Failure of dominant left-hemispheric activation to right-ear stimulation in schizophrenia

SCHIZOPHRENIA is associated with an absence of the lateralizations that typ ify the human brain. Previous evidence emphasized structural changes, parti cularly reduced asymmetry in extension and surface of the planum temporale, although gross structural deviations occur only in a minority of patients. The present study describes an absence of lateralization on a robust funct ional measure that characterized schizophrenia patients: healthy subjects b ut not schizophrenics displayed a contralateral left-hemispheric dominance of the auditory evoked magnetic field to right-ear auditory stimulation. Ab sence of contralateral dominance in response to auditory stimuli among schi zophrenia patients may indicate a failure to establish unequivocal left-hem ispheric dominance of the phonological loop as hypothesized by Crow. NeuroR eport 9: 3819-3822 (C) 1998 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.