Right-hemispheric brain activation correlates to language performance

Language function in the right-hemispheric homologues of Brocas and Wernickes areas does not only correlate with left-handedness or pathology, but occurs naturally in right-handed healthy subjects as well. In the current study, two non-invasive methods of assessing language lateralization are correlated with behavioral results in order to link hemispheric dominance to language ability in healthy subjects. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) together with a sentence-completion paradigm was used to determine region-specific lateralization indices in the left- and right-sided Brocas and Wernickes areas, the frontal temporal lobe, the anterior cingulate cortex and the parietal lobe. In addition, dichotic listening results were used to determine overall language lateralization and to strengthen conclusions by correlating with fMRI indices. Results showed that fMRI lateralization in the superior parietal, the posterior temporal, and the anterior cingulate cortices correlated to dichotic listening. A decreased right ear advantage (REA), which indicates less left- hemispheric dominance in language, correlated with higher performance in most administered language tasks, including reading, language ability, fluency, and non-word discrimination. Furthermore, right hemispheric involvement in the posterior temporal lobe and the homologue of Brocas area suggests better performance in behavioral language tasks. This strongly indicates a supportive role of the right-hemispheric counterparts of Brocas and Wernickes areas in language performance. ; Original Publication: Helene M van Ettinger-Veenstra, Mattias Ragnehed, Mathias Hällgren, Thomas Karlsson, Anne-Marie Landtblom, Peter Lundberg and Maria Engström, Right-hemispheric brain activation correlates to language performance, 2010, NEUROIMAGE, (49), 4, 3481-3488. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.10.041 Copyright: Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam http://www.elsevier.com/