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Symmetric Bihemispheric Postmortem Brain Cutting to Study Healthy and Pathological Brain Conditions in Humans

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Published on: December 18, 2016

Handedness, language lateralisation and anatomical asymmetry in schizophrenia: meta-analysis.

I Sommer¹, N Ramsey, R Kahn

¹Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Centre Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, 3584 CX Utrecht, The Netherlands. ISommer@azu.nl

The British Journal of Psychiatry : the Journal of Mental Science

|April 3, 2001

Summary

This meta-analysis found strong evidence for reduced cerebral lateralisation in schizophrenia. Non-right-handedness was more common, and specific auditory tasks and brain anatomy showed decreased asymmetry.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Psychiatry
Genetics

Background:

Cerebral lateralisation, the brain's functional asymmetry, is often debated in schizophrenia.
Previous studies on lateralisation in schizophrenia have yielded inconsistent results.

Purpose of the Study:

To quantitatively review existing literature on cerebral lateralisation in schizophrenia.
To consolidate findings on handedness, auditory processing, and anatomical asymmetry.

Main Methods:

Conducted meta-analyses on 19 handedness studies, 10 dichotic listening studies, and 39 anatomical asymmetry studies.
Compared patients with schizophrenia to healthy and psychiatric controls.

Main Results:

Significantly higher prevalence of non-right-handedness (mixed- and left-handedness) in schizophrenia patients.
Decreased lateralisation observed in dichotic listening tasks (consonant-vowel, fused word) and for planum temporale/Sylvian fissure asymmetry.
No significant difference in temporal horn asymmetry.

Conclusions:

Provides strong evidence supporting decreased cerebral lateralisation in schizophrenia.
Highlights the complexity of lateralisation deficits, varying by task and brain region.