhythms represent hierarchically structured meters that are controlled by a single timer that could potentially reside in the left hemisphere. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Face gender categorization and hemispheric asymmetries: Contrasting evidence from connected and disconnected brains.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prete, Giulia; Fabri, Mara; Foschi, Nicoletta; Tommasi, Luca

    2016-12-17

    We investigated hemispheric asymmetries in categorization of face gender by means of a divided visual field paradigm, in which female and male faces were presented unilaterally for 150ms each. A group of 60 healthy participants (30 males) and a male split-brain patient (D.D.C.) were asked to categorize the gender of the stimuli. Healthy participants categorized male faces presented in the right visual field (RVF) better and faster than when presented in the left visual field (LVF), and female faces presented in the LVF than in the RVF, independently of the participants' sex. Surprisingly, the recognition rates of D.D.C. were at chance levels - and significantly lower than those of the healthy participants - for both female and male faces presented in the RVF, as well as for female faces presented in the LVF. His performance was higher than expected by chance - and did not differ from controls - only for male faces presented in the LVF. The residual right-hemispheric ability of the split-brain patient in categorizing male faces reveals an own-gender bias lateralized in the right hemisphere, in line with the rightward own-identity and own-age bias previously shown in split-brain patients. The gender-contingent hemispheric dominance found in healthy participants confirms the previously shown right-hemispheric superiority in recognizing female faces, and also reveals a left-hemispheric superiority in recognizing male faces, adding an important evidence of hemispheric imbalance in the field of face and gender perception. Copyright © 2016 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. An overview of Fukushima radionuclides measured in the northern hemisphere

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thakur, P.; Ballard, S.; Nelson, R.

    2013-01-01

    The Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 resulted in the tragic accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and subsequently uncontrolled release of radioactive contaminants into the atmosphere. This review article attempts to compile and interpret data collected by various national and international monitoring networks in response to the Fukushima releases across the northern hemisphere. The majority of the releases occurred during the period March 12–22 with a maximum release phase from March 14–17, 2011. The radioactivity released was dominated by volatile fission products including isotopes of the noble gases (xenon and krypton), iodine, cesium, and tellurium. The radioactive gases and particles released in the accident were dispersed over the middle latitudes of the entire northern hemisphere and for the first time also measured in the southern Hemisphere. Isotopes of iodine and cesium were detected in air, water, milk and food samples collected across the entire northern hemisphere. Elevated levels of fission products were detected from March to May 2011 at many locations over the northern hemisphere. This article focuses on the most prevalent cesium and iodine isotopes, but other secondary isotopes are also discussed. Spatial and temporal patterns and differences are contrasted. The activity ratios of 131 I/ 137 Cs and 134 Cs/ 137 Cs measured at several locations are evaluated to gain an insight into the fuel burn-up, the inventory of radionuclides in the reactor and the isotopic signature of the accident. It is important to note that all of the radiation levels detected outside of Japan have been very low and are well below any level of public and environmental hazard. - Graphical abstract: The trace levels of radioactivity in air, water, and milk samples collected across the northern hemisphere between March–May, 2011 from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japan are discussed. Highlights: • We report

  13. An overview of Fukushima radionuclides measured in the northern hemisphere

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Thakur, P., E-mail: pthakur@cemrc.org [Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center, 1400 University Drive, Carlsbad, NM 88220 (United States); Ballard, S. [Carlsbad Environmental Monitoring and Research Center, 1400 University Drive, Carlsbad, NM 88220 (United States); Nelson, R. [Department of Energy, Carlsbad Field Office, 4021, National Parks Hwy, Carlsbad, NM 88220 (United States)

    2013-08-01

    The Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011 resulted in the tragic accident at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) and subsequently uncontrolled release of radioactive contaminants into the atmosphere. This review article attempts to compile and interpret data collected by various national and international monitoring networks in response to the Fukushima releases across the northern hemisphere. The majority of the releases occurred during the period March 12–22 with a maximum release phase from March 14–17, 2011. The radioactivity released was dominated by volatile fission products including isotopes of the noble gases (xenon and krypton), iodine, cesium, and tellurium. The radioactive gases and particles released in the accident were dispersed over the middle latitudes of the entire northern hemisphere and for the first time also measured in the southern Hemisphere. Isotopes of iodine and cesium were detected in air, water, milk and food samples collected across the entire northern hemisphere. Elevated levels of fission products were detected from March to May 2011 at many locations over the northern hemisphere. This article focuses on the most prevalent cesium and iodine isotopes, but other secondary isotopes are also discussed. Spatial and temporal patterns and differences are contrasted. The activity ratios of {sup 131}I/{sup 137}Cs and {sup 134}Cs/{sup 137}Cs measured at several locations are evaluated to gain an insight into the fuel burn-up, the inventory of radionuclides in the reactor and the isotopic signature of the accident. It is important to note that all of the radiation levels detected outside of Japan have been very low and are well below any level of public and environmental hazard. - Graphical abstract: The trace levels of radioactivity in air, water, and milk samples collected across the northern hemisphere between March–May, 2011 from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, Japan are discussed. Highlights

  14. Interhemispheric Asymmetry of the Sunward Plasma Flows for Strongly Dominant IMF BZ > 0

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yakymenko, K. N.; Koustov, A. V.; Fiori, R. A. D.

    2018-01-01

    Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) convection maps obtained simultaneously in both hemispheres are averaged to infer polar cap ionospheric flow patterns under strongly dominant positive interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz component. The data set consisted of winter observations in the Northern Hemisphere simultaneously with summer observations in the Southern Hemisphere. Long-lasting high-latitude dayside reverse convection cells are shown to have faster sunward flows at near-magnetic noon hours in the summer/Southern Hemisphere. Sunward flows typically deviate from the midnight-noon meridian toward 10-11 h of magnetic local time in the summer/Southern Hemisphere and are more aligned with the midnight-noon meridian in the winter/Northern Hemisphere. Flow deviations in the winter/Northern Hemisphere can be both toward prenoon and postnoon hours, and there is no clear relationship between flow deviation and the IMF By component. No strong preference for the sunward flow occurrence depending on the IMF Bx polarity was found. In addition, the rate of the sunward flow speed increase in response to an increase in driving conditions was found to be comparable for the IMF Bx > 0 and Bx < 0.

  15. Visual Similarity of Words Alone Can Modulate Hemispheric Lateralization in Visual Word Recognition: Evidence From Modeling Chinese Character Recognition.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hsiao, Janet H; Cheung, Kit

    2016-03-01

    In Chinese orthography, the most common character structure consists of a semantic radical on the left and a phonetic radical on the right (SP characters); the minority, opposite arrangement also exists (PS characters). Recent studies showed that SP character processing is more left hemisphere (LH) lateralized than PS character processing. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether this is due to phonetic radical position or character type frequency. Through computational modeling with artificial lexicons, in which we implement a theory of hemispheric asymmetry in perception but do not assume phonological processing being LH lateralized, we show that the difference in character type frequency alone is sufficient to exhibit the effect that the dominant type has a stronger LH lateralization than the minority type. This effect is due to higher visual similarity among characters in the dominant type than the minority type, demonstrating the modulation of visual similarity of words on hemispheric lateralization. Copyright © 2015 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

  16. Hemispheric Asymmetries in Processing L1 and L2 Idioms: Effects of Salience and Context

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cieslicka, Anna B.; Heredia, Roberto R.

    2011-01-01

    This study investigates the contribution of the left and right hemispheres to the comprehension of bilingual figurative language and the joint effects of salience and context on the differential cerebral involvement in idiom processing. The divided visual field and the lexical decision priming paradigms were employed to examine the activation of…

  17. Dynamic neural network reorganization associated with second language vocabulary acquisition: a multimodal imaging study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hosoda, Chihiro; Tanaka, Kanji; Nariai, Tadashi; Honda, Manabu; Hanakawa, Takashi

    2013-08-21

    It remains unsettled whether human language relies exclusively on innately privileged brain structure in the left hemisphere or is more flexibly shaped through experiences, which induce neuroplastic changes in potentially relevant neural circuits. Here we show that learning of second language (L2) vocabulary and its cessation can induce bidirectional changes in the mirror-reverse of the traditional language areas. A cross-sectional study identified that gray matter volume in the inferior frontal gyrus pars opercularis (IFGop) and connectivity of the IFGop with the caudate nucleus and the superior temporal gyrus/supramarginal (STG/SMG), predominantly in the right hemisphere, were positively correlated with L2 vocabulary competence. We then implemented a cohort study involving 16 weeks of L2 training in university students. Brain structure before training did not predict the later gain in L2 ability. However, training intervention did increase IFGop volume and reorganization of white matter including the IFGop-caudate and IFGop-STG/SMG pathways in the right hemisphere. These "positive" plastic changes were correlated with the gain in L2 ability in the trained group but were not observed in the control group. We propose that the right hemispheric network can be reorganized into language-related areas through use-dependent plasticity in young adults, reflecting a repertoire of flexible reorganization of the neural substrates responding to linguistic experiences.

  18. Cerebral laterality for language is related to adult salivary testosterone levels but not digit ratio (2D:4D) in men: A functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Papadatou-Pastou, Marietta; Martin, Maryanne

    2017-03-01

    The adequacy of three competing theories of hormonal effects on cerebral laterality are compared using functional transcranial Doppler sonography (fTCD). Thirty-three adult males participated in the study (21 left-handers). Cerebral lateralization was measured by fTCD using an extensively validated word generation task. Adult salivary testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) concentrations were measured by luminescence immunoassay and prenatal T exposure was indirectly estimated by the somatic marker of 2nd to 4th digit length ratio (2D:4D). A significant quadratic relationship between degree of cerebral laterality for language and adult T concentrations was observed, with enhanced T levels for strong left hemisphere dominance and strong right hemisphere dominance. No systematic effects on laterality were found for cortisol or 2D:4D. Findings suggest that higher levels of T are associated with a relatively attenuated degree of interhemispheric sharing of linguistic information, providing support for the callosal and the sexual differentiation hypotheses rather than the Geschwind, Behan and Galaburda (GBG) hypothesis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Neurophysiological Evidence That Musical Training Influences the Recruitment of Right Hemispheric Homologues for Speech Perception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    McNeel Gordon Jantzen

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Musicians have a more accurate temporal and tonal representation of auditory stimuli than their non-musician counterparts (Kraus & Chandrasekaran, 2010; Parbery-Clark, Skoe, & Kraus, 2009; Zendel & Alain, 2008; Musacchia, Sams, Skoe, & Kraus, 2007. Musicians who are adept at the production and perception of music are also more sensitive to key acoustic features of speech such as voice onset timing and pitch. Together, these data suggest that musical training may enhance the processing of acoustic information for speech sounds. In the current study, we sought to provide neural evidence that musicians process speech and music in a similar way. We hypothesized that for musicians, right hemisphere areas traditionally associated with music are also engaged for the processing of speech sounds. In contrast we predicted that in non-musicians processing of speech sounds would be localized to traditional left hemisphere language areas. Speech stimuli differing in voice onset time was presented using a dichotic listening paradigm. Subjects either indicated aural location for a specified speech sound or identified a specific speech sound from a directed aural location. Musical training effects and organization of acoustic features were reflected by activity in source generators of the P50. This included greater activation of right middle temporal gyrus (MTG and superior temporal gyrus (STG in musicians. The findings demonstrate recruitment of right hemisphere in musicians for discriminating speech sounds and a putative broadening of their language network. Musicians appear to have an increased sensitivity to acoustic features and enhanced selective attention to temporal features of speech that is facilitated by musical training and supported, in part, by right hemisphere homologues of established speech processing regions of the brain.

  20. Development of Right-hemispheric Dominance of Inferior Parietal Lobule in Proprioceptive Illusion Task

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naito, Eiichi; Morita, Tomoyo; Saito, Daisuke N; Ban, Midori; Shimada, Koji; Okamoto, Yuko; Kosaka, Hirotaka; Okazawa, Hidehiko; Asada, Minoru

    2017-01-01

    Abstract Functional lateralization can be an indicator of brain maturation. We have consistently shown that, in the adult brain, proprioceptive processing of muscle spindle afferents generating illusory movement of the right hand activates inferior frontoparietal cortical regions in a right-side dominant manner in addition to the cerebrocerebellar motor network. Here we provide novel evidence regarding the development of the right-dominant use of the inferior frontoparietal cortical regions in humans using this task. We studied brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging while 60 right-handed blindfolded healthy children (8–11 years), adolescents (12–15 years), and young adults (18–23 years) (20 per group) experienced the illusion. Adult-like right-dominant use of the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) was observed in adolescents, while children used the IPL bilaterally. In contrast, adult-like lateralized cerebrocerebellar motor activation patterns were already observable in children. The right-side dominance progresses during adolescence along with the suppression of the left-sided IPL activity that emerges during childhood. Therefore, the neuronal processing implemented in the adult's right IPL during the proprioceptive illusion task is likely mediated bilaterally during childhood, and then becomes right-lateralized during adolescence at a substantially later time than the lateralized use of the cerebrocerebellar motor system for kinesthetic processing. PMID:28968653

  1. Sex Differences in Cerebral Laterality of Language and Visuospatial Processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clements, A. M.; Rimrodt, S. L.; Abel, J. R.; Blankner, J. G.; Mostofsky, S. H.; Pekar, J. J.; Denckla, M. B.; Cutting, L. E.

    2006-01-01

    Sex differences on language and visuospatial tasks are of great interest, with differences in hemispheric laterality hypothesized to exist between males and females. Some functional imaging studies examining sex differences have shown that males are more left lateralized on language tasks and females are more right lateralized on visuospatial…

  2. Investigation of language lateralization mechanism by Positron Emission Tomography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Belin, Pascal

    1997-01-01

    As language lateralization in the brain left hemisphere is one of the most well known but less understood characteristics of the human brain, this research thesis reports the use of brain functional imaging to address some specific aspects of this lateralization. In a first part, the author reports the study of mechanisms of recovery from aphasia after a left hemisphere lesion within a population of aphasic right-handers. Based on a contrast between patients with a persistent aphasia despite usual language therapies, and patients with a significant recovery after a melodic and rhythmic therapy (TMR), a PET-based (positron emission tomography) activation study has been developed, based on the opposition between usual language stimuli and stimuli accentuated by TMR. In the second part, the author explored more systematically on sane patients the influence of some physical characteristics of auditory stimulation on the induced functional asymmetry [fr

  3. Limitations to Plasticity of Language Network Reorganization in Localization Related Epilepsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mbwana, J.; Berl, M. M.; Ritzl, E. K.; Rosenberger, L.; Mayo, J.; Weinstein, S.; Conry, J. A.; Pearl, P. L.; Shamim, S.; Moore, E. N.; Sato, S.; Vezina, L. G.; Theodore, W. H.; Gaillard, W. D.

    2009-01-01

    Neural networks for processing language often are reorganized in patients with epilepsy. However, the extent and location of within and between hemisphere re-organization are not established. We studied 45 patients, all with a left hemisphere seizure focus (mean age 22.8, seizure onset 13.3), and 19 normal controls (mean age 24.8) with an fMRI…

  4. Right hemispheric reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome in a patient with left hemispheric partial seizures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Perez, Gina S; McCaslin, Justin; Shamim, Sadat

    2017-04-01

    We report a right-handed 19-year-old girl who developed reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome (RCVS) lateralized to the right hemisphere with simultaneous new-onset left hemispheric seizures. RCVS, typically more diffuse, was lateralized to one of the cerebral hemispheres.

  5. A new look for the Southern Hemisphere jet stream

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gallego, D.; Ribera, P. [Facultad de CC Ambientales, Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Seville (Spain); Garcia-Herrera, R.; Hernandez, E. [Facultad de CC Fisicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain); Gimeno, L. [Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Vigo, Orense (Spain)

    2005-05-01

    A new jet stream description, defined as the geostrophic streamline of maximum average velocity is proposed. An objective algorithm for detecting and tracking the jet has been developed, tested and applied to the NCEP/NCAR 200-hPa geopotential height in the Southern Hemisphere for the period 1958-2002. The results show the variability of the double character of the Southern Hemisphere jet, with a marked seasonality. During the warm season, a single jet can be found around 40 S, while autumn and winter are characterized by a clear double jet structure, with a strong and dominant subtropical jet located around 30 S and a polar front jet, progressively displaced toward southern latitudes and reaching 60 S by the end of the cold season. In general, a trend toward slower subtropical jets and stronger polar front jets has been detected during the study period. The Southern Annular Mode appears as a main modulator of the latitude and strength of the polar front jet, influencing to a minor extent its subtropical counterpart. The ENSO cycle strongly modifies the latitude and specially the strength of the subtropical jet, affecting its preferred wavenumber as well. Nevertheless, the effect of this oscillation seems fairly restricted in the Pacific, thus limiting the ability of this jet to drive the El Nino teleconnections along the Southern Hemisphere. The consistency of the results, when compared with previous jet climatologies, suggests that the new approach is a reliable jet-tracking method, thus providing a new tool to analyze climatic variability at hemispheric scales.

  6. Crossed aphasia: an analysis of the symptoms, their frequency, and a comparison with left-hemisphere aphasia symptomatology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coppens, Patrick; Hungerford, Suzanne; Yamaguchi, Satoshi; Yamadori, Atsushi

    2002-12-01

    This study presents a thorough analysis of published crossed aphasia (CA) cases, including for the first time the cases published in Japanese. The frequency of specific symptoms was determined, and symptomatology differences based on gender, familial sinistrality, and CA subtype were investigated. Results suggested that the CA population is comparable to the left-hemisphere patient population. However, male were significantly more likely than female CA subjects to show a positive history of familial sinistrality. Typical right-hemisphere (i.e., nonlanguage-dominant) symptoms were frequent but rarely carefully reported or assessed. Results are compared with previous CA reviews and left-hemisphere aphasia. Suggestions for a more systematic assessment of the CA symptomatology are presented.

  7. Let There Be Languages!

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gunnarsson, Petur

    1992-01-01

    Examines the resilience of small languages in the face of larger ones. Highlights include the concept of one dominant language, such as Esperanto; the threat of television to small visual-language societies; the power of visual media; man's relationship to language; and the resilience of language. (LRW)

  8. Development of Right-hemispheric Dominance of Inferior Parietal Lobule in Proprioceptive Illusion Task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Naito, Eiichi; Morita, Tomoyo; Saito, Daisuke N; Ban, Midori; Shimada, Koji; Okamoto, Yuko; Kosaka, Hirotaka; Okazawa, Hidehiko; Asada, Minoru

    2017-11-01

    Functional lateralization can be an indicator of brain maturation. We have consistently shown that, in the adult brain, proprioceptive processing of muscle spindle afferents generating illusory movement of the right hand activates inferior frontoparietal cortical regions in a right-side dominant manner in addition to the cerebrocerebellar motor network. Here we provide novel evidence regarding the development of the right-dominant use of the inferior frontoparietal cortical regions in humans using this task. We studied brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging while 60 right-handed blindfolded healthy children (8-11 years), adolescents (12-15 years), and young adults (18-23 years) (20 per group) experienced the illusion. Adult-like right-dominant use of the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) was observed in adolescents, while children used the IPL bilaterally. In contrast, adult-like lateralized cerebrocerebellar motor activation patterns were already observable in children. The right-side dominance progresses during adolescence along with the suppression of the left-sided IPL activity that emerges during childhood. Therefore, the neuronal processing implemented in the adult's right IPL during the proprioceptive illusion task is likely mediated bilaterally during childhood, and then becomes right-lateralized during adolescence at a substantially later time than the lateralized use of the cerebrocerebellar motor system for kinesthetic processing. © The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press.

  9. The intracarotid amobarbital procedure (Wada test with two protocols combined, Montreal and Seattle Procedimentos do amobarbital intracarotideo (teste de Wada com dois protocolos combinados, Montreal e Seattle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulo J. M. Leite

    1997-06-01

    Full Text Available The intracarotid amobarbital procedure was carried out in 8 male and 7 female candidates to temporal lobectomy, and a female candidate to frontal lesionectomy, aged 18-50 (mean 32.5 years. Language and memory were tested after injection in each hemisphere. Both were measured by the Montreal procedure. In 9 patients language and memory were evaluated with the Seattle procedure too. In 12 patients the left hemisphere was dominant for language; three had bilateral dominance. In I patient the Seattle procedure demonstrated the dominant hemisphere by relatively slowness of speech during the drug effect in the left hemisphere. Memory was defined to be in the left hemisphere in 12 patients, in the right in 2, bilateral in 1 and in another lateralization was not possible. In 1 patient memory dominance was determined by the Montreal protocol alone because of lack of cooperation. These early results indicate that the methods may be complementary for determination of language and memory dominance in epilepsy surgery candidates.O testo do amobarbital intracarotídeo foi realizado em 8 homens e 7 mulheres candidatos a lobectomia temporal e em uma mulher candidata a lesionectomia frontal, com idades de 18-50 (média 32,5 anos. Linguagem e memória foram testadas após a injeção do amobarbial em cada hemisfério cerebral. Todos os pacientes foram avaliados pelo método de Montreal e 9 também pelo método de Seattle. Em 12 pacientes o hemisfério cerebral esquerdo foi dominante para linguagem e em 3 pacientes houve dominância bilateral. Em uma paciente a linguagem foi determinada apenas através do método de Seattle, com lentificação relativa da fal a, sob ação da droga no hemisfério cerebral esquerdo. Dominância da memória à esquerda foi observada em 12 pacientes, à direita em 2, bilateral em 1 e em outro não foi lateralizada. Dominância da memória foi definida apenas através do método de Montreal em um paciente, devido à pouca coopera

  10. Effect of handedness on the occurrence of semantic N400 priming effect in 18- and 24-month-old children

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacqueline eFagard

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available It is frequently stated that right-handedness reflects hemispheric dominance for language. Indeed, most right-handers process phonological aspects of language with the left hemisphere (and other aspects with the right hemisphere. However, given the overwhelming majority of right-handers and of individuals showing left-hemisphere language dominance, there is a high probability to be right-handed and at the same time process phonology within the left hemisphere even if there was no causal link between both. One way to understand the link between handedness and language lateralization is to observe how they co-develop. In this study, we investigated to what extent handedness is related to the occurrence of a right-hemisphere lateralized N400 event related potential in a semantic priming task in children. The N400 component in a semantic priming task is more negative for unrelated than for related word pairs. We have shown earlier that N400 effect occurred in 24-month-olds over the right parietal-occipital recording sites, whereas no significant effect was obtained over the left hemisphere sites. In 18-month-olds, this effect was observed only in those children with higher word production ability. Since handedness has also been associated with the vocabulary size at these ages, we investigated the relationship between the N400 and handedness in 18- and 24-months as a function of their vocabulary. The results showed that right-handers had significantly higher vocabulary size and more pronounced N400 effect over the right hemisphere than non-lateralized children, but only in the 18-month-old group. We propose that the emergences of right-handedness and right-distributed N400 effect are not causally related, but that both developmental processes reflect a general tendency to recruit the hemispheres in a lateralized manner. The lack of this relationship at 24 months further suggests that there is no direct causal relation between handedness and language

  11. Ethnic identity and paranoid thinking: Implicit out-group preference and language dominance predict paranoia in Emirati women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thomas, Justin; Bentall, Richard P; Hadden, Lowri; O'Hara, Lily

    2017-09-01

    Psychotic experiences including persecutory beliefs are elevated among immigrant and minority populations, especially when living in low ethnic density neighbourhoods (the ethnic density effect). Discrimination, victimization and experiencing a sense of 'not belonging' are hypothesized to play a role in this effect. Because a secure ethnic identity protects against poor self-esteem it may also protect against paranoia. This study explores the relationship between language proficiency (Arabic/English), in-group identity (implicit and explicit) and paranoia in female Emirati university students. Female citizens of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Emirati college women (N = 208), reported English/Arabic language proficiencies, and performed a computerized affective priming task engineered to implicitly assess in-group (Emirati) versus out-group (American) positivity. Participants also completed self-report measures of in-group identity (MIIS), and paranoia (PaDs). Arabic proficiency was negatively correlated with paranoia, as was implicit in-group positivity. Furthermore, participants reporting English language dominance, and those demonstrating an implicit out-group preference, reported the highest levels of paranoia. The study is limited by its use of an all female sample. Implicit in-group attitudes and linguistic competence protect against paranoia and may help to explain the ethnic density effect. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Words, Hemispheres, and Dissociable Subsystems: The Effects of Exposure Duration, Case Alternation, Priming, and Continuity of Form on Word Recognition in the Left and Right Visual Fields

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ellis, Andrew W.; Ansorge, Lydia; Lavidor, Michal

    2007-01-01

    Three experiments explore aspects of the dissociable neural subsystems theory of hemispheric specialisation proposed by Marsolek and colleagues, and in particular a study by [Deason, R. G., & Marsolek, C. J. (2005). A critical boundary to the left-hemisphere advantage in word processing. "Brain and Language," 92, 251-261]. Experiment 1A showed…

  13. High-resolution record of Northern Hemisphere climate extending into the last interglacial period

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    North Greenland Ice Core Project members; Andersen, Katrine K.; Azuma, N.

    2004-01-01

    Two deep ice cores from central Greenland, drilled in the 1990s, have played a key role in climate reconstructions of the Northern Hemisphere, but the oldest sections of the cores were disturbed in chronology owing to ice folding near the bedrock. Here we present an undisturbed climate record from...... the initiation of the last glacial period. Our record reveals a hitherto unrecognized warm period initiated by an abrupt climate warming about 115,000 years ago, before glacial conditions were fully developed. This event does not appear to have an immediate Antarctic counterpart, suggesting that the climate see......-saw between the hemispheres (which dominated the last glacial period) was not operating at this time....

  14. Which Language R You Speaking? /r/ as a Language Marker in Tyrolean and Italian Bilinguals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaland, Constantijn; Galatà, Vincenzo; Spreafico, Lorenzo; Vietti, Alessandro

    2017-12-01

    Across languages of the world the /r/ sound is known for its variability. This variability has been investigated using articulatory models as well as in sociolinguistic studies. The current study investigates to what extent /r/ is a marker of a bilingual's dominant language. To this end, a reading task was carried out by bilingual speakers from South Tyrol, who produce /r/ differently according to whether they dominantly speak Tyrolean or Italian. The recorded reading data were subsequently used in a perception experiment to investigate whether South Tyrolean bilingual listeners are able to identify the dominant language of the speaker. Results indicate that listeners use /r/ as a cue to determine the dominant language of the speaker whilst relying on articulatory distinctions between the variants. It is furthermore shown that /r/ correlates with three interdependent variables: the sociolinguistic background of the speakers, their speech production, and how their speech is perceived.

  15. Gender Differences in the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Right Hemisphere Lateralization for Facial Processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castro-Schilo, Laura; Kee, Daniel W.

    2010-01-01

    The present study examined relationships between emotional intelligence, measured by the Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test, and right hemisphere dominance for a free vision chimeric face test. A sample of 122 ethnically diverse college students participated and completed online versions of the forenamed tests. A hierarchical…

  16. Monaural Congenital Deafness Affects Aural Dominance and Degrades Binaural Processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tillein, Jochen; Hubka, Peter; Kral, Andrej

    2016-01-01

    Cortical development extensively depends on sensory experience. Effects of congenital monaural and binaural deafness on cortical aural dominance and representation of binaural cues were investigated in the present study. We used an animal model that precisely mimics the clinical scenario of unilateral cochlear implantation in an individual with single-sided congenital deafness. Multiunit responses in cortical field A1 to cochlear implant stimulation were studied in normal-hearing cats, bilaterally congenitally deaf cats (CDCs), and unilaterally deaf cats (uCDCs). Binaural deafness reduced cortical responsiveness and decreased response thresholds and dynamic range. In contrast to CDCs, in uCDCs, cortical responsiveness was not reduced, but hemispheric-specific reorganization of aural dominance and binaural interactions were observed. Deafness led to a substantial drop in binaural facilitation in CDCs and uCDCs, demonstrating the inevitable role of experience for a binaural benefit. Sensitivity to interaural time differences was more reduced in uCDCs than in CDCs, particularly at the hemisphere ipsilateral to the hearing ear. Compared with binaural deafness, unilateral hearing prevented nonspecific reduction in cortical responsiveness, but extensively reorganized aural dominance and binaural responses. The deaf ear remained coupled with the cortex in uCDCs, demonstrating a significant difference to deprivation amblyopia in the visual system. PMID:26803166

  17. Monaural Congenital Deafness Affects Aural Dominance and Degrades Binaural Processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tillein, Jochen; Hubka, Peter; Kral, Andrej

    2016-04-01

    Cortical development extensively depends on sensory experience. Effects of congenital monaural and binaural deafness on cortical aural dominance and representation of binaural cues were investigated in the present study. We used an animal model that precisely mimics the clinical scenario of unilateral cochlear implantation in an individual with single-sided congenital deafness. Multiunit responses in cortical field A1 to cochlear implant stimulation were studied in normal-hearing cats, bilaterally congenitally deaf cats (CDCs), and unilaterally deaf cats (uCDCs). Binaural deafness reduced cortical responsiveness and decreased response thresholds and dynamic range. In contrast to CDCs, in uCDCs, cortical responsiveness was not reduced, but hemispheric-specific reorganization of aural dominance and binaural interactions were observed. Deafness led to a substantial drop in binaural facilitation in CDCs and uCDCs, demonstrating the inevitable role of experience for a binaural benefit. Sensitivity to interaural time differences was more reduced in uCDCs than in CDCs, particularly at the hemisphere ipsilateral to the hearing ear. Compared with binaural deafness, unilateral hearing prevented nonspecific reduction in cortical responsiveness, but extensively reorganized aural dominance and binaural responses. The deaf ear remained coupled with the cortex in uCDCs, demonstrating a significant difference to deprivation amblyopia in the visual system. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press.

  18. Functional rearrangement of language areas in patients with tumors of the central nervous system using functional magnetic resonance imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kośla, Katarzyna; Pfajfer, Lucjan; Bryszewski, Bartosz; Jaskólski, Dariusz; Stefańczyk, Ludomir; Majos, Agata

    2012-01-01

    The aim of this study was to determine the reorganization of the language areas in patients with tumors located near speech centers using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). fMRI was performed prior to the surgical treatment of 11 right-handed patients with tumors located close to the Broca’s or Wernicke’s areas of the left hemisphere. The analysis included a record of the activity in four regions of interest (ROIs): Broca’s and Wernicke’s areas, and their anatomic homologues in the right hemisphere. For each patient a regional lateralization index was calculated separately for Broca’s area versus its right-hemisphere homolog and Wernicke’s area versus its right-hemisphere homolog. The results were correlated with the histopathological type of the tumor and its size. Our fMRI examinations showed activation of the Broca’s area in the right hemisphere in 3/4 cases of low grade gliomas (LGG) localized in the left frontal lobe. In one case of the high grade glioma (HGG) only the left hemisphere Broca’s area was activated (LI=1). Activation in Wernicke’s area in both hemispheres was obtained irrespective of the size and histological type of the tumor. All tumors localized in the left temporal lobe were HGG. We obtained activation only in the right hemisphere Wernicke’s area in 4/5 of the cases. In 4/5 of the cases activation in Broca’s area was present- in 2 cases in the left hemisphere, in 1 case in the right hemisphere and in 1 case bilateral. The presence of a neoplastic lesion in close topographic relationship to language areas induces their functional reorganization. fMRI is an useful method for determination of language areas localization in pre-operative planning. HGG tumors localized near Wernicke’s area lead to transfer its function to the healthy hemisphere and/or to decreased activity in the affected hemisphere

  19. Language mapping in healthy volunteers and brain tumor patients with a novel navigated TMS system: evidence of tumor-induced plasticity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rösler, J; Niraula, B; Strack, V; Zdunczyk, A; Schilt, S; Savolainen, P; Lioumis, P; Mäkelä, J; Vajkoczy, P; Frey, D; Picht, T

    2014-03-01

    This article explores the feasibility of a novel repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rnTMS) system and compares language mapping results obtained by rnTMS in healthy volunteers and brain tumor patients. Fifteen right-handed healthy volunteers and 50 right-handed consecutive patients with left-sided gliomas were examined with a picture-naming task combined with time-locked rnTMS (5-10 Hz and 80-120% resting motor threshold) applied over both hemispheres. Induced errors were classified into four psycholinguistic types and assigned to their respective cortical areas according to the coil position during stimulation. In healthy volunteers, language disturbances were almost exclusively induced in the left hemisphere. In patients errors were more frequent and induced at a comparative rate over both hemispheres. Predominantly dysarthric errors were induced in volunteers, whereas semantic errors were most frequent in the patient group. The right hemisphere's increased sensitivity to rnTMS suggests reorganization in language representation in brain tumor patients. rnTMS is a novel technology for exploring cortical language representation. This study proves the feasibility and safety of rnTMS in patients with brain tumor. Copyright © 2013 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Hemispherical power asymmetry from scale-dependent modulated reheating

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDonald, John

    2013-01-01

    We propose a new model for the hemispherical power asymmetry of the CMB based on modulated reheating. Non-Gaussianity from modulated reheating can be small enough to satisfy the bound from Planck if the dominant modulation of the inflaton decay rate is linear in the modulating field σ. σ must then acquire a spatially-modulated power spectrum with a red scale-dependence. This can be achieved if the primordial perturbation of σ is generated via tachyonic growth of a complex scalar field. Modulated reheating due to σ then produces a spatially modulated and scale-dependent sub-dominant contribution to the adiabatic density perturbation. We show that it is possible to account for the observed asymmetry while remaining consistent with bounds from quasar number counts, non-Gaussianity and the CMB temperature quadupole. The model predicts that the adiabatic perturbation spectral index and its running will be modified by the modulated reheating component

  1. Formulaic language in cortical and subcortical disease: Evidence of the dual process model.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kelly Bridges

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: It is known that an intact cortical left hemisphere is crucial for language production. Recently, more credit is given to the right hemisphere and subcortical areas in the production of non-novel language, including formulaic language. John Hughlings Jackson (1874/1958, first described how propositional and non-propositional speech are differentially affected by neural impairment. Non-propositional language is often preserved following left hemisphere stroke even when aphasia is present (Code, 1982; Sidtis et al., 2009; Van Lancker Sidtis & Postman, 2006. With right hemisphere and subcortical stroke, formulaic language is reduced (Sidtis et al., 2009; Van Lancker Sidtis & Postman, 2006; Speedie et al., 1993. The dual process model of language competence states that propositional and non-propositional speech are processed differently in the brain, with novel speech controlled by the left hemisphere, and a right hemisphere/subcortical circuit modulating formulaic language (Van Lancker Sidtis, 2004; 2012. Two studies of formulaic language will be presented as further evidence of the dual process model: a study of formulaic language in Alzheimer’s disease, and a study of recited speech in Parkinson’s disease. Formulaic language includes overlearned words, phrases or longer linguistic units that are known to the native speaker, occur naturally in discourse, and are important for normal social interaction (Fillmore, 1979; Pawley & Syder, 1983; Van Lancker, 1988; Van Lancker Sidtis, 2004; Wray, 2002. Formulaic expressions include conversational speech formulas, idioms, proverbs, expletives, pause fillers, discourse elements, and sentence stems (stereotyped sentence-initials. Longer units of linguistic material, such as prayers, rhymes, and poems, termed recited speech, is another subtype of formulaic language that is learned in childhood and recited periodically throughout life. Cortical disease: Alzheimer’s disease and formulaic

  2. Perceptions about the Dominance of English as a Global Language: Impact on Foreign-Language Teachers' Professional Identity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gayton, Angela Mary

    2016-01-01

    Using a novel theoretical framework that incorporates teacher identity, a school as community of practice, and English as a global language from a linguistic-imperialism perspective, this qualitative interview study with foreign-language teachers in Scotland, France, and Germany (N = 13) explores connections between foreign-language-learning…

  3. Language choice in bimodal bilingual development

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diane eLillo-Martin

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Bilingual children develop sensitivity to the language used by their interlocutors at an early age, reflected in differential use of each language by the child depending on their interlocutor. Factors such as discourse context and relative language dominance in the community may mediate the degree of language differentiation in preschool age children.Bimodal bilingual children, acquiring both a sign language and a spoken language, have an even more complex situation. Their Deaf parents vary considerably in access to the spoken language. Furthermore, in addition to code-mixing and code-switching, they use code-blending – expressions in both speech and sign simultaneously – an option uniquely available to bimodal bilinguals. Code-blending is analogous to code-switching sociolinguistically, but is also a way to communicate without suppressing one language. For adult bimodal bilinguals, complete suppression of the non-selected language is cognitively demanding. We expect that bimodal bilingual children also find suppression difficult, and use blending rather than suppression in some contexts. We also expect relative community language dominance to be a factor in children’s language choices.This study analyzes longitudinal spontaneous production data from four bimodal bilingual children and their Deaf and hearing interlocutors. Even at the earliest observations, the children produced more signed utterances with Deaf interlocutors and more speech with hearing interlocutors. However, while three of the four children produced >75% speech alone in speech target sessions, they produced <25% sign alone in sign target sessions. All four produced bimodal utterances in both, but more frequently in the sign sessions, potentially because they find suppression of the dominant language more difficult.Our results indicate that these children are sensitive to the language used by their interlocutors, while showing considerable influence from the dominant

  4. Mapping number to space in the two hemispheres of the avian brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rugani, Rosa; Vallortigara, Giorgio; Regolin, Lucia

    2016-09-01

    Pre-verbal infants and non-human animals associate small numbers with the left space and large numbers with the right space. Birds and primates, trained to identify a given position in a sagittal series of identical positions, whenever required to respond on a left/right oriented series, referred the given position starting from the left end. Here, we extended this evidence by selectively investigating the role of either cerebral hemisphere, using the temporary monocular occlusion technique. In birds, lacking the corpus callosum, visual input is fed mainly to the contralateral hemisphere. We trained 4-day-old chicks to identify the 4th element in a sagittal series of 10 identical elements. At test, the series was identical but left/right oriented. Test was conducted in right monocular, left monocular or binocular condition of vision. Right monocular chicks pecked at the 4th right element; left monocular and binocular chicks pecked at the 4th left element. Data on monocular chicks demonstrate that both hemispheres deal with an ordinal (sequential) task. Data on binocular chicks indicate that the left bias is linked to a right hemisphere dominance, that allocates the attention toward the left hemispace. This constitutes a first step towards understanding the neural basis of number space mapping. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Hemispheric processing asymmetries: implications for memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Funnell, M G; Corballis, P M; Gazzaniga, M S

    2001-01-01

    Recent research has demonstrated that memory for words elicits left hemisphere activation, faces right hemisphere activation, and nameable objects bilateral activation. This pattern of results was attributed to dual coding of information, with the left hemisphere employing a verbal code and the right a nonverbal code. Nameable objects can be encoded either verbally or nonverbally and this accounts for their bilateral activation. We investigated this hypothesis in a callosotomy patient. Consistent with dual coding, the left hemisphere was superior to the right in memory for words, whereas the right was superior for faces. Contrary to prediction, performance on nameable pictures was not equivalent in the two hemispheres, but rather resulted in a right hemisphere superiority. In addition, memory for pictures was significantly better than for either words or faces. These findings suggest that the dual code hypothesis is an oversimplification of the processing capabilities of the two hemispheres.

  6. Language, gesture, and handedness: Evidence for independent lateralized networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Häberling, Isabelle S; Corballis, Paul M; Corballis, Michael C

    2016-09-01

    Language, gesture, and handedness are in most people represented in the left cerebral hemisphere. To explore the relations among these attributes, we collected fMRI images in a large sample of left- and right-handers while they performed language tasks and watched action sequences. Regions of interest included the frontal and parietal areas previously identified as comprising an action-observation network, and the frontal and temporal areas comprising the primary areas for language production and comprehension. All of the language areas and most of the action-observation areas showed an overall left-hemispheric bias, despite the participation of equal numbers of left- and right-handers. A factor analysis of the laterality indices derived from the different areas during the tasks indicated three independent networks, one associated with language, one associated with handedness, and one representing action observation independent of handedness. Areas 44 and 45, which together make up Broca's area, were part of the language and action-observation networks, but were not included in the part of the action observation network that was related to handedness, which in turn was strongly linked to areas in the parietal lobe. These results suggest an evolutionary scenario in which the primate mirror neuron system (MNS) became increasingly lateralized, and later fissioned onto subsystems with one mediating language and the other mediating the execution and observation of manual actions. The second network is further subdivided into one dependent on hand preference and one that is not, providing new insight into the tripartite system of language, handedness, and praxis. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  7. Hemispheric lateralization for early auditory processing of lexical tones: dependence on pitch level and pitch contour.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Xiao-Dong; Wang, Ming; Chen, Lin

    2013-09-01

    In Mandarin Chinese, a tonal language, pitch level and pitch contour are two dimensions of lexical tones according to their acoustic features (i.e., pitch patterns). A change in pitch level features a step change whereas that in pitch contour features a continuous variation in voice pitch. Currently, relatively little is known about the hemispheric lateralization for the processing of each dimension. To address this issue, we made whole-head electrical recordings of mismatch negativity in native Chinese speakers in response to the contrast of Chinese lexical tones in each dimension. We found that pre-attentive auditory processing of pitch level was obviously lateralized to the right hemisphere whereas there is a tendency for that of pitch contour to be lateralized to the left. We also found that the brain responded faster to pitch level than to pitch contour at a pre-attentive stage. These results indicate that the hemispheric lateralization for early auditory processing of lexical tones depends on the pitch level and pitch contour, and suggest an underlying inter-hemispheric interactive mechanism for the processing. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. The Posterior Fossa and Foreign Accent Syndrome : Report of Two New Cases and Review of the Literature

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Keulen, Stefanie; Mariën, Peter; van Dun, Kim; Bastiaanse, Roelien; Manto, Mario; Verhoeven, Jo

    Foreign accent syndrome is a rare motor speech disorder that causes patients to speak their language with a non-native accent. In the neurogenic condition, the disorder develops after lesions in the language dominant hemisphere, often affecting Broca's area, the insula, the supplementary motor area

  9. Correlations of cerebral blood flow with language function in aphasic patients following cerebral infarction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yokoyama, Eriko; Nagata, Ken; Uemura, Kazuo [Research Inst. for Brain and Blood Vessels, Akita (Japan)

    1997-04-01

    To elucidate the participation of the brain regions in language function, cerebral blood flow (CBF) which were measured with positron emission tomography (PET) were compared with the language scores based on the standard language test for aphasics in 97 right-handed patients with aphasia due to cerebral infarction. PET studies were performed on 71.4{+-}107.3 days after onset. By the linear regression analysis, the aphasic scores were correlated with the regional CBF from 55 brain regions. CBF from the left frontal, left temporal, and left parietal lobes significantly correlated with language scores of auditory comprehension, speaking, reading, writing, calculation, and repetition. Highly significant correlation was obtained from the left posterior inferior frontal, superior temporal, supramarginal and angular gyri. CBF from the right inferior frontal, right superior temporal, right parahippocampal and right anterior cingulate gyri also correlated with the auditory comprehension, speaking and reading. Accordingly, in addition to the classical language areas which play an essential roles in language function, the extensive areas in the left hemisphere and some part of the right hemisphere may be related to the language processing and recovery from aphasia. (author)

  10. Correlations of cerebral blood flow with language function in aphasic patients following cerebral infarction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yokoyama, Eriko; Nagata, Ken; Uemura, Kazuo

    1997-01-01

    To elucidate the participation of the brain regions in language function, cerebral blood flow (CBF) which were measured with positron emission tomography (PET) were compared with the language scores based on the standard language test for aphasics in 97 right-handed patients with aphasia due to cerebral infarction. PET studies were performed on 71.4±107.3 days after onset. By the linear regression analysis, the aphasic scores were correlated with the regional CBF from 55 brain regions. CBF from the left frontal, left temporal, and left parietal lobes significantly correlated with language scores of auditory comprehension, speaking, reading, writing, calculation, and repetition. Highly significant correlation was obtained from the left posterior inferior frontal, superior temporal, supramarginal and angular gyri. CBF from the right inferior frontal, right superior temporal, right parahippocampal and right anterior cingulate gyri also correlated with the auditory comprehension, speaking and reading. Accordingly, in addition to the classical language areas which play an essential roles in language function, the extensive areas in the left hemisphere and some part of the right hemisphere may be related to the language processing and recovery from aphasia. (author)

  11. Hemispheric asymmetry of emotion words in a non-native mind: a divided visual field study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jończyk, Rafał

    2015-05-01

    This study investigates hemispheric specialization for emotional words among proficient non-native speakers of English by means of the divided visual field paradigm. The motivation behind the study is to extend the monolingual hemifield research to the non-native context and see how emotion words are processed in a non-native mind. Sixty eight females participated in the study, all highly proficient in English. The stimuli comprised 12 positive nouns, 12 negative nouns, 12 non-emotional nouns and 36 pseudo-words. To examine the lateralization of emotion, stimuli were presented unilaterally in a random fashion for 180 ms in a go/no-go lexical decision task. The perceptual data showed a right hemispheric advantage for processing speed of negative words and a complementary role of the two hemispheres in the recognition accuracy of experimental stimuli. The data indicate that processing of emotion words in non-native language may require greater interhemispheric communication, but at the same time demonstrates a specific role of the right hemisphere in the processing of negative relative to positive valence. The results of the study are discussed in light of the methodological inconsistencies in the hemifield research as well as the non-native context in which the study was conducted.

  12. Study on Language Rehabilitation for Aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Zeng-Zhi; Jiang, Shu-Jun; Jia, Zi-Shan; Xiao, Hong-Yu; Zhou, Mei-Qi

    2017-06-20

    The aim is to update our clinical recommendations for evidence-based language rehabilitation of people with aphasia, based on a systematic review of the literature from 1999 to 2015. Articles referred to in this systematic review of the Medline and PubMed published in English language literatures were from 1998 to 2015. The terms used in the literature searches were aphasia and evidenced-based. The task force initially identified citations for 51 published articles. Of the 51 articles, 44 studies were selected after further detailed review. Six articles, which were not written in English, and one study related to laryngectomy rehabilitation interventions, were excluded from the study. This study referred to all the important and English literature in full. Aphasia is the linguistic disability, which usually results from injuries to the dominant hemisphere of the brain. The rehabilitation of aphasia is until in the process of being debated and researched. Evidence-based medicine (EBM), EBM based on the clinical evidence, promotes the practice of combining the clinicians' first-hand experience and the existing objective and scientific evidence encouraging making decisions based on both empirical evidence and the scientific evidence. Currently, EBM is being gradually implemented in the clinical practice as the aim of the development of modern medicine. At present, the research for the aphasia rehabilitation mainly focuses on the cognitive language rehabilitation and the intensive treatment and the precise treatment, etc. There is now sufficient information to support evidence-based protocols and implement empirically-supported treatments for linguistic disability after traumatic brain injury and stroke, which can be used to develop linguistic rehabilitation guidelines for patients with aphasia.

  13. Age-Related Sex Differences in Language Lateralization: A Magnetoencephalography Study in Children

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Vickie Y.; MacDonald, Matt J.; Oh, Anna; Hua, Gordon N.; De Nil, Luc F.; Pang, Elizabeth W.

    2014-01-01

    It is well supported by behavioral and neuroimaging studies that typical language function is lateralized to the left hemisphere in the adult brain and this laterality is less well defined in children. The behavioral literature suggests there maybe be sex differences in language development, but this has not been examined systematically with…

  14. Transcranial brain stimulation (TMS and tDCS for post-stroke aphasia rehabilitation: Controversies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lucia Iracema Zanotto de Mendonça

    Full Text Available Transcranial brain stimulation (TS techniques have been investigated for use in the rehabilitation of post-stroke aphasia. According to previous reports, functional recovery by the left hemisphere improves recovery from aphasia, when compared with right hemisphere participation. TS has been applied to stimulate the activity of the left hemisphere or to inhibit homotopic areas in the right hemisphere. Various factors can interfere with the brain's response to TS, including the size and location of the lesion, the time elapsed since the causal event, and individual differences in the hemispheric language dominance pattern. The following questions are discussed in the present article: [a] Is inhibition of the right hemisphere truly beneficial?; [b] Is the transference of the language network to the left hemisphere truly desirable in all patients?; [c] Is the use of TS during the post-stroke subacute phase truly appropriate? Different patterns of neuroplasticity must occur in post-stroke aphasia.

  15. Accessibility of the Nondominant Language in Picture Naming: A Counterintuitive Effect of Dementia on Bilingual Language Production

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gollan, Tamar H.; Salmon, David P.; Montoya, Rosa I.; da Pena, Eileen

    2010-01-01

    The current study tested the assumption that bilinguals with dementia regress to using primarily the dominant language. Spanish-English bilinguals with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD; n = 29), and matched bilingual controls (n = 42) named Boston Naming Test pictures in their dominant and nondominant languages. Surprisingly, differences between…

  16. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy reveals altered hemispheric laterality in relation to schizotypy during verbal fluency task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hori, Hiroaki; Ozeki, Yuji; Terada, Sumio; Kunugi, Hiroshi

    2008-12-12

    Previous functional neuroimaging studies have demonstrated that patients with schizophrenia and those with schizotypal personality disorder (SPD) show reduced laterality, or relative right hemispheric dominance, during the performance of cognitive activation tasks; however, neuroimaging studies looking at non-clinical schizotypy have been few. We have recently reported that schizotypal traits at a non-clinical level are associated with right prefrontal dominance during a letter version of the verbal fluency task (VFT), but it is unknown whether such relationship between schizotypy and functional laterality would be observed across various cognitive tasks. Here we examined the relationships of schizotypal traits as measured by the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire (SPQ) in healthy adults with hemispheric lateralization of prefrontal activation during letter and category VFTs, using near-infrared spectroscopy. Thirty-two participants were divided into high- (n=16) and low- (n=16) SPQ groups by the median split of the total SPQ score. The high-SPQ group, but not low-SPQ group, showed significantly right-greater-than-left asymmetry of prefrontal activation during letter VFT, whereas such pronounced hemispheric asymmetry in relation to schizotypy was not found during category VFT. These results indicate that non-clinical schizotypy is related to right prefrontal preference during the letter version of VFT in particular, suggesting that the association between schizotypal traits and functional laterality may vary depending on cognitive activation tasks.

  17. Unilateral Hemispheric Encephalitis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohan Leslie Noone

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available A 10 year old boy presented with history of mild fever and upper respiratory symptoms followed by recurrent seizures and loss of consciousness on the next day. Normal blood counts and abnormal hepatic transaminases were noted. MRI of the brain, done on the fourth day of illness, showed extensive involvement of the cortex in the right hemisphere. Lumbar CSF was normal. The EEG showed bilateral slowing with frontal sharp wave discharges and marked attenuation over the entire right hemisphere. The patient succumbed to the illness on the ninth day. A similar pattern of acute unilateral hemispheric cortical involvement is described in the hemiconvulsion-hemiplegia-epilepsy (HHE syndrome, which is typically described to occur in children below 4 years of age. This case of fulminant acute unilateral encaphilitic illness could represent the acute phase of HHE syndrome.

  18. Onsite-effects of dual-hemisphere versus conventional single-hemisphere transcranial direct current stimulation: A functional MRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kwon, Yong Hyun; Jang, Sung Ho

    2012-08-25

    We performed functional MRI examinations in six right-handed healthy subjects. During functional MRI scanning, transcranial direct current stimulation was delivered with the anode over the right primary sensorimotor cortex and the cathode over the left primary sensorimotor cortex using dual-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation. This was compared to a cathode over the left supraorbital area using conventional single-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation. Voxel counts and blood oxygenation level-dependent signal intensities in the right primary sensorimotor cortex regions were estimated and compared between the two transcranial direct current stimulation conditions. Our results showed that dual-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation induced greater cortical activities than single-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation. These findings suggest that dual-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation may provide more effective cortical stimulation than single-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation.

  19. Covert orienting in the split brain: Right hemisphere specialization for object-based attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kingstone, Alan

    2015-12-18

    The present paper takes as its starting point Phil Bryden's long-standing interest in human attention and the role it can play in laterality effects. Past split-brain research has suggested that object-based attention is lateralized to the left hemisphere [e.g., Egly, R., Rafal, R. D., Driver, J., & Starreveld, Y. (1994). Covert orienting in the split brain reveals hemispheric specialization for object-based attention. Psychological Science, 5(6), 380-382]. The task used to isolate object-based attention in that previous work, however, has been found wanting [Vecera, S. P. (1994). Grouped locations and object-based attention: Comment on Egly, Driver, and Rafal (1994). Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123(3), 316-320]; and indeed, subsequent research with healthy participants using a different task has suggested that object-based attention is lateralized to the opposite right hemisphere (RH) [Valsangkar-Smyth, M. A., Donovan, C. L., Sinnett, S., Dawson, M. R., & Kingstone, A. (2004). Hemispheric performance in object-based attention. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 11(1), 84-91]. The present study tested the same split-brain as Egly, Rafal, et al. (1994) but used the object-based attention task introduced by Valsangkar-Smyth et al. (2004). The results confirm that object-based attention is lateralized to the RH. They also suggest that subcortical interhemispheric competition may occur and be dominated by the RH.

  20. Language Lateralization Shifts with Learning by Adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plante, Elena; Almryde, Kyle; Patterson, Dianne K.; Vance, Christopher J.; Asbjørnsen, Arve E.

    2014-01-01

    For the majority of the population, language is a left hemisphere lateralized function. During childhood, a pattern of increasing left lateralization for language has been described in brain imaging studies, suggesting this trait develops. This development could reflect change due to brain maturation or change due to skill acquisition, given that children acquire and refine language skills as they mature. We test the possibility that skill acquisition, independent of age-associated maturation can result in shifts in language lateralization in classic language cortex. We imaged adults exposed to unfamiliar language during three successive fMRI scans. Participants were then asked to identify specific words embedded in Norwegian sentences. Exposure to these sentences, relative to complex tones, resulted in consistent activation in the left and right superior temporal gyrus. Activation in this region became increasingly left lateralized with repeated exposure to the unfamiliar language. These results demonstrate that shifts in lateralization can be produced in the short-term within a learning context, independent of maturation. PMID:25285756

  1. Hemispheric Laterality in Music and Math

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szirony, Gary Michael; Burgin, John S.; Pearson, L. Carolyn

    2008-01-01

    Hemispheric laterality may be a useful concept in teaching, learning, training, and in understanding more about human development. To address this issue, a measure of hemispheric laterality was compared to musical and mathematical ability. The Human Information Processing Survey (HIPS) instrument, designed to measure hemispheric laterality, was…

  2. ON THE STRENGTH OF THE HEMISPHERIC RULE AND THE ORIGIN OF ACTIVE-REGION HELICITY

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Y.-M.

    2013-01-01

    Vector magnetograph and morphological observations have shown that the solar magnetic field tends to have negative (positive) helicity in the northern (southern) hemisphere, although only ∼60%-70% of active regions appear to obey this 'hemispheric rule'. In contrast, at least ∼80% of quiescent filaments and filament channels that form during the decay of active regions follow the rule. We attribute this discrepancy to the difficulty in determining the helicity sign of newly emerged active regions, which are dominated by their current-free component; as the transverse field is canceled at the polarity inversion lines, however, the axial component becomes dominant there, allowing a more reliable determination of the original active-region chirality. We thus deduce that the hemispheric rule is far stronger than generally assumed, and cannot be explained by stochastic processes. Earlier studies have shown that the twist associated with the axial tilt of active regions is too small to account for the observed helicity; here, both tilt and twist are induced by the Coriolis force acting on the diverging flow in the emerging flux tube. However, in addition to this east-west expansion about the apex of the loop, each of its legs must expand continually in cross section during its rise through the convection zone, thereby acquiring a further twist through the Coriolis force. Since this transverse pressure effect is not limited by drag or tension forces, the final twist depends mainly on the rise time, and may be large enough to explain the observed active-region helicity

  3. The significance of clumsy gestures in apraxia following a left hemisphere stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kangas, Maria; Tate, Robyn L

    2006-02-01

    Individuals who sustain a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) in the dominant (typically left) hemisphere, are at increased risk of developing motor skill deficits due to motor-sensory impairments, as well as cognitive impairments (e.g., apraxia). Clumsiness is a central component affecting motor skills in individuals with a left hemisphere CVA (LCVA). The term "clumsiness" however, has not been adequately operationalised in the apraxia literature in clinical terms, thereby making diagnosis difficult and its contribution to apraxic disorders uncertain. Accordingly, in this study "clumsiness" was explicitly defined by establishing a set of four criteria. The non-dominant (left) hand movements of three groups of participants were examined: 10 individuals with limb-apraxia (APX); 8 individuals without limb apraxia who had sustained a LCVA (NAPX); and 19 healthy individuals without a history of brain impairment (NBD). Performance was examined on four sets of motor tasks, including a conventional praxis test, basic perceptual-motor co-ordination and fine movement tasks, and a naturalistic actions test. A striking finding that emerged was that clumsy errors occurred frequently in all groups, including the NBD group, particularly on the praxis and fine motor tasks. In terms of quantity of clumsy errors emitted, the APX group made significantly more clumsy gestures across all four tasks in comparison to the NBD group. No differences emerged between the two clinical groups, however, in terms of total clumsy gestures emitted on the naturalistic action tasks, or the type of clumsy errors emitted on the fine motor tasks. Thus, frequency and types of clumsy gestures were partly determined by task demands. These results highlight the need to consider the contribution of clumsy gestures in limb functioning following hemispheric brain damage. In broad terms, these findings emphasise the importance of adopting more detailed analyses of movement errors in apraxia and assessments of

  4. Hand movements with a phase structure and gestures that depict action stem from a left hemispheric system of conceptualization.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helmich, I; Lausberg, H

    2014-10-01

    The present study addresses the previously discussed controversy on the contribution of the right and left cerebral hemispheres to the production and conceptualization of spontaneous hand movements and gestures. Although it has been shown that each hemisphere contains the ability to produce hand movements, results of left hemispherically lateralized motor functions challenge the view of a contralateral hand movement production system. To examine hemispheric specialization in hand movement and gesture production, ten right-handed participants were tachistoscopically presented pictures of everyday life actions. The participants were asked to demonstrate with their hands, but without speaking what they had seen on the drawing. Two independent blind raters evaluated the videotaped hand movements and gestures employing the Neuropsychological Gesture Coding System. The results showed that the overall frequency of right- and left-hand movements is equal independent of stimulus lateralization. When hand movements were analyzed considering their Structure, the presentation of the action stimuli to the left hemisphere resulted in more hand movements with a phase structure than the presentation to the right hemisphere. Furthermore, the presentation to the left hemisphere resulted in more right and left-hand movements with a phase structure, whereas the presentation to the right hemisphere only increased contralateral left-hand movements with a phase structure as compared to hand movements without a phase structure. Gestures that depict action were primarily displayed in response to stimuli presented in the right visual field than in the left one. The present study shows that both hemispheres possess the faculty to produce hand movements in response to action stimuli. However, the left hemisphere dominates the production of hand movements with a phase structure and gestures that depict action. We therefore conclude that hand movements with a phase structure and gestures that

  5. 18F-FDG PET/CT and functional MRI in a case of crossed logopenic primary progressive aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cabrera-Martín, M N; Matías-Guiu, J A; Yus-Fuertes, M; Valles-Salgado, M; Moreno-Ramos, T; Matías-Guiu, J; Carreras Delgado, J L

    Primary progressive aphasia is a clinical syndrome caused by a neurodegeneration of areas and neural networks involved in language, usually in the left hemisphere. The term "crossed aphasia" denotes an acquired language dysfunction caused by a lesion in the hemisphere ipsilateral to the dominant hand. A case is presented on a 75-year-old right-handed woman with a logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia with word-finding difficulties of 2 years onset. The 18 F-FDG PET/CT showed right temporoparietal hypometabolism. A functional MRI scan was performed during a verb naming task in order to characterise language lateralisation patterns. A similar activation pattern was observed in both hemispheres, with less activation than expected in bilateral inferior frontal gyrus. These findings support that logopenic variant of primary progressive aphasia should not be considered as a neurodegeneration starting in the left brain hemisphere, but as a syndrome characterised by asymmetric neurodegeneration of brain regions and neural networks involved in language. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier España, S.L.U. y SEMNIM. All rights reserved.

  6. Distribution and Network of Basal Temporal Language Areas: A Study of the Combination of Electric Cortical Stimulation and Diffusion Tensor Imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Enatsu, Rei; Kanno, Aya; Ookawa, Satoshi; Ochi, Satoko; Ishiai, Sumio; Nagamine, Takashi; Mikuni, Nobuhiro

    2017-10-01

    The basal temporal language area (BTLA) is considered to have several functions in language processing; however, its brain network is still unknown. This study investigated the distribution and networks of the BTLA using a combination of electric cortical stimulation and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). 10 patients with intractable focal epilepsy who underwent presurgical evaluation with subdural electrodes were enrolled in this study (language dominant side: 6 patients, language nondominant side: 4 patients). Electric stimulation at 50 Hz was applied to the electrodes during Japanese sentence reading, morphograms (kanji) reading, and syllabograms (kana) reading tasks to identify the BTLA. DTI was used to identify the subcortical fibers originating from the BTLA found by electric stimulation. The BTLA was found in 6 patients who underwent implantation of the subdural electrodes in the dominant hemisphere. The BTLA was located anywhere between 20 mm and 56 mm posterior to the temporal tips. In 3 patients, electric stimulation of some or all areas within the BTLA induced disturbance in reading of kanji words only. DTI detected the inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF) in all patients and the uncinate fasciculus (UF) in 1 patient, originating from the BTLA. ILF was detected from both kanji-specific areas and kanji-nonspecific areas. This study indicates that the network of the BTLA is a part of a ventral stream and is mainly composed of the ILF, which acts as a critical structure for lexical retrieval. ILF is also associated with the specific processing of kanji words. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  7. Decadal variability and metastability in the Southern Hemisphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Kane, Terence; Risbey, James; Franzke, Christian; Horenko, Illia; Monselesan, Didier

    2014-05-01

    An examination of systematic changes in the metastability of the southern hemisphere 500hPa circulation is performed using both cluster analysis techniques and split flow blocking indices. The cluster methodology is a purely data-driven approach for parametrisation whereby a multi-scale approximation to non-stationary dynamical processes is achieved through optimal sequences of locally stationary fast Vector Auto-Regressive Factor (VARX) processes and some slow (or persistent) hidden process switching between them. Comparison is made with blocking indices commonly used in weather forecasting and climate analysis to identify dynamically relevant metastable regimes in the 500hPa circulation in both reanalysis and AMIP model data sets. Our analysis characterises the metastable regime in both reanalysis and model data sets prior to 1978 as positive and negative phases of a hemispheric mid-latitude blocking state with the Southern Annular Mode (SAM) associated with a transition state. Post 1978, SAM emerges as a true metastable state replacing the negative phase of the hemispheric blocking pattern. The hidden state frequency of occurrences exhibits strong trends. The blocking pattern dominates in the early 1980s then gradually decreases. There is a corresponding increase in the SAM frequency of occurrence. This trend is largely evident in the reanalysis summer and spring but was not evident in the AMIP data set. Non-stationary cluster analysis was then further used to identify the Southern Oceans response to the systematic changes in the mid-latitude atmospheric circulation and identify dynamical regimes associated with subsurface thermocline anomalies which were found to teleconnect the Pacific and Atlantic regions of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current (ACC).

  8. Psychophysiological mechanisms of speech perception and their role in methods of listening comprehension teaching

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L A Khokhlova

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the investigation findings of the listening comprehension mechanisms in left and right - hemisphere dominant students, factors contributing to effective language mastering being analyzed.

  9. Psychophysiological mechanisms of speech perception and their role in training of students to audition

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    L E Deryagina

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the investigation findings of the listening comprehension mechanisms in left and right - hemisphere dominant students, factors contributing to effective language mastering being analyzed.

  10. Negative running of the spectral index, hemispherical asymmetry and the consistency of Planck with large r

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McDonald, John

    2014-01-01

    Planck favours a negative running of the spectral index, with the likelihood being dominated by low multipoles l ∼< 50 and no preference for running at higher l. A negative spectral index is also necessary for the 2- Planck upper bound on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r to be consistent with values significantly larger than 0.1. Planck has also observed a hemispherical asymmetry of the CMB power spectrum, again mostly at low multipoles. Here we consider whether the physics responsible for the hemispherical asymmetry could also account for the negative running of the spectral index and the consistency of Planck with a large value of r. A negative running of the spectral index can be generated if the hemispherical asymmetry is due to a scale- and space-dependent modulation which suppresses the CMB power spectrum at low multipoles. We show that the observed hemispherical asymmetry at low l can be generated while satisfying constraints on the asymmetry at higher l and generating a negative spectral index of the right magnitude to account for the Planck observation and to allow Planck to be consistent with a large value of r

  11. Hemispheric asymmetry of the brain as a psycho-physiological basis of individual and typological features of the formation of a sense of humour

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shportun O.N.

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available The article describes the psycho-physiological peculiarities of hemispheric asymmetry of the brain as the basis of individual and typological features of the formation of a sense of humour. The analysis of the impact of the functional brain hemispheric asymmetry on emotional, intellectual and physiological features of development of sense of humour in ontogeny is conducted. Analysis of studies of inter-hemispheric asymmetry of the brain makes it possible to ascertain the impact of the functioning of each hemisphere on the formation of the perception of humour. Studies show that in the process of developing of sense of humour, two functional hemispheres of the brain are involved. As the emotion of humour – is an intellectual emotion, and in the development of intelligence a lot of mental processes are involved, in the formation of humour two hemispheres of the brain are functioned. The right hemisphere is responsible for the emotional nature of humour (intonation, sound level of language, speed of response to a joke ..., the left hemisphere – for processing verbal information (content of the joke, category, purpose, content analysis .... After analysing the research of hemispheric functional asymmetry of the human brain, its psycho-physiological and neurochemical characteristics, it can be assumed that people with more developed left hemisphere in perceiving humour are more prone to displays of gelotophilia and “right hemisphere” people – show signs of gelotophobia and katagelasticism. Examining gender differences of hemisphere asymmetry of the brain, it can be argued that diagnosing sense of humour is important to take into account gender-specific functioning of hemispheres, because men have more clearly functioning the left hemisphere, and women – the right one. This fact of sexual peculiarities of functioning of inter-hemispheric asymmetry of the brain allows diagnosing objectively sense of humour, as well as different variations

  12. Competing Desires and Realities: Language Policies in the French-Language Classroom

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Angela Giovanangeli

    2009-03-01

    Full Text Available French language policy has historically centred on ways French can be considered a dominant and influential language. It has done this since the Middle Ages, by allowing the French language to serve as a political tool. On an international level, language was a way of subjugating conquered peoples (former colonies. It promoted France’s international status (by the 18th century French was the diplomatic language of Europe. On a national level, the French language was one of the ways governments were able to centralise political power (suppression of regional languages. One of the ways French language authorities have promoted the use of language has been through education policies and the way language is taught in schools. For example, the French language was imposed on the colonised territories of France through teaching in missionary schools. Within France, stringent laws were adopted, in particular during the nineteenth century, allowing the French language to replace local languages in schools. In France today, language policies continue to exist and to have an influence on the way we view language and society. One of the main priorities of French language policy is to protect the status of the national language in particular with respect to the increasing use of English as a global dominant language in areas such as science, technology, tourism, entertainment and the media (Nunan: 2007, 178. Consequently, France has adopted policies to respond to this linguistic climate. This has implications on the way the French language is taught both within France as well as outside of France. This paper will examine some of the policies and agencies created over recent years that affect the French language. It will also identify some of the consequences these policies have on the teaching of language. Finally it will argue that a space has been created within the language classroom that attempts to find a compromise between the language policies of

  13. The countries and languages that dominate biological research at the beginning of the 21st century.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Monge-Nájera, Julian; Nielsen, Vanessa

    2005-01-01

    Traditionally, studies of scientific productivity are biased in two ways: they are based on Current Contents, an index centered in British and American journals, and they seldom correct for population size, ignoring the relative effort that each society places in research. We studied national productivity for biology using a more representative index, the Biological Abstracts, and analyzed both total and relative productivity. English dominates biological publications with 87% (no other individual language reaches 2%). If the USA is considered a region by itself, it occupies the first place in per capita production of biology papers, with at least twice the productivity of either Asia or Europe. Canada, Oceania and Latin America occupy an intermediate position. The global output of scientific papers is dominated by Europe, USA. Japan, Canada, China and India. When corrected for population size, the countries with the greatest productivity of biology papers are the Nordic nations, Israel, Switzerland, Netherlands, Australia, Saint Lucia and Montserrat. The predominance of English as the language of biological research found in this study shows a continuation of the trend initiated around the year 1900. The large relative productivity of the USA reflects the importance that American society gives to science as the basis for technological and economic development, but the USA's share of total scientific output has decreased from 44% in 1983 to 34% in 2002, while there is a greater growth of science in India, Japan and Latin America, among others. The increasing share obtained by China and India may reflect a recent change in attitude towards funding science. The leadership of Nordic nations, Israel, Switzerland, Netherlands and Australia can be explained by cultural attitude. Apparently, a positive trend is emerging in Latin America, where Chile improved its ranking in per capita productivity but Argentina, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Brazil and Cuba fell. Nevertheless, the

  14. Family Literacy and Second Language Literacy Research: Focus on Language Minority Children

    OpenAIRE

    Yılıdırım, Özgür

    2013-01-01

    Problem Statement: Countries like the U. S. A. or Canada have citizens from various ethnic backgrounds. Although English is the dominant language in many parts of these countries, immigrants generally prefer speaking their native language when they are in their homes. Whatever the reason for using native language at home is, when we consider the children in these families, we can say that being exposed to different languages at home and at school may be a problem for their language developmen...

  15. The roles of stimulus repetition and hemispheric activation in visual half-field asymmetries.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan, K F; McKeever, W F

    1985-10-01

    Hardyck, Tzeng, and Wang (1978, Brain and Language, 5, 56-71) hypothesized that ample repetition of a small number of stimuli is required in order to obtain VHF differences in tachistoscopic tasks. Four experiments, with varied levels of repetition, were conducted to test this hypothesis. Three experiments utilized the general task of object-picture naming and one utilized a word-naming task. Naming latencies constituted the dependent measure. The results demonstrate that for the object-naming paradigm repetition is required for RVF superiority to emerge. Repetition was found to be unnecessary for RVF superiority in the word-naming paradigm, with repetition actually reducing RVF superiority. Experiment I suggested the possibility that RVF superiority developed for the second half of the trials as a function of practice or hemispheric activation, regardless of repetition level. Subsequent experiments, better designed to assess this possibility, clearly refuted it. It was concluded that the effect of repetition depends on the processing requirements of the task. We propose that, for tasks which can be processed efficiently by one hemisphere, the effect of repetition will be to reduce VHF asymmetries; but tasks requiring substantial processing by both hemispheres will show shifts to RVF superiority as a function of repetition.

  16. The right hemisphere's contribution to discourse processing: A study in temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lomlomdjian, Carolina; Múnera, Claudia P; Low, Daniel M; Terpiluk, Verónica; Solís, Patricia; Abusamra, Valeria; Kochen, Silvia

    2017-08-01

    Discourse skills - in which the right hemisphere has an important role - enables verbal communication by selecting contextually relevant information and integrating it coherently to infer the correct meaning. However, language research in epilepsy has focused on single word analysis related mainly to left hemisphere processing. The purpose of this study was to investigate discourse abilities in patients with right lateralized medial temporal lobe epilepsy (RTLE) by comparing their performance to that of patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy (LTLE). 74 pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients were evaluated: 34 with RTLE and 40 with LTLE. Subjects underwent a battery of tests that measure comprehension and production of conversational and narrative discourse. Disease related variables and general neuropsychological data were evaluated. The RTLE group presented deficits in interictal conversational and narrative discourse, with a disintegrated speech, lack of categorization and misinterpretation of social meaning. LTLE group, on the other hand, showed a tendency to lower performance in logical-temporal sequencing. RTLE patients showed discourse deficits which have been described in right hemisphere damaged patients due to other etiologies. Medial and anterior temporal lobe structures appear to link semantic, world knowledge, and social cognition associated areas to construct a contextually related coherent meaning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Near-infrared spectroscopic study and the Wada test for presurgical evaluation of expressive and receptive language functions in glioma patients: with a case report of dissociated language functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sato, Yosuke; Uzuka, Takeo; Aoki, Hiroshi; Natsumeda, Manabu; Oishi, Makoto; Fukuda, Masafumi; Fujii, Yukihiko

    2012-02-29

    Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has proven to be useful for the evaluation of language lateralization in healthy subjects, infants, and epileptic patients. This study for the first time investigated the expressive and receptive language functions separately, using NIRS in presurgical glioma patients. We also describe a special case with dissociated pattern of language functions. Ten glioma patients were examined. Using NIRS, the hemodynamic changes during a verb generation task or story listening task were measured in the cerebral hemisphere on either side covering the language areas. Following the NIRS study, the Wada test was performed in all the patients. The NIRS study revealed increases of oxyhemoglobin and decreases of deoxyhemoglobin in the language areas elicited by both tasks. In 9 patients, who were all right-handed, the expressive and receptive language functions were lateralized to the left hemisphere. The results of the NIRS study were completely consistent with those of the Wada test. In the remaining 1 patient with a right sided insular glioma, who was right-handed, the NIRS study revealed stronger activation of the right inferior frontal region during the verb generation task, and stronger activation of the left superior temporal region during the story listening task. This dissociated language function was validated by the Wada test and the postoperative neurological course. These results demonstrate that a NIRS study using our technique is extremely valuable for preoperative assessment of the language functions and exemplifies how a preoperative NIRS study can allow detection of unforeseen language lateralization. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Language-specific dysgraphia in Korean stroke patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoon, Ji Hye; Suh, Mee Kyung; Kim, HyangHee

    2010-12-01

    We investigated how changes in the writing of 14 Korean stroke patients reflect the unique features of the Korean writing system. The Korean writing system, Han-geul, has both linguistic and visuospatial/constructive characteristics. In the visuospatial construction of a syllable, the component consonant(s) and vowel(s) must be arranged from top-to-bottom and/or left-to-right within the form of a square. This syllabic organization, unique to Korean writing, may distinguish dysgraphia in Korean patients from the disorder in other languages, and reveal the effects of stroke on visuospatial/constructive abilities. We compared 2 groups of patients affected by stroke, 1 group with left hemisphere (LH) lesions and the other with right hemisphere (RH) lesions. We instructed them to write from a dictation of 90 monosyllabic stimuli, each presented with a real word cue. Patients had to repeat a target syllable and a word cue, and then to write the target syllable only. Patients with LH and RH lesions produced qualitatively different error patterns. While the LH lesion group produced primarily linguistic errors, visuospatial/constructive errors predominated in the group with RH lesions. With regard to language-specific features, these Korean patients with RH lesions produced diverse visuospatial/constructive errors not commonly observed in dysgraphia of the English language. Language-specific writing errors by Korean stroke patients reflect the unique characteristics of Korean writing, which include the arrangement of strokes and graphemes within a square syllabic form by dimensional and spatial rules. These findings support the notion that the Korean writing system possesses a language-specific nature with both linguistic and visuospatial/constructive processes. Distinctive patterns of dysgraphia in the Korean language also suggest interactivity between linguistic and visuospatial/constructive levels of processing. This study is noteworthy for its systematic description of

  19. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and developmental right-hemisphere syndrome : Congruence and incongruence of cognitive and behavioral aspects of attention

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Landau, YE; Gross-Tsur, [No Value; Auerbach, JG; Van der Meere, J; Shalev, RS

    We studied clinical aspects of attention in three groups: children with developmental right-hemisphere syndrome and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), children with ADHD only, and normal controls. The three groups (N = 54) were case-matched for age, sex, IQ, hand dominance, and

  20. Agent based models of language competition: macroscopic descriptions and order–disorder transitions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vazquez, F; Castelló, X; San Miguel, M

    2010-01-01

    We investigate the dynamics of two agent based models of language competition. In the first model, each individual can be in one of two possible states, either using language X or language Y, while the second model incorporates a third state XY, representing individuals that use both languages (bilinguals). We analyze the models on complex networks and two-dimensional square lattices by analytical and numerical methods, and show that they exhibit a transition from one-language dominance to language coexistence. We find that the coexistence of languages is more difficult to maintain in the bilinguals model, where the presence of bilinguals facilitates the ultimate dominance of one of the two languages. A stability analysis reveals that the coexistence is more unlikely to happen in poorly connected than in fully connected networks, and that the dominance of just one language is enhanced as the connectivity decreases. This dominance effect is even stronger in a two-dimensional space, where domain coarsening tends to drive the system towards language consensus

  1. Development of adolescent reading comprehension in language 1 and language 2 : A longitudinal analysis of constituent components

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Gelderen, Amos; Schoonen, Rob; Stoel, Reinoud D.; de Glopper, C.M.; Hulstijn, Jan

    This study investigated the relationship between reading comprehension development of 389 adolescents in their dominant language (Language 1 [L 1], Dutch) and a foreign language (Language 2 [L2], English). In each consecutive year from Grades 8 through 10, a number of measurements were taken.

  2. Speech system of the brain: Insight via functional imaging methods

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kristjan Sancin

    2004-08-01

    Full Text Available The study of neural correlates of language has always lagged behind the study of other aspects of behavior and cognition due to the lack of an animal model. Clinical data led to the idea that language perception is localized in the posterior superior temporal lobe (Wernicke's area and functions related to speech production are localized in the lateral frontal lobe (Broca's area of the dominant hemisphere. Recent data from electrophysiological and functional neuroimaging investigations shows that the roles of Wernicke's and Broca's areas are not as clear as they appeared. A variety of cortical and subcortical regions have been found to be critically important for language processing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI can be used to study language system of the brain. When planning certain neurosurgical interventions, it is important to determine hemispheric language dominance and localization of language functions in order to avoid damaging these areas. Some fMRI language paradigms promise a completely noninvasive way of localizing language functions in an individual patient – a possible substitute for the tests currently in use. In our lab, we have recently started to use fMRI for localization of cortical language areas in healthy individuals and in neurological patients.

  3. HEMISPHERIC ASYMMETRIES OF SOLAR PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETISM: RADIATIVE, PARTICULATE, AND HELIOSPHERIC IMPACTS

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McIntosh, Scott W.; Burkepile, Joan; Miesch, Mark; Markel, Robert S.; Sitongia, Leonard; Leamon, Robert J.; Gurman, Joseph B.; Olive, Jean-Philippe; Cirtain, Jonathan W.; Hathaway, David H.

    2013-01-01

    Among many other measurable quantities, the summer of 2009 saw a considerable low in the radiative output of the Sun that was temporally coincident with the largest cosmic-ray flux ever measured at 1 AU. Combining measurements and observations made by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft we begin to explore the complexities of the descending phase of solar cycle 23, through the 2009 minimum into the ascending phase of solar cycle 24. A hemispheric asymmetry in magnetic activity is clearly observed and its evolution monitored and the resulting (prolonged) magnetic imbalance must have had a considerable impact on the structure and energetics of the heliosphere. While we cannot uniquely tie the variance and scale of the surface magnetism to the dwindling radiative and particulate output of the star, or the increased cosmic-ray flux through the 2009 minimum, the timing of the decline and rapid recovery in early 2010 would appear to inextricably link them. These observations support a picture where the Sun's hemispheres are significantly out of phase with each other. Studying historical sunspot records with this picture in mind shows that the northern hemisphere has been leading since the middle of the last century and that the hemispheric ''dominance'' has changed twice in the past 130 years. The observations presented give clear cause for concern, especially with respect to our present understanding of the processes that produce the surface magnetism in the (hidden) solar interior—hemispheric asymmetry is the normal state—the strong symmetry shown in 1996 was abnormal. Further, these observations show that the mechanism(s) which create and transport the magnetic flux are slowly changing with time and, it appears, with only loose coupling across the equator such that those asymmetries can persist for a considerable time. As the current asymmetry persists and the basal energetics of the system continue to

  4. HEMISPHERIC ASYMMETRIES OF SOLAR PHOTOSPHERIC MAGNETISM: RADIATIVE, PARTICULATE, AND HELIOSPHERIC IMPACTS

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    McIntosh, Scott W.; Burkepile, Joan; Miesch, Mark; Markel, Robert S.; Sitongia, Leonard [High Altitude Observatory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, P.O. Box 3000, Boulder, CO 80307 (United States); Leamon, Robert J. [Department of Physics, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717 (United States); Gurman, Joseph B. [Solar Physics Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States); Olive, Jean-Philippe [Astrium SAS, 6 rue Laurent Pichat, F-75016 Paris (France); Cirtain, Jonathan W.; Hathaway, David H. [Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL 35812 (United States)

    2013-03-10

    Among many other measurable quantities, the summer of 2009 saw a considerable low in the radiative output of the Sun that was temporally coincident with the largest cosmic-ray flux ever measured at 1 AU. Combining measurements and observations made by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft we begin to explore the complexities of the descending phase of solar cycle 23, through the 2009 minimum into the ascending phase of solar cycle 24. A hemispheric asymmetry in magnetic activity is clearly observed and its evolution monitored and the resulting (prolonged) magnetic imbalance must have had a considerable impact on the structure and energetics of the heliosphere. While we cannot uniquely tie the variance and scale of the surface magnetism to the dwindling radiative and particulate output of the star, or the increased cosmic-ray flux through the 2009 minimum, the timing of the decline and rapid recovery in early 2010 would appear to inextricably link them. These observations support a picture where the Sun's hemispheres are significantly out of phase with each other. Studying historical sunspot records with this picture in mind shows that the northern hemisphere has been leading since the middle of the last century and that the hemispheric ''dominance'' has changed twice in the past 130 years. The observations presented give clear cause for concern, especially with respect to our present understanding of the processes that produce the surface magnetism in the (hidden) solar interior-hemispheric asymmetry is the normal state-the strong symmetry shown in 1996 was abnormal. Further, these observations show that the mechanism(s) which create and transport the magnetic flux are slowly changing with time and, it appears, with only loose coupling across the equator such that those asymmetries can persist for a considerable time. As the current asymmetry persists and the basal energetics of the

  5. Activation of dominant hemisphere association cortex during naming as a function of cognitive performance in mild traumatic brain injury: Insights into mechanisms of lexical access

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mihai Popescu

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Patients with a history of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI and objective cognitive deficits frequently experience word finding difficulties in normal conversation. We sought to improve our understanding of this phenomenon by determining if the scores on standardized cognitive testing are correlated with measures of brain activity evoked in a word retrieval task (confrontational picture naming. The study participants (n = 57 were military service members with a history of mTBI. The General Memory Index (GMI determined after administration of the Rivermead Behavioral Memory Test, Third Edition, was used to assign subjects to three groups: low cognitive performance (Group 1: GMI ≤ 87, n = 18, intermediate cognitive performance (Group 2: 88 ≤ GMI ≤ 99, n = 18, and high cognitive performance (Group 3: GMI ≥ 100, n = 21. Magnetoencephalography data were recorded while participants named eighty pictures of common objects. Group differences in evoked cortical activity were observed relatively early (within 200 ms from picture onset over a distributed network of left hemisphere cortical regions including the fusiform gyrus, the entorhinal and parahippocampal cortex, the supramarginal gyrus and posterior part of the superior temporal gyrus, and the inferior frontal and rostral middle frontal gyri. Differences were also present in bilateral cingulate cortex and paracentral lobule, and in the right fusiform gyrus. All differences reflected a lower amplitude of the evoked responses for Group 1 relative to Groups 2 and 3. These findings may indicate weak afferent inputs to and within an extended cortical network including association cortex of the dominant hemisphere in patients with low cognitive performance. The association between word finding difficulties and low cognitive performance may therefore be the result of a diffuse pathophysiological process affecting distributed neuronal networks serving a wide range of cognitive

  6. THE INFLUENCE OF LANGUAGE USE AND LANGUAGE ATTITUDE ON THE MAINTENANCE OF COMMUNITY LANGUAGES SPOKEN BY MIGRANT STUDENTS

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    Leni Amalia Suek

    2014-05-01

    Full Text Available The maintenance of community languages of migrant students is heavily determined by language use and language attitudes. The superiority of a dominant language over a community language contributes to attitudes of migrant students toward their native languages. When they perceive their native languages as unimportant language, they will reduce the frequency of using that language even though at home domain. Solutions provided for a problem of maintaining community languages should be related to language use and attitudes of community languages, which are developed mostly in two important domains, school and family. Hence, the valorization of community language should be promoted not only in family but also school domains. Several programs such as community language school and community language program can be used for migrant students to practice and use their native languages. Since educational resources such as class session, teachers and government support are limited; family plays significant roles to stimulate positive attitudes toward community language and also to develop the use of native languages.

  7. Sex-differences of face coding: evidence from larger right hemispheric M170 in men and dipole source modelling.

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    Hannes O Tiedt

    Full Text Available The processing of faces relies on a specialized neural system comprising bilateral cortical structures with a dominance of the right hemisphere. However, due to inconsistencies of earlier findings as well as more recent results such functional lateralization has become a topic of discussion. In particular, studies employing behavioural tasks and electrophysiological methods indicate a dominance of the right hemisphere during face perception only in men whereas women exhibit symmetric and bilateral face processing. The aim of this study was to further investigate such sex differences in hemispheric processing of personally familiar and opposite-sex faces using whole-head magnetoencephalography (MEG. We found a right-lateralized M170-component in occipito-temporal sensor clusters in men as opposed to a bilateral response in women. Furthermore, the same pattern was obtained in performing dipole localization and determining dipole strength in the M170-timewindow. These results suggest asymmetric involvement of face-responsive neural structures in men and allow to ascribe this asymmetry to the fusiform gyrus. This specifies findings from previous investigations employing event-related potentials (ERP and LORETA reconstruction methods yielding rather extended bilateral activations showing left asymmetry in women and right lateralization in men. We discuss our finding of an asymmetric fusiform activation pattern in men in terms of holistic face processing during face evaluation and sex differences with regard to visual strategies in general and interest for opposite faces in special. Taken together the pattern of hemispheric specialization observed here yields new insights into sex differences in face perception and entails further questions about interactions between biological sex, psychological gender and influences that might be stimulus-driven or task dependent.

  8. Improvement of language functions in a chronic non-fluent post-stroke aphasic patient following bilateral sequential theta burst magnetic stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vuksanović, Jasmina; Jelić, Milan B; Milanović, Sladjan D; Kačar, Katarina; Konstantinović, Ljubica; Filipović, Saša R

    2015-01-01

    In chronic non-fluent aphasia patients, inhibition of the intact right hemisphere (RH), by transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) or similar methods, can induce improvement in language functions. The supposed mechanism behind this improvement is a release of preserved left hemisphere (LH) language networks from RH transcallosal inhibition. Direct stimulation of the damaged LH can sometimes bring similar results too. Therefore, we developed a novel treatment approach that combined direct LH (Broca's area (BA)) stimulation, by intermittent theta burst stimulation (TBS), with homologue RH area's inhibition, by continuous TBS. We present the results of application of 15 daily sessions of the described treatment approach in a right-handed patient with chronic post-stroke non-fluent aphasia. The intervention appeared to improve several language functions, but most notably propositional speech, semantic fluency, short-term verbal memory, and verbal learning. Bilateral TBS modulation of activation of the language-related areas of both hemispheres seems to be a feasible and promising way to induce recovery in chronic aphasic patients. Due to potentially cumulative physiological effects of bilateral stimulation, the improvements may be even greater than following unilateral interventions.

  9. Stroop phenomena in the Japanese language: the case of ideographic characters (kanji) and syllabic characters (kana).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morikawa, Y

    1981-08-01

    Utilizing a unique feature of the Japanese languages--that besides two syllabic orthographies, which have identical pronunciations, words with the same pronunciation may also be written in an orthography composed of ideographic characters--we have conducted an investigation of Stroop phenomena. The fact that pronunciations of the three Japanese orthographies are identical means that, if there are any differences between them in the Stroop phenomena observed, we can place the locus of this interference effect in the perceptual process. Five color names were written in the ideographic characters (kanji) and the two syllabic orthographies (hiragana and katakana). Color-congruent cards and incongruent cards were utilized in a color-naming task and a word-reading task. Mean required times for the color-naming condition and the word-reading conditions were compared with those for control conditions. Stroop phenomena were observed in both ideographic and syllabic orthographies. Significant differences in mean required times were observed between the ideographic and syllabic orthographies but not between the two syllabic orthographies. Interferences in comparisons of Japanese orthographies and color patch control conditions were much smaller than in the case of Stroop's (1935) experiment. A "Reverse Stroop Phenomenon" was observed only in the case of kanji on incongruent cards in the word-reading condition. The results support the hypothesis that both ideographic characters (in this case, kanji) and colors are processed in a parallel fashion in the non-dominant right cerebral hemisphere, while syllabic or phonetic characters are processed in the dominant left cerebral hemisphere.

  10. Commentary: Motivation for Learning Languages Other than English in an English-Dominant World

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duff, Patricia A.

    2017-01-01

    The majority of recent research on language learning motivation has reportedly focused on English as a target language, typically in relatively homogeneous, secondary and postsecondary "foreign language" settings. How applicable, then, are the theories and findings undergirding that research to our understanding of the contemporary…

  11. Seasonal and interplanetary magnetic field dependence of the field-aligned currents for both Northern and Southern Hemispheres

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    D. L. Green

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available The configuration of the Earth's magnetosphere under various Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF and solar wind conditions alters the global distribution of Field-Aligned Currents (FACs at the high latitude ionospheres. We use magnetic field data obtained from the Iridium constellation to extend recent studies that infer the dependence of the global FAC configuration on IMF direction and magnitude, hemisphere and season. New results are a reduced IMF By influence on the FAC configuration for the winter hemisphere and a redistribution of FAC to the nightside for winter relative to the summer hemisphere. These effects are linked to the winter ionosphere conductance distribution being dominated by localised nightside enhancement associated with ionisation from energetic particle precipitation. A comparison of an estimated open-closed field line boundary (OCFLB with the Region 1 FAC locations shows reasonable agreement for summer FAC configurations. However, the OCFLB location is decoupled from the Region 1 FACs in winter, especially for IMF Bz>0.

  12. Languages: The Next Generation. The Final Report and Recommendations of the Nuffield Languages Inquiry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nuffield Foundation, London (England).

    This report examines the United Kingdom's (UK) capability in foreign languages and reports on what the nation should do to improve the situation. It is argued that despite the fact that English is rapidly becoming an even more dominant language in the world--it is clearly the international language of science, law, banking, business,…

  13. Onsite-effects of dual-hemisphere versus conventional single-hemisphere transcranial direct current stimulation

    OpenAIRE

    Kwon, Yong Hyun; Jang, Sung Ho

    2012-01-01

    We performed functional MRI examinations in six right-handed healthy subjects. During functional MRI scanning, transcranial direct current stimulation was delivered with the anode over the right primary sensorimotor cortex and the cathode over the left primary sensorimotor cortex using dual-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation. This was compared to a cathode over the left supraorbital area using conventional single-hemispheric transcranial direct current stimulation. Voxel coun...

  14. Task demands modulate decision and eye movement responses in the chimeric face test: examining the right hemisphere processing account

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    Jason eCoronel

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available A large and growing body of work, conducted in both brain-intact and brain-damaged populations, has used the free viewing chimeric face test as a measure of hemispheric dominance for the extraction of emotional information from faces. These studies generally show that normal right-handed individuals tend to perceive chimeric faces as more emotional if the emotional expression is presented on the half of the face to the viewer’s left (left hemiface. However, the mechanisms underlying this lateralized bias remain unclear. Here, we examine the extent to which this bias is driven by right hemisphere processing advantages versus default scanning biases in a unique way -- by changing task demands. In particular, we compare the original task with one in which right-hemisphere-biased processing cannot provide a decision advantage. Our behavioral and eye-movement data are inconsistent with the predictions of a default scanning bias account and support the idea that the left hemiface bias found in the chimeric face test is largely due to strategic use of right hemisphere processing mechanisms.

  15. Reduced structural connectivity between sensorimotor and language areas in rolandic epilepsy.

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    René M H Besseling

    Full Text Available Rolandic epilepsy (RE is a childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal (rolandic spikes, that is increasingly associated with language impairment. In this study, we tested for a white matter (connectivity correlate, employing diffusion weighted MRI and language testing.Twenty-three children with RE and 23 matched controls (age: 8-14 years underwent structural (T1-weighted and diffusion-weighted MRI (b = 1200 s/mm(2, 66 gradient directions at 3T, as well as neuropsychological language testing. Combining tractography and a cortical segmentation derived from the T1-scan, the rolandic tract were reconstructed (pre- and postcentral gyri, and tract fractional anisotropy (FA values were compared between patients and controls. Aberrant tracts were tested for correlations with language performance.Several reductions of tract FA were found in patients compared to controls, mostly in the left hemisphere; the most significant effects involved the left inferior frontal (p = 0.005 and supramarginal (p = 0.004 gyrus. In the patient group, lower tract FA values were correlated with lower language performance, among others for the connection between the left postcentral and inferior frontal gyrus (p = 0.043, R = 0.43.In RE, structural connectivity is reduced for several connections involving the rolandic regions, from which the epileptiform activity originates. Most of these aberrant tracts involve the left (typically language mediating hemisphere, notably the pars opercularis of the inferior frontal gyrus (Broca's area and the supramarginal gyrus (Wernicke's area. For the former, reduced language performance for lower tract FA was found in the patients. These findings provide a first microstructural white matter correlate for language impairment in RE.

  16. Social Dominance Orientation, Language Orientation, and Deaf Identity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marschark, Marc; Zettler, Ingo; Dammeyer, Jesper

    2017-01-01

    The notion of the Deaf community as a linguistic-cultural minority has been increasingly recognized and studied over the last two decades. However, significant differences of opinion and perspective within that population typically have been neglected in the literature. Social dominance orientation (SDO), a theoretical construct, typically…

  17. Dichotic listening performance predicts language comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asbjørnsen, Arve E; Helland, Turid

    2006-05-01

    Dichotic listening performance is considered a reliable and valid procedure for the assessment of language lateralisation in the brain. However, the documentation of a relationship between language functions and dichotic listening performance is sparse, although it is accepted that dichotic listening measures language perception. In particular, language comprehension should show close correspondence to perception of language stimuli. In the present study, we tested samples of reading-impaired and normally achieving children between 10 and 13 years of age with tests of reading skills, language comprehension, and dichotic listening to consonant-vowel (CV) syllables. A high correlation between the language scores and the dichotic listening performance was expected. However, since the left ear score is believed to be an error when assessing language laterality, covariation was expected for the right ear scores only. In addition, directing attention to one ear input was believed to reduce the influence of random factors, and thus show a more concise estimate of left hemisphere language capacity. Thus, a stronger correlation between language comprehension skills and the dichotic listening performance when attending to the right ear was expected. The analyses yielded a positive correlation between the right ear score in DL and language comprehension, an effect that was stronger when attending to the right ear. The present results confirm the assumption that dichotic listening with CV syllables measures an aspect of language perception and language skills that is related to general language comprehension.

  18. Atypical within- and between-hemisphere motor network functional connections in children with developmental coordination disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

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    Kevin R. McLeod

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Developmental coordination disorder (DCD and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD are highly comorbid neurodevelopmental disorders; however, the neural mechanisms of this comorbidity are poorly understood. Previous research has demonstrated that children with DCD and ADHD have altered brain region communication, particularly within the motor network. The structure and function of the motor network in a typically developing brain exhibits hemispheric dominance. It is plausible that functional deficits observed in children with DCD and ADHD are associated with neurodevelopmental alterations in within- and between-hemisphere motor network functional connection strength that disrupt this hemispheric dominance. We used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine functional connections of the left and right primary and sensory motor (SM1 cortices in children with DCD, ADHD and DCD + ADHD, relative to typically developing children. Our findings revealed that children with DCD, ADHD and DCD + ADHD exhibit atypical within- and between-hemisphere functional connection strength between SM1 and regions of the basal ganglia, as well as the cerebellum. Our findings further support the assertion that development of atypical motor network connections represents common and distinct neural mechanisms underlying DCD and ADHD. In children with DCD and DCD + ADHD (but not ADHD, a significant correlation was observed between clinical assessment of motor function and the strength of functional connections between right SM1 and anterior cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area, and regions involved in visuospatial processing. This latter finding suggests that behavioral phenotypes associated with atypical motor network development differ between individuals with DCD and those with ADHD.

  19. Age of second language acquisition in multilinguals has an impact on gray matter volume in language-associated brain areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaiser, Anelis; Eppenberger, Leila S; Smieskova, Renata; Borgwardt, Stefan; Kuenzli, Esther; Radue, Ernst-Wilhelm; Nitsch, Cordula; Bendfeldt, Kerstin

    2015-01-01

    Numerous structural studies have established that experience shapes and reshapes the brain throughout a lifetime. The impact of early development, however, is still a matter of debate. Further clues may come from studying multilinguals who acquired their second language at different ages. We investigated adult multilinguals who spoke three languages fluently, where the third language was learned in classroom settings, not before the age of 9 years. Multilinguals exposed to two languages simultaneously from birth (SiM) were contrasted with multinguals who acquired their first two languages successively (SuM). Whole brain voxel based morphometry revealed that, relative to SuM, SiM have significantly lower gray matter volume in several language-associated cortical areas in both hemispheres: bilaterally in medial and inferior frontal gyrus, in the right medial temporal gyrus and inferior posterior parietal gyrus, as well as in the left inferior temporal gyrus. Thus, as shown by others, successive language learning increases the volume of language-associated cortical areas. In brains exposed early on and simultaneously to more than one language, however, learning of additional languages seems to have less impact. We conclude that - at least with respect to language acquisition - early developmental influences are maintained and have an effect on experience-dependent plasticity well into adulthood.

  20. Age of second language acquisition in multilinguals has an impact on grey matter volume in language-associated brain areas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anelis eKaiser

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Numerous structural studies have established that experience shapes and reshapes the brain throughout a lifetime. The impact of early development, however, is still a matter of debate. Further clues may come from studying multilinguals who acquired their second language at different ages. We investigated adult multilinguals who spoke three languages fluently, where the third language was learned in classroom settings, not before the age of 9 years. Multilinguals exposed to 2 languages simultaneously from birth (SiM were contrasted with multinguals who acquired their first two languages successively (SuM. Whole brain voxel based morphometry revealed that, relative to SuM, SiM have significantly lower grey matter volume in several language-associated cortical areas in both hemispheres: bilaterally in medial and inferior frontal gyrus, in the right medial temporal gyrus and inferior posterior parietal gyrus, as well as in the left inferior frontal gyrus. Thus, as shown by others, successive language learning increases the volume of language-associated cortical areas. In brains exposed early on and simultaneously to more than one language, however, learning of additional languages seems to have less impact. We conclude that - at least with respect to language acquisition - early developmental influences are maintained and influence experience-dependent plasticity well into adulthood.

  1. Clinical Focus on Prosodic, Discursive and Pragmatic Treatment for Right Hemisphere Damaged Adults: What's Right?

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    Perrine Ferré

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Researchers and clinicians acknowledge today that the contribution of both cerebral hemispheres is necessary to a full and adequate verbal communication. Indeed, it is estimated that at least 50% of right brain damaged individuals display impairments of prosodic, discourse, pragmatics and/or lexical semantics dimensions of communication. Since the 1990's, researchers have focused on the description and the assessment of these impairments and it is only recently that authors have shown interest in planning specific intervention approaches. However, therapists in rehabilitation settings still have very few available tools. This review of recent literature demonstrates that, even though theoretical knowledge needs further methodological investigation, intervention guidelines can be identified to target right hemisphere damage communication impairments in clinical practice. These principles can be incorporated by speech and language pathologists, in a structured intervention framework, aiming at fully addressing prosodic, discursive and pragmatic components of communication.

  2. Central and Divided Visual Field Presentation of Emotional Images to Measure Hemispheric Differences in Motivated Attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Hare, Aminda J; Atchley, Ruth Ann; Young, Keith M

    2017-11-16

    Two dominant theories on lateralized processing of emotional information exist in the literature. One theory posits that unpleasant emotions are processed by right frontal regions, while pleasant emotions are processed by left frontal regions. The other theory posits that the right hemisphere is more specialized for the processing of emotional information overall, particularly in posterior regions. Assessing the different roles of the cerebral hemispheres in processing emotional information can be difficult without the use of neuroimaging methodologies, which are not accessible or affordable to all scientists. Divided visual field presentation of stimuli can allow for the investigation of lateralized processing of information without the use of neuroimaging technology. This study compared central versus divided visual field presentations of emotional images to assess differences in motivated attention between the two hemispheres. The late positive potential (LPP) was recorded using electroencephalography (EEG) and event-related potentials (ERPs) methodologies to assess motivated attention. Future work will pair this paradigm with a more active behavioral task to explore the behavioral impacts on the attentional differences found.

  3. Neuroimaging and neurorehabilitation for aphasia patients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abo, Masahiro

    2012-01-01

    Recently, low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) which can suppress neural activity of selected brain areas, has been introduced for stroke patients with aphasia as a therapeutic tool. To assess the therapeutic effects of an 11-days in-hospital protocol of intensive speech therapy (ST) combined with low-frequency rTMS on language function in patients with poststroke aphasia. Twenty patients with left-hemispheric stroke and aphasia were included in this study During their 11-day hospitalization, each patient received 10 treatment sessions consisting of 40-min of 1 Hz repetitive low-frequency TMS and 60-min of intensive ST (one session/day), excluding Sundays. The scalp area for stimulation was selected based on functional (f) MRI and determination of the type of aphasia. Repetitive low-frequency-TMS was applied to the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) for patients with motor-dominant aphasia and to the superior temporal gyrus (STG) for patients with sensory-dominant aphasia. Language function was evaluated by the Japanese version of the Western Aphasia Battery (WAB), the Standard Language Test of Aphasia (SLTA) and the supplementary test of SLTA at one week before admission, 1 hr after the last rTMS session and 4 weeks after discharge from the hospital. On pretreatment fMRI, the most activated areas were in the left hemisphere (n=11) and the right hemisphere (n=9). Aphasia types were sensory-dominant (n=9) and motor-dominant (n=11). The repetitive low-frequency TMS was applied to the right STG (n=5), left STG (n=4), right IFG (n=8) and left IFG (n=3). All patients with motor-dominant aphasia showed improvement while those with sensory-dominant aphasia showed improvement in spontaneous speed only. Our fMRI-based repetitive low-frequency TMS strategy for aphasic stroke patients seems to be a novel neurorehabilitative approach facilitating the reorganization of language function with a low risk of adverse effects. (author)

  4. The influence of visual and phonological features on the hemispheric processing of hierarchical Navon letters.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aiello, Marilena; Merola, Sheila; Lasaponara, Stefano; Pinto, Mario; Tomaiuolo, Francesco; Doricchi, Fabrizio

    2018-01-31

    conveyed no phonological information, the left hemisphere showed preserved global processing abilities. These findings were supported by the study of the right brain damaged patient. These results offer a new look at the hemispheric dominance in the attentional processing of the global and local levels of hierarchical stimuli. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Age-related changes in hand dominance and functional asymmetry in older adults.

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    Anna Sebastjan

    Full Text Available The aim of the study was to investigate fine motor performance and ascertain age-related changes in laterality between the dominant and non-dominant hand. A representative sample of 635 adults (144 males and 491 females aged 50 years and over completed a test battery MLS (Motor Performance Series to assess a broad range of hand functions. Functional asymmetry was observed in all four motor tests (postural tremor, aiming, tapping, and inserting long pins. Significant differences between the dominant and non-dominant hand were obtained in both sexes across all age groups, except in the oldest female group (age >70 for the aiming (number of hits and errors and postural tremor (number of errors tasks. These differences in age-related changes may be attributed to hemispheric asymmetry, environmental factors, or use-dependent plasticity. Conflicting evidence in the literature warrants additional research to better explain age-related alterations of hand dominance and manual performance in old age.

  6. Hardware description languages

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tucker, Jerry H.

    1994-01-01

    Hardware description languages are special purpose programming languages. They are primarily used to specify the behavior of digital systems and are rapidly replacing traditional digital system design techniques. This is because they allow the designer to concentrate on how the system should operate rather than on implementation details. Hardware description languages allow a digital system to be described with a wide range of abstraction, and they support top down design techniques. A key feature of any hardware description language environment is its ability to simulate the modeled system. The two most important hardware description languages are Verilog and VHDL. Verilog has been the dominant language for the design of application specific integrated circuits (ASIC's). However, VHDL is rapidly gaining in popularity.

  7. Analysis of EEG activity during sleep - brain hemisphere symmetry of two classes of sleep spindles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smolen, Magdalena M.

    2009-01-01

    This paper presents automatic analysis of some selected human electroencephalographic patterns during deep sleep using the Matching Pursuit (MP) algorithm. The periodicity of deep sleep EEG patterns was observed by calculating autocorrelation functions of their percentage contributions. The study confirmed the increasing trend of amplitude-weighted average frequency of sleep spindles from frontal to posterior derivations. The dominant frequencies from the left and the right brain hemisphere were strongly correlated.

  8. Cognate costs in bilingual speech production: Evidence from language switching

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    Mirjam Broersma

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available This study investigates cross-language lexical competition in the bilingual mental lexicon. It provides evidence for the occurrence of inhibition as well as the commonly reported facilitation during the production of cognates (words with similar phonological form and meaning in two languages in a mixed picture naming task by highly proficient Welsh-English bilinguals. Previous studies have typically found cognate facilitation. It has previously been proposed (with respect to non-cognates that cross-language inhibition is limited to low-proficient bilinguals; therefore, we tested highly proficient, early bilinguals. In a mixed naming experiment (i.e., picture naming with language switching, 48 highly proficient, early Welsh-English bilinguals named pictures in Welsh and English, including cognate and non-cognate targets. Participants were English-dominant, Welsh-dominant, or had equal language dominance. The results showed evidence for cognate inhibition in to ways. First, both facilitation and inhibition were found on the cognate trials themselves, compared to non-cognate controls, modulated by the participants’ language dominance. The English-dominant group showed cognate inhibition when naming in Welsh (and no difference between cognates and controls when naming in English, and the Welsh-dominant and equal dominance groups generally showed cognate facilitation. Second, cognate inhibition was found as a behavioral adaptation effect, with slower naming for non-cognate filler words in trials after cognates than after non-cognate controls. This effect was consistent across all language dominance groups and both target languages, suggesting that cognate production involved cognitive control even if this was not measurable in the cognate trials themselves. Finally, the results replicated patterns of symmetrical switch costs, as commonly reported for balanced bilinguals. We propose that cognate processing might be affected by two different

  9. Hemispheric specialization in dogs for processing different acoustic stimuli.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcello Siniscalchi

    Full Text Available Considerable experimental evidence shows that functional cerebral asymmetries are widespread in animals. Activity of the right cerebral hemisphere has been associated with responses to novel stimuli and the expression of intense emotions, such as aggression, escape behaviour and fear. The left hemisphere uses learned patterns and responds to familiar stimuli. Although such lateralization has been studied mainly for visual responses, there is evidence in primates that auditory perception is lateralized and that vocal communication depends on differential processing by the hemispheres. The aim of the present work was to investigate whether dogs use different hemispheres to process different acoustic stimuli by presenting them with playbacks of a thunderstorm and their species-typical vocalizations. The results revealed that dogs usually process their species-typical vocalizations using the left hemisphere and the thunderstorm sounds using the right hemisphere. Nevertheless, conspecific vocalizations are not always processed by the left hemisphere, since the right hemisphere is used for processing vocalizations when they elicit intense emotion, including fear. These findings suggest that the specialisation of the left hemisphere for intraspecific communication is more ancient that previously thought, and so is specialisation of the right hemisphere for intense emotions.

  10. MINORITY LANGUAGES IN ESTONIAN SEGREGATIVE LANGUAGE ENVIRONMENTS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Elvira Küün

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available The goal of this project in Estonia was to determine what languages are spoken by students from the 2nd to the 5th year of basic school at their homes in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. At the same time, this problem was also studied in other segregated regions of Estonia: Kohtla-Järve and Maardu. According to the database of the population census from the year 2000 (Estonian Statistics Executive Office's census 2000, there are representatives of 142 ethnic groups living in Estonia, speaking a total of 109 native languages. At the same time, the database doesn’t state which languages are spoken at homes. The material presented in this article belongs to the research topic “Home Language of Basic School Students in Tallinn” from years 2007–2008, specifically financed and ordered by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (grant No. ETF 7065 in the framework of an international study called “Multilingual Project”. It was determined what language is dominating in everyday use, what are the factors for choosing the language for communication, what are the preferred languages and language skills. This study reflects the actual trends of the language situation in these cities.

  11. Comparison of the two cerebral hemispheres in inhibitory processes operative during movement preparation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klein, Pierre-Alexandre; Duque, Julie; Labruna, Ludovica; Ivry, Richard B.

    2015-01-01

    Neuroimaging and neuropsychological studies suggest that in right-handed individuals, the left hemisphere plays a dominant role in praxis, relative to the right hemisphere. However hemispheric asymmetries assessed with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has not shown consistent differences in corticospinal (CS) excitability of the two hemispheres during movements. In the current study, we systematically explored hemispheric asymmetries in inhibitory processes that are manifest during movement preparation and initiation. Single-pulse TMS was applied over the left or right primary motor cortex (M1LEFT and M1RIGHT, respectively) to elicit motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) in the contralateral hand while participants performed a two-choice reaction time task requiring a cued movement of the left or right index finger. In Experiments 1 and 2, TMS probes were obtained during a delay period following the presentation of the preparatory cue that provided partial or full information about the required response. MEPs were suppressed relative to baseline regardless of whether they were elicited in a cued or uncued hand. Importantly, the magnitude of these inhibitory changes in CS excitability was similar when TMS was applied over M1LEFT or M1RIGHT, irrespective of the amount of information carried by the preparatory cue. In Experiment 3, there was no preparatory cue and TMS was applied at various time points after the imperative signal. When CS excitability was probed in the cued effector, MEPs were initially inhibited and then rose across the reaction time interval. This function was similar for M1LEFT and M1RIGHT TMS. When CS excitability was probed in the uncued effector, MEPs remained inhibited throughout the RT interval. However, MEPs in right FDI became more inhibited during selection and initiation of a left hand movement, whereas MEPs in left FDI remained relatively invariant across RT interval for the right hand. In addition to these task-specific effects, there

  12. Passive language mapping combining real-time oscillation analysis with cortico-cortical evoked potentials for awake craniotomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tamura, Yukie; Ogawa, Hiroshi; Kapeller, Christoph; Prueckl, Robert; Takeuchi, Fumiya; Anei, Ryogo; Ritaccio, Anthony; Guger, Christoph; Kamada, Kyousuke

    2016-12-01

    OBJECTIVE Electrocortical stimulation (ECS) is the gold standard for functional brain mapping; however, precise functional mapping is still difficult in patients with language deficits. High gamma activity (HGA) between 80 and 140 Hz on electrocorticography is assumed to reflect localized cortical processing, whereas the cortico-cortical evoked potential (CCEP) can reflect bidirectional responses evoked by monophasic pulse stimuli to the language cortices when there is no patient cooperation. The authors propose the use of "passive" mapping by combining HGA mapping and CCEP recording without active tasks during conscious resections of brain tumors. METHODS Five patients, each with an intraaxial tumor in their dominant hemisphere, underwent conscious resection of their lesion with passive mapping. The authors performed functional localization for the receptive language area, using real-time HGA mapping, by listening passively to linguistic sounds. Furthermore, single electrical pulses were delivered to the identified receptive temporal language area to detect CCEPs in the frontal lobe. All mapping results were validated by ECS, and the sensitivity and specificity were evaluated. RESULTS Linguistic HGA mapping quickly identified the language area in the temporal lobe. Electrical stimulation by linguistic HGA mapping to the identified temporal receptive language area evoked CCEPs on the frontal lobe. The combination of linguistic HGA and frontal CCEPs needed no patient cooperation or effort. In this small case series, the sensitivity and specificity were 93.8% and 89%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS The described technique allows for simple and quick functional brain mapping with higher sensitivity and specificity than ECS mapping. The authors believe that this could improve the reliability of functional brain mapping and facilitate rational and objective operations. Passive mapping also sheds light on the underlying physiological mechanisms of language in the human brain.

  13. The English Language and Communicability: The Nigerian ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Nigeria is blessed with many indigenous languages that are mainly used in communication, including English as her second language. These languages had never remained static; they develop simultaneously with the developing nature of Nigeria. Communication therefore dominates the various functions performed by ...

  14. Language deficits as a possible symptom of right hemisphere dysfunctions in Asperger’s syndrome

    OpenAIRE

    Anita Bryńska

    2010-01-01

    Qualitative communication disorders belong to the key symptoms of pervasive developmental disorders (PDD). The severity of the symptoms of communication disorders varies depending on the type of PDD, from the lack of functional speech to overdeveloped verbal competencies measured by standardized scales. In Asperger’s syndrome (AS), observed language abnormalities include: pragmatics (application of language in social context), semantics (identifying different meanings of the same ...

  15. Bilingual Language Switching: Production vs. Recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mosca, Michela; de Bot, Kees

    2017-01-01

    This study aims at assessing how bilinguals select words in the appropriate language in production and recognition while minimizing interference from the non-appropriate language. Two prominent models are considered which assume that when one language is in use, the other is suppressed. The Inhibitory Control (IC) model suggests that, in both production and recognition, the amount of inhibition on the non-target language is greater for the stronger compared to the weaker language. In contrast, the Bilingual Interactive Activation (BIA) model proposes that, in language recognition, the amount of inhibition on the weaker language is stronger than otherwise. To investigate whether bilingual language production and recognition can be accounted for by a single model of bilingual processing, we tested a group of native speakers of Dutch (L1), advanced speakers of English (L2) in a bilingual recognition and production task. Specifically, language switching costs were measured while participants performed a lexical decision (recognition) and a picture naming (production) task involving language switching. Results suggest that while in language recognition the amount of inhibition applied to the non-appropriate language increases along with its dominance as predicted by the IC model, in production the amount of inhibition applied to the non-relevant language is not related to language dominance, but rather it may be modulated by speakers' unconscious strategies to foster the weaker language. This difference indicates that bilingual language recognition and production might rely on different processing mechanisms and cannot be accounted within one of the existing models of bilingual language processing. PMID:28638361

  16. Theory of Mind disruption and recruitment of the right hemisphere during narrative comprehension in autism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mason, Robert A; Williams, Diane L; Kana, Rajesh K; Minshew, Nancy; Just, Marcel Adam

    2008-01-15

    The intersection of Theory of Mind (ToM) processing and complex narrative comprehension in high functioning autism was examined by comparing cortical activation during the reading of passages that required inferences based on either intentions, emotional states, or physical causality. Right hemisphere activation was substantially greater for all sentences in the autism group than in a matched control group suggesting decreased LH capacity in autism resulting in a spillover of processing to RH homologs. Moreover, the ToM network was disrupted. The autism group showed similar activation for all inference types in the right temporo-parietal component of the ToM network whereas the control participants selectively activated this network only when appropriate. The autism group had lower functional connectivity within the ToM network and also between the ToM and a left hemisphere language network. Furthermore, the within-network functional connectivity in autism was correlated with the size of the anterior portion of the corpus callosum.

  17. Does cerebral lateralisation develop? A study using functional transcranial Doppler ultrasound assessing lateralization for language production and visuaspatial memory

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Groen, M.A.; Whitehouse, A.J.O.; Badcock, N.A.; Bishop, D.V.M.

    2012-01-01

    In the majority of people, language production is lateralized to the left cerebral hemisphere and visuospatial skills to the right. However, questions remain as to when, how, and why humans arrive at this division of labor. In this study, we assessed cerebral lateralization for language production

  18. The lateralization of motor cortex activation to action words

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Olaf eHauk

    2011-11-01

    Full Text Available What determines the laterality of activation in motor cortex for words whose meaning is related to bodily actions? It has been suggested that the neuronal representation of the meaning of action-words is shaped by individual experience. However, core language functions are left-lateralized in the majority of both right- and left-handers. It is still an open question to what degree connections between left-hemispheric core language areas and right-hemispheric motor areas can play a role in semantics. We investigated laterality of brain activation using fMRI in right- and left-handed participants in response to visually presented hand-related action-words, namely uni- and bi-manual actions (such as "throw" and "clap". These stimulus groups were matched with respect to general (hand-action-relatedness, but differed with respect to whether they are usually performed with the dominant hand or both hands. We may expect generally more left-hemispheric motor-cortex activation for hand-related words in both handedness groups, with possibly more bilateral activation for bimanual words as well as left-handers. In our study, both participant groups activated motor cortex bilaterally for bi-manual words. Interestingly, both groups also showed a left-lateralized activation pattern to uni-manual words. We argue that this reflects the effect of left-hemispheric language dominance on the formation of semantic brain circuits on the basis of Hebbian correlation learning.

  19. Right hemispheric contributions to fine auditory temporal discriminations: high-density electrical mapping of the duration mismatch negativity (MMN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pierfilippo De Sanctis

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available That language processing is primarily a function of the left hemisphere has led to the supposition that auditory temporal discrimination is particularly well-tuned in the left hemisphere, since speech discrimination is thought to rely heavily on the registration of temporal transitions. However, physiological data have not consistently supported this view. Rather, functional imaging studies often show equally strong, if not stronger, contributions from the right hemisphere during temporal processing tasks, suggesting a more complex underlying neural substrate. The mismatch negativity (MMN component of the human auditory evoked-potential (AEP provides a sensitive metric of duration processing in human auditory cortex and lateralization of MMN can be readily assayed when sufficiently dense electrode arrays are employed. Here, the sensitivity of the left and right auditory cortex for temporal processing was measured by recording the MMN to small duration deviants presented to either the left or right ear. We found that duration deviants differing by just 15% (i.e. rare 115 ms tones presented in a stream of 100 ms tones elicited a significant MMN for tones presented to the left ear (biasing the right hemisphere. However, deviants presented to the right ear elicited no detectable MMN for this separation. Further, participants detected significantly more duration deviants and committed fewer false alarms for tones presented to the left ear during a subsequent psychophysical testing session. In contrast to the prevalent model, these results point to equivalent if not greater right hemisphere contributions to temporal processing of small duration changes.

  20. Atypical right hemisphere response to slow temporal modulations in children with developmental dyslexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cutini, Simone; Szűcs, Dénes; Mead, Natasha; Huss, Martina; Goswami, Usha

    2016-12-01

    Phase entrainment of neuronal oscillations is thought to play a central role in encoding speech. Children with developmental dyslexia show impaired phonological processing of speech, proposed theoretically to be related to atypical phase entrainment to slower temporal modulations in speech (dyslexia have found atypical phase entrainment in the delta band (~2Hz), some studies of adults with developmental dyslexia have shown impaired entrainment in the low gamma band (~35-50Hz). Meanwhile, studies of neurotypical adults suggest asymmetric temporal sensitivity in auditory cortex, with preferential processing of slower modulations by right auditory cortex, and faster modulations processed bilaterally. Here we compared neural entrainment to slow (2Hz) versus faster (40Hz) amplitude-modulated noise using fNIRS to study possible hemispheric asymmetry effects in children with developmental dyslexia. We predicted atypical right hemisphere responding to 2Hz modulations for the children with dyslexia in comparison to control children, but equivalent responding to 40Hz modulations in both hemispheres. Analyses of HbO concentration revealed a right-lateralised region focused on the supra-marginal gyrus that was more active in children with dyslexia than in control children for 2Hz stimulation. We discuss possible links to linguistic prosodic processing, and interpret the data with respect to a neural 'temporal sampling' framework for conceptualizing the phonological deficits that characterise children with developmental dyslexia across languages. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.