ABSTRACT
The question of the asymmetrical nature of the neurobiological bases of human communication has been fascinating researchers for more than a century. The initial step in this discovery revealed that, in right-handers, the essence of the cerebral representation of language was confined to the left hemisphere. The second act was to come later in the twentieth century when some clever clinical observations were reported by certain visionaries – such as Eisenson (1962), Weinstein (1964) and Critchley (1962) – who raised the possibility that a lesion to the right hemisphere might also interfere with some aspects of communicative abilities. Since that time, the fact has not been challenged: the right hemisphere undeniably contributes in some way to the ability we have to communicate with others, and when the right hemisphere is lesioned, this ability can be altered in various ways. The first book to capture, summarize and critique the different observations suggesting that the right hemisphere makes such a contribution to communicative abilities, as well as to a patient’s recovery after aphasia, was written by another visionary, Professor Chris Code. In 1987, Professor Code published a monograph entitled Language, aphasia and the right hemisphere. In that book, he provided a unique overview of the different sources of observations addressing the question of the right hemisphere’s participation in language. Although the summary of these observations was in itself a first, Professor Code did not content himself with a synthesis of the then available knowledge. This book also makes unique theoretical statements and proposals about the nature of the right hemisphere’s contribution to language and communication, and the future studies needed to address these issues.
