Two experiments designed to assess brain hemispheric specialization of function are described. The first experiment involves tactile letter and number identification; the second one, verbal interference with a manual task. The experiments provide an excellent introduction to research methodology for undergraduate students. (Author/RM)

Performance on a battery of cognitive measures was analyzed in terms of hand preference for 62 children (5-17 years old) with Pervasive Developmental Disorders including autism. There was a clear (though nonsignificant) trend on all tests for left-handers to have higher scores than right-handers. Mixed-hand preference Ss demonstrated the lowest…

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)

Auditory evoked cortical responses (AECR) were studied in 15 children, 8- to 15-years of age, classified as normal dextrals, retarded dextrals, or retarded sinistrals, to develop an index for differential diagnosis of mental retardation based upon normal asymmetry in amplitude of the AECR in the left and right hemispheres. (Author/MC)

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

Results of an experiment investigating the effects of laterality, movement, and language on 160 first grade children's ability to conserve multiple-space relations seem to be consistent with neurophysiological evidence attesting to the asymmetrical functioning of the cerebral hemispheres. (Author/WY)

This analysis of manual asymmetry suggests that there are two main features to be explained: first, the normal bell-shaped distribution of relative skill, and secondly, the shift of the distributions toward the right. (Author)

A figural form of the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking was administered to 96 left-handed and 96 right-handed individuals. The left-handed subjects demonstrated greater creativity than the right-handed; females scored higher than males; and college-educated subjects scored higher than those with no college. (Author/BW)

Reviews pertinent developmental and neuropsychological literature and arrives at a hypothesis relating the left brain lateralization of speech to the origin of early naming as part of selective (right-biased) orienting to perceived salience or change. (Author/SS)

Reports two studies which examined the relationship among (1) the ability to determine horizontality, (2) a general test of spatial abilities, and (3) hemispheric activation as measured by lateral eye movements. (JMB)

A study on the relationship between insight and hemispheric use in science courses for gifted students is briefly described. (Author/PHR)

The results of two research projects concerned with eye dominance, cortical dominance, handedness, and twisting direction are reviewed and indicate that twisting direction is not related to the other variables but is taught. (JMF)

Autopsy analysis of eight dyslexic brains found that the ordinary asymmetry in a language-relevant area of the temporal lobe was missing. The greater development of the right side may reflect an increase in the total number of neurons involved in language processing, resulting in changes in interhemispheric interactions. (JDD)