The Asymmetrical Brain (Bradford Books)

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Publisher:  The MIT Press
Number Of Pages:  732
Publication Date:  2002-12-13
Sales Rank:  1726527
ISBN / ASIN:  0262083094
EAN:  9780262083096
Binding:  Hardcover
Manufacturer:  The MIT Press
Studio:  The MIT Press
Average Rating:  5


The folk belief that the left brain hemisphere is dominant for language and the right for visuospatial functions is incomplete and even misleading. Research shows that asymmetries exist at all levels of the nervous system and apply to emotional as well as to higher cognitive processes. Going beyond the authors' previous book, Brain Asymmetry, this book reflects the most recent thinking on functional asymmetries and their structural correlates in brain anatomy. It emphasizes research using new neuroimaging and neurostimulation techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI and fMRI), positron emission tomography (PET), magnetoencephalography (MEG), and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). It also considers clinical applications of asymmetry research. The book contains sections on animal models and basic functions, neuroimaging and brain stimulation studies, visual laterality, auditory laterality, emotional laterality, neurological disorders, and psychiatric disorders.

Review:

An Exceptional Overview of One of the Puzzles of Biology

We live in a lateralized universe. Fundamental particles; molecules - including the all important amino acids; and, of course, in our own bodies, handedness and laterality appear to be a universal principle of the manifest world.

The idea that the left hemisphere of the brain is specialized for logic, analysis and language, while the right hemisphere is holistic, artistic and mystical has been circulating for over thirty years. This notion has become so pervasive that it is commonplace to hear people describing themselves as being \"right brained\", or accusing someone else of being \"left brained.\"

A simple concept that is profoundly wrong.

If anyone needs evidence of the need to transcend the simplistic right/left dichotomy, it is all in this book, which summarizes the essential cooperative functioning of the hemispheres.

Multi-authored books often tend to be patchy, but the editors have succeeded in producing a book with chapters that are all of a high standard and uniformity of style. It is difficult for any book to stay up to date, given the constant generation of new data, but the chapters provide a comprehensive overview up to the end of 2002, including the burgeoning interest in the relationship between disturbances of laterality and some psychological and psychiatric problems, including schizophrenia.

Though this book is designed for specialists, selected chapters would provide excellent jumping off points for anyone interested in the enduring mystery of handedness.

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