The ontogenesis of language lateralization and its relation to handedness.
Dominance of the left hemisphere for many aspects of speech production and perception is one of the best known examples of functional hemispheric asymmetries in the human brain. Classic theories about its ontogenesis assume that it is determined by the same ontogenetic factors as handedness because the two traits are correlated to some extent. However, the strength of this correlation depends on the measures used to assess the two traits, and the neurophysiological basis of language lateralization is different from that of handedness. Therefore, we argue that although the two traits show partial pleiotropy, there is also a substantial amount of independent ontogenetic influences for each of them. This view is supported by several recent genetic and neuroscientific studies that are reviewed in the present article.
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Department of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany. Electronic address: sebastian.ocklenburg@rub.de.
Sebastian
S
Ocklenburg
Cognitive Neurophysiology, Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine of the TU Dresden, Germany.
Christian
C
Beste
Department of Human Genetics, Ruhr-University, Bochum, Germany.
Larissa
L
Arning
Department of Neurology, Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA.
Jutta
J
Peterburs
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Department of Psychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany.
Onur
O
Güntürkün
D000818:Animals; D001307:Auditory Perception / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D013060:Speech / Q000502:physiology*
Functional Hemispheric asymmetries; Laterality; Lateralization; Ontogenesis; Speech