COMPARISON OF IPSILATERAL ACTIVATION BETWEEN RIGHT AND LEFT-HANDERS -A FUNCTIONAL MR-IMAGING STUDY

WE used fMRI to compare the ipsilateral activation in the sensorimotor region (SMR) during dominant and non-dominant hand motor tasks betwee n right and left handers. In right handers, the ipsilateral activation was significantly greater during non-dominant (left) hand task than d ominant (right) hand task, while in left handers, it showed no signifi cant difference. The ipsilateral activation was most pronounced in the precentral subregion (presumably corresponding to the premotor area) during either hand task in both groups. We conclude that the different patterns of ipsilateral activation might be mainly explained by the h emispheric dominance. The skill of the hand and complexity of tasks ma y be related to the predominant activation of the premotor area. (C) 1 998 Rapid Science Ltd.