Right Hemisphere Language Comprehension：Perspectives From Cognitive Neuroscience

Thestatement,"TheRightHemisphere(RH)processeslanguage"--whilenotexactlyrevolutionary--stillprovokesvigorousdebate.ItoftenelicitstheargumentthatanythingtheRHdoeswithlanguageisnotlinguisticbut"paralinguistic."TheresistancetothenotionofRHlanguageprocessingpersistsdespitethefactthateventheearliestobserversofLeftHemisphere(LH)languagespecializationpositedsomerolefortheRHinlanguageprocessing,andevidenceattestingtovariousRHlanguageprocesseshassteadilyaccruedformorethan30years.Inthisvolume,chapterspertaintoawide,butbynomeans,exhaustivesetoflanguagecomprehensionprocessesforwhichRHcontributionshavebeendemonstrated.Thesectionsareorganizedaroundtheseprocesses,beginningwithinitialdecodingofwrittenorspokeninput,proceedingthroughsemanticprocessingofsinglewordsandsentences,uptocomprehensionofmorecomplexdiscourse,aswellasproblemsolving.ThechaptersassembledhereshouldbegintomeltthisresistancetoevidenceofRHlanguageprocessing.Thisvolume'smaingoalistocompileevidenceaboutRHlanguagefunctionfromascatteredliterature.Theeditorialcommentariesconcludingeachsectionhighlighttherelevanceofthesephenomenaforpsycholinguisticandneuropsychologicaltheory,anddiscusssimilaritiesandapparentdiscrepanciesinthefindingsreportedinindividualchapters.Inthefinalchapter,commonthemesthatemergefromtheenterpriseofstudyingRHlanguageandfuturechallengeforthefieldarereviewed.Althoughallchaptersfocusonlyon"typical"lateralityofrighthandedpeople,thisworkprovidesarepresentativesampleofthecurrentstateoftheartinRHlanguageresearch.Importantfeaturesinclude:*awiderangeofcoveragefromspeechperceptionandreadingthroughcomplexdiscoursecomprehensionandproblem-solving;*researchpresentedfrombothempiricalandtheoreticalperspectives;and*commentariesandconclusionsintegratingfindingsandtheoriesacrosssub-domains,andspeculatingonfuturedirectionsofthefield.