Along with left- or right-handedness, the hemisphere of the
brain where language capacity resides is likely predetermined. Researchers have now shown that with age, language capacity in the brain becomes more evenly distributed between hemispheres. These study outcomes may offer promising therapeutic implications for adults who have experienced an injury, illness or other trauma to the brain. Details of this study will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 56th Annual Meeting in San Francisco, Calif., April 24 – May 1, 2004.
From childhood until about age 25, language capacity in right-handers grows stronger in the left hemisphere of the brain. This phenomenon is usually converse to a person’s “handedness”, where a right-handed person holds language in the left hemisphere, and vice versa. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) researchers have now shown that after about age 25, language capacity “evens out” somewhat, with older adults using more of both hemispheres relative to language skills.
“We are most interested in why this occurs, and the age at which the hemispheric language dominance begins to decrease,” notes study author Jerzy P. Szaflarski, MD, PhD, of the University of Cincinnati Medical Center in Ohio.