title: Complementary hemispheric specialization for language production and visuospatial attention.
abstract: Language production and spatial attention are the most salient lateralized cerebral functions, and their complementary specialization has been observed in the majority of the population. To investigate whether the complementary specialization has a causal origin (the lateralization of one function causes the opposite lateralization of the other) or rather is a statistical phenomenon (different functions lateralize independently), we determined the lateralization for spatial attention in a group of individuals with known atypical right hemispheric (RH) lateralization for speech production, based on a previous large-scale screening of left-handers. We show that all 13 participants with RH language dominance have left-hemispheric dominance for spatial attention, and all but one of 16 participants with left-hemispheric language dominance are RH dominant for spatial attention. Activity was observed in the dorsal fronto-parietal pathway of attention, including the inferior parietal sulcus and superior parietal lobule, the frontal eye-movement field, and the inferior frontal sulcus/gyrus, and these regions functionally colateralized in the hemisphere dominant for attention, independently of the side of lateralization. Our results clearly support the Causal hypothesis about the complementary specialization, and we speculate that it derives from a longstanding evolutionary origin. We also suggest that the conclusions about lateralization based on an unselected sample of the population and laterality assessment using coarse functional transcranial Doppler sonography should be interpreted with more caution.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium. miao.cai@gmail.com
authors.forename: Qing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Cai
authors.forename: Lise
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van der Haegen
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Brysbaert
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology*; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology; D004292:Dominance, Cerebral / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008959:Models, Neurological; D008960:Models, Psychological; D013037:Spatial Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult