ABSTRACT
Normal language comprehension requires the contribution of both the left and right cerebral hemispheres. Until relatively recently this would have been a controversial statement; however, as can be seen by several contemporary volumes on the contribution of right hemisphere language capability (Chiarello, 1988; Joanette, Goulet, & Hannequin, 1990; and this volume), there is a considerable amount of empirical evidence to support the notion that both hemispheres are called on for a full complement of memory and language resources in order for language comprehension in all its nuances to occur (see Burgess & Chiarello, 1996, for a review). Understanding the complex relationship between the two cerebral hemispheres has been a crucial component of the development of our knowledge base. Given the considerable amount of empirical research in the area of cerebral asymmetries, it is startling that there has been a virtual absence of formal computational modeling of these cognitive processes or the mental representations that underlie them. This absence of implemented models of cerebral asymmetries certainly stands out when compared to the proliferation of computational models in cognitive psychology (Arbib, 1995; Reilly & Sharkey, 1992; Tesauro, Touretzky, & Leen, 1995), or even models applied to other cognitive neuropsychological problems such as deep dyslexia (Hinton & Shallice, 1991).
