This article discusses the hypothesis of unilateral left hemisphere damage as an explanatory model for the neurological basis of specific language impairment considering both evidence challenging the theory as well as evidence supporting it. (Author/DB)

Authors suggest that consideration be given to maximizing the opportunies for systems in either cerebral hemisphere to develop fully in early life, when the child is essentially split-brained," so that developmental imbalance does not exist when the two hemispheres later begin to communicate. (Authors/MB)

Twenty schizophrenics with flat affect, 19 right-brain-damaged patients, and 21 normal controls were compared on a task of facial emotional expression. Compared to controls, both patient groups were judged as less expressive and displaying more negative than positive emotion. Patients seemed to have difficulty with the expression of positive…

When two masked targets are presented in a rapid sequence, correct identification of the first hinders identification of the second. This attentional blink (AB) is thought to be the result of capacity limitations in visual information processing. Neuropsychological and neuroimaging evidence implicated the right hemisphere as the source of this…

Developmental and post-traumatic dyslexia are discussed in terms of a dysfunction of the central nervous system resulting in reading disabilities. The relationship of reading to other language functions is considered, with emphasis on the temporal aspects of speech and reading. An interdisciplinary approach is held necessary for the diagnosis of…

Reports on structural asymmetrics between the hemispheres which are found in the human brain. Auditory region and Sylvian Fissure asymmetry have also been observed in the fetus and in other primates. Describes research which has correlated asymmetries with hand preference, certain childhood learning disabilities and some dementing illnesses of…

Fifteen neurosurgical subjects, who were undergoing thalamic chronic electrode implants as a treatment for dyskinesia and chronic pain, were evaluated on a series of neurolinguistic functions to determine if the stimulation of the centromedianum nucleus of the thalamus affected language and cognitive processing. Analysis of the data revealed that…

A group of 34 subjects each with a reading deficiency of 1 year or more were studied on the following variables: visual perception, arithmetic, memory, auditory perception, and laterality. The age range was from 8 to 13 years, with a mean grade deficiency of 1.93 years. Using the Minnesota Percepto-Diagnostic test as the diagnostic instrument, the…

The laterality preference patterns and types of oral reading errors were examined for seventh-grade males. Results support the initial argument that difference-poor readers fail to comprehend because of problems in organizing visual input, which seems intimately tied to a bilateralization of functions. (Author)

Reports describing subcortical apraxia of speech (AOS) have received little consideration in the development of recent speech processing models because the speech characteristics of patients with this diagnosis have not been described precisely. We describe a case of AOS with aphasia secondary to basal ganglia hemorrhage. Speech-language symptoms…

A review of studies into the neurological aspects of reading disabilities indicates that two positions have been taken with regard to the brain and reading: (1) language skills are generally considered to be the function of the left hemisphere of the brain; and (2) very poor reading may be related to bilateral spatial processing for both boys and…

The cerebral laterality of children with various configurations of verbal-performance discrepancies was inferred with an objective measure of lateral preference using Verbal and Performance IQ scores of the WISC-R. Results were interpreted as lending support to the notion of competition antagonism between cortical hemispheres and a possible…

Despite recent increased attention to Asperger's Syndrome (AS), few psychometric investigations of subjects have appeared and few studies have examined how clinicians and educators might better address the needs of this unique group of people. A diagnosis of AS according to the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" requires…