Brain and Behavioral Lateralization in Animals

Abstract

Differential control of behavior and information processing by the left and right hemispheres of the brain is now well known to be characteristic of a wide number of vertebrate species, thus overturning the long-held myth that it is unique to humans. Perhaps, even more unexpected has been the discovery that the pattern of lateralization in vertebrate species is fundamentally the same as that in humans. Research on animals is revealing important information about the development, evolution, causation, and function of this key aspect of brain organization.