Hemispheric asymmetries of cortical volume in the human brain

• Published in: Cortex 2013-01, Vol.49 (1), p.200-210
• Main Authors: Goldberg, Elkhonon, Roediger, Donovan, Kucukboyaci, N. Erkut, Carlson, Chad, Devinsky, Orrin, Kuzniecky, Ruben, Halgren, Eric, Thesen, Thomas
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Anatomical correlates of behavior; Asymmetry; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Brain; Brain - anatomy & histology; Brain Mapping; Cortex (visual); Cortical asymmetry; Female; Functional Laterality; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hemispheric laterality; Hemispheric specialization; Humans; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Male; Morphometry; MRI morphometry; Organ Size; Parietal cortex; Prefrontal cortex; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Structure-function relationships
• ISSN: 0010-9452; 1973-8102
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2011.11.002

Hemispheric asymmetry represents a cardinal feature of cerebral organization, but the nature of structural and functional differences between the hemispheres is far from fully understood. Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging morphometry, we identified several volumetric differences between the two hemispheres of the human brain. Heteromodal inferoparietal and lateral prefrontal cortices are more extensive in the right than left hemisphere, as is visual cortex. Heteromodal mesial and orbital prefrontal and cingulate cortices are more extensive in the left than right hemisphere, as are somatosensory, parts of motor, and auditory cortices. Thus, heteromodal association cortices are more extensively represented on the lateral aspect of the right than in the left hemisphere, and modality-specific cortices are more extensively represented on the lateral aspect of the left than in the right hemisphere. On the mesial aspect heteromodal association cortices are more extensively represented in the left than right hemisphere.