The broad long-term objective of the research is the study of the correlation between neuroanatomical and neuropsychological variables. The main issue concerns the correlation between perceptual measures of functional lateralization and anatomical asymmetry, such as right-left asymmetry in the planum temporale (part of Wernicke's area) and in histological features of the cortex. Another main aim concerns the correlation of anatomical measures and level of cognitive skill. Gross and histological measures are derived from postmortem brain study and are correlated with scores on neuropsychological tests given to seriously ill cancer patients will they are still relatively well. The research subjects consent to such testing and, in the event of death, to a clinical autopsy from which the brain specimens are obtained. The project now includes several interdependent subprojects.
Specific aims of the proposed work include (1) further studies of the negative correlation observed between midsagittal callosal area and degree of hemisphere specialization, (2) right-left asymmetry in size and morphology of the planum temporale and Broca's regions in relation to lateralization and cognitive measures, (3) whether there are quantifiable right-left differences in histological features in the posterior cytoarchitectonic region of the planum, and whether this asymmetry correlates with psychological measures and (4) continuation of the study of sex differences in brain anatomy. Further cases will be recruited to expand some of the small hand preference and sex subgroups. The results are seen as contributing to several theoretical and practical issues which are health related. The anatomical work has relevance for the origins and mechanisms of functional lateralization, and for possible etiological factors of clinical disorders, such as developmental dyslexia and schizophrenia, which may have atypical lateralization. Sex differences in a neurobiological feature of aging have been found. The research provides a baseline for in vivo brain imaging studies. Such scans could then help, for example, in the prediction of the recovery course and management needs in post- stroke aphasic patients and in decisions regarding which is the language-dominant hemisphere in depressive patients needing unilateral electroconvulsive therapy. The feasibility of this project demonstrates a possible approach for other studies of the correlation between psychological and postmortem measures, as called for in an editorial in Science (Finch, 6 Dec, 1985).
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