Lateralization in the Nervous system

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.

Contenu

List of Contributors
Preface
Acknowledgments
Introductory Overview
Part I Functional Lateralization in Nonhuman Species

1. Role of Asymmetry in the Functioning of Invertebrate Nervous Systems
2. Asymmetries in Neural Control of Vocalization in the Canary
3. Investigations of Perceptual and Mnemonic Lateralization in Monkeys
4. Preliminary Evidence of Hemispheric Asymmetry of Auditory Function in Monkeys
   Part II The Neocortical Commissures and Interhemispheric Relations
5. Mnemonic Role of Forebrain Commissures in Macaques
6. Effects of Neonatal Hemispheric Disconnection in Kittens
7. The Neural Basis of Stimulus Equivalence across Retinal Translation
8. Thalamic Lateralization of Psychological Functions: Psychometric Studies
   Part III Inheritance and Development of Laterality
9. Toward an Admissible Genetic Model for the Inheritance of the Degree and Direction of Asymmetry
10. Handedness and Cerebral Dominance in Monkeys
11. Embryology and Inheritance of Asymmetry
12. The Origins of Lateral Asymmetry
    Part IV Turning Tendencies
13. Behavioral and Neuropharmacological Correlates of Nigrostriatal Asymmetry in Rats
14. The Development of Lateral Differences in the Human Infant
15. Correlates of Conjugate Lateral Eye Movements in Man
    Part V Asymmetries in Attention and Perception
16. The Neglect Syndrome-A Unilateral Defect of the Orienting Response
17. Hemispheric Asymmetry in Auditory Tasks
18. Tachistoscopic and Dichotic Listening Investigations of Laterality in Normal Human Subjects
    Part VI Surface Electrocortical Indicators of Lateralization I: Event-Related Potentials
19. Electrocortical Indices of Hemispheric Utilization
20. Lateralization of Functions in the Monkey's Frontal Cortex
21. Language-Related Asymmetries of Eye-Movement and Evoked Potentials
22. Evoked-Potential Correlates of Hemispheric Lateralization during Semantic Information-Processing
    Part VII Surface Electrocortical Indicators of Lateralization II: EEG
23. Interhemispheric EEG Laterality Relationships following Psychoactive Agents and during Operant Performance in Rabbits
24. Hemispheric Asymmetry in Cats
25. Evidence of Hemispheric Specialization from Infant EEG
    Part VII Anatomical Asymmetry
26. Anatomical Asymmetries of Human Cerebral Cortex
    Subject Index