This commentary, written in response to Witelson's work (1987), examines alternative ways of determining how the developmentally stable functional asymmetry (hemispheric specialization) observed in neurologically intact children can be reconciled with the dramatic recovery of function often displayed following unilateral brain damage. (PCB)

Evidence gathered from commissurotomy (split-brain) patients and right-hemisphere/left-hemisphere studies on normal intact humans is reviewed and evaluated. Concludes that right-left hemisphere differences reported in normal subjects are small and that there is no scientific basis for any reorganization of curricular, teaching, or testing…

A follow-up study of handedness in 34 autistic persons (mean age 8 years) supported the idea that there are many factors other than brain damage, hemispheric functioning, age, and follow-up interval that contribute to hand lateralization. (CL)

Article attempted to ascertain whether bilateral language representation occurred at the expense of certain musical as well as of spatial abilities. (Author/RK)

Reports two studies relating schizophrenia to functional brain asymmetry. The first study found support for the hypothesis of left hemisphere dysfunction in schizophrenia, occurring at a rather early stage of information processing; the second study, using eye directionality as a measure of hemispheric activation, found that schizophrenics…

Examines the effect of stressful and nonstressful experimental situations upon the processing capacity of each cerebral hemisphere, through observing the differential performance tasks presented to right and left visual half-fields (VHFs). Also examines attentional bias and lateral eye movements. (Author/RK)

Reviews research on cerebral asymmetry in hearing persons, clinical studies on lateralization and sign language, and experimental research on cerebral asymmetry in deaf persons. (AM)

Discusses the relevance of the study of the neurobiology of cognitive development, for an understanding of both the neural bases and the nature of cognition. Also considered are the age at which hemisphere specialization first appears and whether hemisphere specialization changes over time. (PCB)

Self-report subscale scores from the Herrmann Brain Dominance Survey and Torrance and Reynolds' Your Style of Learning and Thinking were correlated with the College Board Scholastic Aptitude Test Scores and with the grade point averages of 40 junior female occupational therapy students. (Author/LMO)

Previously published in the Journal of the American Optometric Association.

Apparent ambiguities in Levy and Reid's writing posture criteria and dissimilar criteria used by other investigators are discussed. This review suggests that an adequate test of hypothesized relations among handedness, hand posture during writing, sex, and cerebral organization requires development of a standard set of valid criteria for writing…

A study involved the development and testing of a theoretical framework of cerebral specialization in which each hemisphere of the brain is viewed as an independent information processing system. During the study, four sets of experiments were conducted. These involved behavioral as well as electrophysiological measures. According to the…

In an investigation using auditory evoked responses (AERs) to compare strongly left- and strongly right-handed adults in their hemispheric processing of speech materials, it was anticipated that AERs would reflect a bilateralization in the left-handed group of subjects and marked hemispheric differences in the right-handed group. In addition, the…

The paper discusses curriculum materials and learning strategies suitable to the right hemisphere of the brain. Two limiting factors are noted--the difficulty in identifying non-pathological Ss who show right brain tendency, and asymmetry of the brain which makes empirical evaluation of the validity of these materials problematic. The paper…