The influence of amphetamine on language activation: an fMRI study

Rationale Amphetamine administration has been found to affect the degree of cerebral dominance for motor control in animals. In humans, cerebral dopamine neurotransmission is also correlated to motor dominance. Since language dominance is related to motor dominance, amphetamine might also affect cerebral dominance for language. Methods To test this hypothesis, language activation was measured twice with functional magnetic resonance imaging in ten healthy right-handed men in a double-blind crossover design 2 h after amphetamine or placebo administration. Results Language-related activation increased significantly in task-related areas, but the individual lateralization index was not affected in the amphetamine condition as compared to placebo. Conclusions This finding suggests that short-termed alterations in the dopaminergic neurotransmission do not affect language dominance.