This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (43)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Pediatric Neurology  • Radiologic Imaging  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Lyn M. Balsamo, MA; Benjamin Xu, PhD; Cecile B. Grandin, MD, PhD; Jeffrey R. Petrella, MD; Suzanne H. Braniecki, MA; Teresa K. Elliott, PhD; William D. Gaillard, MD

Arch Neurol. 2002;59:1168-1174.

Background  Functional magnetic resonance imaging is a noninvasive method of assessing language dominance in a pediatric population.

Objective  To determine the pattern of receptive language lateralization in healthy children.

Design  We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess an auditory language task in 11 children (7 girls, 4 boys; mean age, 8.5 years). Participants alternately rested and listened to descriptors of nouns presented auditorily, naming the object described silently. Asymmetry indices ([(left - right)/(left + right)]) were calculated for a priori–determined regions of interest.

Results  The results showed strong activation bilaterally, with greater activation on the left in the superior and middle temporal gyri. Other areas of activation included the cuneus, the left inferior temporal gyrus, the prefrontal area, and the left fusiform and lingual gyri. Regions of interest analysis of individual scans showed additional activation in the left frontal lobe. Asymmetry indices showed strong left lateralization of the inferior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and the Wernicke region.

Conclusions  Hemispheric lateralization was clearly demonstrated in 8 children. As in adults, left hemisphere lateralization of receptive language is present at age 8 years.

From the Department of Neurology, Children's National Medical Center, George Washington School of Medicine, Washington, DC (Mss Balsamo and Braniecki and Dr Gaillard); Epilepsy Research Branch, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md (Mss Balsamo and Braniecki and Drs Xu, Grandin, Petrella, and Gaillard); and American University, Washington, DC (Ms Balsamo and Dr Elliott).

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Spatial Distribution of Deep Sulcal Landmarks and Hemispherical Asymmetry on the Cortical Surface
Im et al.
Cereb Cortex 2009;0:bhp127v1-bhp127.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Language Networks in Children: Evidence from Functional MRI Studies
Vannest et al.
Am. J. Roentgenol. 2009;192:1190-1196.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Pediatric Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI): Issues and Applications
O'Shaughnessy et al.
J Child Neurol 2008;23:791-801.
ABSTRACT  

Atypical language in lesional and nonlesional complex partial epilepsy
Gaillard et al.
Neurology 2007;69:1761-1771.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Differences in Functional MR Imaging Activation Patterns Associated with Confrontation Naming and Responsive Naming
Tomaszewki Farias et al.
Am. J. Neuroradiol. 2005;26:2492-2499.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

fMRI language task panel improves determination of language dominance
Gaillard et al.
Neurology 2004;63:1403-1408.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Language cortex activation in normal children
Wood et al.
Neurology 2004;63:1035-1044.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Dominance for Vestibular Cortical Function in the Non-dominant Hemisphere
Dieterich et al.
Cereb Cortex 2003;13:994-1007.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Epileptic activity influences the speech organization in medial temporal lobe epilepsy
Janszky et al.
Brain 2003;126:2043-2051.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

Auditory comprehension of language in young children: Neural networks identified with fMRI
Ahmad et al.
Neurology 2003;60:1598-1605.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT  

fMRI identifies regional specialization of neural networks for reading in young children
Gaillard et al.
Neurology 2003;60:94-100.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT