Sex Differences and Activity of the Left and Right Brain Hemispheres

The problem is reviewed of sex differences and the brain organization of the visual-spatial and verbal-cognitive functions both in adults and in the 5–15-year old children. Characteristic of men are the integral strategy of the face image recognition, specialization of the right hemisphere for visual-spatial functions, and the tonic inhibitory effect of the right hemisphere on the left one. Typical of women are the fragmented type of the image recognition, the equality of the brain hemispheres functions at the unfamiliar face recognition, and predominance of the left hemisphere by accuracy of the object localization in the visual field. It is possible that the general strategy of the recognition in women is not realized due to the right hemisphere submitted to the interfering effect of the left hemisphere. Analysis of sex differences in distribution of verbal functions shows that the capability for the verbal learning at the age of 5 years and older is higher in girls than in boys. Such capability seems to be accounted for by the superiority of the left hemisphere in girls in this type of its activity and by its earlier development and maturation. The phenomenon of semantic paralexia appearing more often in boys is accounted for by inclusion of lexical-semantic fields of the right hemisphere symmetric areas in the verbal-cognitive activity There are reasons to believe that the higher capability in girls for the verbal learning is mainly due to processes of the auditory-verbal integration within the limits of the left hemisphere, whereas this verbal ability in boys depends on the relative predominance of the interhemispheric connections.     

The functional neuroanatomy of object agnosia: a case study

Cortical reorganization of visual and object representations following neural injury was examined using fMRI and behavioral investigations. We probed the visual responsivity of the ventral visual cortex of an agnosic patient who was impaired at object recognition following a lesion to the right lateral fusiform gyrus. In both hemispheres, retinotopic mapping revealed typical topographic organization and visual activation of early visual cortex. However, visual responses, object-related, and -selective responses were reduced in regions immediately surrounding the lesion in the right hemisphere, and also, surprisingly, in corresponding locations in the structurally intact left hemisphere. In contrast, hV4 of the right hemisphere showed expanded response properties. These findings indicate that the right lateral fusiform gyrus is critically involved in object recognition and that an impairment to this region has widespread consequences for remote parts of cortex. Finally, functional neural plasticity is possible even when a cortical lesion is sustained in adulthood.     

Dynamic spatial coding within the dorsal frontoparietal network during a visual search task

To what extent are the left and right visual hemifields spatially coded in the dorsal frontoparietal attention network? In many experiments with neglect patients, the left hemisphere shows a contralateral hemifield preference, whereas the right hemisphere represents both hemifields. This pattern of spatial coding is often used to explain the right-hemispheric dominance of lesions causing hemispatial neglect. However, pathophysiological mechanisms of hemispatial neglect are controversial because recent experiments on healthy subjects produced conflicting results regarding the spatial coding of visual hemifields. We used an fMRI paradigm that allowed us to distinguish two attentional subprocesses during a visual search task. Either within the left or right hemifield subjects first attended to stationary locations (spatial orienting) and then shifted their attentional focus to search for a target line. Dynamic changes in spatial coding of the left and right hemifields were observed within subregions of the dorsal front-parietal network: During stationary spatial orienting, we found the well-known spatial pattern described above, with a bilateral hemifield representation in the right hemisphere and a contralateral preference in the left hemisphere. However, during search, the right hemisphere had a contralateral preference and the left hemisphere equally represented both hemifields. This finding leads to novel perspectives regarding models of visuospatial attention and hemispatial neglect.     

Cerebral Asymmetry of fMRI-BOLD Responses to Visual Stimulation

Hemispheric asymmetry of a wide range of functions is a hallmark of the human brain. The visual system has traditionally been thought of as symmetrically distributed in the brain, but a growing body of evidence has challenged this view. Some highly specific visual tasks have been shown to depend on hemispheric specialization. However, the possible lateralization of cerebral responses to a simple checkerboard visual stimulation has not been a focus of previous studies. To investigate this, we performed two sessions of blood-oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 54 healthy subjects during stimulation with a black and white checkerboard visual stimulus. While carefully excluding possible non-physiological causes of left-to-right bias, we compared the activation of the left and the right cerebral hemispheres and related this to grey matter volume, handedness, age, gender, ocular dominance, interocular difference in visual acuity, as well as line-bisection performance. We found a general lateralization of cerebral activation towards the right hemisphere of early visual cortical areas and areas of higher-level visual processing, involved in visuospatial attention, especially in top-down (i.e., goal-oriented) attentional processing. This right hemisphere lateralization was partly, but not completely, explained by an increased grey matter volume in the right hemisphere of the early visual areas. Difference in activation of the superior parietal lobule was correlated with subject age, suggesting a shift towards the left hemisphere with increasing age. Our findings suggest a right-hemispheric dominance of these areas, which could lend support to the generally observed leftward visual attentional bias and to the left hemifield advantage for some visual perception tasks.     

The Lateralizer: a tool for students to explore the divided brain

Despite a profusion of popular misinformation about the left brain and right brain, there are functional differences between the left and right cerebral hemispheres in humans. Evidence from split-brain patients, individuals with unilateral brain damage, and neuroimaging studies suggest that each hemisphere may be specialized for certain cognitive processes. One way to easily explore these hemispheric asymmetries is with the divided visual field technique, where visual stimuli are presented on either the left or right side of the visual field and task performance is compared between these two conditions; any behavioral differences between the left and right visual fields may be interpreted as evidence for functional asymmetries between the left and right cerebral hemispheres. We developed a simple software package that implements the divided visual field technique, called the Lateralizer, and introduced this experimental approach as a problem-based learning module in a lower-division research methods course. Second-year undergraduate students used the Lateralizer to experimentally challenge and explore theories of the differences between the left and right cerebral hemispheres. Measured learning outcomes after active exploration with the Lateralizer, including new knowledge of brain anatomy and connectivity, were on par with those observed in an upper-division lecture course. Moreover, the project added to the students' research skill sets and seemed to foster an appreciation of the link between brain anatomy and function.     

The hemispheric lateralization of the recognition of noisy visual stimuli in man

At tachistoscopic unilateral presentation of noisy visual stimuli and application of "yes-no" method in man predominance was found of the right hemisphere by the number and "yes" reaction time and of the left hemisphere by the number of responses "no". At verbal mnemic load preceding the presentation of visual patterns the left hemisphere asymmetry was observed by the number of "yes" responses and reactions time of both types. FMA was more clearly expressed in men in the first case and in women--in the second one. In more difficult conditions of recognition of several types of patterns, FMA was noticed mainly in women: initial left hemisphere advantage during the increase of the disturbance was changed to the right hemispheric one and appeared again. Preferential participation of the right hemisphere in singling out of the visual signal from noise is supposed. Possibility of the left hemispheric asymmetry manifestation was determined by the specificity and complexity of the visual task, by the level of the disturbance, presentation of competitive task and sexual composition of the group.     

Hemispheric interaction in man during perception of visual stimuli]

Averaged evoked potentials (AEP) to verbal (letters) and nonverbal (random shapes) stimuli exposed in the left and right visual fields were registered in healthy subjects with normal vision. Analysis of the later AEP latencies pointed to asymmetry in the temporal parameters of the interhemispheric interaction. The late AEP latency is shorter in the right hemisphere than in the left hemisphere. The difference is more pronounced in responses to nonverbal stimuli. The earlier development of the evoked potential in the right hemisphere (or the later one in the left hemisphere) accounts for the interhemispheric difference in the temporal parameters of the late AEP components. Comparison of the latency of the component P300 to verbal and nonverbal stimuli presented in the ipsilateral or the contralateral visual fields reveals a transfer of the results of the cortical processing of visual information in the course of interhemispheric interaction.     

Caffeine Improves Left Hemisphere Processing of Positive Words

A positivity advantage is known in emotional word recognition in that positive words are consistently processed faster and with fewer errors compared to emotionally neutral words. A similar advantage is not evident for negative words. Results of divided visual field studies, where stimuli are presented in either the left or right visual field and are initially processed by the contra-lateral brain hemisphere, point to a specificity of the language-dominant left hemisphere. The present study examined this effect by showing that the intake of caffeine further enhanced the recognition performance of positive, but not negative or neutral stimuli compared to a placebo control group. Because this effect was only present in the right visual field/left hemisphere condition, and based on the close link between caffeine intake and dopaminergic transmission, this result points to a dopaminergic explanation of the positivity advantage in emotional word recognition.     

Hemispheric specialization in dogs for processing different acoustic stimuli

Considerable experimental evidence shows that functional cerebral asymmetries are widespread in animals. Activity of the right cerebral hemisphere has been associated with responses to novel stimuli and the expression of intense emotions, such as aggression, escape behaviour and fear. The left hemisphere uses learned patterns and responds to familiar stimuli. Although such lateralization has been studied mainly for visual responses, there is evidence in primates that auditory perception is lateralized and that vocal communication depends on differential processing by the hemispheres. The aim of the present work was to investigate whether dogs use different hemispheres to process different acoustic stimuli by presenting them with playbacks of a thunderstorm and their species-typical vocalizations. The results revealed that dogs usually process their species-typical vocalizations using the left hemisphere and the thunderstorm sounds using the right hemisphere. Nevertheless, conspecific vocalizations are not always processed by the left hemisphere, since the right hemisphere is used for processing vocalizations when they elicit intense emotion, including fear. These findings suggest that the specialisation of the left hemisphere for intraspecific communication is more ancient that previously thought, and so is specialisation of the right hemisphere for intense emotions.     

The temporal dynamics of reading: a PET study.

The temporal dynamics of evoked brain responses are normally characterized using electrophysiological techniques but the positron emission tomography study presented here revealed a temporal aspect of reading by correlating the duration a word remained in the visual field with evoked haemodynamic response. Three distinct types of effects were observed: in visual processing areas, there were linear increases in activity with duration suggesting that visual processing endures throughout the time the stimulus remains in the visual field. In right hemisphere areas, there were monotonic decreases in activity with increased duration which we relate to decreased attention for longer stimulus durations. In left hemisphere word processing areas there were inverted U-shaped dependencies between activity and word duration indicating that, after 400-600 ms, activity in word processing areas is progressively reduced if the word remains in the visual field. We conclude that these inverted U effects in left hemisphere language areas reflect the temporal dynamics of visual word processing and we highlight the implication of these effects for the design of activation studies involving reading.     

Psychophysiological and neurophysiological features of the organization of visuo-spatial performance in right-handed and left-handed six- to seven-year-old children

The developmental features of individual components of the visual perception and brain functional organization during visuo-spatial activity of different complexity were studied in right-handed and left-handed 6–7-year-old children. The results of psychophysiological testing of their visual perception testify to the underdevelopment of the mechanisms of integrative brain activity. Some specific features of the brain functional organization were revealed in the left-handed children during visuo-spatial performance. More autonomous functioning of the cerebral hemispheres and the duplication of the activation processes in the right and left hemisphere during visuo-spaital performance of different complexity are characteristic of these children. This is probably associated with the involvement of compensatory mechanisms, which enable the performance reliability.     

Hemispheric participation in the shaping of spatial-motor asymmetry in visual recognition in rats

Asymmetry of movement direction was found in Wistar rats at establishing of motor alimentary conditioned reflex to simultaneously presented visual stimuli. In the course of learning the asymmetry weakened on the whole, but some individuals retained right- or left side preference. The analysis of asymmetry change before and after unilateral cortical inactivation revealed a special role of right hemisphere influences for the formation of right-side preference and of the left hemisphere--for the choice of the left direction. The lack of asymmetry was observed at the presence of the influences from the left hemisphere cortex depressing ipsilateral nigro-striate system and activating the contralateral one. Influences of the cortex of both hemispheres reduce the absolute value of the asymmetry coefficient; the left hemisphere has a special significance for manifestation of temporal asymmetry parameters. Photic interference is a factor modulating the asymmetry. It reduces the right hemisphere activity more than that of the left one; it intensifies right hemisphere influences, contributes to the involvement of the transcallosal conduction channel in the formation of spatial-motor asymmetry.     

Hemispheric asymetry of the evoked electrical activity of the cerebral cortex to letter and non-verbal stimuli]

Average evoked potentials (AEP) were recorded in practically healthy subjects to "meaningless" figures and letters, presented to different halves of the visual field. Analysis of the amplitudes of AEP late components to verbal and non-verbal stimuli reveals hemispheric asymmetry. A higher amplitude of the late positive evoked response (P300) to a "direct" stimulation both by verbal and non-verbal stimuli (in the contralateral field of vision) is recorded in the left hemisphere than in the right one. Similar stimulation of the right hemisphere does not reveal sucha difference. In the left hemisphere the P300 wave is of a clearly greater amplitude to a "direct" stimulation (contralateral visual field) than to an "indirect" one (ipsilateral visual field), regardless of the nature of the stimulus. No such difference is observed in the right hemisphere. The magnitude of the late negative wave (component N200) to non-verbal stimuli is greater in the right hemisphere both in response to "direct" and "indirect" stimulations. No intrahemispheric difference has been found in the amplitude of late evoked responses of the cerebral cortex to verbal and non-verbal stimuli.     

Thermoencephaloscopy of brain responses to emotionally significant visual stimuli in depressive patients

The thermoencephaloscopic study of patients with reactive depression during exposure to emotionally significant visual stimuli detected a functional change in the state of the frontal associative area of the right hemisphere and the parietal associative area of the left hemisphere and the activation of the left temporal area, closely related to the limbic system. The data obtained may be used for the elaboration of new methods of diagnosis and therapy of reactive depressions.     

Hemispheric lateralization of visuo-spatial function in man

Two parts of a geometrical figure are consecutively presented to healthy adult subjects in the left and right visual fields; the subjects have to compare them mentally and to decide whether these parts form a standard figure or not. Correctness of the reaction is controlled by a computer which lights up on the screen the words "good" or "error". The number of correct decisions of this visual-spatial task does not depend on the hemisphere to which information is addressed. The reaction time is substantially shorter if the information comes "directly" to the right hemisphere. Due to better training in the left hemisphere interhemispheric difference in reaction time gradually disappears in repeated tests. Training to mental "constructing" takes place only in the tests following positive feedback stimulus. Analysis of amplitude-temporal parameters of P300 wave shows that at correct decision of the visual-spatial task the level of activation in the right hemisphere is higher than in the left one.     

Behavioral and neural lateralization of vision in courtship singing of the zebra finch

Along with human speech and language processing, birdsong has been one of the best-characterized model systems for understanding the relationship of lateralization of brain function to behavior. Lateralization of song production has been extensively characterized, and lateralization of song perception has begun to be studied. Here we have begun to examine whether behavior and brain function are lateralized in relation to communicative aspects of singing, as well. In order to monitor central brain function, we assayed the levels of several activity dependent immediate early genes after directed courtship singing. Consistent with a lateralization of visual processing during communication, there were higher levels of expression of both egr-1 and c-fos in the left optic tectum after directed singing. Because input from the eyes to the brain is almost completely contralateral in birds, these results suggest that visual input from the right eye should be favored during normal singing to females. Consistent with this, we further found that males sang more when they could use only their right eye compared to when they could use only their left eye. Normal levels of singing, though, required free use of both eyes to view the female. These results suggest that there is a preference for visual processing by the right eye and left brain hemisphere during courtship singing. This may reflect a proposed specialization of the avian left hemisphere in sustaining attention on stimuli toward which a motor response is planned.     

The role of the right and left hemispheres in emotional evaluation of visual stimuli

This work is devoted to the analysis of the role of the right and left hemispheres in realization of various parameters of subjective emotional reactions to external stimuli. Experimental study of the evaluation of difficult-to-verbalize visual stimuli, according to the preset emotional valences, showed that damage to the posterior parts of the right hemisphere predominantly impairs evaluation of the emotion valence, and damage to the anterior parts of the left hemisphere impairs discrimination of the modality (quality) of the emotion.     

Influence of informational oversaturation on the quality of creative activity and spatial organization of EEG

The features of the spatial organization of bioelectric potentials in the cases of successful and unsuccessful creative imagination (refusal or poor quality of the product) under conditions of informational oversaturation. Two groups of subjects were compared: professionals (23 healthy students of the Department of Graphic Arts) and non-professionals (34 persons whose specialties were not linked with systematic visual imagination). During the experiments, the subjects were asked to mentally create a visual image based on two simple graphic elements, a right angle and a diagonal; after recording the EEG, they had to draw the image on paper and give it a title. The total number of elements exceeded 7 ± 2; hence, information processing at the conscious level was impossible, which caused the necessity of involving the mechanisms of unconscious information processing. The quality of the created product was evaluated with regard to the degree of success of performing the task and the features of spatial EEG organization. The EEG was recorded from 24 scalp sites of a subject using a SIT-EEG portable telemetric device. In the case of the successful performance of the task by professionals, the parameters of spatial organization of bioelectric potentials, i.e., spatial synchronization (linear processes) and spatial disorder (non-linear process) were strengthened compared to the base-line level in the frontal temporal areas of the right hemisphere and parietal occipital areas of the left hemisphere. Conversely, in the nonprofessionals, these parameters increased in the frontal temporal areas of the left hemisphere and parietal occipital areas of the right hemisphere. In the case a task was not successfully performed by the professionals, the spatial disorder of bioelectric potentials increased in all the cortical areas; in the nonprofessionals, only weak changes were observed. In all situations, the groups differed also in the parameters of coherence (Coh), spectral power (Sp) of bioelectric potentials, and informational energy, which reflects the level of expenditure of the brain’s energy for information processing. The evidence obtained is interpreted in terms of electroencephalographic correlates of successful task performance by professionals and nonprofessionals, i.e., their creative imagination under the conditions of informational over-saturation.