Planum temporale asymmetry and language dominance.

Language is lateralized to the left hemisphere in most individuals, and leftward asymmetry of the planum temporale has been reported in postmortem and imaging studies. In this study we measured the planum temporale on magnetic resonance imaging (MR) scans of patients (11 right-handers, 1 non-right-hander) who had selective hemispheric anesthesia or Wada testing performed for language lateralization. All subjects who had language lateralized to the left hemisphere (11 right-handers) had a leftward asymmetry of the planum temporale. One subject who had language lateralized to the right hemisphere (non-right-hander) had a strong rightward asymmetry of the planum temporale. These data suggest that planum temporale asymmetries determined by MR are associated with language dominance and may predict language laterality.