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Wang Y, Cheng L, Li D, Lu Y, Wang C, Wang Y, Gao C, Wang H, Vanduffel W, Hopkins WD, Sherwood CC, Jiang T, Chu C, Fan L. Comparative Analysis of Human-Chimpanzee Divergence in Brain Connectivity and its Genetic Correlates. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2024:2024.06.03.597252. [PMID: 38895242 PMCID: PMC11185649 DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.03.597252] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/21/2024]
Abstract
Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) are humans' closest living relatives, making them the most directly relevant comparison point for understanding human brain evolution. Zeroing in on the differences in brain connectivity between humans and chimpanzees can provide key insights into the specific evolutionary changes that might have occured along the human lineage. However, conducting comparisons of brain connectivity between humans and chimpanzees remains challenging, as cross-species brain atlases established within the same framework are currently lacking. Without the availability of cross-species brain atlases, the region-wise connectivity patterns between humans and chimpanzees cannot be directly compared. To address this gap, we built the first Chimpanzee Brainnetome Atlas (ChimpBNA) by following a well-established connectivity-based parcellation framework. Leveraging this new resource, we found substantial divergence in connectivity patterns across most association cortices, notably in the lateral temporal and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex between the two species. Intriguingly, these patterns significantly deviate from the patterns of cortical expansion observed in humans compared to chimpanzees. Additionally, we identified regions displaying connectional asymmetries that differed between species, likely resulting from evolutionary divergence. Genes associated with these divergent connectivities were found to be enriched in cell types crucial for cortical projection circuits and synapse formation. These genes exhibited more pronounced differences in expression patterns in regions with higher connectivity divergence, suggesting a potential foundation for brain connectivity evolution. Therefore, our study not only provides a fine-scale brain atlas of chimpanzees but also highlights the connectivity divergence between humans and chimpanzees in a more rigorous and comparative manner and suggests potential genetic correlates for the observed divergence in brain connectivity patterns between the two species. This can help us better understand the origins and development of uniquely human cognitive capabilities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yufan Wang
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
| | - Luqi Cheng
- School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China
- Research Center for Augmented Intelligence, Zhejiang Lab, Hangzhou 311100, China
| | - Deying Li
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
| | - Yuheng Lu
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
| | - Changshuo Wang
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
| | - Yaping Wang
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
| | - Chaohong Gao
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
| | - Haiyan Wang
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- Department of Neurosciences, Laboratory of Neuro- and Psychophysiology, KU Leuven Medical School, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
| | - Wim Vanduffel
- Department of Neurosciences, Laboratory of Neuro- and Psychophysiology, KU Leuven Medical School, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
- Leuven Brain Institute, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02144, USA
| | - William D. Hopkins
- Department of Comparative Medicine, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX 78602, USA
| | - Chet C. Sherwood
- Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA
| | - Tianzi Jiang
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- Research Center for Augmented Intelligence, Zhejiang Lab, Hangzhou 311100, China
| | - Congying Chu
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
| | - Lingzhong Fan
- Brainnetome Center, Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- School of Artificial Intelligence, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- Sino-Danish College, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
- School of Health and Life Sciences, University of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, Qingdao 266000, China
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Demirci N, Hoffman ME, Holland MA. Systematic cortical thickness and curvature patterns in primates. Neuroimage 2023; 278:120283. [PMID: 37516374 PMCID: PMC10443624 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2023.120283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/29/2023] [Revised: 07/11/2023] [Accepted: 07/17/2023] [Indexed: 07/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Humans are known to have significant and consistent differences in thickness throughout the cortex, with thick outer gyral folds and thin inner sulcal folds. Our previous work has suggested a mechanical basis for this thickness pattern, with the forces generated during cortical folding leading to thick gyri and thin sulci, and shown that cortical thickness varies along a gyral-sulcal spectrum in humans. While other primate species are expected to exhibit similar patterns of cortical thickness, it is currently unknown how these patterns scale across different sizes, forms, and foldedness. Among primates, brains vary enormously from roughly the size of a grape to the size of a grapefruit, and from nearly smooth to dramatically folded; of these, human brains are the largest and most folded. These variations in size and form make comparative neuroanatomy a rich resource for investigating common trends that transcend differences between species. In this study, we examine 12 primate species in order to cover a wide range of sizes and forms, and investigate the scaling of their cortical thickness relative to the surface geometry. The 12 species were selected due to the public availability of either reconstructed surfaces and/or population templates. After obtaining or reconstructing 3D surfaces from publicly available neuroimaging data, we used our surface-based computational pipeline (https://github.com/mholla/curveball) to analyze patterns of cortical thickness and folding with respect to size (total surface area), geometry (i.e. curvature, shape, and sulcal depth), and foldedness (gyrification). In all 12 species, we found consistent cortical thickness variations along a gyral-sulcal spectrum, with convex shapes thicker than concave shapes and saddle shapes in between. Furthermore, we saw an increasing thickness difference between gyri and sulci as brain size increases. Our results suggest a systematic folding mechanism relating local cortical thickness to geometry. Finally, all of our reconstructed surfaces and morphometry data are available for future research in comparative neuroanatomy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nagehan Demirci
- Bioengineering Graduate Program, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
| | - Mia E Hoffman
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA; Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA
| | - Maria A Holland
- Bioengineering Graduate Program, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA; Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556, USA.
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Hopkins WD, Li X, Roberts N, Mulholland MM, Sherwood CC, Edler MK, Raghanti MA, Schapiro SJ. Age differences in cortical thickness and their association with cognition in chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes). Neurobiol Aging 2023; 126:91-102. [PMID: 36958104 PMCID: PMC10106435 DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2023.02.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/20/2022] [Revised: 02/16/2023] [Accepted: 02/18/2023] [Indexed: 02/24/2023]
Abstract
Humans and chimpanzees are genetically similar and share a number of life history, behavioral, cognitive and neuroanatomical similarities. Notwithstanding, our understanding of age-related changes in cognitive and motor functions in chimpanzees remains largely unstudied despite recent evident demonstrating that chimpanzees exhibit many of the same neuropathological features of Alzheimer's disease observed in human postmortem brains. Here, we examined age-related differences in cognition and cortical thickness measured from magnetic resonance images in a sample of 215 chimpanzees ranging in age between 9 and 54 years. We found that chimpanzees showed global and region-specific thinning of cortex with increasing age. Further, within the elderly cohort, chimpanzees that performed better than average had thicker cortex in frontal, temporal and parietal regions compared to chimpanzees that performed worse than average. Independent of age, we also found sex differences in cortical thickness in 4 brain regions. Males had higher adjusted cortical thickness scores for the caudal anterior cingulate, rostral anterior cingulate, and medial orbital frontal while females had higher values for the inferior parietal cortex. We found no evidence that increasing age nor sex was associated with asymmetries in cortical thickness. Moreover, age-related differences in cognitive function were only weakly associated with asymmetries in cortical thickness. In summary, as has been reported in humans and other primates, elderly chimpanzees show thinner cortex and variation in cortical thickness is associated with general cognitive functions.
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Affiliation(s)
- William D Hopkins
- National Center for Chimpanzee Care, Department of Comparative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX.
| | - Xiang Li
- School of Clinical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Neil Roberts
- School of Clinical Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Michele M Mulholland
- National Center for Chimpanzee Care, Department of Comparative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX
| | - Chet C Sherwood
- Department of Anthropology and Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC
| | - Melissa K Edler
- Department of Anthropology, School of Biomedical Sciences, and Brain Health Research Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH
| | - Mary Ann Raghanti
- Department of Anthropology, School of Biomedical Sciences, and Brain Health Research Institute, Kent State University, Kent, OH
| | - Steven J Schapiro
- National Center for Chimpanzee Care, Department of Comparative Medicine, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX; Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark
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Hopkins WD. Neuroanatomical asymmetries in nonhuman primates in the homologs to Broca's and Wernicke's areas: a mini-review. Emerg Top Life Sci 2022; 6:ETLS20210279. [PMID: 36073786 PMCID: PMC9472819 DOI: 10.1042/etls20210279] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2022] [Revised: 07/09/2022] [Accepted: 07/12/2022] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
Population-level lateralization in structure and function is a fundamental measure of the human nervous system. To what extent nonhuman primates exhibit similar patterns of asymmetry remains a topic of considerable scientific interest. In this mini-review, a brief summary of findings on brain asymmetries in nonhuman primates in brain regions considered to the homolog's to Broca's and Wernicke's area are presented. Limitations of existing and directions for future studies are discussed in the context of facilitating comparative investigations in primates.
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Affiliation(s)
- William D. Hopkins
- Department of Comparative Medicine, Michale E Keeling Center for Comparative Medicine and Research, M D Anderson Cancer Center, Bastrop, TX 78602, U.S.A
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Wan B, Bayrak Ş, Ting Xu T, Schaare HL, Bethlehem RAI, Bernhardt BC, Valk SL. Heritability and cross-species comparisons of human cortical functional organization asymmetry. eLife 2022; 11:77215. [PMID: 35904242 PMCID: PMC9381036 DOI: 10.7554/elife.77215] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2022] [Accepted: 07/28/2022] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The human cerebral cortex is symmetrically organized along large-scale axes but also presents inter-hemispheric differences in structure and function. The quantified contralateral homologous difference, that is asymmetry, is a key feature of the human brain left-right axis supporting functional processes, such as language. Here, we assessed whether the asymmetry of cortical functional organization is heritable and phylogenetically conserved between humans and macaques. Our findings indicate asymmetric organization along an axis describing a functional trajectory from perceptual/action to abstract cognition. Whereas language network showed leftward asymmetric organization, frontoparietal network showed rightward asymmetric organization in humans. These asymmetries were heritable in humans and showed a similar spatial distribution with macaques, in the case of intra-hemispheric asymmetry of functional hierarchy. This suggests (phylo)genetic conservation. However, both language and frontoparietal networks showed a qualitatively larger asymmetry in humans relative to macaques. Overall, our findings suggest a genetic basis for asymmetry in intrinsic functional organization, linked to higher order cognitive functions uniquely developed in humans.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bin Wan
- Otto Hahn Group Cognitive Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Şeyma Bayrak
- Otto Hahn Group Cognitive Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ting Ting Xu
- Center for the Developing Brain, Child Mind Institute, New York, United States
| | - H Lina Schaare
- Otto Hahn Group Cognitive Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
| | | | | | - Sofie Louise Valk
- Otto Hahn Group Cognitive Neurogenetics, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany
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Fan L, Ibrahim FEEM, Chu X, Fu Y, Yan H, Wu Z, Tao C, Chen X, Ma Y, Guo Y, Dong Y, Yang C, Ge Y. Altered Microstructural Changes Detected by Diffusion Kurtosis Imaging in Patients With Cognitive Impairment After Acute Cerebral Infarction. Front Neurol 2022; 13:802357. [PMID: 35295835 PMCID: PMC8918512 DOI: 10.3389/fneur.2022.802357] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/26/2021] [Accepted: 01/17/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective To detect the microstructural changes in patients with cognitive impairment after acute cerebral infarction using diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI). Materials and Methods A total of 70 patients with acute cerebral infarction were divided into two groups: 35 patients with cognitive impairment (VCI group), and 35 patients without cognitive impairment (N-VCI group), according to mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score. Healthy individuals (n = 36) were selected as the normal control (NORM) group. DKI parameters from 28 different brain regions of interest (ROIs) were selected, measured, and compared. Results VCI group patients had significantly higher mean diffusion (MD) and significantly lower mean kurtosis (MK) values in most ROIs than those in the N-VCI and NORM groups. DKI parameters in some ROIs correlated significantly with MMSE score. The splenium of corpus callosum MD was most correlated with MMSE score, the correlation coefficient was −0.652, and this parameter had good ability to distinguish patients with VCI from healthy controls; at the optimal cut-off MD value (0.9915), sensitivity was 91.4%, specificity 100%, and the area under the curve value 0.964. Conclusions Pathological changes in some brain regions may underlie cognitive impairment after acute cerebral infarction, especially the splenium of corpus callosum. These preliminary results suggest that, in patients with VCI, DKI may be useful for assessing microstructural tissue damage.
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Preuss TM, Wise SP. Evolution of prefrontal cortex. Neuropsychopharmacology 2022; 47:3-19. [PMID: 34363014 PMCID: PMC8617185 DOI: 10.1038/s41386-021-01076-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 68] [Impact Index Per Article: 34.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Revised: 06/01/2021] [Accepted: 06/15/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023]
Abstract
Subdivisions of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) evolved at different times. Agranular parts of the PFC emerged in early mammals, and rodents, primates, and other modern mammals share them by inheritance. These are limbic areas and include the agranular orbital cortex and agranular medial frontal cortex (areas 24, 32, and 25). Rodent research provides valuable insights into the structure, functions, and development of these shared areas, but it contributes less to parts of the PFC that are specific to primates, namely, the granular, isocortical PFC that dominates the frontal lobe in humans. The first granular PFC areas evolved either in early primates or in the last common ancestor of primates and tree shrews. Additional granular PFC areas emerged in the primate stem lineage, as represented by modern strepsirrhines. Other granular PFC areas evolved in simians, the group that includes apes, humans, and monkeys. In general, PFC accreted new areas along a roughly posterior to anterior trajectory during primate evolution. A major expansion of the granular PFC occurred in humans in concert with other association areas, with modifications of corticocortical connectivity and gene expression, although current evidence does not support the addition of a large number of new, human-specific PFC areas.
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Affiliation(s)
- Todd M Preuss
- Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, 30329, USA.
| | - Steven P Wise
- Olschefskie Institute for the Neurobiology of Knowledge, Bethesda, MD, 20814, USA
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Gonzalez PN, Vallejo-Azar M, Aristide L, Lopes R, Dos Reis SF, Perez SI. Endocranial asymmetry in New World monkeys: a comparative phylogenetic analysis of morphometric data. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 227:469-477. [PMID: 34455496 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02371-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2021] [Accepted: 08/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Brain lateralization is a widespread phenomenon although its expression across primates is still controversial due to the reduced number of species analyzed and the disparity of methods used. To gain insight into the diversification of neuroanatomical asymmetries in non-human primates we analyze the endocasts, as a proxy of external brain morphology, of a large sample of New World monkeys and test the effect of brain size, home range and group sizes in the pattern and magnitude of shape asymmetry. Digital endocasts from 26 species were obtained from MicroCT scans and a set of 3D coordinates was digitized on endocast surfaces. Results indicate that Ateles, Brachyteles, Callicebus and Cacajao tend to have a rightward frontal and a leftward occipital lobe asymmetry, whereas Aotus, Callitrichinae and Cebinae have either the opposite pattern or no directional asymmetry. Such differences in the pattern of asymmetry were associated with group and home range sizes. Conversely, its magnitude was significantly associated with brain size, with larger-brained species showing higher inter-hemispheric differences. These findings support the hypothesis that reduction in inter-hemispheric connectivity in larger brains favors the lateralization and increases the structural asymmetries, whereas the patterns of shape asymmetry might be driven by socio-ecological differences among species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paula N Gonzalez
- Unidad Ejecutora de Estudios en Neurociencias y Sistemas Complejos (CONICET-UNAJ-HEC), Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
| | - Mariana Vallejo-Azar
- Unidad Ejecutora de Estudios en Neurociencias y Sistemas Complejos (CONICET-UNAJ-HEC), Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | | | - Ricardo Lopes
- Centro de Tecnologia (UFRJ), Laboratório de Instrumentação Nuclear, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | | | - S Ivan Perez
- División Antropología (FCNyM-UNLP), CONICET, La Plata, Argentina
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Gerrits R, Verhelst H, Dhollander T, Xiang L, Vingerhoets G. Structural perisylvian asymmetry in naturally occurring atypical language dominance. Brain Struct Funct 2021; 227:573-586. [PMID: 34173870 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-021-02323-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/09/2021] [Accepted: 06/14/2021] [Indexed: 01/15/2023]
Abstract
Functional and anatomical hemispheric asymmetries abound in the neural language system, yet the relationship between them remains elusive. One attractive proposal is that structural interhemispheric differences reflect or even drive functional language laterality. However, studies on structure-function couplings either find that left and right language dominant individuals display similar leftward structural asymmetry or yield inconsistent results. The current study aimed to replicate and extend prior work by comparing structural asymmetries between neurologically healthy left-handers with right hemispheric language dominance (N = 24) and typically lateralized left-handed controls (N = 39). Based on structural MRI data, anatomical measures of six 'language-related' perisylvian structures were derived, including the surface area of five gray matter regions with known language functions and the FDC (combined fiber density and fiber-bundle cross-sectional area) of the arcuate fasciculus. Only the surface area of the pars triangularis and the anterior insula differed significantly between participant groups, being on average leftward asymmetric in those with typical dominance, but right lateralized in volunteers with atypical language specialization. However, these findings did not survive multiple testing correction and the asymmetry of these structures demonstrated much inter-individual variability in either subgroup. By integrating our findings with those reported previously we conclude that while some perisylvian anatomical asymmetries may differ subtly between typical and atypical speech dominants at the group level, they serve as poor participant-specific predictors of hemispheric language specialization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robin Gerrits
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium.
| | - Helena Verhelst
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Thijs Dhollander
- Developmental Imaging, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Li Xiang
- Centre for Reproductive Health, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH16 4TJ, UK
| | - Guy Vingerhoets
- Department of Experimental Psychology, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
- Ghent Institute for Functional and Metabolic Imaging (GIfMI), Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium
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