Cerebral Cortex, Vol. 10, No. 9, 866-872,
September 2000
© 2000 Oxford University Press
Sex Differences in Lateralization Revealed in the Posterior Language Areas
1 Neuroscience Section, Information Science Division, Electrotechnical Laboratory, Tsukuba and , 2 Department of Neurological Surgery, Chiba University School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan
It has been hypothesized that language functions are more strongly lateralized to the left hemisphere in males than in females. Previous anatomical data and patient studies have suggested that the posterior language areas should exhibit sex differences. However, neuroimaging studies to date have only provided support for differences in the anterior language areas. To look for differences in the posterior language areas, functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained while male and female subjects listened attentively to a story read aloud and to the same story replayed in reverse. Comparing activation in the superior and the middle temporal gyri during a story to activation during reverse replay of the story showed lateralization to the left in males but not in females. There was no lateralization in either sex when comparing activation during random fragmentation of the story to reverse replay. In the angular and the supramarginal gyri, however, activation was lateralized to the left hemisphere in both sexes, unlike the sex-dependent activation of the posterior temporal lobes. We infer that females use the posterior temporal lobes more bilaterally during linguistic processing of global structures in a narrative than males do.
CiteULike 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us What's this?
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  F. Schiffer, I. Glass, J. Lord, and M. H. Teicher Prediction of Clinical Outcomes From rTMS in Depressed Patients With Lateral Visual Field Stimulation: A Replication J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci, May 1, 2008; 20(2): 194 - 200. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 H. Hill, F. Ott, C. Herbert, and M. Weisbrod Response Execution in Lexical Decision Tasks Obscures Sex-specific Lateralization Effects in Language Processing: Evidence from Event-related Potential Measures during Word Reading Cereb Cortex, July 1, 2006; 16(7): 978 - 989. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
E. Luders, K.L. Narr, E. Zaidel, P.M. Thompson, L. Jancke, and A.W. Toga Parasagittal Asymmetries of the Corpus Callosum Cereb Cortex, March 1, 2006; 16(3): 346 - 354. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 M. Kocak, J. L. Ulmer, B. B. Biswal, A. Aralasmak, D. L. Daniels, and L. P. Mark The Influence of Gender on Auditory and Language Cortical Activation Patterns: Preliminary Data AJNR Am. J. Neuroradiol., October 1, 2005; 26(9): 2248 - 2255. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Kitazawa and K. Kansaku Sex difference in language lateralization may be task-dependent Brain, May 1, 2005; 128(5): E30 - E30. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
I. Sommer, A. Aleman, and R. S Kahn Size does count: a reply to Kitazawa and Kansaku Brain, May 1, 2005; 128(5): E31 - E31. [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
I. E. C. Sommer, A. Aleman, A. Bouma, and R. S. Kahn Do women really have more bilateral language representation than men? A meta-analysis of functional imaging studies Brain, August 1, 2004; 127(8): 1845 - 1852. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 C. Gaser and G. Schlaug Brain Structures Differ between Musicians and Non-Musicians J. Neurosci., October 8, 2003; 23(27): 9240 - 9245. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Hutchinson, L. H.-L. Lee, N. Gaab, and G. Schlaug Cerebellar Volume of Musicians Cereb Cortex, September 1, 2003; 13(9): 943 - 949. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. Janszky, H. Jokeit, D. Heinemann, R. Schulz, F. G. Woermann, and A. Ebner Epileptic activity influences the speech organization in medial temporal lobe epilepsy Brain, September 1, 2003; 126(9): 2043 - 2051. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Koelsch, T. Grossmann, T. C. Gunter, A. Hahne, E. Schroger, and A. D. Friederici Children Processing Music: Electric Brain Responses Reveal Musical Competence and Gender Differences J. Cogn. Neurosci., July 1, 2003; 15(5): 683 - 693. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
G. Fernandez, S. Weis, B. Stoffel-Wagner, I. Tendolkar, M. Reuber, S. Beyenburg, P. Klaver, J. Fell, A. de Greiff, J. Ruhlmann, et al. Menstrual Cycle-Dependent Neural Plasticity in the Adult Human Brain Is Hormone, Task, and Region Specific J. Neurosci., May 1, 2003; 23(9): 3790 - 3795. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
J. A. Maldjian, P. J. Laurienti, L. Driskill, and J. H. Burdette Multiple Reproducibility Indices for Evaluation of Cognitive Functional MR Imaging Paradigms AJNR Am. J. Neuroradiol., June 1, 2002; 23(6): 1030 - 1037. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 S. Lehericy, A. Biondi, N. Sourour, M. Vlaicu, S. T. du Montcel, L. Cohen, E. Vivas, L. Capelle, T. Faillot, A. Casasco, et al. Arteriovenous Brain Malformations: Is Functional MR Imaging Reliable for Studying Language Reorganization in Patients? Initial Observations Radiology, June 1, 2002; 223(3): 672 - 682. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|