David F. Abbott1,2, Anthony B. Waites1,2,
Graeme D. Jackson1,3
1Brain Research Institute, Florey
Neuroscience Institutes (Austin), Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 2Department
of Medicine, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; 3Departments
of Medicine & Radiology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne,
Victoria, Australia
Language
lateralization based on fMRI is often used in clinical neurological settings.
With most conventional methods, the laterality determined can be dependent on
the quality of a particular study and chosen statistical threshold. We
present an objective threshold-independent method of assessing when
individual patients have statistically atypical language lateralization. We
illustrate the method using fMRI of verbal fluency in 34 healthy controls.
One could also apply the method to other paradigms or regional assessments;
for example the assessment of lateralisation of a different task, or to the
assessment of anterior-posterior distribution rather than laterality.