ABSTRACT
The concept that the two cerebral hemispheres in humans are specialized for qualitatively different types of information processing has been fairly well established, based on anatomical, clinical, behavioral, and neurophysiological evidence. In most right-handed individuals, areas of the left hemisphere are believed to play the major role in language comprehension and production and in tasks involving analytic processing, while areas of the right hemisphere appear to be specialized for spatial and holistic types of processing (see Broca, 1865; Wernicke, 1874; Geschwind & Levitsky, 1968; Geschwind, 1972; Wada, Clark, & Hamm, 1975; Sperry, 1974; and Sperry, 1982, for clinical and anatomical evidence. See Kimura, 1973; Kimura & Durnford, 1974; Kinsbourne, 1972; and Galin & Ornstein, 1974, for behavioral evidence. See Morrell & Salamy, 1971; Molfese, Freeman, & Palermo, 1975; Doyle, Ornstein, & Galin, 1974; Galin & Ellis, 1975; Friedman, Simpson, Ritter, & Rapin, 1975; Shucard, Shucard, & Thomas, 1977; and Galin, 1979, for electrophysiological evidence. See Galin, 1974; and Nebes, 1974, for more general reviews.) This chapter will focus on the relationship between electro-physiological measures of cerebral specialization and reading disabilities.
