Cerebral asymmetry for language: Comparing production with comprehension

Abstract

Although left-hemispheric damage can impair both the production and comprehension of language, it has been claimed that comprehension is more bilaterally represented than is production. A variant of this theme is based on the theory that different aspects of language are processed by a dorsal stream, responsible for mapping words to articulation, and a ventral stream for processing input for meaning. Some have claimed that the dorsal stream is left-hemispheric, while the ventral stream is bilaterally organized. We used fMRI to record activation while left- and right-handed participants performed covert word-generation task and judged whether word pairs were synonyms. Regions of interest were Broca's area as part of the dorsal stream and the superior and middle temporal gyri as part of the ventral stream. Laterality indices showed equal left-hemispheric lateralization in Broca's area for word generation and both Broca's area and temporal lobe for the synonym judgments. Handedness influenced laterality equally in each area and task, with right-handers showing stronger left-hemispheric dominance than left-handers. Although our findings provide no evidence that asymmetry is more pronounced for production than for comprehension, correlations between the tasks and regions of interest support the view that lateralization in the temporal lobe depends on feedback influences from frontal regions.