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A large-sample study of sex differences in functional cerebral lateralization.

David B Boles1

  • 1Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, Alabama 35405, USA. dboles@bama.ua.edu

Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology
|July 16, 2005
PubMed
Summary

Sex differences in brain lateralization have minimal predictive value for hemispheric damage susceptibility and recovery. While task-dependent, sex explains very little variance in brain asymmetry, limiting its clinical utility.

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Area of Science:

  • Neuroscience
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Neuropsychology

Background:

  • Sex differences in brain lateralization are considered for predicting outcomes after hemispheric damage.
  • Previous reviews indicate sex accounts for minimal variance (0.1-1%) in brain asymmetry scores.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the predictive utility of sex differences in brain lateralization.
  • To determine the relationship between sex and laterality across various cognitive tasks.

Main Methods:

  • A large-sample, single-laboratory study was conducted.
  • Tasks included recognition of bargraphs, dichotic words, facial emotions, locations, visual words, and visual line bisection.
  • Each task is sensitive to the lateralization of distinct mental modules.

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Main Results:

  • Sex accounted for a maximum of 0.9% and an average of 0.09% of the variance in asymmetry scores.
  • These findings align with previous literature reviews.
  • The strength of the sex-laterality relationship varied depending on the specific lateralized task.

Conclusions:

  • Sex differences have limited predictive clinical utility for susceptibility and recovery from hemispheric damage.
  • The association between sex and brain laterality is task-specific, likely due to underlying modular differences in lateralized cognitive processes.