From uuneo!sugar!claird Tue Sep 21 08:07:21 CDT 1993 Article: 3354 of sci.anthropology Xref: uuneo sci.bio:12401 sci.anthropology:3354 alt.books.reviews:1237 sci.psychology:13521 Newsgroups: sci.bio,sci.anthropology,alt.books.reviews,sci.psychology Path: uuneo!sugar!claird From: claird@NeoSoft.com (Cameron Laird) Subject: [BIO] Handedness, generalized Organization: NeoSoft Communications Services -- (713) 684-5900 Date: Mon, 20 Sep 1993 17:54:46 GMT Message-ID: Followup-To: sci.bio,sci.anthropology,sci.psychology I quote from Hellige, Joseph B. 1993 Hemispheric Asymmetry: What's Right and What's Left. Harvard University Press, Cambridge. 0-674-38730-9, on alkaline paper "*Hemispheric Asymmetry* reviews recent research on the differences between the left and right cerebral hemispheres and examines many of the implications of these differences. . . . The book is suffici- ently self-contained for it to be understandable to individuals with little previous knowledge about hemispheric asymmetry, although some passing knowledge of cognitive psychology or other aspects of cogni- tive neuroscience should help." It's an expository review, and a well-organized one. The writing is lucid, and, to the best of my knowledge, both careful and accurate in its summaries and interpretations. The author's own "... Model of Hemispheric Asymmetry" appears in the final chapter, labeled as an Epilogue. Hellige explicitly introduces "Five Recurring Themes" in the first few pages: 1. "Hemispheric asymmetries exist and influence behavior." 2. "We have one brain, not two." 3. "Other species have asymmetries, too." 4. "Individuals differ in asymmetry." 5. "Asymmetry unfolds over (human and evolutionary) time." The viewpoint is that of (cognitive) psychology, but a psychology that is well-informed biologically and grounded in evolutionary theory. One of the ten chapters is on allo-human species; one, "The Evolution of Hemispheric Asymmetry". The book rewards reading by students from a variety of disciplines. The connections it carefully maps out include those to visual processing, affect, developmental aspects of behavior, sex, psychopathology, dyslexia, functional anatomy, motor performance, and much more. The Bibliography and Index are professional. -- Cameron Laird claird@Neosoft.com (claird%Neosoft.com@uunet.uu.net) +1 713 267 7966 claird@litwin.com (claird%litwin.com@uunet.uu.net) +1 713 996 8546