Schizophrenia as Failure of Left Hemispheric Dominance for the Phonological Component of Language

Angrilli, Alessandro; Spironelli, Chiara; Elbert, Thomas; Crow, Timothy J.; Marano, Gianfranco; Stegagno, Luciano

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004507

Cited by 98 publications

(72 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…For example, Angrilli et al (2009) and Spironelli et al (2008) proposed a neuropsychological link between reduced language lateralization and the psychopathology of schizophrenia. Moreover, reduced laterality is a target for both twin (Niethammer et al, 2000) and molecular genetics (e.g., Leonard et al, 2006;Francks et al, 2007;Crow et al, 2009) studies and for animal models of schizophrenia (Morice et al, 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced Laterality as a Trait Marker ofSchizophrenia—Evidence from Structural and Functional Neuroimaging

Oertel¹,

Knöchel²,

Rotarska-Jagiela³

et al. 2010

J. Neurosci.

119

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Laterality is a characteristic principle of the organization of the brain systems for language, and reduced hemispheric asymmetry has been considered a risk factor for schizophrenia. Here we sought support for the risk factor hypothesis by investigating whether reduced asymmetry of temporal lobe structure and function is also present in unaffected relatives. Sixteen schizophrenia patients, 16 age-matched first-degree relatives, and 15 healthy controls underwent high-resolution three-dimensional anatomical imaging and functional magnetic resonance imaging during auditory stimulation. Both the overall auditory cortex and planum temporale volumes and the lateralization to the left hemisphere were markedly reduced in patients. The decrease of lateralization correlated with increased severity of symptoms. In addition, both the overall functional activation in response to auditory stimulation and its asymmetry were reduced in the patients. Relatives had intermediate values between patients and controls on both structural and functional measures. This study provides added support for the idea that reduced hemispheric asymmetry is a biological risk factor for schizophrenia.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reduced Laterality as a Trait Marker ofSchizophrenia—Evidence from Structural and Functional Neuroimaging

Oertel¹,

Knöchel²,

Rotarska-Jagiela³

et al. 2010

J. Neurosci.

119

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Possibly the well-known and often replicated LH functional [39,40] and structural deficits [26,39,41] in schizophrenia-related to language-related thought disorders and hallucinations are developmental and, due to a structural vulnerability, even progressive. Compensatory plasticity effects would then be observed only in the non-affected RH homologue regions [42,43] . However, our findings of increased RH volume in AVH might indicate a predisposition [44][45][46] as well as an adaptation.…”

Section: Structural Analysis In Auditory Hallucinationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural Analysis of Heschl’s Gyrus in Schizophrenia Patients with Auditory Hallucinations

Hubl¹,

Dougoud-Chauvin²,

Zeller³

et al. 2009

Neuropsychobiology

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Background/Aims: Heschl’s gyrus (HG) is functionally involved in the genesis of auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH). This dysfunction seems to be structurally facilitated. The aim of the study was to analyze macrostructural features of HG in a group of patients reporting AVH who demonstrated white matter diffusion tensor imaging abnormalities reported previously. Methods: 3-D anatomical MR scans were obtained (patients with and without history of AVH, controls). HG was delineated by manual segmentation. Cortical folding, absolute and relative volumes, laterality were analyzed. Results: According to the literature, in the collapsed group of patients, the normal left-greater-than-right laterality of HG was attenuated. We found a trend towards a higher number of duplicated HG in hallucinating patients. We also found a bigger volume of HG in the right hemisphere in hallucinating patients. This effect was caused by gray and white matter increase. Conclusions: This is the first study on manual volumetry of HG in a group of schizophrenia patients with AVH compared to patients without AVH. In a previous analysis of the diffusion tensor imaging data of the here presented sample, we found higher directionality of the arcuate fasciculus in patients with AVH, facilitating abnormal co-activation in the auditory cortices in the hallucinating brain. As these abnormal activations are frequent in hallucinating patients, the here described volume increase of HG might be interpreted as compensatory plastic adaptations of the contralateral regions. We suggest that this volume increase of HG is caused by the symptomatology and not by the underlying disorder of schizophrenia.

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“…An increasing interest in lateralization is presently seen, among others, in research on schizophrenia (Angrilli et al, 2009;Bleich-Cohen et al, 2009) and dyslexia (Pernet et al, 2009). In language research, the lateralization of language function can be used to explain subtle differences in behavior and cognitive skills.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Right-hemispheric brain activation correlates to language performance

et al. 2010

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Language function in the right-hemispheric homologues of Broca"s and Wernicke"s areas does not only correlate with left-handedness or pathology, but occurs naturally in righthanded healthy subjects as well. In the current study, two non-invasive methods of assessing language lateralization are correlated with behavioral results in order to link hemispheric dominance to language ability in healthy subjects.Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) together with a sentence-completion paradigm was used to determine region-specific lateralization indices in the left-and rightsided Broca"s and Wernicke"s areas, the frontal temporal lobe, the anterior cingulate cortex and the parietal lobe. In addition, dichotic listening results were used to determine overall language lateralization and to strengthen conclusions by correlating with fMRI indices.Results showed that fMRI lateralization in the superior parietal, the posterior temporal, and the anterior cingulate cortices correlated to dichotic listening. A decreased right ear advantage (REA), which indicates less left-hemispheric dominance in language, correlated with higher performance in most administered language tasks, including reading, language ability, fluency, and non-word discrimination. Furthermore, right hemispheric involvement in the posterior temporal lobe and the homologue of Broca"s area suggests better performance in behavioral language tasks. This strongly indicates a supportive role of the right-hemispheric counterparts of Broca"s and Wernicke"s areas in language performance.

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Schizophrenia as Failure of Left Hemispheric Dominance for the Phonological Component of Language

Cited by 98 publications

References 54 publications

Reduced Laterality as a Trait Marker ofSchizophrenia—Evidence from Structural and Functional Neuroimaging

Reduced Laterality as a Trait Marker ofSchizophrenia—Evidence from Structural and Functional Neuroimaging

Structural Analysis of Heschl’s Gyrus in Schizophrenia Patients with Auditory Hallucinations

Right-hemispheric brain activation correlates to language performance

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