Functional Brain Asymmetry

Psychologists have long known that the left and right hemispheres of the brain specialize and perform different functions, yet findings on the physiological effects of this specialization have been inconclusive. Some experiments indicate that the hemisphere engaged by a task experiences a decrease in blood temperature, whereas other studies point to an increase.

Dr. Claudio Cantalupo in the Department of Psychology and his Measuring Functional Brain Asymmetry in Realistic Settings Creative Inquiry team measure the velocity and temperature of the blood in the brain through the use of functional transcranial Doppler sonography and outer ear temperature. Participants in the study wear sensitive instruments similar to earphones while completing mental tasks like rotating an imaginary object or thinking of words that start with a particular letter. During trials, the team records continuous measurements to test their hypothesis that blood flowing to the brain is relatively cooler than the blood in the brain and then gradually increases in temperature because of the amount of energy the brain uses. Also, when participants are doing these mental tasks, the team expects to find that the left hemisphere has faster blood flow because that half of the brain is responsible for linguistic tasks.

This project differs from its predecessors in that participants are not studied while immobile in an MRI machine. “Learning to use the sonography machine and find the right signal on every individual was by far the most challenging aspect of our lab but also the most exciting because it is technology that is unique and fairly new to the field,” Alison Sansone, a junior biological sciences major, said. This technology allows the participants to be tested in a more natural setting with the hope of more realistic, accurate results.