Increased interhemispheric functional connectivity during non-dominant hand movement in right-handed subjects

Hand preference is one of the behavioral expressions of lateralization in the brain. Previous fMRI studies showed the activation in several regions including the motor cortex and the cerebellum during single-hand movement. However, functional connectivity related to hand preference has not been investigated. Here, we used the generalized psychophysiological interaction (gPPI) approach to investigate the alteration of functional connectivity during single-hand movement from the resting state in right-hand subjects. The functional connectivity in interhemispheric motor-related regions including the supplementary motor area, the precentral gyrus, and the cerebellum was significantly increased during non-dominant hand movement, while functional connectivity was not increased during dominant hand movement. The general linear model (GLM) showed activation in contralateral supplementary motor area, contralateral precentral gyrus, and ipsilateral cerebellum during right-or left-hand movement. These results indicate that a combination of GLM and gPPI analysis can detect the lateralization of hand preference more clearly.

Automated summary

Hand preference is a behavioral expression of brain lateralization. This study used the gPPI approach to investigate functional connectivity changes during single-hand movement in right-hand subjects. The results showed increased functional connectivity in interhemispheric motor-related regions during non-dominant hand movement, while there was no increase during dominant hand movement. Additionally, the combination of GLM and gPPI analysis can more clearly detect hand preference lateralization.