ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the future status of cerebral asymmetries within three major areas of interest: new theoretical formulations, refined experimental procedures, and potential educational applications. Many theories on the origin of cerebral asymmetries have correlated language usage to the development of tools. At this point, it probably is a good idea to redefine what we mean by relative lateralization. According to most experimental sources, interhemispheric differences are more a matter of degree than of kind. This cross-hemispheric involvement makes it extremely difficult to distinguish exclusively left-brain from exclusively right-brain functions, especially because the corpus callosum merges the two hemispheric inputs together. Petersen and his research team assessed subjects' brain activity throughout these conditions via a number of PET scan readings. Efron's visual scanning mechanism appropriately explained the effects obtained with multiple lateralized stimuli, and perhaps it can be modified for other experimental procedures in time.
