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The neural basis of language development: Changes in lateralization over age.

MedStar author(s):

0027-8424

Name of journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of AmericaAbstract: We have long known that language is lateralized to the left hemisphere (LH) in most neurologically healthy adults. In contrast, findings on lateralization of function during development are more complex. As in adults, anatomical, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging studies in infants and children indicate LH lateralization for language. However, in very young children, lesions to either hemisphere are equally likely to result in language deficits, suggesting that language is distributed symmetrically early in life. We address this apparent contradiction by examining patterns of functional MRI (fMRI) language activation in children (ages 4 through 13) and adults (ages 18 through 29). In contrast to previous studies, we focus not on lateralization per se but rather on patterns of left-hemisphere (LH) and right-hemisphere (RH) activation across individual participants over age. Our analyses show significant activation not only in the LH language network but also in their RH homologs in all of the youngest children (ages 4 through 6). The proportion of participants showing significant RH activation decreases over age, with over 60% of adults lacking any significant RH activation. A whole-brain correlation analysis revealed an age-related decrease in language activation only in the RH homolog of Broca's area. This correlation was independent of task difficulty. We conclude that, while language is left-lateralized throughout life, the RH contribution to language processing is also strong early in life and decreases through childhood. Importantly, this early RH language activation may represent a developmental mechanism for recovery following early LH injury.All authors: Berl MM, Chambers CE, Dromerick AW, Gaillard WD, Newport EL, Olulade OA, Seydell-Greenwald A, Turkeltaub PEOriginally published: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 117(38):23477-23483, 2020 Sep 22.Fiscal year: FY2021Digital Object Identifier:

ORCID:

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7292-8575

Date added to catalog: 2020-10-06

Holdings ( 1 )
Title notes ( 3 )

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode
Journal Article	MedStar Authors Catalog	Article	32900940	Available		32900940

Available online from MWHC library: 1915 - present

We have long known that language is lateralized to the left hemisphere (LH) in most neurologically healthy adults. In contrast, findings on lateralization of function during development are more complex. As in adults, anatomical, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging studies in infants and children indicate LH lateralization for language. However, in very young children, lesions to either hemisphere are equally likely to result in language deficits, suggesting that language is distributed symmetrically early in life. We address this apparent contradiction by examining patterns of functional MRI (fMRI) language activation in children (ages 4 through 13) and adults (ages 18 through 29). In contrast to previous studies, we focus not on lateralization per se but rather on patterns of left-hemisphere (LH) and right-hemisphere (RH) activation across individual participants over age. Our analyses show significant activation not only in the LH language network but also in their RH homologs in all of the youngest children (ages 4 through 6). The proportion of participants showing significant RH activation decreases over age, with over 60% of adults lacking any significant RH activation. A whole-brain correlation analysis revealed an age-related decrease in language activation only in the RH homolog of Broca's area. This correlation was independent of task difficulty. We conclude that, while language is left-lateralized throughout life, the RH contribution to language processing is also strong early in life and decreases through childhood. Importantly, this early RH language activation may represent a developmental mechanism for recovery following early LH injury.

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