The origin of human handedness and its role in pre-birth motor control

Parma, Valentina; Brasselet, Romain; Zoia, Stefania; Bulgheroni, Maria; Castiello, Umberto

doi:10.1038/s41598-017-16827-y

Cited by 43 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…As for asymmetry specifically, it is unclear how altered functional laterality might relate to major depression in terms of cause, effect, or correlation, because of shared underlying factors. The average form of human brain laterality is probably established in the embryo, as indicated by in utero behavioral data (45,46) as well as neuroanatomical studies of fetuses (47,48) and gene expression analysis in which leftand right-sided samples from the embryonic central nervous system are contrasted (49)(50)(51). The typical form of human brain asymmetry is characterized by left-hemisphere language dominance (in more than 85% of people) (52), righthandedness (also roughly 85% of people) (53), and a particular anatomical pattern involving both subcortical and cerebral cortical features (23,24).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No Alterations of Brain Structural Asymmetry in Major Depressive Disorder: An ENIGMA Consortium Analysis

Kovel

Aftanas

Alemán

et al. 2019

AJP

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Asymmetry is a subtle but pervasive aspect of the human brain, and it may be altered in several psychiatric conditions. MRI studies have shown subtle differences of brain anatomy between people with major depressive disorder and healthy control subjects, but few studies have specifically examined brain anatomical asymmetry in relation to this disorder, and results from those studies have remained inconclusive. At the functional level, some electroencephalography studies have indicated left fronto-cortical hypoactivity and right parietal hypoactivity in depressive disorders, so aspects of lateralized anatomy may also be affected. The authors used pooled individual-level data from data sets collected around the world to investigate differences in laterality in measures of cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and subcortical volume between individuals with major depression and healthy control subjects. Methods: The authors investigated differences in the laterality of thickness and surface area measures of 34 cerebral cortical regions in 2,256 individuals with major depression and 3,504 control subjects from 31 separate data sets, and they investigated volume asymmetries of eight subcortical structures in 2,540 individuals with major depression and 4,230 control subjects from 32 data sets. T 1-weighted MRI data were processed with a single protocol using FreeSurfer and the Desikan-Killiany atlas. The large sample size provided 80% power to detect effects of the order of Cohen's d=0.1. Results: The largest effect size (Cohen's d) of major depression diagnosis was 0.085 for the thickness asymmetry of the superior temporal cortex, which was not significant after adjustment for multiple testing. Asymmetry measures were not significantly associated with medication use, acute compared with remitted status, first episode compared with recurrent status, or age at onset. Conclusions: Altered brain macro-anatomical asymmetry may be of little relevance to major depression etiology in most cases.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

No Alterations of Brain Structural Asymmetry in Major Depressive Disorder: An ENIGMA Consortium Analysis

Kovel

Aftanas

Alemán

et al. 2019

AJP

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“…The average pattern of human brain laterality is established prenatally, as indicated by in utero behavioural data (Hepper, 2013;Parma, et al, 2017), neuroanatomical studies of foetuses and newborns (Abu-Rustum, et al, 2013;Kasprian, et al, 2011), and gene expression analyses in which left-and rightsided samples from the embryonic central nervous system were contrasted (de Kovel, et al, 2017;Ocklenburg, et al, 2017;Sun, et al, 2005). However, human brain laterality is also highly variable across individuals, and sizeable proportions of the population can have either more bilateral arrangements, or even revered asymmetries.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping brain asymmetry in health and disease through the ENIGMA consortium

Kong¹,

Postema²,

Guadalupe³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Left-right asymmetry of the human brain is one of its cardinal features, and also a complex, multivariate trait. Decades of research have suggested that brain asymmetry may be altered in psychiatric disorders. However, findings have been inconsistent and often based on modest sample sizes. There are also open questions surrounding which structures are asymmetrical on average in the healthy population, and how variability in brain asymmetry relates to basic biological variables such as age and sex. Over the last four years, the ENIGMA-Laterality Working Group has published six studies of brain structural asymmetry based on total sample sizes of between roughly 3,500 and 17,000 individuals, which were between one and two orders of magnitude larger than those published in previous decades. A population-level mapping of average brain asymmetry was achieved, including an intriguing fronto-occipital gradient of cortical thickness asymmetry in healthy brains. ENIGMA’s multi-dataset approach also supported an empirical illustration of reproducibility of hemispheric differences across datasets. Effect sizes were estimated for brain asymmetry based on large, international, samples in relation to age, sex, handedness, and brain volume, as well as for three psychiatric disorders: Autism Spectrum Disorder was associated with subtly reduced asymmetry of cortical thickness at regions spread widely over the cortex; Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder was associated with altered subcortical asymmetry; Major Depressive Disorder was not significantly associated with changes of asymmetry. Ongoing studies are examining brain asymmetry in other disorders. Moreover, a groundwork has been laid for possibly identifying shared genetic contributions to brain asymmetry and disorders.

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“…Also, according to Llaurens et al ( 2009 ), one underlying causal factor of left-handedness may be low birth weight, which is associated with perinatal difficulties. Prenatal factors have also been proposed to cause left-handedness (Geschwind and Behan, 1982 ; Llaurens et al, 2009 ; Parma et al, 2017 ). Children with extreme low birth weights and children born prematurely have a significantly increased risk of demonstrating DCD (Barnhart et al, 2003 ; Gibbs et al, 2007 ; Kwok et al, 2018 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Prevalence of Left-Handedness Is Higher Among Individuals With Developmental Coordination Disorder Than in the General Population

2018

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Many medical, psychiatric and neurological conditions have been characterized by a high prevalence of left-handedness or mixed-handedness. Several studies have indicated an elevated frequency of left-handedness in children with Developmental Coordination Disorder (DCD). However, there have been few studies explicitly exploring this relationship. The assumption is that the prevalence of left-handedness in individuals with DCD is higher compared with the prevalence in the general population and resembles the prevalence described in children with other developmental disorders. Computerized searches were conducted in PubMed, PsycInfo and CINAHL databases. Thirty-eight studies were identified and included in the present review, containing handedness distributions across 1071 persons with DCD and 1,045 controls. The distribution of DCD participants across handedness-categories was proved to be significantly different from that of the control group, with 14.7 and 8.1% left-handers, respectively. The prevalence of left-handedness within the DCD-group is lower than that reported for ASD, and larger than in dyslexia. The elevated levels of left-handedness within the different developmental disorders supports the notion of an association between the different diagnoses. However, the present results are not sufficient to conclude anything about a common cause or underlying factor via the male hormone testosterone. The present results could act as a starting point for testing the hypothesis of such a common factor, as one of the requirements is an elevated prevalence of left-handedness, and without such considerable doubt would be cast upon the hypothesis.

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The origin of human handedness and its role in pre-birth motor control

Cited by 43 publications

References 39 publications

No Alterations of Brain Structural Asymmetry in Major Depressive Disorder: An ENIGMA Consortium Analysis

No Alterations of Brain Structural Asymmetry in Major Depressive Disorder: An ENIGMA Consortium Analysis

Mapping brain asymmetry in health and disease through the ENIGMA consortium

The Prevalence of Left-Handedness Is Higher Among Individuals With Developmental Coordination Disorder Than in the General Population

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