Corpus callosum morphometry and dichotic listening performance : individual differences in functional interhemispheric inhibition ?

We examined the relationship between midsagittal corpus callosum area, as seen by magnetic resonance imaging, and behavioral laterality effects from a dichotic listening task requiring cross-callosal relay of an auditory signal, in 60 healthy young adults. Four patients with complete forebrain commi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuropsychologia 1993-06, Vol.31 (6), p.547-557
Main Authors: CLARKE, J. M, LUFKIN, R. B, ERAN ZAIDEL
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic Stimulation
Adult
Anatomical correlates of behavior
Auditory Perception - physiology
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Corpus Callosum - anatomy & histology
Corpus Callosum - physiology
Dichotic Listening Tests - methods
Female
Functional Laterality
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Male
Middle Aged
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Sex Factors
Task Performance and Analysis
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Summary:We examined the relationship between midsagittal corpus callosum area, as seen by magnetic resonance imaging, and behavioral laterality effects from a dichotic listening task requiring cross-callosal relay of an auditory signal, in 60 healthy young adults. Four patients with complete forebrain commissurotomy were also given the dichotic listening task, confirming that in this task, the report of left ear items is dependent on callosal pathways. Contrary to our predictions, callosum measures were unrelated to either a laterality measure or to inferior (typically left) ear performance. Surprisingly, superior (typically right) ear accuracies, which do not depend on cross-callosal sensory transfer, were significantly and negatively correlated with callosum size. These findings show that normal variations in callosum size do not appear to contribute significantly to individual differences in hemispheric specialization. Callosum size may, instead, be associated with degree of functional interhemispheric inhibition.
ISSN:0028-3932
1873-3514
DOI:10.1016/0028-3932(93)90051-Z