Handedness and Brain Asymmetry

Handedness and Brain Asymmetry PDF

Author: Marian Annett

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2013-04-15

Total Pages: 405

ISBN-13: 1134950748

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Brain asymmetry for speech is moderately related to handedness but what are the rules? Are symmetries for hand and brain associated with characteristics such as intelligence, motor skill, spatial reasoning or skill at sports? In this follow up to the influential Left, Right Hand and Brain (1985) Marian Annett draws on a working lifetime of research to help provide answers to crucial questions. Central to her argument is the Right Shift Theory - her original and innovative contribution to the field that seeks to explain the relationships between left-and right-handedness and left-and right-brain specialisation. The theory proposes that handedness in humans and our non-human primate relations depends on chance but that chance is weighted towards right-handedness in most people by an agent of right-hemisphere disadvantage. It argues for the existence of a single gene for right shift (RS+) that evolved in humans to aid the growth of speech in the left hemisphere of the brain. The Right Shift Theory has possible implications for a wide range of questions about human abilities and disabilities, including verbal and non verbal intelligence, educational progress and dyslexia, spatial reasoning, sporting skills and mental illness. It continues to be at the cutting edge of research, solving problems and generating new avenues of investigation - most recently the surprising idea that a mutant RS+ gene might be involved in the causes of schizophrenia and autism. Handedness and Brain Asymmetry will make fascinating reading for students and researchers in psychology and neurology, educationalists, and anyone with a keen interest in why people have different talents and weaknesses.

Handedness and Brain Asymmetry

Handedness and Brain Asymmetry PDF

Author: Marian Annett

Publisher: Psychology Press

Published: 2013-04-15

Total Pages: 422

ISBN-13: 1134950810

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Brain asymmetry for speech is moderately related to handedness but what are the rules? Are symmetries for hand and brain associated with characteristics such as intelligence, motor skill, spatial reasoning or skill at sports? In this follow up to the influential Left, Right Hand and Brain (1985) Marian Annett draws on a working lifetime of research to help provide answers to crucial questions. Central to her argument is the Right Shift Theory - her original and innovative contribution to the field that seeks to explain the relationships between left-and right-handedness and left-and right-brain specialisation. The theory proposes that handedness in humans and our non-human primate relations depends on chance but that chance is weighted towards right-handedness in most people by an agent of right-hemisphere disadvantage. It argues for the existence of a single gene for right shift (RS+) that evolved in humans to aid the growth of speech in the left hemisphere of the brain. The Right Shift Theory has possible implications for a wide range of questions about human abilities and disabilities, including verbal and non verbal intelligence, educational progress and dyslexia, spatial reasoning, sporting skills and mental illness. It continues to be at the cutting edge of research, solving problems and generating new avenues of investigation - most recently the surprising idea that a mutant RS+ gene might be involved in the causes of schizophrenia and autism. Handedness and Brain Asymmetry will make fascinating reading for students and researchers in psychology and neurology, educationalists, and anyone with a keen interest in why people have different talents and weaknesses.

Right Hand, Left Hand

Right Hand, Left Hand PDF

Author: I. C. McManus

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 436

ISBN-13: 9780674016132

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McManus considers evidence from anthropology, particle physics, the history of medicine, and the notebooks of Leonardo to answer questions like: Why are most people right-handed? Why does European writing go from left to right, while Arabic and Hebrew go from right to left? And how do we know that Jack the Ripper was left-handed?

Laterality Functional Asymmetry in the Intact Brain

Laterality Functional Asymmetry in the Intact Brain PDF

Author: M Bryden

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2012-12-02

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 0323155421

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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.

On the Other Hand

On the Other Hand PDF

Author: Howard I. Kushner

Publisher: JHU Press

Published: 2017-09-25

Total Pages: 217

ISBN-13: 1421423340

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Does being left-handed make a person different in any way that matters? Since the late Stone Age, approximately 10 percent of humans have been left-handed, yet for most of human history left-handedness has been stigmatized. In On the Other Hand, Howard I. Kushner traces the impact of left-handedness on human cognition, behavior, culture, and health. A left-hander himself, Kushner has long been interested in the meanings associated with left-handedness, and ultimately with whether hand preference can even be defined in a significant way. As he explores the medical and cultural history of left-handedness, Kushner describes the associated taboos, rituals, and stigma from around the globe. The words “left” and “left hand” have negative connotations in all languages, and left-handers have even historically been viewed as disabled. In this comprehensive history of left-handedness, Kushner asks why left-handedness exists. He examines the relationship—if any—between handedness, linguistics, and learning disabilities, reveals how toleration of left-handedness serves as a barometer of wider cultural toleration and permissiveness, and wonders why the reported number of left-handers is significantly lower in Asia and Africa than in the West. Written in a lively style that mixes personal biography with scholarly research, On the Other Hand tells a comprehensive story about the science, traditions, and prejudices surrounding left-handedness.

Hemispheric Asymmetry

Hemispheric Asymmetry PDF

Author: Joseph B. Hellige

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 9780674005594

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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.

Handedness & Speech: Brain Plasticity & Evolution

Handedness & Speech: Brain Plasticity & Evolution PDF

Author: Kenneth Provins

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2012

Total Pages: 391

ISBN-13: 0980815932

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Reviews research on the origins of handedness in the context of Darwin's theory of evolution and considers the development of functional asymmetry of the brain for hand usage and speech as a result of plasticity of the nervous system.

Handedness

Handedness PDF

Author: Maryam Noroozian

Publisher: Nova Science Publishers

Published: 2014

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781633214019

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Neurologists and neuroscientists have been fascinated with the phenomenon of handedness and through the course of human history the question that why a minority of each population is left-handed and the rest right-handed has never been fully answered. An even better question is whether the brains of left-handed individuals are architected and wired different than those of the right-handers and if such fundamental anatomic and functional dissimilarities lead to the preference of left hand over the right hand. The ultimate question is that how different the brains of left-handers are from the right-handers or simply there are not many differences between the two groups. More than its or social aspects, handedness is a sophisticated subject of cognitive and behavioral neurology which leads to the even more complicated of the left hemisphere versus right hemisphere. The issue of handedness is of such importance that one is the first components of any standard neurological examination is determination of the handedness with the idea of determining which hemisphere is dominant. In the present book, Noroozian and her colleagues explore the under-explored and fascinating world of handedness and attempt to utilize the concept of handedness and the mechanisms responsible for becoming right-handed versus left-handed as a bridge to better understand the phenomenon of laterality of human brain. The authors of this easily readable and easy-to-understand monograph review the latest findings concerning handedness and human brain asymmetry. This interesting book can serve as a great resource for clinical psychologists, neurologists, neuroscientists, cognitive neurologists and psychiatrists.

Neuropsychology of Left-Handedness

Neuropsychology of Left-Handedness PDF

Author: Jeannine Herron

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2012-12-02

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 0323153666

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Neuropsychology of Left-Handedness focuses on the neurological imperative and unique brain organization of left-handers. This book is organized into two parts. Part I analyzes ideas about the origins of left-handedness, such as possible genetic mechanisms, manner in which asymmetries may occur during the first cell cleavages following fertilization, handedness of twins, and possibility that some left-handedness may be due to environmental or even pathological influences. The second part is devoted to a variety of investigations of asymmetric hemisphere specialization in right- and left-handers. The different groups of left-handers, which includes male and female, strong left-preferrers and ambidexters, familial and non-familial lefthanders, and those who prefer an “inverted position for writing as opposed to a “non-inverted position, are also identified. This publication is a good reference for medical practitioners and specialists interested in the neuropsychology of left-handedness.