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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Evaluation of Hemisphere Lateralization with Bilateral Local Field Potential Recording in Secondary Motor Cortex of Mice

Evaluation of Hemisphere Lateralization with Bilateral Local Field Potential Recording in Secondary Motor Cortex of Mice

Published on: July 31, 2019

Face coding is bilateral in the female brain.

Alice Mado Proverbio¹, Federica Riva, Eleonora Martin

¹Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy. mado.proverbio@unimib.it

|June 25, 2010

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Brain imaging reveals sex differences in face processing lateralization. Men show right-hemisphere dominance, while women exhibit bilateral activation, suggesting less lateralization in female face coding.

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Last Updated: Jun 12, 2026

Evaluation of Hemisphere Lateralization with Bilateral Local Field Potential Recording in Secondary Motor Cortex of Mice

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Published on: July 31, 2019

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
Psychology

Background:

Current understanding suggests right-hemisphere dominance for human face processing.
Existing scientific literature presents inconsistencies regarding this lateralization.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate sex differences in the lateralization of face processing.
To explore how age and sex influence face-specific neural responses.
To reconcile inconsistencies in the literature on hemispheric asymmetry in face perception.

Main Methods:

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded from 50 participants (men and women).
Stimuli included 390 faces and 130 technological objects.
Low-Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography (LORETA) was used for source localization.

Main Results:

No sex difference in N170 amplitude for objects.
Men showed a right-hemisphere dominant N170 response to faces; women showed a bilateral response.
Men lacked a face-age coding effect in the left hemisphere, while women exhibited a bilateral effect.
LORETA confirmed significant hemispheric asymmetry in fusiform gyrus activation (BA19), differing between sexes.

Conclusions:

Women exhibit less lateralization of face processing brain functions compared to men.
Findings suggest a potential explanation for inconsistencies in literature regarding face perception lateralization.
Hemispheric asymmetry in face perception varies between sexes.