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Lateralization

Lateralization

Brain lateralization refers to the division of mental processes and functions between the two hemispheres of the brain, a phenomenon that optimizes neural efficiency and underpins complex abilities in humans. This specialization allows each hemisphere to perform tasks where it has a comparative advantage, facilitating more refined cognitive capabilities across different domains.

Somatosensation

Somatosensation

The somatosensory system relays sensory information from the skin, mucous membranes, limbs, and joints. Somatosensation is more familiarly known as the sense of touch. A typical somatosensory pathway includes three types of long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. Primary neurons have cell bodies located near the spinal cord in groups of neurons called dorsal root ganglia. The sensory neurons of ganglia innervate designated areas of skin called dermatomes.

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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Oct 14, 2025

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

Laterality Hotspots in the Striatum.

Cole Korponay¹, Elliot A Stein², Thomas J Ross²

¹Basic Neuroscience Division, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA 02478, USA.

Cerebral Cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991)

|November 2, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers identified specific brain regions, or "laterality hotspots," in the striatum with distinct frontal cortex connectivity patterns. Individual differences in this brain laterality correlate with performance on tasks requiring lateralized functions like response inhibition and language.

Keywords:

connectivity frontostriatal inhibition language laterality

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Single Synapse Indicators of Glutamate Release and Uptake in Acute Brain Slices from Normal and Huntington Mice

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Last Updated: Oct 14, 2025

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Published on: July 31, 2019

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Published on: March 11, 2020

Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Neuroscience
Neuroimaging

Background:

Corticostriatal circuits play a crucial role in lateralized brain functions.
Understanding striatal connectivity laterality is vital for neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric disorders.

Purpose of the Study:

To quantify the dissimilarity and spatial variance of striatal hemispheric connection profiles.
To assess how interindividual differences in striatal laterality relate to cognitive functions.

Main Methods:

Utilized a resting-state functional connectivity fingerprinting approach with 261 participants.
Identified "laterality hotspots" based on disproportionately dissimilar connectivity profiles with the frontal cortex.
Replicated findings in an independent sample and assessed robustness to preprocessing and atlas choices.

Main Results:

Identified laterality hotspots in the right rostral ventral putamen, left rostral central caudate, and bilateral caudal ventral caudate.
Greater rightward laterality in the right ventral putamen correlated with better response inhibition.
Greater leftward laterality in the left rostral caudate correlated with enhanced language task performance.

Conclusions:

Demonstrated robust and reproducible evidence for striatal loci with disproportionately lateralized connectivity.
Interindividual differences in laterality magnitude are associated with behavioral capacities in lateralized functions.
Findings advance the understanding of corticostriatal circuits in lateralized functions and neuropsychiatric disorders.