TMS over the left angular gyrus impairs the ability to discriminate left from right

Hirnstein, Marco; Bayer, Ulrike; Ellison, Amanda; Hausmann, Markus

doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.10.028

Cited by 45 publications

(40 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Hirnstein et al (2011) highlight the left angular gyrus' role in semantical processing of verbal stimuli, and speculate that this is the region where spatial information is integrated with the meaning of the words left and right. Similarly, Seghier (2013) pinpoints the angular gyrus as a crossmodal hub where converging information of different modalities and subsystems are combined for manipulation of mental representations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…Research has consistently revealed more left-right confusion in women in everyday life than in men (Hannay et al, 1990;Hirnstein et al, 2009Hirnstein et al, , 2011Williams et al, 1993;Wolf, 1973). When tested experimentally, some studies have confirmed this sex difference as women perform less accurately on LRD tasks as compared to men (Ocklenburg et al, 2011;Ofte and Hugdahl, 2002; but also see Hirnstein, 2011;Jordan et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The neural correlates of sex differences in left–right confusion

et al. 2015

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Difficulties in left-right discrimination (LRD) are commonly experienced in everyday life situations. Here we investigate the neurocognitive mechanisms of LRD and the specific role of left angular gyrus. Given that previous behavioral research reported women to be more susceptible to left-right confusion, the current study focuses particularly on the neural basis of sex differences in LRD while controlling for potential menstrual cycle effects (repeated measures design). 16 women and 15 men were presented pictures of pointing hands in various orientations (rotated versus non-rotated) and were asked to identify them as left or right hands. Results revealed that LRD was particularly associated with activation in inferior parietal regions, extending into the right angular gyrus. Irrespective of menstrual cycle phase, women, relative to men, recruited more prefrontal areas, suggesting higher top-down control in LRD. For the subset of rotated stimuli as compared to the non-rotated, we found leftward asymmetry for both men and women, although women scored significantly lower. We conclude that there are sex differences in the neurocognitive mechanisms underlying LRD. Although the angular gyrus is involved in LRD, several other parietal areas are at least as critical. Moreover, the hypothesis that more left-right confusion is due to more bilateral activation (in women) can be rejected.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The neural correlates of sex differences in left–right confusion

et al. 2015

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“…Stimulation sites were located using the Brainsight TMS neuronavigation system (Rogue Research), which allows for a coregistration of TMS and a 3D structural MRI scan of an individual. We targeted the region of peak activation corresponding to the OFA of each individual, focusing on the right hemisphere because of more reliable localization (Gauthier et al, 2000;Rossion et al, 2003).…”

Section: Tms Stimulation and Site Localizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Computationally, however, this task is challenging, because the retinal projection of the same face can change drastically with changes in illumination, viewing distance, or 3D viewpoint. Befitting the importance of face recognition, the human brain is equipped with a network of face-selective regions (Kanwisher et al, 1997;Gauthier et al, 2000;Haxby et al, 2000;Yovel and Kanwisher, 2005;Freiwald and Tsao, 2010;Pitcher et al, 2011). Despite our increasing understanding of the selectivity in distinct nodes of this network, it remains unclear exactly how interactions in the network support invariant facial recognition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Occipital Face Area Is Causally Involved in Facial Viewpoint Perception

et al. 2015

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Humans reliably recognize faces across a range of viewpoints, but the neural substrates supporting this ability remain unclear. Recent work suggests that neural selectivity to mirror-symmetric viewpoints of faces, found across a large network of visual areas, may constitute a key computational step in achieving full viewpoint invariance. In this study, we used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to test the hypothesis that the occipital face area (OFA), putatively a key node in the face network, plays a causal role in face viewpoint symmetry perception. Each participant underwent both offline rTMS to the right OFA and sham stimulation, preceding blocks of behavioral trials. After each stimulation period, the participant performed one of two behavioral tasks involving presentation of faces in the peripheral visual field: (1) judging the viewpoint symmetry; or (2) judging the angular rotation. rTMS applied to the right OFA significantly impaired performance in both tasks when stimuli were presented in the contralateral, left visual field. Interestingly, however, rTMS had a differential effect on the two tasks performed ipsilaterally. Although viewpoint symmetry judgments were significantly disrupted, we observed no effect on the angle judgment task. This interaction, caused by ipsilateral rTMS, provides support for models emphasizing the role of interhemispheric crosstalk in the formation of viewpoint-invariant face perception.

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“…AG is a crucial area of the DMN and involved in a lot of processes associated with language, number processing, memory retrieval and attention (Raichle et al, 2001); it is also important in making semantic associations in reading, comprehension of speech and written language (Obleser and Kotz, 1991), and integrating conceptual understanding of the language term "left" or "right" with its location in space (Hirnstein et al, 2011). Located at the crossroads of processing touch, hearing and vision, AG is critical to conceptual metaphors and cross-modal abstractions (Rosenthal et al, 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%