Laterality Functional Asymmetry In The Intact Brain

Laterality: Functional Asymmetry in the Intact Brain focuses on brain function and laterality as well as the various methods in assessing behavioral asymmetries, including handedness. It reviews the literature on perceptual-cognitive laterality effects in different sensory modalities, the lateralization of emotion and motor behavior, and the electrophysiological evidence. It also highlights some of the problems with the existing research and offers suggestions about the direction of future research. Organized into 17 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of cerebral asymmetry and the origins and mechanisms of lateralization. Then, it discusses the individual differences in laterality, methods and measurement used in laterality studies, and experiments on dichotic listening and auditory lateralization. The next chapters focus on the link between verbal laterality and handedness, tactual and perceptual laterality, asymmetry of motor performance, lateralization of emotional processes, and physiological measures of asymmetry. The book also introduces the handedness and its relation to cerebral function, genetics of laterality, development of cerebral lateralization, individual differences in cerebral organization, sex differences in laterality, reading- and language-related deficits, and control of the active hemisphere before concluding with a chapter discussing the experimental or strategy effects, the concept of complementary specialization, and the dichotomy between the two hemispheres of the brain. This book is a valuable resource for neuropsychologists, experimental psychologists, neurologists, and educators interested in understanding human brain function.

Lateralization in the Nervous System reviews various aspects of lateralization in the nervous system, with emphasis on approaches such as the investigation of turning tendencies and electrocortical indices of hemispheric asymmetry. Experimental paradigms and outcomes that are applicable to both human and nonhuman species are highlighted. This book is comprised of 26 chapters and begins with an overview of functional lateralization in nonhuman species such as monkeys. Brain asymmetry is examined in context with other biological asymmetries in the quest for general mechanisms and principles of lateralization. The problem of inheritance, embryology, and development of asymmetry is also discussed from a variety of environmentalist and nativist perspectives. Highly suggestive invertebrate and avian models for lateralization are presented, along with the evidence for cerebral dominance and handedness in nonhuman species. Human clinical neuropsychological findings, such as the effects of unilateral cortical and thalamic lesions and the syndrome of unilateral neglect, are considered, together with asymmetries in perception and attention. This monograph will be of interest to psychologists (physiological, cognitive, developmental, and clinical), behavioral biologists, neuroscientists, neurologists, and psychiatrists, as well as to scholars and educators from the humanities and social sciences who are concerned with the nature and biological bases of left-right differences in brain, behavior, and thinking.

The study of human laterality or cerebral asymmetry has attracted particular attention in research involving such areas as pattern recognition and language and motor skills. Brings readers up to date on the rapid progress in this area of neuropsychology. It describes the latest research on laterality in nonhuman species, going on to examine clinical, commissurotomy and normative studies of human cerebral asymmetry. Explores theoretical models of hemispheric specialization and interaction, language in the °minor° (right) hemisphere and language, tool use, dextrality and bipedalism in human evolution. Succeeding chapters discuss handedness, sex and developmental aspects, particularly individual and developmental differences in cognitive abilities. Recent popular generalizations concerning °hemisphericity° are also described.

Left-right asymmetries of structure and function are a common organization principle in the brains of humans and non-human vertebrates alike. While there are inherently asymmetric systems such as the human language system or the song system of songbirds, the impact of structural or functional asymmetries on perception, cognition and behavior is not necessarily limited to these systems. For example, performance in experimental paradigms that assess executive functions such as inhibition, planning or action monitoring is influenced by information processing in the bottom-up channel. Depending on the type of stimuli used, one hemisphere can be more efficient in processing than the other and these functional cerebral asymmetries have been shown to modulate the efficacy of executive functions via the bottom-up channel. We only begin to understand the complex neuronal mechanisms underlying this interaction between hemispheric asymmetries and cognitive systems. Therefore, it is the aim of this Research Topics to further elucidate how structural or functional hemispheric asymmetries modulate perception, cognition and behavior in the broadest sense.

Is "right-brain" thought essentially creative, and "left-brain" strictly logical? Joseph B. Hellige argues that this view is far too simplistic. Surveying extensive data in the field of cognitive science, he disentangles scientific facts from popular assumptions about the brain's two hemispheres. In Hemispheric Asymmetry, Hellige explains that the "right brain" and "left brain" are actually components of a much larger cognitive system encompassing cortical and subcortical structures, all of which interact to produce unity of thought and action. He further explores questions of whether hemispheric asymmetry is unique to humans, and how it might have evolved. This book is a valuable overview of hemispheric asymmetry and its evolutionary precedents.

Cerebral Lateralization in Nonhuman Species explores brain asymmetries in animals and the extent to which such asymmetries relate, in an evolutionary and clinical sense, to the pervasive asymmetries that characterize the human brain. Topics covered include cerebral lateralization in birds, rats, and nonhuman primates; the inheritance of direction and degree of asymmetry in the brain; the morphology of rat forebrain; and variation in the pattern of behavioral and brain asymmetries due to sex differences. Comprised of 11 chapters, this book opens with a historical overview of research into the cerebral lateralization of structures and functions in nonhuman species. The discussion then turns to lateralization of vocal control in songbirds and lateralization of several behaviors in domestic chicks. The inheritance of direction and degree of asymmetry is also considered, along with the morphology of rat forebrains. The following chapters focus on asymmetries in anatomy and pathology in the rodent brain; the link between brain lateralization and behavioral functions; and how early experiences can induce laterality. The final chapter analyzes the implications of brain asymmetries for evolution, genetics, and clinical syndromes. This monograph will be a useful resource for students, neuroscientists, clinicians, and other practitioners in fields ranging from psychobiology and psychology to anatomical sciences, neurobiology, neurochemistry, and genetics.

State-of-the-art research on brain asymmetry, explained from molecular to clinical levels. Hemispheric asymmetry is one of the basic aspects of perception and cognitive processing. The different functions of the left and right hemispheres of the brain have been studied with renewed interest in recent years, as scholars explore applications to new areas, new measuring techniques, and new theoretical approaches. This volume provides a comprehensive view of the latest research in brain asymmetry, offering not only recent empirical and clinical findings but also a coherent theoretical approach to the subject. In chapters that report on the field at levels from the molecular to the clinical, leading researchers address such topics as the evolution and genetics of brain asymmetry; animal models; findings from structural and functional neuroimaging techniques and research; sex differences and hormonal effects; sleep asymmetry; cognitive asymmetry in visual and auditory perception; and auditory laterality and speech perception, memory, and asymmetry in the context of developmental, neurological, and psychiatric disorders. Contributors Katrin Amunts, Ulrike Bayer, Alfredo Brancucci, Vince D. Calhoun, Maria Casagrande, Marco Catani, Michael C. Corballis, Patricia E. Cowell, Timothy J. Crow, Tom Eichele, Stephanie Forkel, Patrick J. Gannon, Isabelle George, Onur Güntürkün, Heikki Hämäläinen, Markus Hausmann, Joseph B. Hellige, Kenneth Hugdahl, Masud Husain, Grégoria Kalpouzos, Bruno Laeng, Martina Manns, Chikashi Michimata, Deborah W. Moncrieff, Lars Nyberg, Godfrey Pearlson, Stefan Pollmann, Victoria Singh-Curry, Iris E.C. Sommer, Tao Sun, Nathan Swanson, Fiia Takio, Michel Thiebaut de Schotten, René Westerhausen