The statement, The right hemisphere (RH) processes language - while not exactly revolutionary - still provokes vigorous debate. It often elicits the argument that anything the RH does with language is not linguistic but paralinguistic. The resistance to the notion of RH language processing persists despite the fact that even the earliest observers of left hemisphere (LH) language specialization posited some role for the RH in language processing, and evidence attesting to various RH language processes has steadily accrued for more than 30 years.

Language depends on a normally functioning left hemisphere. This central fact of human cerebral dominance was well established by 19th century aphasiologists and has been repeatedly confirmed by subsequent investiga tions. Predominance, however, does not imply exclusivity. As demonstrated by the commissurotomy patients studied by Eran Zaidel and associates, the right hemisphere is also capable of subserving some linguistic functions. The question, then, is not whether the right hemisphere can process language, but how and when it does so. This volume focuses on the right hemisphere's...