The Lateralized Brain

The Neuroscience and Evolution of Hemispheric Asymmetries

2nd Edition - February 21, 2024
Authors: Sebastian Ocklenburg, Onur Güntürkün
Language: English
Paperback ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 9 9 7 3 7 - 9
eBook ISBN:
9 7 8 - 0 - 3 2 3 - 9 5 9 6 9 - 8

The second edition of The Lateralized Brain: The Neuroscience and Evolution of Hemispheric Asymmetries provides for readers a volume detailing the functional and structura… Read more

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The second edition of The Lateralized Brain: The Neuroscience and Evolution of Hemispheric Asymmetries provides for readers a volume detailing the functional and structural differences between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, highlighting how the widespread use of modern neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI and DTI have completely changed the way hemispheric asymmetries are currently investigated.

In this new edition, all chapters have been updated with recent advances in the field, and a new chapter on hemispheric asymmetries in development and aging has been integrated. Also featured is a new, larger section on laterality in social behavior, alongside a comprehensive overview about key topics in laterality research, including its history, evolutionary perspectives, brain structure, and the role of the corpus callosum. Chapters cover functional hemispheric asymmetries in language processing, motor behavior, spatial attention, self- and face-perception, emotion processing, and social behavior. Additional topics include the ontogenesis of hemispheric asymmetries and their development over the life span, as well as sex differences and associations with clinical syndromes. This volume can be used by anyone working on hemispheric biology or in courses on hemispheric asymmetries.

Cover image
Title page
Table of Contents
Copyright
Dedication
About the authors
Foreword by Lesley J. Rogers
Foreword to the first edition by Giorgio Vallortigara
Preface to the second edition
Preface to the first edition
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Brain asymmetries—two millennia of speculation, research, and discoveries
Abstract
Outline
Introductory short story
Early reports on brain asymmetries
The discovery of language asymmetry
The many mysteries of handedness
Face asymmetries
Summary
Sample questions
References
Chapter 2. Evolution of asymmetries
Abstract
Outline
Introductory short story
The Cambrian explosion and the dawn of behavioral asymmetries
Reconstructing the evolution of handedness in vertebrates and beyond
Handedness in primates
The evolution of human handedness
The evolution of limb preferences in vertebrates—a summary
Reconstructing the evolution of vocalization asymmetries
The evolution of language asymmetry
The evolution of vocalization asymmetry in vertebrates—a summary
Asymmetry pays
Summary
Sample questions
References
Chapter 3. The connected hemispheres—the role of the corpus callosum for hemispheric asymmetries
Abstract
Outline
Introductory short story
Neuroanatomy of the corpus callosum and other commissures
A brain, divided: the split-brain procedure
Split-brain research in animals
Split-brain surgery in humans
Language in split-brain patients
Visuospatial abilities in split-brain patients
Information transfer in the split-brain: the role of subcortical commissures
The Poffenberger task: findings in split brain patients
Hemispheric asymmetries in information processing
Split-brain research today
Patients with agenesis of the corpus callosum: natural split-brains or not?
Hemispheric asymmetries in species without a corpus callosum
The intact corpus callosum and behavioral asymmetries
Assessing the functional role of the corpus callosum for hemispheric asymmetries
Interhemispheric integration and metacontrol
Sample questions
References
Chapter 4. Structural hemispheric asymmetries
Abstract
Outline
Introductory short story
Introduction
Gray and white matter
Macroscopic asymmetries
Macroscopic asymmetries in gray matter
Macroscopic asymmetries in white matter
Microstructural asymmetries
Molecular asymmetries
Structural asymmetries in gray matter as a determinant of functional asymmetries
Structural asymmetries in white matter as a determinant of functional asymmetries
An integrative view on structural asymmetries
Sample questions
References
Chapter 5. Language and the left hemisphere
Abstract
Outline
Introductory short story
Introduction
Motor aspects of language lateralization
Lateralization of language processing: the methods
Dichotic listening
Visual half-field experiments in healthy subjects
Functional transcranial Doppler sonography
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging to assess language lateralization
Using electroencephalography to investigate hemispheric asymmetries
The language system: Broca’s and Wernicke’s area
Auditory information processing in the temporal lobe: Wernicke’s area and beyond
The role of the posterior speech area
Information transfer in the language system
Right-hemispheric contributions to language
Atypical language lateralization
Language lateralization in bilinguals
Hemispheric asymmetries in nonvocal languages: the case of whistle language
Hemispheric asymmetries in nonvocal languages: the case of sign language
Sample questions
References
Chapter 6. Handedness and other behavioral asymmetries
Abstract
Outline
Introductory short story
Measuring handedness
Hand preference
Hand performance
The ontogenesis of handedness
Single gene models
Molecular genetic research on handedness
Asymmetrically expressed genes: the LMO4 story
Multilocus genetic models
Nongenetic influences on handedness
Pawedness in mice: the Collins experiments
Cultural threat
The early insult theory
Seasonal anisotropy in handedness
Parental influences
The role of early experience
Adult head-turning asymmetries and handedness
Large-scale studies on nongenetic factors in handedness ontogenesis
The epigenetics of handedness
Evidence for a multifactorial determination of handedness
Handedness and the brain
Handedness and the spinal cord
The neuroscience of handedness conversion
Cognitive correlates of handedness
Footedness
Eyedness and earedness and further forms of lateral preferences
Associations between different forms of lateral preferences
Sample questions
References
Chapter 7. Spatial attention, neglect, and the right hemisphere
Abstract
Outline
Introductory short story
Spatial hemineglect
The line bisection task and pseudoneglect
Pseudoneglect in other tasks
Visuospatial asymmetries in nonhuman animals
The neuroanatomy of visuospatial attention
Lateralization in white matter networks for visuospatial attention
Hemispheric asymmetries in spatial abilities
Hemispheric asymmetries in spatial navigation
Sample questions
References
Chapter 8. Recognizing yourself and others—the role of the right hemisphere for face and self-perception
Abstract
outline
Introductory short story
Where in the brain is the self?
Visual self-awareness
Sense of body ownership
The role of the right hemisphere for delusions of misidentification
Capgras syndrome
Asomatognosia
Anosognosia
Cotard syndrome
Right-hemispheric stroke: insights into the sense of body ownership
The integrity of the bodily self
Thinking about oneself: the self-concept and the left hemisphere
Summary: the self and the right hemisphere
Facial asymmetries
Hemispheric asymmetries in behavioral markers of face perception
fMRI studies on face perception: finding the fusiform face area
Electrical brain stimulation studies on face perception
Electrophysiological asymmetries during face perception
Prosopagnosia
Lateralization of human body recognition
Sample questions
References
Chapter 9. Hemispheric asymmetries in emotion processing and social behaviors
Abstract
Outline
Introductory short story
Emotions—some basics
Left-right differences in facial emotion expression
Hemispheric asymmetries in emotion processing
The right-hemisphere model
The right-hemisphere model: evidence from patient studies
The right-hemisphere model: evidence from behavioral studies in healthy individuals
The valence model
The frontal cortical asymmetry model of motivational direction
Integrating the models
Emotional lateralization in the age of systems neuroscience: moving toward models incorporating multiple distinct networks
The lateralized social brain
Asymmetries in social touch
Comparative research on social asymmetries in insects
Sample questions
References
Chapter 10. Ontogenesis of hemispheric asymmetries
Abstract
Outline
Introductory short story
Breaking symmetry: how the embryonic left-right axis is determined
From genes to lateralized behavior: what we can learn from zebrafish
Avian lateralized visual cognition
How embryonic light asymmetry alters brain and behavior in birds
An asymmetrical anatomical system creates lateralized visual behavior
How commissural exchange modifies asymmetries
Anatomical and physiological asymmetries of visual pathways in pigeons
Sample questions
References
Chapter 11. Hemispheric asymmetries over the lifespan: development and aging
Abstract
Outline
Introductory short story
Brain development and hemispheric asymmetries
Hemispherectomy: what happens if you lose half a brain?
Brain plasticity
Hemispheric asymmetries in individuals who are blind
Hemispheric asymmetries in individuals who are deaf
Early theories on the development of hemispheric asymmetries
Development of structural hemispheric asymmetries
Development of motor asymmetries
Development of language lateralization
Development of spatial attention asymmetries
Hemispheric functional segregation
Hemispheric asymmetries and aging
Sample questions
References
Chapter 12. Sex differences in hemispheric asymmetries
Abstract
Outline
Introductory short story
Introduction
Do women and men differ in structural brain asymmetries?
Do women and men differ in functional brain asymmetries?
Conclusion
Hormonal effects on functional brain asymmetries
Hormone-mediated decoupling of commissural interactions
Summary: the dual coding of cerebral asymmetries
Sample questions
References
Chapter 13. Altered hemispheric asymmetries in neurodevelopmental, mental, and neurological disorders
Abstract
Outline
Introductory short story
The clinical perspective on laterality
Neurodevelopmental disorders
Mental disorders
Mood disorders
Neurological disorders
Beyond the diagnosis: transdiagnostic approaches in clinical laterality research
The role of stress
Conclusion
Sample questions
References
Index

Sebastian Ocklenburg

Sebastian Ocklenburg is a post-doc in the biopsychology lab at Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany. Born in Duisburg, Germany, he knew since primary school that he wanted to become a scientist. After obtaining his bachelor’s and master’s degree in psychology, Sebastian conducted his PhD thesis on the genetics and neurophysiology of hemispheric asymmetries. For this work, he was awarded the prestigious Heinz-Heckhausen award by the German Society for Psychology. Subsequently, he worked as a post-doc in the Bergen fMRI group in Norway, before returning to Germany. Since the very beginning of his career, Sebastian holds a deep fascination with understanding how hemispheric asymmetries develop. His work focuses on answering this question using an integrative multi-method approach including techniques from neuroimaging, electrophysiology and molecular genetics. Sebastian is member of the Global Young Faculty (GYF) and the International Society for Behavioral Neuroscience (ISBN). He authored more than 60 papers on hemispheric asymmetries and other topics in international peer-reviewed journals, including top journals like Neuron or eLife.

Affiliations and expertise

Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany

Onur Güntürkün

Onur Gunturkun is a Turkish-born Professor for Biopsychology at Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany. He once came to Germany with the aim to study Psychology and to learn about the science of the mind. Onur is kept awake with questions like: “why do humans and other animals have asymmetrically organized brains?”, “can different kinds of brains produce the same cognition?” or “what is the neural substrate of thought?”. He spent years of his life in different universities in Germany, the USA, Australia, Turkey, Belgium, and South Africa. He mostly uses humans and pigeons as his experimental subjects but also loves to do science with dolphins and magpies. Onur Güntürkün works with all kinds of research approaches that reach from simple field work, via behavioral experiments, neuroanatomical approaches, single unit recordings up to brain imaging at ultrahigh magnetic fields. He is a member of the German National Academy of Sciences, holds two honorary doctorates, and received numerous major national and international scientific awards, among them both the highest German and Turkish science award. Onur authored more than 300 papers with more than 8000 citations in top Journals like Nature, Science, Nature Reviews Neuroscience, TICS, Neuron, PNAS, Current Biology, PLoS Biology, and eLife. Onur serves as reviewer or as member of editorial boards in a large number of journals and also reviews applications of scientific agencies of more than 15 different countries.

Affiliations and expertise

Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany