Researchers from the Department of Neuroscience at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine have proposed a new hypothesis explaining why the right hemisphere of the brain controls the left side of the body, and vice versa, in a pattern known as cross-control. The journal "Frontiers in Neuroanatomy" reported yesterday that this hypothesis links the emergence of this pattern to the early development of neural pathways responsible for vision.
In this context, the study assumes that the crossing of some neural pathways, which resembles the letter "X," may have emerged in the early stages of nervous system development, subsequently contributing to the organization of other pathways that transmit sensory signals and motor commands between the brain and the rest of the body. This crossing is clearly visible in the visual system, where information from the right side of the visual field reaches the left hemisphere of the brain.
For his part, the researchers pointed out that this early organization may have contributed to the emergence of a similar pattern in other neural pathways, as some fibers transmitting sensation from the body to the brain cross to the opposite side, and motor commands are transmitted through pathways reaching muscles on the other side. The hypothesis offers a potential evolutionary explanation for the similarity between the organization of visual, sensory, and motor pathways.
The journal added that this pattern may have emerged in the early stages of nervous system development and then extended to other pathways, rather than emerging independently in each. This idea remains an explanatory hypothesis that requires further research and testing to determine its ability to explain the emergence of cross-control between the brain and the body.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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