Language function distribution in left-handers: A navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation study

Diacylglycerols (DGs) were found to be asymmetrically distributed between the two cerebral hemispheres of rat brain. The left cerebral hemisphere (LCH) contained 100% more DG than the right cerebral hemisphere (RCH). The lateralization was enhanced in animals subjected to depolarization induced by a single electroconvulsive shock (ECS). During the acute phase of the convulsion, the DG pool increased in both hemispheres, with the LCH attaining a concentration 180% higher than the RCH. Stearate and arachidonate were the principal DG-acyl groups accumulated in the RCH, whereas in the LCH stearate and palmitate were mainly involved. After the last of a series of five shocks (one per day) the lateralization of the "DG response" was less accentuated during the acute phase of the ECS. Whereas DG release was drastically reduced in the LCH, in the RCH it was minimally affected. The DG sidedness after five shocks was nevertheless maintained at the level of arachidonate-containing DGs, which showed a higher accumulation in the LCH than in the RCH. The kinetics of DG removal showed a rapid phase during the first minute following a single or five ECSs. Total DG levels returned to basal values in the RCH, whereas in the LCH they remained slightly increased with respect to the initial levels 1 min after the convulsive episode. Minimal changes occurred in the subsequent 4 min. Chronic ECS altered the endogenous DG content and composition. Thus, 24 h after the last of four ECSs, total levels of DGs diminished by 40% in the RCH, whereas they remained unchanged in the LCH.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Objective To explore the developmental characteristics of white matter volume in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) children longitudinal. Methods From May 2011 to September 2014, 37 ASD children (ASD group) and 27 developmental delays (DD) children (control group) were treated at the Child Mental Health Research Center, Nanjing Brian Hospital Affiliated of Nanjing Medical University, and the children whose age, gender and developmental quotient matched with the ASD children were scanned by structure magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) at the age of 2-3 years old and 4-5 years old respectively.Region of interest(ROI) technology was adopted to investigate the change of the cerebrum white and the sub-lobes structure white matter volume with time.Then the correlation between clinical symptoms and brain white matter volume changes was analyzed. Results Among the 2-3 years old, compared with the control group, the white matter volume of the total brain[(383 521.84±6 427.57) mm3vs. (364 014.06±6 856.97) mm3], the left cerebral hemisphere [(191 609.35±3 206.60) mm3vs. (181 695.89±3 389.54) mm3], temporal lobe [(41 860.49±816.38) mm3vs. (39 444.18±834.85) mm3] and the right temporal lobe [(21 312.79±414.07) mm3vs. (20 084.22±412.13) mm3] were significantly larger in the ASD group, and the differences were statistically significant (all P 0.05). Among the 4-5 years old, compared with the control group, the white matter volumes of the total brain[(417 651.42±6 443.86) mm3vs. (394 317.27±6 404.86) mm3], left cerebral hemisphere [(208 714.16±3 214.61) mm3vs. (197 192.82±3 262.02) mm3], right cerebral hemisphere [(208 937.26±3 242.09) mm3vs. (7 124.45±3 193.13) mm3], frontal lobe [(107 107.46±1 681.99) mm3vs. (100 326.19±1 883.24) mm3], left frontal lobe [(54 569.63±846.85) mm3vs. (51 177.25±979.09) mm3], right frontal lobe [(52 537.83±841.99) mm3vs. (49 148.94±928.31) mm3], temporal lobe [(45 189.75±833.29) mm3vs.(42 487.73±786.27) mm3], left temporal lobe [(22 204.21±411.77) mm3vs. (20 922.90±418.46) mm3], and right temporal lobe [(22 985.54±426.93) mm3vs. (21 564.83±378.78) mm3] were significantly larger in the ASD group, and the differences were statistically significant (all P 0.05). For longitudinal analysis, there was a significant difference in the white matter volume between the whole brain, left cerebral hemisphere, right cerebral hemisphere, frontal lobe, left frontal lobe, right frontal lobe, temporal lobe, left temporal lobe, right temporal lobe and the differences were statistically significant(F=5.521, 5.533, 5.459, 5.830, 5.800, 5.723, 4.857, 4.418, 5.159, all P<0.05). There was a positive correlation between the changes of the volume of whole brain, the white matter volume in the whole brain, bilateral cerebral hemisphere, frontal lobe, parietal lobe, right parietal lobe and Childhood Autism Rating Scale(r=0.367, 0.343, 0.321, 0.349, 0.296, 0.308, 0.351, all P<0.05). Conclusions Among the 2-3 years old, the white matter volume of the brain regions have been increased significantly in ASD.Among the 4-5 years old, the increase of the white matter volume of the brain regions implicated more widely which mainly concentrated in the frontal and temporal lobe in ASD.The severity of the clinical symptoms of ASD may be associated with the white matter volume of the total brain, bilateral cerebral hemisphere, frontal lobe, parietal lobe and right parietal lobe. Key words: Autism spectrum disorder; White matter; Volume; Magnetic resonance imaging; Longitudinal study

Individuals with a stroke in either the left hemisphere (LH) or the right hemisphere (RH) often present macrostructural impairments in narrative abilities. Understanding the potential influence of low education and low socioeconomic status (SES) is critical to a more effective assessment of poststroke language. The first aim was to investigate macrostructural processing in low-education and low-SES individuals with stroke in the LH or RH or without brain damage. The second aim was to verify the relationships between macrolinguistic, neuropsychological, and sociodemographic variables. Forty-seven adults with LH (n = 15) or RH (n = 16) chronic ischemic stroke and 16 matched (age, education, and SES) healthy controls produced three oral picture-sequence narratives. The macrostructural aspects analyzed were cohesion, coherence, narrativity, macropropositions, and index of lexical informativeness and were compared among the three groups. Then, exploratory correlations were performed to assess associations between sociodemographic (such as SES), neuropsychological, and macrostructural variables. Both the LH and the RH presented impairments in the local macrostructural aspect (cohesion), whereas the RH also presented impairments in more global aspects (global coherence and macropropositions). All five macrostructural variables correlated with each other, with higher correlations with narrativity. Naming was correlated with all macrostructural variables, as well as prestroke reading and writing habits (RWH), showing that higher naming accuracy and higher RWH are associated with better macrostructural skills. The present results corroborate the role of the LH in more local processing and that of the RH in more global aspects of discourse. Moreover, this study highlights the importance of investigating discourse processing in healthy and clinical populations of understudied languages such as Brazilian Portuguese, with various levels of education, SES, and RWH.

The purpose of the present study was to examine Kosslyn's (1987) claim that the left hemisphere (LH) is specialized for the computation of categorical spatial representations and that the right hemisphere (RH) is specialized for the computation of coordinate spatial representations. Categorical representations involve making judgements about the relative position of the components of a visual stimulus (e.g., whether one component is above/below another). Coordinate representations involve calibrating absolute distances between the components of a visual stimulus (e.g., whether one component is within 5 mm of another). Thirty-two male and 32 female undergraduates were administered two versions of a categorical or a coordinate task over three blocks of 36 trials. Within each block, items were presented to the right visual field-left hemisphere (RVF-LH), the left visual field-right hemisphere (LVF-RH), or a centralized position. Overall, results were more supportive of Kosslyn's assertions concerning the role played by the RH in the computation of spatial representations. Specifically, subjects displayed an LVF-RH advantage when performing both versions of the coordinate task. The LVF-RH advantage on the coordinate task, however, was confirmed to the first block of trials. Finally, it was found that males were more likely than females to display faster reaction times (RTs) on coordinate tasks, slower RTs on categorical tasks, and an LVF-RH advantage in computing coordinate tasks.

Objective To investigate the effects of inhalation of isoflurane at different time points on hypoxic-ischemic brain injury in neonatal rats.Methods One hundred and eighty 7-day-old Sprague-Dawley rats,weighing 12-16 g,were randomly divided into 6 groups (n =30 each):sham operation group (group Ⅰ),cerebral hypoxia/ischemia (H/I) group (group Ⅱ),and inhalation of isoflurane at different time point groups (groups Ⅲ-Ⅵ).Brain ischemia was induced by double ligation of left common carotid artery followed by inhalation of 8 ％ O2 + 92 ％ N2 for 2 h at 37 ℃.In groups Ⅲ,Ⅳ,Ⅴ and Ⅵ 1.5 ％ isoflurane was inhaled for 30 min starting from 0,3,6,12 h after H/I respectively,while the rats were exposed to 30％ O2 and 70％ N2 only in groups Ⅰ and Ⅱ.The survival rate at 7 days after H/I was recorded.The animals were sacrificed at 7 days after H/I.The brains were removed and the right and left cerebral hemispheres (CH) were weighed separately.The ratio between left/right CH was calculated.The density of normal neurons in ventral posterior inferior thalamic nucleus and posterior cingulate cortex in left and right CH were measured and the ratio of the density of normal neurons in the left to right CH was calculated.Results Compared with group Ⅰ,the weight of left cerebral hemisphere,ratio between left/right CH,and ratio of the density of normal neurons in the left to right CH were significantly decreased in other five groups (P ＜ 0.05).Compared with group Ⅱ,the weight of left cerebral hemisphere,ratio between left/right CH,and ratio of the density of normal neurons in the left to right CH were significantly increased in groups Ⅲ,Ⅳand Ⅴ (P ＜ 0.05).There were no significant differences in the indices nentioned above among groups Ⅲ,Ⅳand Ⅴ (P ＞ 0.05).There was no significant difference in the survival rate among groups Ⅱ-Ⅵ (P ＞ 0.05).Conclusion Inhalation of 1.5％ isoflurane for 30 min within 6 h after cerebral H/I can reduce the cerebral injury in neonatal rats. Key words: Isoflurane; Hypoxia-ischemia, brain; Infant, newborn

This study investigated the differential effects of very early damage to the left hemisphere (LH) or right hemisphere (RH) on visuospatial processing. Twenty-two children who had suffered either LH or RH strokes in the pre- or perinatal period were included in the study. The Block Design subtest of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Revised (Wechsler, 1974) was used. Each missed item was coded as either a global error (e.g., broken configuration), local error (e.g., incorrect details), or time fail error (i.e., not completed within the allotted time). Results showed that the LH lesion and RH lesion groups had similar full scale IQs, verbal IQs, and performance IQs and were within the average to low average range. Block Design scaled scores were also within the average to low average range and did not significantly differ between the 2 lesion groups. Error analysis revealed, however, that the RH focal lesion group produced a significantly higher percentage of global errors than did the LH lesion group, whereas the LH lesion group produced a significantly higher percentage of local errors than did the RH lesion group. The groups did not differ on their percentage of time fail errors. These results are consistent with previous findings that suggest that the RH is involved in more global aspects of visual processing, whereas the LH mediates the more detailed, local aspects of visual information. The fact that these differences in processing are present after such early focal damage implies that hemispheric specialization for visuospatial processing occurs very early in brain development.

In over 98% of right-handed adults, the left hemisphere (LH) is specialized for processing speech and representing linguistic grammar. Many aphasiologists, starting with Paul Broca in 1864, believed that the right hemisphere (RH) can take over some language functions in aphasia following LH damage. As early as 1875 Hughlings Jackson believed that the RH was specialized for visuospatial functions and could also process nonpropositional, emotional, and automatized language. However, the established view was that the LH of right-handed people is exclusively specialized for language. The pioneering diagram makers, starting with Carl Wernicke, emphasized the role of “disconnection syndromes” in the etiology of language disorders, and in 1892 Jules Dejerine attributed the syndrome of alexia without agraphia to a visual deficit in the LH, conjoined with a splenial interhemispheric disconnection. In this view, the RH was word blind.

Current Brain Research and the Composing Process: A Call For InteractionVol. 44, No. 2, January 1982 Monica R. Weis I wish to God that some neurologist would sit down and figure out how the improviser's brain works, how he selects, out of hundreds of thousands of possibilities, the notes he does and at the speed he does—how, in God's name, his mind works so damned fast! and why, when the notes come out right, they are right…. Composing is a slow, arduous, obvious, inch-by-inch process, whereas improvisation is a lightning mystery. In fact, it's the creative mystery of our age.1 Alex Wilder's wish, quoted in a 1973 New Yorker, articulates for the field of jazz the basic question facing serious teachers of composition. What really happens in the composing process? Why does a flash of intuition often make the crucial difference between a merely artificial piece of writing and a sincere authentic voice? Not only why does it make a difference, but precisely how does it make a difference? In focusing on this question, I would like to summarize in this paper more briefly than good scholarship recommends, current areas of brain research that provide information about hemispheric asymmetry—information that should influence the direction of English education. It has long been suspected that the two cortical hemispheres of the brain are concerned with different operations or modes of knowing, i.e., the left hemisphere, which controls the production of speech, perceives the world logically, critically, and sequentially; whereas the right hemisphere is involved in intuitive, holistic patterning, visual, spatial, musical apprehension. Because thinking is such a complex operation of largely unmeasurable interacting elements, no precise and conclusive data really isolates and explains what happens. However, by examining patients who, for medical reasons, have only one operative hemisphere, neurosurgeons and scientists are discovering some surprising information about brain activity. Let me briefly cite a few examples. A.R. Luria, the Russian psychologist, worked with a musician who, after his stroke, composed better music than before his illness. Although he could no longer speak or write down the notes, he could play them and remember them. It would seem that some dimension of his musical ability was developed or released after his speech faculties were impaired. In effect, he was communicating in a [End Page 225] new way through music.2 Similarly, it is not unusual for a speech or physical therapist to succeed in getting some aphasic stroke victims to write, indicating that perhaps cerebral integration can overcome or bypass the injured site.3 Recently, at NY University of Rehabilitation, Andrea Glass taught an 84-year-old woman who could neither speak nor understand speech to communicate via shaped and colored plastic symbols.4 Experiments with split-brain individuals (epileptics who have undergone commissurotomy, which severs the corpus callosum between the cortical hemispheres to reduce the occurrence of seizures), support this data and provide the additional advantage of presenting problem-solving tasks to two separate and functioning brains. By using special contact lenses, information presented to the left visual field (LVF) is processed only in the right hemisphere (RH) and information presented to the right visual field (RVF) is processed only in the left hemisphere (LH). Milner and Taylor (1972) found that the right hemisphere demonstrated superior visuospatial performance. When a design was presented to the right hemisphere, the left hand drew more accurate pictures than when the design was presented to the left hemisphere for the right hand response.5 This is not just a case of better muscle coordination, as has been demonstrated in another experiment by Michael Gazzaniga. His split-brain patient was asked to duplicate an arrangement of blocks and then to duplicate a 3-D drawing of a cube. The right hand (responding to information processed by the left hemisphere) was unable to perform either task, that is, the left hemisphere could not process the visual and spatial information being presented to it.6 In addition to visuo-spatial perception, the right hemisphere seems capable of generating emotional reactions. Sperry and Gazzaniga flashed a picture of a nude to the LVF-RH of a split-brain...

We compared the performance in a picture-name matching task of 10 patients suffering from left cerebral hemisphere (LH) damage and 10 from right hemisphere (RH) damage. The tasks showed detailed figures of nonrigid objects (animals) and rigid objects (artefacts), and each object was shown in two separate views: a noncanonical view (an unusual perspective for rigid objects or a contorted pose for the nonrigid ones) and a canonical view (a typical perspective and pose). Patients with LH damage were specifically impaired in identifying noncanonical (contorted) poses of nonrigid objects (animals). In a second picture-name matching experiment, using the divided visual field technique, normal subjects matched names to images of nonrigid shapes (animals) shown in canonical and noncanonical perspectives of noncontorted, typical poses of the animals. It was found that the normal subjects' RH identified these perspectives better than their LH. We conclude that computationally different problems are solved by different cerebral mechanisms when identifying flexible objects and when identifying rigid objects. We propose the idea that identifying flexible objects when their shapes contort relies on accessing stored descriptions of objects' parts and their “categorical” spatial relations and that both types of information are encoded better by the LH. In contrast, we propose that the RH is more adept at identifying different perspectives of rigid objects (and flexible objects when their shapes do not contort) because of this hemisphere's superiority in encoding specific global shapes and their views, and in coordinate spatial transformation.

The gold standard for preserving language and cognitive function during complex brain tumor resection is direct electrical stimulation (DES) during awake craniotomy. DES is predominantly utilized for left hemisphere (LH) tumors, where language dominance is most common. However, atypical language dominance and functional reorganization due to tumor growth are increasingly recognized and can complicate preoperative planning. We present the novel case of a 58-year-old monolingual, English-speaking, strongly right-handed male with recurrent right temporal glioblastoma who exhibited right hemisphere (RH) language dominance based on multimodal preoperative evaluation. The patient had no known perinatal or neurodevelopmental history, and he had previously undergone tumor resection under general anesthesia, with no postoperative aphasia. An awake craniotomy with intraoperative mapping (IOM) was performed, which confirmed language representation in the right frontal and temporal lobes. This was further substantiated by neuropsychological testing (NPT), which revealed a decline in semantic language postoperatively. This case challenges the prevailing practice of limiting awake procedures to LH tumors and supports a personalized, multimodal approach to mapping eloquent cortex irrespective of tumor laterality to optimize surgical outcomes.

The differences between left and right hemispheric magnitude representations were investigated in two lateralised priming experiments using single-digit (Experiment 1) and two-digit numbers (Experiment 2). Based on recent brain-imaging and TMS studies, some authors have argued that the magnitude representation in the left hemisphere (LH) is more precise than the one in the right hemisphere (RH). In two experiments a prime number preceded a target number that had to be classified as smaller or larger than a fixed standard. In order to reveal hemispheric differences in magnitude representation, the priming distance effect, i.e., faster responses to targets preceded by numerically closer primes, was analysed in both visual half fields (VHF). Using single-digit numbers no hemispheric differences were found for the priming distance effect, supporting an equally precise magnitude representation in both hemispheres. However, the experiment using two-digit numbers revealed a significantly steeper priming curve when targets were presented in the left visual field (LVF) compared to targets presented in the RVF. These results suggest a less precise magnitude representation in the RH, due to a larger overlap of magnitude representations.

This prospective study examined the relationship between post-stroke recovery of aphasia and changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF). To address the question of right hemisphere (RH) involvement in restitution of language, we tested the hypothesis that the increase in perfusion of the RH is crucial for early recovery from aphasia. Twenty-four right-handed patients with acute aphasia following left hemisphere (LH) ischaemic stroke were examined twice with a six-month interval. At each session CBF and language scores were measured on the same stroke patients. Language was measured by selected tasks derived from the Boston Diagnostic Aphasia Examination (BDAE). The SPECT scans were obtained using 99mTc-ECD on a triple-head gamma camera Multispect-3. Although initial CBF measured for the whole group of aphasic patients was not a predictor for future language recovery for either hemisphere, increased perfusion of the RH during a six-month interval was found to parallel the recovery of aphasic disorders. There was a correlation between the change in the right parietal CBF (but not the left) and a change in numerous language abilities. Nevertheless, only CBF values on the left predicted performance on the language tests at initial and follow-up examinations. When the area damaged on structural imaging was excluded from perfusion analysis, only subcortical CBF change on the left showed a positive correlation with language improvement. Thus, the cerebral mechanism associated with early recovery from aphasia is a dynamic and complex process that may involve both hemispheres. Probably this mechanism involves functional reorganisation in the speech-dominant (damaged) hemisphere and regression of haemodynamic disturbances in the non-dominant (structurally intact) hemisphere.

This case study examines the effects of neurofeedback (EEG biofeedback) training on affect regulation in a fifty-five year-old man with a history marked by fear, rage, alcoholism, chronic unemployment and multiple failed treatments. He had been diagnosed with ADHD and attachment disorder and met criteria for anti-social personality disorder. The case will demonstrate the effectiveness of neurofeedback in quieting this man's pervasive fear, his baseline affect, while increasing his ability to regulate affect and enhancing his capacity for adult attachment. His progress will be measured with the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90 R). Keywords: Neurofeedback, EEG biofeedback, fear, rage, affect regulation, attachment disorder, anti-social personality disorder, empathy. Introduction I am running on pure This was one of the first statements Lyle made when he came for his initial assessment. He had sought out neurofeedback training after reading about it on the Internet. He stated that he was the end of his rope. He reported that he had tried psychotherapy, and that talking about his past only made him feel worse. He had tried many medications and they hadn't helped him either. He said, somewhat matter-of-factly, that if neurofeedback didn't help him he would end his life. Neurofeedback is biofeedback to the brain based on the operant conditioning of frequencies which the brain fires. The training process begins with an in-depth clinical assessment that includes a standard clinical and family history, as well as a medical history and a physical status report that covers physiological markers such as sleep, blood pressure, and bowel function. This intake is formulated to give the clinician an overview of the patient's arousal as it manifests emotionally, psychologically and physically. It provides a profile that indicates whether the patient is over or under aroused, has an instability of arousal or mixture of arousal symptoms. When the assessment is completed, sensors are attached to the patient's head to record the real time EEG (electroencephalogram) on a computer. The trainee looks on a second screen a video game that corresponds directly to this EEG and plays the game by shifting the amplitude of targeted frequencies in his brain. Brain frequencies relate to states of arousal. As an example, if someone is making a robust amount of 8-11 Hz (alpha waves) in the right hemisphere, they are likely to feel calm. If they are producing appropriate amplitudes of 15-18 Hz (beta) in the left hemisphere, they are likely to feel alert. The patient is rewarded for increasing appropriate frequencies in the appropriate hemisphere, as established with the assessment, while decreasing frequencies that might interfere with optimal functioning. It was clear from his assessment that Lyle was over aroused and having great difficulty regulating his emotions, particularly and rage. Affect regulation is the province of the right hemisphere (RH). More specifically, rage and are generated (primarily) by the amygdala in the right hemisphere. The right hemisphere is the non-verbal side of the brain,--in the vast majority of people the language centers are in the left hemisphere--and the amygdala is deep in the sub-cortical temporal lobe. This brain topography may provide a clue to why Lyle felt at the end of his rope, particularly with talk therapies. His history and his own report strongly suggested that his fight-flight-freeze RH amygdala was hyper reactive, and that it could not be reached with left hemisphere language. The outcome of this case suggests that neurofeedback training is an effective approach to disorders that are driven by fear. The author agrees with LeDoux (1996), that fear is a core emotion in psychopathology. The results of this case suggest the potential of neurofeedback in all based disorders, across DSM IV categories. Neurofeedback has been clinically demonstrated to be effective with many severe disorders and the mechanism in common may in fact be that neurofeedback enhances affect regulation, particularly the regulation of fear. …

Introduction: Changes in cortical excitability are considered to play an important role in promoting brain plasticity both in healthy people and in neurological diseases. Hydrocephalus is a brain development disorder related to an excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in the ventricular system. The functional relevance of cortical structural changes described in this disease is largely unexplored in human. We investigated cortical excitability using multimodal transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in a case of congenital hydrocephalus with almost no neurological signs. Methods: A caucasian 40 years old, ambidextrous and multilingual woman affected by occult spina bifida and congenital symmetrical hydrocephalous underwent a TMS study. The intracortical and interhemispheric paired pulse paradigms were used, together with the mapping technique. Results: No significant differences were found in the resting motor thresholds between the two hemispheres. Instead, the intracortical excitability curves were statistically different between the two hemispheres (with short intracortical inhibition (SICI) being strongly reduced and intracortical facilitation (ICF) enhanced in the right one), and the interhemispheric curves showed a general hyper-excitability on the right hemisphere (when conditioned by the left one) and a general hypo-excitability in the left hemisphere (when conditioned by the right one). It is noteworthy that an asymmetric right hemisphere (RH) change of excitability was observed by means of mapping technique. Conclusion: We hypothesize that in this ambidextrous subject, the observed RH hyper-excitability could represent a mechanism of plasticity to preserve functionality of specific brain areas possibly devoted to some special skills, such as multilingualism.

In order to delineate brain regions specifically involved in the processing of affective components of spoken language (affective or emotive prosody), we conducted two event-related potential experiments. Cortical activation patterns were assessed by recordings of direct current components of the EEG signal from the scalp. Right-handed subjects discriminated pairs of declarative sentences with either happy, sad or neutral intonation. Each stimulus pair was derived from two identical original utterances that, due to digital signal manipulations, slightly differed in fundamental frequency (F0) range or in duration of stressed syllables. In the first experiment, subjects were asked: (i) to denote the original emotional category of each sentence pair and (ii) to decide which of the two items displayed stronger emotional expressiveness. Participants in the second experiment were asked to repeat the utterances using inner speech during stimulus presentation in addition to the discrimination task. In the absence of inner speech, a predominant activation of right frontal regions was observed, irrespective of emotional category. In the second experiment, a bilateral activation with left frontal preponderance emerged from discrimination during additional performance of inner speech. Compared with the first experiment, a new pattern of acoustic signal processing arose. A relative decrease of brain activity during processing of F0 stimulus variants was observed together with increased activation during discrimination of duration-manipulated sentence pairs. Analysis of behavioural data revealed no significant differences in evaluation of expressiveness between the two experiments. We conclude that the topographical shift of cortical activity originates from left hemisphere (LH) mechanisms of speech processing that centre around the subvocal rehearsal system as an articulatory control component of the phonological loop. A strong coupling of acoustic input and (planned) verbal output channel in the LH is initiated by subvocal articulatory activity like inner speech. These neural networks may provide interpretations of verbal acoustic signals in terms of motor programs and facilitate continuous control of speech output by comparing the signal produced with that intended. Most likely, information on motor aspects of suprasegmental signal characteristics contributes to the evaluation of affective components of spoken language. In consequence, the right hemisphere (RH) holds a merely relative dominance, both for processing of F0 and for evaluation of emotional significance of sensory input. Psychophysically, an important determinant on expression of lateralization patterns seems to be given by the degree of communicative demands such as solely perceptive (RH) or perceptive and verbal-expressive (RH and LH).