Language lateralization is one of the areas of main interest in research on human lateralization, but it is not well understood which molecular genetic factors influence this trait. Classic theories about its ontogenesis assume that it is determined by the same ontogenetic factors as handedness. In the present article, scientists from the IKN and the department of human genetics argue, that this view is contradicted by recent neuroimaging and genetics studies. Therefore, we argue that although the two traits show partial pleiotropy, there is also a substantial amount of independent ontogenetic influences for each of them. This view is supported by several recent genetic and neuroscientific studies that are reviewed in the present article.

Ocklenburg, S., Beste, C., Arning, L., Peterburs, J., Güntürkün, O. (2014). The ontogenesis of language lateralization and its relation to handedness. Neurosci Biobehav Rev, accepted.