Human Brain: Left-Right Asymmetries in Temporal Speech Region

Geschwind, Norman; Levitsky, Walter

doi:10.1126/science.161.3837.186

Cited by 2,052 publications

(755 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

670

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This asymmetry accords with a posterior displacement of the whole left STS (Ochiai et al, 2004), reflecting the increased size of the planum temporale in the language-dominant hemisphere (Geschwind and Levitsky, 1968). A similar shift was observed for STS regions integrating emotional signals from voice and face (Ethofer et al, 2006;Kreifelts et al, 2007).…”

Section: Location and Functional Properties Of Pstssupporting

confidence: 75%

Processing social aspects of human gaze: A combined fMRI-DTI study

2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Human gaze is a critical social cue that can reveal intentions and dispositions of others. The right posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) is thought to be critically involved in processing eye gaze information. We combined diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify direct neural connections of right pSTS and to determine how these connections are modulated by the social significance of perceived gaze shifts. Participants saw faces with direct or averted gaze during event-related fMRI. Half of these faces remained static, and half displayed a dynamic gaze shift either towards or away from the subject. Social attention (dynamic gaze shifts towards the observer) not only increased activity in right pSTS, but also its functional connectivity with the right anterior insula (aIns) and right fusiform gyrus (FG). However, direct fiber connections from pSTS were demonstrated by DTI for the right aIns, but not the right FG. Moreover, the right FG responded to eye motion irrespective of direction and social significance; whereas the right aIns was selectively sensitive to social significance (i.e. gaze shifts towards the observer), but not generally to eye motion. We conclude that the social aspects of mutual gaze contact are processed by direct fiber pathways between right pSTS and right aIns; whereas increased connectivity with FG could reflect an enhanced perceptual analysis of changing facial features in dynamic gaze conditions and involves indirect fiber pathways with pSTS, perhaps via motion-selective regions in middle temporal (MT) gyrus that exhibited strong white-matter connections with both pSTS and FG and could thus provide inputs to these two areas.

show abstract

Section: Location and Functional Properties Of Pstssupporting

confidence: 75%

Processing social aspects of human gaze: A combined fMRI-DTI study

2011

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The PT is a triangular region of cortex lying caudal to the transverse auditory gyrus of Heschl on the superior surface of the temporal lobe. It has been shown to be typically larger on the left than the right in both post mortem (Geschwind & Levitsky, 1968) and MRI (Larsen et al, 1989;Steinmetz et al, 1989) investigations; some reports suggest that PT asymmetry is explicitly related to left-hemisphere language dominance (Karbe et al, 1995).…”

Section: Asymmetry In the Source Localizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Electrophysiological signatures: Magnetoencephalographic studies of the neural correlates of language impairment in autism spectrum disorders

Roberts

Schmidt

Egeth

et al. 2008

International Journal of Psychophysiology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

While magnetoencephalography (MEG) is of increasing utility in the assessment of pediatric patients with seizure disorders, this indication reflects only a part of the clinical potential of the technology. Beyond epilepsy, a broad range of developmental psychiatric disorders require the combined offerings of spatial and temporal resolution, along with direct sensitivity to neural electrical activity, that are offered by MEG. This article reviews the application of MEG in the study of auditory processing as an aspect of language impairment in children. Potential application is elaborated in the clinical case of autism spectrum disorders, a devastating disorder with prevalence of 1 in 150, poorly served by alternative imaging modalities. MEG offers both spatial and temporal insights, tentatively described as "electrophysiological signatures". Results demonstrate the sensitivity of MEG for detection of abnormalities of auditory processing in ASD and their clinical correlates. These findings offer promise for the comprehensive assessment of developmental neuropsychiatric disorders such as autism, but also suggest avenues for the development of MEG technology to adequately meet the needs of such populations, as well as providing conduits to basic sciences including neurobiology and genetics.

show abstract

“…The planum temporale (PT), a triangular shaped area on the superior surface of the posterior temporal lobe, has long been recognized as one of the most anatomically asymmetrical regions of the human cerebral cortex (Geschwind & Levitsky, 1968). In most people the PT on the left side is larger than the right (Galaburda, 1993;Steinmetz, 1996), although varying definitions of the precise structure have resulted in different estimates of its asymmetry (Galaburda, 1993;Shapleske, Rossell, Woodruff, & David, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In most people the PT on the left side is larger than the right (Galaburda, 1993;Steinmetz, 1996), although varying definitions of the precise structure have resulted in different estimates of its asymmetry (Galaburda, 1993;Shapleske, Rossell, Woodruff, & David, 1999). The left PT overlaps with Wernicke's classically defined language region (Geschwind & Levitsky, 1968), which is part of the broadly left-lateralised speech and language network present in the majority of people. At least some of the PT is regarded as secondary auditory cortex in terms of cyto-architecture (Shapleske et al, 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Asymmetry within and around the human planum temporale is sexually dimorphic and influenced by genes involved in steroid hormone receptor activity

Guadalupe

Zwiers

Wittfeld

et al. 2015

Cortex

120

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The genetic determinants of cerebral asymmetries are unknown. Sex differences in asymmetry of the planum temporale, that overlaps Wernicke’s classical language area, have been inconsistently reported. Meta-analysis of previous studies has suggested that publication bias established this sex difference in the literature. Using probabilistic definitions of cortical regions we screened over the cerebral cortex for sexual dimorphisms of asymmetry in 2337 healthy subjects, and found the planum temporale to show the strongest sex-linked asymmetry of all regions, which was supported by two further datasets, and also by analysis with the Freesurfer package that performs automated parcellation of cerebral cortical regions. We performed a genome-wide association scan meta-analysis of planum temporale asymmetry in a pooled sample of 3095 subjects, followed by a candidate-driven approach which measured a significant enrichment of association in genes of the ´steroid hormone receptor activity´ and 'steroid metabolic process' pathways. Variants in the genes and pathways identified may affect the role of the planum temporale in language cognition

show abstract

Human Brain: Left-Right Asymmetries in Temporal Speech Region

Cited by 2,052 publications

References 1 publication

Processing social aspects of human gaze: A combined fMRI-DTI study

Processing social aspects of human gaze: A combined fMRI-DTI study

Electrophysiological signatures: Magnetoencephalographic studies of the neural correlates of language impairment in autism spectrum disorders

Asymmetry within and around the human planum temporale is sexually dimorphic and influenced by genes involved in steroid hormone receptor activity

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About