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Contribution Details

Type Journal Article
Scope Discipline-based scholarship
Title Interhemispheric integration of visual processing during task-driven lateralization
Organization Unit
Authors
  • Klaas Enno Stephan
  • J C Marshall
  • W D Penny
  • K J Friston
  • G R Fink
Item Subtype Original Work
Refereed Yes
Status Published in final form
Language
  • English
Journal Title Journal of Neuroscience
Publisher Society for Neuroscience
Geographical Reach international
ISSN 0270-6474
Volume 27
Number 13
Page Range 3512 - 3522
Date 2007
Abstract Text The mechanisms underlying interhemispheric integration (IHI) remain poorly understood, particularly for lateralized cognitive processes. To test competing theories of IHI, we constructed and fitted dynamic causal models to functional magnetic resonance data from two visual tasks that operated on identical stimuli but showed opposite hemispheric dominance. Using a systematic Bayesian model selection procedure, we found that, in the ventral visual stream, which was activated by letter judgments, interhemispheric connections mediated asymmetric information transfer from the nonspecialized right to the specialized left hemisphere when the latter did not have direct access to stimulus information. Notably, this form of IHI did not engage all areas activated by the task but was specific for areas in the lingual and fusiform gyri. In the dorsal stream, activated by spatial judgments, it did not matter which hemisphere received the stimulus: interhemispheric coupling increased bidirectionally, reflecting recruitment of the nonspecialized left hemisphere. Again, not all areas activated by the task were involved in this form of IHI; instead, it was restricted to interactions between areas in the superior parietal gyrus. Overall, our results provide direct neurophysiological evidence, in terms of effective connectivity, for the existence of context-dependent mechanisms of IHI that are implemented by specific visual areas during task-driven lateralization.
Free access at PubMed ID
Digital Object Identifier 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4766-06.2007
PubMed ID 17392467
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