Faculty Collaboration Database

Manual and automated measures of superior temporal gyrus asymmetry: concordant structural predictors of verbal ability in children. Neuroimage 2008 Jul 01;41(3):813-22

Date

04/29/2008

Pubmed ID

18440244

Pubmed Central ID

PMC4201835

DOI

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2008.03.002

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-44449112572 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   29 Citations

Abstract

The planum temporale is a region on the posterior surface of the temporal lobe that exhibits robust leftward structural asymmetry, which has been linked to verbal ability in children and adults. Traditionally, structural asymmetry has been quantified with manual assessment of high resolution MRI scans. Such measures require subjective and frequently unreliable determination of highly variable anatomical boundaries. Methodological developments in automated image processing (voxel-based morphometry - VBM) offer the opportunity to obtain objective and reliable measures of structural variation. This study examined the extent to which a VBM measure of gray matter asymmetry in the posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) characterized the same individual variation as a manual measure of planum temporale asymmetry in 99 healthy adults and 39 typically developing children. Planum temporale asymmetry was significantly correlated with pSTG gray matter asymmetry in the samples of adults and children. As a measure of validity we examined the extent to which the VBM measure of pSTG gray matter asymmetry predicted measures of verbal ability that were associated with the manual measure of planum temporale asymmetry in the same children. The two asymmetry measures predicted the same variance in verbal ability. The automated measure of pSTG gray matter asymmetry predicted additional significant variance in verbal ability, however. In addition, a posterior STS region was also identified that significantly predicted verbal ability. These results demonstrate significant advantages of an automated voxel-based measure over a manual measure of planum temporale asymmetry.

Author List

Eckert MA, Lombardino LJ, Walczak AR, Bonihla L, Leonard CM, Binder JR

Author

Jeffrey R. Binder MD Professor in the Neurology department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Brain Mapping
Child
Female
Functional Laterality
Humans
Image Processing, Computer-Assisted
Male
Middle Aged
Temporal Lobe
Verbal Behavior