Development of Hemispheric Specialization

Abstract

At the beginning of the seventhies, the dominant hypothesis in hemisheric specialization was that the developing hemispheres were equipotential for all functions. During the following years, many authors contested this hypothesis and showed that hemisphere specialization for linguistic and spatial functions exists within the first few postnatal months. This paper focus on a short review of the development of hemispheric specialization, considering early and late acquired focal brain lesions in children, data from functional cerebral imaging techniques, manual preference development and environmental influences. Perusal of the literature address the issue of the existence of an early hemispheric specialization but also of a bi-hemispheric participation, at least for language, during the first years of life.