2010-12-22
Smoking affects the neural architecture of auditory attention pathways via the nicotinergic acetylcholine transmitter system. These changes primarily occur during critical developmental periods, i.e., during embryonic development and adolescence. In addition, males and females appear to be differentially affected by the adverse effects of smoking, such these effects were found to be more detrimental in males than in females. This raises the question whether nicotine would also affect auditory language lateralization in men and women in different ways. To address this question, Biopsychologists from Bochum and Neuroscientists from the Aegean University in Izmir, Turkey, assessed auditory language lateralization in 90 healthy right-handed participants by a classic consonant-vowel syllable dichotic listening paradigm. Indeed, the results reveal that smoking impairs stimulus recognition in men, while women are not negatively affected. Moreover, the laterality index, which is usually biased towards the left (speech-dominant) hemisphere, is reduced in smoking men compared to non-smoking ones. In contrast, the laterality patterns of women remain unaltered by smoking. Given that a higher laterality is further associated with better performance in this task, these findings provide an exciting first step in elucidating the important role of smoking with respect the neuronal mechanisms underlying brain laterality.
Smoking affects the neural architecture of auditory attention pathways via the nicotinergic acetylcholine transmitter system. These changes primarily occur during critical developmental periods, i.e., during embryonic development and adolescence. In addition, males and females appear to be differentially affected by the adverse effects of smoking, such these effects were found to be more detrimental in males than in females. This raises the question whether nicotine would also affect auditory language lateralization in men and women in different ways. To address this question, Biopsychologists from Bochum and Neuroscientists from the Aegean University in Izmir, Turkey, assessed auditory language lateralization in 90 healthy right-handed participants by a classic consonant-vowel syllable dichotic listening paradigm. Indeed, the results reveal that smoking impairs stimulus recognition in men, while women are not negatively affected. Moreover, the laterality index, which is usually biased towards the left (speech-dominant) hemisphere, is reduced in smoking men compared to non-smoking ones. In contrast, the laterality patterns of women remain unaltered by smoking. Given that a higher laterality is further associated with better performance in this task, these findings provide an exciting first step in elucidating the important role of smoking with respect the neuronal mechanisms underlying brain laterality.
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Last update: Oct 09, 2023
