Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37188844›Full record

ArticleCommunications biology2023

Hemispheric asymmetries and brain size in mammals.

Sebastian Ocklenburg, Yasmin El Basbasse, Felix Ströckens, Anett Müller-Alcazar

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Communications biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
2.5field-weighted citation impact, top 11% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 14 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Language laterality and cognitive skills: does anatomy matter?Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.

Sebastian OcklenburgDepartment of Psychology, MSH Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany. sebastian.ocklenburg@medicalschool-hamburg.de.ORCID 0000-0001-5882-3200
Yasmin El BasbasseBiopsychology, Institute for Cognitive Neuroscience, Ruhr University Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
Felix StröckensC. & O. Vogt Institute for Brain Research, University Hospital Düsseldorf, Heinrich-Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany.ORCID 0000-0002-1522-7297
Anett Müller-AlcazarDepartment of Psychology, MSH Medical School Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany.
MSH Medical School Hamburg – University of Applied Sciences and Medical University · DEDüsseldorf University Hospital · DERuhr University Bochum · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Hemispheric asymmetries differ considerably across species, but the neurophysiological base of this variation is unclear. It has been suggested that hemispheric asymmetries evolved to bypass interhemispheric conduction delay when performing time-critical tasks. This implies that large brains should be more asymmetric. We performed preregistered cross-species meta-regressions with brain mass and neuron number as predictors for limb preferences, a behavioral marker of hemispheric asymmetries, in mammals. Brain mass and neuron number showed positive associations with rightward limb preferences but negative associations with leftward limb preferences. No significant associations were found for ambilaterality. These results are only partly in line with the idea that conduction delay is the critical factor that drives the evolution of hemispheric asymmetries. They suggest that larger-brained species tend to shift towards more right-lateralized individuals. Therefore, the need for coordination of lateralized responses in social species needs to be considered in the context of the evolution of hemispheric asymmetries.

Indexed as

BrainFunctional LateralityAnimalsBrain MappingHumansMammalsOrgan Size

Identifiers

PMID37188844
PMCPMC10185570
OpenAlexW4376640960

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.