Morphologic asymmetry of the human anterior cingulate cortex

The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is thought to play a major role in executive processes. Studies assessing neuroanatomical attributes of this region report a high degree of morphological variability. Recent theories consider the fissurization of the cortex to be a product of gross mechanical processes related to cortical growth and local cytoarchitectural characteristics. Hence, local sulcal patterning and gray matter volume are supposed to be associated. ACC fissurization was quantified in left- and right-handers of both sexes by recording the presence and extension of the paracingulate sulcus (PCS). Differences between groups regarding local gray matter volume were assessed by means of optimized voxel-based morphometry (oVBM) including additional modulation. Overall, the PCS occurred more often and was more pronounced in the left as compared to the right anterior cingulate region, although hemispheric differences were less pronounced in male left- and female right-handers. These discrepancies between groups seem to stem from variations of cingulate morphology in the left rather than the right hemisphere. The pattern of relevant comparisons in the oVBM analysis indicated a similar interaction. Therefore, evidence was found for discrepancies between groups and hemispheres on the macrostructural level.

[1]  A. Schleicher,et al.  The ontogeny of human gyrification. , 1995, Cerebral cortex.

[2]  W I Welker,et al.  The significance of foliation and fissuration of cerebellar cortex. The cerebellar folium as a fundamental unit of sensorimotor integration. , 1990, Archives italiennes de biologie.

[3]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Voxel-based morphometry of the human brain: Methods and applications , 2005 .

[4]  C. Rorden,et al.  Stereotaxic display of brain lesions. , 2000, Behavioural neurology.

[5]  Cameron S. Carter,et al.  Separating semantic conflict and response conflict in the Stroop task: A functional MRI study , 2005, NeuroImage.

[6]  J. Ford,et al.  Anatomy of an error: ERP and fMRI , 2003, Biological Psychology.

[7]  B. Vogt,et al.  Contributions of anterior cingulate cortex to behaviour. , 1995, Brain : a journal of neurology.

[8]  P. Maruff,et al.  Hemispheric and gender-related differences in the gross morphology of the anterior cingulate/paracingulate cortex in normal volunteers: an MRI morphometric study. , 2001, Cerebral cortex.

[9]  R. C. Oldfield.  The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory. , 1971, Neuropsychologia.

[10]  M. Posner,et al.  Cognitive and emotional influences in anterior cingulate cortex , 2000, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[11]  Jerry L Prince,et al.  Cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses of anatomical sulcal changes associated with aging. , 2005, Cerebral cortex.

[12]  N. Andreasen,et al.  Morphology of the anterior cingulate gyrus in patients with schizophrenia: relationship to typical neuroleptic exposure. , 2005, The American journal of psychiatry.

[13]  R. Kirk.  Practical Significance: A Concept Whose Time Has Come , 1996 .

[14]  F. Aboitiz,et al.  Hemispheric differences in variability of fissural patterns in parasylvian and cingulate regions of human brains , 1999, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[15]  E. Crone,et al.  Dissociation of response conflict, attentional selection, and expectancy with functional magnetic resonance imaging. , 2000, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[16]  Y. Burnod,et al.  A morphogenetic model for the development of cortical convolutions. , 2005, Cerebral cortex.

[17]  S. Pappatà,et al.  Paracingulate sulcus morphology in men with early-onset schizophrenia , 2003, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[18]  C. Carter,et al.  The anterior cingulate as a conflict monitor: fMRI and ERP studies , 2002, Physiology & Behavior.

[19]  B. Vogt,et al.  Human cingulate cortex: Surface features, flat maps, and cytoarchitecture , 1995, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[20]  Hanna Damasio,et al.  Sexual dimorphism and asymmetries in the gray–white composition of the human cerebrum , 2003, NeuroImage.

[21]  Dennis Velakoulis,et al.  Morphology of the anterior cingulate cortex in young men at ultra-high risk of developing a psychotic illness. , 2003, The British journal of psychiatry : the journal of mental science.

[22]  F. Gilles,et al.  Gyral development of the human brain. , 1977, Annals of Neurology.

[23]  B. Vogt,et al.  Structural and functional dichotomy of human midcingulate cortex , 2003, The European journal of neuroscience.

[24]  A. Dale,et al.  Dorsal anterior cingulate cortex: A role in reward-based decision making , 2001, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

[25]  Karl J. Friston,et al.  Voxel-Based Morphometry—The Methods , 2000, NeuroImage.

[26]  A. Toga,et al.  Hemispheric asymmetries in cortical thickness. , 2006, Cerebral cortex.

[27]  R. Rosenthal.  Parametric measures of effect size. , 1994 .

[28]  D. V. van Essen,et al.  A tension-based theory of morphogenesis and compact wiring in the central nervous system. , 1997, Nature.

[29]  T. Braver,et al.  Anterior cingulate cortex and response conflict: effects of response modality and processing domain. , 2001, Cerebral Cortex.

[30]  Kathryn M. McMillan,et al.  A comparison of label‐based review and ALE meta‐analysis in the Stroop task , 2005, Human brain mapping.

[31]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  In vivo morphometry of the intrasulcal gray matter in the human cingulate, paracingulate, and superior‐rostral sulci: Hemispheric asymmetries, gender differences and probability maps , 1996, The Journal of comparative neurology.

[32]  John D. E. Gabrieli,et al.  Material-dependent and material-independent selection processes in the frontal and parietal lobes: an event-related fMRI investigation of response competition , 2003, Neuropsychologia.

[33]  R. Mitchell,et al.  The BOLD response during Stroop task-like inhibition paradigms: Effects of task difficulty and task-relevant modality , 2005, Brain and Cognition.

[34]  P. Maruff,et al.  Paracingulate morphologic differences in males with established schizophrenia: a magnetic resonance imaging morphometric study , 2002, Biological Psychiatry.

[35]  A. Schleicher,et al.  Structural Asymmetries in the Human Forebrain and the Forebrain of Non-human Primates and Rats , 1996, Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.

[36]  T. Braver,et al.  Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Response Conflict : Effects of Response Modality and Processing Domain , 2022 .

[37]  Alan C. Evans,et al.  Human cingulate and paracingulate sulci: pattern, variability, asymmetry, and probabilistic map. , 1996, Cerebral cortex.

[38]  Dennis Velakoulis,et al.  Individual differences in anterior cingulate/paracingulate morphology are related to executive functions in healthy males. , 2004, Cerebral cortex.

[39]  W. J. Conover,et al.  Practical Nonparametric Statistics , 1972 .

[40]  L. Hedges,et al.  The Handbook of Research Synthesis , 1995 .

[41]  René Westerhausen,et al.  Handedness, dichotic-listening ear advantage, and gender effects on planum temporale asymmetry—A volumetric investigation using structural magnetic resonance imaging , 2006, Neuropsychologia.

[42]  Jonathan D. Cohen,et al.  Conflict monitoring and anterior cingulate cortex: an update , 2004, Trends in Cognitive Sciences.

[43]  Jin Fan,et al.  Cognitive and Brain Consequences of Conflict , 2003, NeuroImage.

[44]  Aziz M. Ulug,et al.  Parametric manipulation of conflict and response competition using rapid mixed-trial event-related fMRI , 2003, NeuroImage.

[45]  K. Amunts,et al.  Interhemispheric asymmetry of the human motor cortex related to handedness and gender , 2000, Neuropsychologia.

[46]  Franz Caspar,et al.  Beurteilerübereinstimmung und Beurteilerreliabilität , 2002 .