Language and Reading in the Right Hemisphere: Highways or Byways of the Brain?

Abstract

The literature pertaining to the representation of language in the right hemisphere of hemispherectomy and callosotomy patients is reviewed to ascertain whether it provides an empirical basis for the assertions that (1) the right hemisphere participates in the recovery of language in aphasia, (2) the right hemisphere mediates the reading errors of deep dyslexic and pure alexic patients, and (3) the right hemisphere plays a fixed role in normal reading processes. At present, there appears to be some support for the first assertion, limited support for the second (if individual variation in representation can be accepted), and disconfirming evidence for the third in the data from these populations.