Tutorial 4.

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LATERALIZATION, LANGUAGE AND SPLIT BRAIN
Brain is made of 2 structures: the left and the right cerebral hemispheres.
They are entirely separate except for the cerebral commissures connecting them.
Lateralization refers to difference in function between the right and left hemisphere, that
can even work independently, although they are similar in appearance.
The left and the right part exchange information through a set of axons called corpus
callosum.

Visual and auditory connections to the hemispheres

Visual connection
In humans, each hemisphere is connected to half of each
eye.
In the visual field (what at the moment is visible) a light from
the right half strikes the left half of each retina, which
connects to the left hemisphere and the other way around.

Right visual field -> left half of each retina -> left hemisphere
Left visual field -> right half of each retina -> right
hemisphere

Auditory connection
Each ear sends information to both sides of the brain because any brain area that
contributes to localizing sounds must compare input from both ears.
However, each hemisphere does pay more attention to the ear of the opposite side.

Early studies on lateralization

Between the end of the 1800s and in the early 1900s, two examples of cerebral function
were discovered.

1. Aphasia = It is a loss of language ability,

usually caused by the left hemisphere
damage, either to Broca’s area (inferior
prefrontal cortex; plays a role in
language comprehension and impairing
speaking) or to Wernicke’s area
(impairing understanding).
People with aphasia may experience
difficulty expressing themselves,
understanding others, reading, and
writing.

2. Apraxia = Inability to perform particular purposive actions, as a result of brain damage.

It is characterized by a difficulty in planning correct muscles movements for speech.
It is like aphasia, but its symptoms are bilateral, so they involve both sides of the body.
The theory of cerebral dominance usually assumes that the left hemisphere is the dominant
one, because it is dominant in the control of all complex behavioral and cognitive processes.
The right hemisphere instead, plays a minor role and it’s referred to it as minor hemisphere.

TESTS OF CEREBRAL LATERALIZATION

1. Sodium amytal test
The invasive test is about the language lateralization, often given before a patient receives
neurosurgery, in order to study the results of it and trying to avoid any damage to the cortex
involved in language.
The patient is injected with a small amount of sodium amytal in the carotid artery that
anesthetizes one side of the hemisphere.
During the test the patient is asked to name picture of objects and recite well-known series,
as alphabet or numbers.
When the hemisphere for speech, usually the left one, is anesthetized, the patient is mute
for few minutes and also when the ability returns, there are errors.
In contrast, when the right hemisphere is anesthetized, mutism does not occur and there
are few mistakes.

2. Dichotic listening test

The test can be administered to health individuals. There are three pairs of spoken digits
presented simultaneously to both ears through earphones. The person is then asked to
report all digits.
Most people usually report more digits presented to the right ear, specialized for language.
People who performed the sodium amytal test and results as having the right hemisphere
specialization for language, performs better with the left ear than the right one.

3. Functional brain imaging

Lateralization has been studied also through brain-imaging techniques. A volunteer engages
in some activity and the brain is monitored by functional magnetic resonance imaging or
other instruments. On language test, it is usually revealed that the left hemisphere has
greater activity.

LATERALIZATION AND HANDEDNESS

Different studies analyzed the correlation between the cerebral lateralization and
handedness. The results show that the left hemisphere is dominant for language-related
abilities in almost all dextrals (right-handed) and in majority of sinistral (left-handed).
 THE SPLIT BRAIN
In the early 1950s, the corpus callosum, the largest cerebral commissure constituted a
paradox. Some people would argue that was useless and humans born without would not or
had it damaged seemed quite normal.

-Mysers and Sperry (who received a Nobel Price Prize) experiment on split-brain cats
showed that the function of the corpus callosum is to transfer information from one
hemisphere to another.
Moreover, if the corpus callosum is cut, each hemisphere can function independently. One
hemisphere working alone can learn simple tasks as rapidly as two hemispheres working
together.

-Sperry and Gazzaniga developed a battery of tests based on the same methodological
strategy used on animals: delivering information to one hemisphere while keeping it out of
the other.
Each split-brain patient was asked to fixate on the center of a display screen; then visual
stimuli were flashed onto the left or right side of the screen for 0.1 second.
The 0.1 second was long enough for perceiving the stimuli but short enough to preclude the
confounding effects of eye movement.
The stimuli presented in the left visual field were transmitted to the right visual cortex; the
stimuli presented in the right visual field were transmitted to the left visual cortex.

 Humans seem to have two independent brains, each with its own stream of
consciousness, abilities, memories, and emotions.
Unlike the animals, humans’ hemispheres are far from equal in their ability to perform in
certain tasks.

-Zaidel developed the Z lens, a contact lens that is opaque on one side and limits visual
input to one hemisphere of split-brain patients, while they scan complex visual material
such as the pages of a book. It is also used to comprehend speech.

SPLIT BRAIN CAN FUNCTION INDEPENDENTLY

1. Cross-cuing is the process in which the two hemispheres can still communicate neurally
via external route and indirect pathways through brainstem.

2. Helping-hand phenomenon is the redirection of one hand of a split-brain patient by the

other hand, the ability to do two things at once.

3. Visual completion refers to the capacity to fill in gaps in visual field, as when used the
chimeric figures test where people usually could describe a completed version of the half
that had been presented to the right visual field. (The left hemisphere)
 DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LEFT AND RIGHT HEMISPHERES
There are abilities that are found to be lateralized and seem to be controlled more by the
left hemisphere and others by the right one.
-The left hemisphere seems superior in controlling ipsilateral movement and plays a role in
memory for verbal material.
It is referred as interpreter, a hypothetical neuron mechanism that continuously assesses
patterns of events and tries to make sense of them.

-The right hemisphere seems superior in spatial and musical ability, but also nonverbal
material.
It is also involved in emotions as, for example, identifying faces expression of emotion
although it does not have a general dominance proved.

ANATOMICAL ASYMMETRIES OF THE BRAIN

There are three cortical language areas of the cerebral cortex, that have been the focus of
studies on neurotomical asymmetry: frontal operculum, Planum temporale and Heschl’s
gyrus.

1. Frontal operculum is the area of the

frontal lobe cortex that lies in front of
the face area of the primary motor
cortex; in the left hemisphere, is in the
location of Broca’s area.
2. Planum temporale is the area of
temporal lobe cortex it is thought to
play a role in the comprehension of
language, and it is often referred as
Wernicke’s area. Damage to it results in
receptive aphasia. It usually larger in the
left hemisphere for 65% of people.
3. Heschl’s gyrus is the area of temporal lobe cortex, and it is anterior to the planum
temporale; it is the location of the primary auditory cortex.

THEORY OF THE EVOLUTION OF CEREBRAL LATERALIZATION

1. Analytic-synthetic theory assumes that there are two basic modes of thinking that
have become segregated over the course of evolution – the analytical, logical in the
left hemisphere and the synthetic, more organization in the right one.
However, it is not possible specify the degree to which any tasks requires either
analytic or synthetic processing.

2. Motor theory of cerebral asymmetry holds that the left hemisphere is specialized for
the control of fine movement, of which speech is one of the categories.

3. Linguistic theory, in contrast to the other theories, assumes that the primary role of
the left hemisphere is language. (The other theories views language only as a second
specialization because the primary is analytic thought and skilled motor)