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.

Table of Contents:
Preface Acknowledgments 1 Introduction A Simplistic View of Cerebral Asymmetry What Is Lateralized? What Are the Mechanisms of Lateralization? What Are the Origins of Lateralization? Does It Make Any Difference How the Brain Is Organized? Do People Habitually Use One Hemisphere? 2 Methods and Measurement in Laterality Studies The Kimura Study Approaches through the Visual System Somatosensory Studies Summary of Studies Laterality Measures and Cerebral Function 3 Dichotic Listening and Auditory Lateralization The Kimura Experiments Word List Experiments Single-Pair Studies Is Dichotic Stimulation Necessary? Nonverbal Studies Some Concluding Remarks 4 Visual Laterality Effects Verbal Laterality and Handedness Verbal Stimulus or Verbal Task? Nonverbal Effects Dissociation of Verbal and Nonverbal Effects Reaction Time Studies or Error Analysis? Some General Comments on Visual Laterality Studies 5 Tactual Laterality Effects 6 Some General Considerations regarding Perceptual Laterality Stimulus versus Task Factors Attentional Bias as an Explanation of Perceptual Laterality Lateralization as a Late Stage of Processing What Is Lateralized? 7 Asymmetry of Motor Performance Early Studies Studies with Normal Subjects 8 Lateralization of Emotional Processes Dichotic Listening Studies Lateral Tachistoscopic Presentation Lateralization of Emotional Expression Clinical Observations on Lateralization of Emotion Effects of Unilateral Brain Lesions One Hemisphere or Both? 9 Physiological Measures of Asymmetry Electroencephalographic Measures Averaged Evoked Potentials Regional Cerebral Blood Flow (rCBF) Summary 10 Handedness and Its Relation to Cerebral Function Hand Preference Measures Performance Measures Left-Handedness and Hemispheric Specialization Eye Dominance Other Lateralities Conclusions 11 Genetics of Laterality The Genetics of Cerebral Asymmetry The Genetics of Handedness Genetic Determination of Handedness Genetic-Environmental Interaction Laterality Arising from a Maturational Gradient Laterality Arising from Perinatal Brain Damage Inheritance of Degree of Laterality The Evolution of Laterality 12 The Development of Cerebral Lateralization Studies of Early Brain Damage A Behavioral Study Other Dichotic Listening Studies Verbal Tachistoscopic Studies Nonverbal Studies Motor Asymmetries Conclusions 13 Introduction to Individual Differences in Cerebral Organization Evidence concerning Reversed Lateralization An Experimental Approach to the Degree of Lateralization Question Other Studies of Individual Differences in Patterns of Lateralization Conclusions 14 Sex Differences in Laterality Studies of Perceptual Asymmetry in Adults Studies with Children Effects of Brain Damage Sex-Related Anatomical Differences Conclusions 15 Reading and Language-Related Deficits Reading Reading and Dichotic Listening Reading and Visual Laterality Reading and Somatosensory Laterality Reading and Handedness Speculations on Reading and Lateralization Laterality and Other Language-Related Deficits So What Does It Mean? 16 Control of the Active Hemisphere Lateral Eye Movements and Hemisphericity Eye Movements and Cerebral Organization Controlling the Active Hemisphere 17 Some Final Words Isolating Strategy Effects On Complementary Specialization The Hemispheric Dichotomy Where Are We Now? References Index