Temporal patterns of evoked cerebral blood flow during reading

This study describes the dynamics of flow activation by reading and investigates the potential use of repeated flow velocity measurements for the lateralization of speech. Using simultaneous transcranial Doppler recordings from both middle cerebral arteries and averaging techniques in 25 healthy volunteers, we describe the changes in blood flow velocity caused by repetitive reading tasks of variable duration in comparison with a resting state. Reading aloud evoked a characteristic temporal flow pattern in both hemispheres, consisting of three relative maxima in flow velocity during and after activation. Flow velocities lower than baseline were common during longer lasting activation. The amplitudes of two of the observed peaks decreased depending on the duration of the task. Reading silently produced a markedly different temporal pattern of activation than reading aloud. There were individually reproducible significant side to side differences. Right-handed persons (n = 15) almost without exception showed a significantly higher increase in flow velocity on the left hemisphere (e.g., reading silently 8.7% versus 5.3%; P < 0.0001). Three out of ten left-handed individuals, however, exhibited no significant side to side difference or exhibited lateralization to the right during one or more of the tasks. These findings suggest that reading induces task-specific temporal patterns of regional neuronal activity, which show habituation with longer duration of activation. Additionally, the observed side to side differences could be useful to predict language dominance.