title: Does degree of handedness in a group of right-handed individuals affect language comprehension?
abstract: The impact of handedness on language processing has been studied extensively and the results indicate that there is a relationship between the two variables; however, the nature of the relationship is not at all clear. In the current study we explored degree of handedness (DH) opposed to direction in a group of right-handed individuals. fMRI was used to explore the impact of DH on the sentence comprehension network. The results revealed that during sentence comprehension activation in regions linked to semantic memory (e.g., anterior temporal cortex) were modulated by DH. Also, unexpectedly the precuneus/posterior cingulate gyrus which has been linked to episodic memory was also affected by DH. These results extend those reported previously by showing that the neural architecture that supports sentence comprehension is modulated by DH. More specifically, together the results presented here support the hypothesis proposed by Townsend, Carrithers, and Bever (2001) that DH interacts with the language system and impacts the strategy used during sentence comprehension.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN, United States. Electronic address: sdnewman@indiana.edu.
authors.forename: Sharlene
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.affiliation: Center for Mind, Brain, and Education, University of Texas at Arlington, Box 19545, Planetarium Place, Hammond Hall #416, United States.
authors.forename: Evie
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Malaia
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, 1101 E. 10th St., Bloomington, IN, United States.
authors.forename: Roy
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Seo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000502:physiology; D012660:Semantics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Comprehension; Degree of handedness; fMRI