Journal article

Publication year: 2018

Journal: Scientific Reports

Volume number: 8

ISSN: 2045-2322

Open access status: Gold

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33586-6

Publisher: Nature Research

Abstract: 
Interhemispheric connectivity between auditory areas is highly relevant for normal auditory perception and alterations are a major factor for the development of auditory verbal hallucinations. Surprisingly, there is no combined EEG-DTI study directly addressing the role of functional and structural connectivity in the same group of subjects. Accordingly, nothing is known about the relationship between functional connectivity such as gamma-band synchrony, structural integrity of the interhemispheric auditory pathways (IAPs) and language lateralization as well as whether the gamma-band synchrony is configured on the backbone of IAPs. By applying multimodal imaging of 64-channel EEG and DTI tractography, we investigated in 27 healthy volunteers the functional gamma-band synchrony between either bilateral primary or secondary auditory cortices from eLORETA source-estimation during dichotic listening, as well as the correspondent IAPs from which fractional anisotropy (FA) values were extracted. Correlation and regression analyses revealed highest values for gamma-band synchrony, followed by FA for secondary auditory cortices, which were both significantly related to a reduced language lateralization. There was no such association between the white-matter microstructure and gamma-band synchrony, suggesting that structural connectivity might also be relevant for other (minor) aspects of information transfer in addition to gamma-band synchrony, which are not detected in the present coupling analyses. The combination of multimodal EEG-DTI imaging provides converging evidence of neural correlates by showing that both stronger pathways and increased gamma-band synchrony within one cohort of subjects are related to a reduced leftward-lateralization for language.

Harvard Citation style: Steinmann, S., Amselberg, R., Cheng, B., Thomalla, G., Engel, A., Leicht, G., et al. (2018) The role of functional and structural interhemispheric auditory connectivity for language lateralization - A combined EEG and DTI study, Scientific Reports, 8, Article 15428. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33586-6

APA Citation style: Steinmann, S., Amselberg, R., Cheng, B., Thomalla, G., Engel, A., Leicht, G., & Mulert, C. (2018). The role of functional and structural interhemispheric auditory connectivity for language lateralization - A combined EEG and DTI study. Scientific Reports. 8, Article 15428. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-33586-6