Sorry, Raymond informed me that he wished a more general treatment of
the subject, not a continuation of the previous discussion.
Let me start with a reference list I compiled a while back :
B. Milner, "Hemispheric Specializations : Scope and Limits,"
in Schmitt and Worden (eds), _The Neurosciences : Third
Study Program_, Cambridge, Mass: M.I.T. Press, 1974, pp. 75-89
M. Kinsbourne, "Hemispheric Specialization and the Growth of
Human Understanding," _American_Psychologist_, 37 (4[1982]):411-420
D. Kimura, "The Asymmetry of the Human Brain," _Scientific_American_,
228, (3[1973]):70-80.
R.D. Nebes, 1974, "Hemispheric Specialization in commissurotomized
man," _Psychological_Bulletin_, 81, pp. 1-14.
M. Allen, 1983, "Models of Hemispheric Specialization,"
_Psychological_Bulletin_, 93, 73-104.
A. Gevins et. al., in _Science_, sometime in 1979 had possibly
the most 'skeptical' view of hemisphere specialization,
claiming from his EEG studies of dozens of people that
when motor contaminants were removed, that there was no
preferential activation of either hemisphere for even the simplest
of tasks. His Aug 21, 1981 article in _Science_ (vol. 213,
pp. 918-921, "Electrical Potentials in Human Brain During Cognition:
New Method Reveals Dynamic Patters of Correlation," is even
better for discussing his findings, though less specifically
addressing hemisphere specialization.
My impression is equipotentiality is mostly dead, but that 'naive
localization' doesn't quite do the job, either. The patterns of
activity for even simple tasks is extremely complex, not hemisphere
preferential in any useful sense. The main differences
between the hemispheres are (suggested by brain damage study for the
most part) that sophisticated language depends on the left side in
most normal right handers (though the right has _some_ primitive
language use), and that spatial processing is (to a lesser extent)
dependent on the right side in most neurologically normal right
handers.
But for useful investigation of practical problem solving
and higher mental abilities, it probably requires a finer
breakdown than provided by hemisphere specialization.
As I mentioned in alt.s-i, Howard Gardner provides a nice
review of the background and foundation for this kind of study
in his _Frames_of_Mind_, _Multiple_Intelligences_.
Hope this helps.
kind regards,
todd
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Todd I. Stark stark at dwovax.enet.dec.com |
| Digital Equipment Corporation (215) 542-3573 |
| Philadelphia, Pa. USA |
| "(A word is) the skin of a living thought" Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Todd I. Stark stark at dwovax.enet.dec.com |
| Digital Equipment Corporation (215) 542-3573 |
| Philadelphia, Pa. USA |
| "(A word is) the skin of a living thought" Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+