Originally published October 12 2005
Neurologists make a discovery about the language centers of the brain in right-handers
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Jerzy Szaflarski, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Academic Health Center, led a team of researchers that discovered that the site of the brain that deals with language shifts according to a person's age.
The shift was documented by researchers led by Jerzy Szaflarski, MD, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Neurology at the University of Cincinnati (UC) Academic Health Center, and Scott Holland, PhD, professor in the UC departments of biomedical engineering, pediatrics and radiology.
Dr. Holland also heads the Pediatric Brain Imaging Research Program at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
While the site of language activity in right-handed people is originally the left side of the brain, the researchers report, starting as early as age 5 language gradually becomes a function shared by both sides.
"This knowledge may give new hope for rehabilitation of brain function in adults after stroke or traumatic brain injuries," said Dr. Szaflarski.
Scientists have long thought that the hemisphere or side of the brain that controls language and speech is determined before birth.
Drs. Szaflarski and Holland studied brain activity in 177 right-handed children and adults aged 5 to 67 at Cincinnati's University Hospital and Cincinnati Children's using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
"Our research revealed that language activity in the brain increases in the dominant hemisphere from age 5 until about 25," Dr. Szaflarski said, "which may be related to improving linguistic skills and maturation of the central nervous system.
"We observed that the nondominant side of the brain started helping the dominant side during reading or speaking from the age of 25 to 67," Dr. Szaflarski continued.
From around age 5 until about 25, said Dr. Szaflarski, language capacity in right-handers grows stronger in the left hemisphere of the brain.
Drs. Szaflarski and Holland and their colleagues are also investigating how the brain handles language when it is damaged by a stroke or traumatic brain injury.
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