Trial reportProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2015
New human-specific brain landmark: the depth asymmetry of superior temporal sulcus.
Trial report in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 85 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
85 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 211 citations in OpenAlex.
- Genetic insights into human cortical organization and development through genome-wide analyses of 2,347 neuroimaging phenotypes.Nature genetics · 2023Pooled it
- Mapping Cortical and Subcortical Asymmetry in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Findings From the ENIGMA Consortium.Biological psychiatry · 2020Pooled it
- A systematic literature review of sex differences in childhood language and brain development.Neuropsychologia · 2018Pooled it
- Meta-analytic connectivity modeling of the human superior temporal sulcus.Brain structure & function · 2017Pooled it
- The superior temporal asymmetrical pit remains asymmetric in autism spectrum disorder.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Motifs of brain cortical folding from birth to adulthood.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Job Satisfaction, Self-Rated Work Performance, and Precuneus Gray Matter Volume: An Exploratory Neuroimaging Study.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- How do infant brains fold? Sulcal deepening is linked to development of sulcal span, thickness, curvature, and microstructure.Communications biology · 2026Article
- Predictive value of foetal superior temporal sulcus asymmetry for neonatal speech discrimination.Brain communications · 2026Article
- A subject-specific reversible folding model reveals geometry-driven white-matter organization.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- The auditory environment drives superior temporal sulcus depth in the neonatal period.Brain structure & function · 2025Article
- Neural encoding of auditory rhythm beyond cortical auditory areas before the age of term.iScience · 2025Article
- Functional connectivity of the superior temporal sulcus at term-equivalent age: effects of gestational age and sex.Brain structure & function · 2025Article
- AI-powered remote monitoring of brain responses to clear and incomprehensible speech via speckle pattern analysis.Journal of biomedical optics · 2025Article
- Fixel-based evidence for preserved white matter asymmetry in human situs inversus totalis.Brain structure & function · 2025Article
- Brain Morphometry in Infants Later Diagnosed With Autism is Related to Later Language Skills.Human brain mapping · 2025Article
- Brain asymmetry and its association with inattention and heritability during neurodevelopment.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Brain areas for reversible symbolic reference, a potential singularity of the human brain.eLife · 2025Article
- Intrahemispheric White Matter Asymmetries and Interhemispheric Connections Underlying the Lateralization of Language Production and Spatial Attention in Left-Handers.Neurobiology of language (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
- Evidence for a compensatory relationship between left- and right-lateralized brain networks.Imaging neuroscience (Cambridge, Mass.) · 2025Article
25 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
21 authors at 12 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Identifying potentially unique features of the human cerebral cortex is a first step to understanding how evolution has shaped the brain in our species. By analyzing MR images obtained from 177 humans and 73 chimpanzees, we observed a human-specific asymmetry in the superior temporal sulcus at the heart of the communication regions and which we have named the "superior temporal asymmetrical pit" (STAP). This 45-mm-long segment ventral to Heschl's gyrus is deeper in the right hemisphere than in the left in 95% of typical human subjects, from infanthood till adulthood, and is present, irrespective of handedness, language lateralization, and sex although it is greater in males than in females. The STAP also is seen in several groups of atypical subjects including persons with situs inversus, autistic spectrum disorder, Turner syndrome, and corpus callosum agenesis. It is explained in part by the larger number of sulcal interruptions in the left than in the right hemisphere. Its early presence in the infants of this study as well as in fetuses and premature infants suggests a strong genetic influence. Because this asymmetry is barely visible in chimpanzees, we recommend the STAP region during midgestation as an important phenotype to investigate asymmetrical variations of gene expression among the primate lineage. This genetic target may provide important insights regarding the evolution of the crucial cognitive abilities sustained by this sulcus in our species, namely communication and social cognition.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.