Development and Biological Associations of Cerebral Dominance: Review and Possible Mechanisms

Abstract

The study of cerebral dominance began as an esoteric field of inquiry to a few workers interested in behavior and has increasingly involved the thinking of investigators in many branches of science, including psychiatry, psychology, neurology and the neurosciences, education, and sociology. Recent advances have shown that cerebral dominance is deeply embedded in a biological process that affects not only behavior, but the constitution of the body as a whole. Furthermore, cerebral dominance is not uniquely human and pertains to the biology of non-human species, including other mammals, through amphibians and fishes. The purposes of this article are to review the anatomic basis and biological associations of cerebral dominance and to consider several working hypotheses related to the development of cerebral asymmetry and its manifestations.