Right hemisphere lateralization and holistic processing do not always go together: An ERP investigation of a training study

Language is considered to be one of the most lateralized human brain functions. Left hemisphere dominance for language has been consistently confirmed in clinical and experimental settings and constitutes one of the main axioms of neurology and neuroscience. However, functional neuroimaging studies are finding that the right hemisphere also plays a role in diverse language functions. Critically, the right hemisphere may also compensate for the loss or degradation of language functions following extensive stroke-induced damage to the left hemisphere. Here, we review studies that focus on our ability to choose words as we speak. Although fluidly performed in individuals with intact language, this process is routinely compromised in aphasic patients. We suggest that parceling word retrieval into its subprocesses—lexical activation and lexical selection—and examining which of these can be compensated for after left hemisphere stroke can advance the understanding of the lateralization of word retrieval in speech production. In particular, the domain-general nature of the brain regions associated with each process may be a helpful indicator of the right hemisphere's propensity for compensation.

Right hemisphere

Dominance (genetics)

Language production

10.1111/nyas.12993

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Citations (114)

Is human face recognition lateralized to the right hemisphere due to neural competition with left-lateralized visual word recognition? A critical review

Brain Structure and Function (2021)

Bruno Rossion Aliette Lochy

10.1007/s00429-021-02370-0

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Citations (58)

DISSOCIATION OF LANGUAGE AND COGNITION: A PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE OF TWO DISCONNECTED RIGHT HEMISPHERES

Brain (1984)

Michael S. Gazzaniga Charlotte S. Smylie

Two split-brain patients who differ in their right hemisphere language capacity were tested on a variety of simple cognitive tasks. Both isolated right hemispheres performed poorly on most tests. The results suggest that the presence of language in the right hemisphere, a brain system that ordinarily does not possess such competence, need not necessarily confer the full complement of cognitive skills associated with the language processing skills of the left hemisphere.

Right hemisphere

Right handed

Left and right

10.1093/brain/107.1.145

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Citations (101)

The Origins of Differential Hemispheric Strategies for Information Processing in the Relationships Between Voice and Face Perception

Springer eBooks (1993)

Gerald Turkewitz

Right hemisphere

10.1007/978-94-015-8234-6_14

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