Handedness Development: A Model for Investigating the Development of Hemispheric Specialization and Interhemispheric Coordination

The author presents his perspective on the character of science, development, and handedness and relates these to his investigations of the early development of handedness. After presenting some ideas on what hemispheric specialization of function might mean for neural processing and how handedness...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSymmetry (Basel) Vol. 13; no. 6; p. 992
Main Author Michel, George F.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.06.2021
Subjects
Behavior
Brain research
Coordination
development
embodiment
Handedness
hemispheric specialization
interhemispheric coordination
Language
lateralization
Medical imaging
Nervous system
Phase transitions
Physiology
Psychobiology
Skills
Specialization
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Summary:The author presents his perspective on the character of science, development, and handedness and relates these to his investigations of the early development of handedness. After presenting some ideas on what hemispheric specialization of function might mean for neural processing and how handedness should be assessed, the neuroscience of control of the arms/hands and interhemispheric communication and coordination are examined for how developmental processes can affect these mechanisms. The author’s work on the development of early handedness is reviewed and placed within a context of cascading events in which different forms of handedness emerge from earlier forms but not in a deterministic manner. This approach supports a continuous rather than categorical distribution of handedness and accounts for the predominance of right-handedness while maintaining a minority of left-handedness. Finally, the relation of the development of handedness to the development of several language and cognitive skills is examined.
ISSN:2073-8994
2073-8994
DOI:10.3390/sym13060992