Cerebral lateralization for language revealed in neuronal responses of the human brain cortex.

Neuronal impulse activity (NIA) of the cortex and subcortical nuclei in the thalamus and striopallidar complex was studied during performance of the word recognition test in patients with long-term intracerebral electrodes implanted for diagnostics and therapy. In NIA of the left hemisphere cortex, endogenous responses were found to prevail in the interval between expositions of two stimuli, whereas NIA of the right cortex exhibited more responses during perception of stimuli. Asymmetry in neuronal responses of subcortical nuclei in the thalamus and striopallidar complex appeared to differ from that observed in the cerebral cortex.