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Fundamental Nature of Human Infant's Brain Asymmetry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Juhn A. Wada  and
Alan E. Davis
Juhn A. Wada*
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Health Science Center Hospital, Vancouver, Canada
Alan E. Davis
Affiliation:
University of British Columbia, Health Science Center Hospital, Vancouver, Canada
*
2075 Wesbrook Place, U.B.C. Campus, Vancouver, B.C. V6T 1W5 Canada
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Morphological speech zone asymmetry in man cannot be due to environmental or developmental factors after birth. The functional implication of such a finding is not yet clear. Morphological asymmetry of the human brain is paralleled by electrophysiological evidence of cerebral hemispheric asymmetries. The results of our analysis of 50 infants suggest that clear occipital-temporal coherency asymmetry similar, but not identical to the adult pattern, also exists at or near birth. These asymmetries are generated by stimuli with no verbal content and in infants who presumably have no or an undeveloped capability for language. It is suggested that language is only a part of much more fundamental asymmetries which include the processing of auditory and visual information. Our results, and those of others, are consistent with the assumption that the left hemisphere is more able to relate stimuli to past experience, either short or long-term, while the right hemisphere is more able to process stimuli which are not easily identifiable or referable. These capabilities would not be based on language, and hence would be expected to develop independently and possibly before speech. The demonstration that reversing electrophysiological asymmetries can be generated with non-speech stimuli in the visual and auditory modalities, and in neonates, supports such an assumption.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences , Volume 4 , Issue 3 , August 1977 , pp. 203 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1977

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