Complementary hemispheric specialization for language production and visuospatial attention

摘要

Language production and spatial attention are among the best-established human cerebral functions known to be lateralized (i.e., specific to the left or right side of the brain). Neuroimaging techniques have confirmed that language production is left lateralized in most humans, whereas spatial attention is right lateralized. Results of animal studies have suggested that a complementary specialization of functions is advantageous when carrying out simultaneous processing and that this specialization may have contributed to the evolution of cognitive lateralization (1).