Abstract #1655

Language Lateralization Explained by the Generalized Fractional Anisotropy in the Auditory Nerve and the Corpus Collosum as Studied Using Diffusion Spectrum Imaging Tractography and FMRI

Kayako Matsuo¹, Yu-Chun Lo², Fang-Cheng Yeh³, Yi-Huan Wu⁴, Shen-Hsing Annabel Chen⁵, Wen-Yih Isaac Tseng¹

¹Center for Optoelectronic Biomedicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan; ²Institute of Biomedical Engineering, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; ³Department of Biomedical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, United States; ⁴Department of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan; ⁵Division of Psychology, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

We measured the generalized fractional anisotropy (GFA) of the auditory nerve (AN) to bilateral Heschl's gyri via the corpus callosum (CC) using diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI). The individual language asymmetry was determined using fMRI. The left lateralized AN was found to be related to the leftward language asymmetry. The mild lateralization in the AN as well as the lower GFA in the CC tend to have relationship with the bilateral language function. The findings provide plausible evidence for the degree of conductivity of the AN as well as the CC in determining language lateralization/asymmetry between the hemispheres.