Network-Based Asymmetry of the Human Auditory System.

Mišic B; Betzel RF; Griffa A; de Reus MA; He Y; Zuo XN; van den Heuvel MP; Hagmann P; Sporns O; Zatorre RJ

doi:10.1093/cercor/bhy101

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Journal article

Network-Based Asymmetry of the Human Auditory System.

Mišic B Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
Betzel RF Department of Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Griffa A Signal Processing Laboratory 5 (LTS5), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
de Reus MA Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
He Y CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
Zuo XN CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
van den Heuvel MP Brain Center Rudolf Magnus, UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Hagmann P Signal Processing Laboratory 5 (LTS5), Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland.
Sporns O Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA.
Zatorre RJ Montréal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

2018-05-04

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Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991). - 2018

Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Image Processing, Computer-Assisted

English Converging evidence from activation, connectivity, and stimulation studies suggests that auditory brain networks are lateralized. Here we show that these findings can be at least partly explained by the asymmetric network embedding of the primary auditory cortices. Using diffusion-weighted imaging in 3 independent datasets, we investigate the propensity for left and right auditory cortex to communicate with other brain areas by quantifying the centrality of the auditory network across a spectrum of communication mechanisms, from shortest path communication to diffusive spreading. Across all datasets, we find that the right auditory cortex is better integrated in the connectome, facilitating more efficient communication with other areas, with much of the asymmetry driven by differences in communication pathways to the opposite hemisphere. Critically, the primacy of the right auditory cortex emerges only when communication is conceptualized as a diffusive process, taking advantage of more than just the topologically shortest paths in the network. Altogether, these results highlight how the network configuration and embedding of a particular region may contribute to its functional lateralization.

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