Hemispheric lateralization occupies a contested but generative position within the depth-psychology corpus, functioning simultaneously as a neurobiological datum, a philosophical frame, and a developmental substrate. The richest and most sustained engagement appears in Schore's affective neuroscience, where the differential critical periods and distinct ontogenetic trajectories of the left and right prefrontal systems ground his proposal that the two hemispheres are the primary regulators of lateralized emotional processing. McGilchrist's massive bibliographic apparatus in The Matter with Things draws on hundreds of laterality studies — covering emotion, language, attention, sexual drive, schizophrenia, creativity, and temporal cognition — to build the case that hemispheric asymmetry is not incidental but constitutive of how the brain enacts two fundamentally different modes of relating to the world. Siegel's developmental neuroscience situates hemispheric asymmetry within network integration and the dynamics of interpersonal attunement, noting that unconscious emotional perception shows marked right-hemisphere dominance. The infant gesture research in the Lanius volume adds a developmental dimension, tracking early lateralization of gestural meaning-making as independent from the emerging linguistic system. Across these voices, the central tension is whether lateralization names a fixed structural feature or a dynamic functional equilibrium — and whether its disruption, particularly right-hemisphere suppression, constitutes the signature pathology of modern Western consciousness.
In the library
17 substantive passages
The Two Prefrontal Systems are Responsible for the Hemispheric Lateralization of Emotions … the two hemispheres have different critical periods and exhibit differential developmental features
Schore proposes that the orbital and dorsolateral prefrontal systems, with their distinct ontogenetic timelines, are the neurobiological substrate responsible for the lateralized regulation of emotional life.
Schore, Allan N., Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self: The Neurobiology of Emotional Development, 1994thesis
the neural sites for the expression of social–emotional communication are generally viewed as lateralized to the right hemisphere … the gestural system for conveying meaning is an independent meaning-making system
Infant gesture research demonstrates that the prelinguistic system for social-emotional meaning is right-lateralized and develops independently of the linguistic system, offering an early developmental window onto hemispheric specialization.
Lanius, edited by Ruth A, The impact of early life trauma on health and disease the, 2010thesis
a hemispheric asymmetry for the unconscious perception of emotion … an examination of the right-hemisphere hypothesis of the lateralization of emotion … hemispheric asymmetries for the conscious and unconscious perception of emotional words
Siegel's bibliography anchors the claim that emotion perception — both conscious and unconscious — shows consistent right-hemisphere asymmetry, situating lateralization within his broader integration framework.
Siegel, Daniel J., The Developing Mind: How Relationships and the Brain Interact to Shape Who We Are, 2020supporting
Fiber density asymmetry of the arcuate fasciculus in relation to functional hemispheric language lateralization in both right- and left-handed healthy subjects: a combined fMRI and DTI study
Structural asymmetry of white-matter tracts correlates with functional language lateralization regardless of handedness, grounding hemispheric specialization in measurable neuroanatomical differences.
Sachs, Matthew E., Brain connectivity reflects human aesthetic responses to music, 2016supporting
Sex-related hemispheric lateralization of amygdala function in emotionally influenced memory: an fMRI investigation … Hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults: the HAROLD model
McGilchrist's bibliography documents sex-differentiated and age-related changes in hemispheric lateralization, particularly of amygdala function, indicating that asymmetry is dynamic across the lifespan and biological variables.
McGilchrist, Iain, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World, 2021supporting
Sex-related hemispheric lateralization of amygdala function in emotionally influenced memory: an fMRI investigation
Parallel reference set confirms that sex-related hemispheric lateralization of the amygdala is a recurring empirical finding in McGilchrist's evidentiary edifice.
McGilchrist, Iain, The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World, 2021supporting
Hemispheric laterality effects on a facial recognition task in normal subjects … Individual variation in hemispheric asymmetry: multitask study of effects related to handedness and sex
McGilchrist cites classic and contemporary laterality research on face recognition and individual variation, establishing the empirical breadth of hemispheric asymmetry across diverse cognitive tasks.
McGilchrist, Iain, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World, 2021supporting
Hemispheric differences in processing emotions and faces … A right hemispheric prefrontal system for cognitive time measurement
McGilchrist marshals evidence that the right hemisphere predominates not only in emotional and facial processing but also in temporal cognition, expanding lateralization beyond language into the structure of experience itself.
McGilchrist, Iain, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World, 2021supporting
Gender and rapid alterations of hemispheric dominance during planning … Implicit motives and hemispheric process … Language lateralization in a boy with situs inversus totalis
McGilchrist documents that hemispheric dominance shifts rapidly with task demands, varies with gender, and is linked to implicit motivational systems, complicating any fixed localizationist account.
McGilchrist, Iain, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World, 2021supporting
Gender and rapid alterations of hemispheric dominance during planning … Language lateralization in a boy with situs inversus totalis
Parallel citation confirms the dynamic and sex-sensitive character of hemispheric dominance, as well as the striking dissociation of anatomical from functional lateralization in rare situs inversus cases.
McGilchrist, Iain, The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World, 2021supporting
Right hemispheric dominance and interhemispheric cooperation in gaze-triggered reflexive shift of attention … functional connectivity and asymmetry of the planum temporale in patients with schizophrenia
Evidence of right-hemisphere dominance in attentional orienting, alongside planum temporale asymmetry disruption in schizophrenia, positions lateralization at the intersection of attention, language, and psychopathology.
McGilchrist, Iain, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World, 2021aside
Right hemispheric dominance and interhemispheric cooperation in gaze-triggered reflexive shift of attention
Right-hemisphere dominance in reflexive attentional shifts is cited as part of a broader pattern of functional asymmetry extending into social perception.
McGilchrist, Iain, The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World, 2021aside
Cerebral lateralization of language in normal left-handed people studied by functional MRI … Reduced hemispheric asymmetry of white matter microstructure in autism spectrum disorder
McGilchrist extends lateralization evidence to atypical populations — left-handers and individuals with autism — revealing both the variability and the clinical significance of hemispheric asymmetry.
McGilchrist, Iain, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World, 2021aside
Are creativity and schizotypy products of a right hemisphere bias? … Language lateralisation in unmedicated patients during an acute episode of schizophrenia
McGilchrist invokes research linking anomalous hemispheric lateralization to both creative cognition and schizophrenic symptom formation, pressing the philosophical implications of right-hemisphere bias.
McGilchrist, Iain, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World, 2021aside
Individual variation in hemispheric asymmetry: multitask study of effects related to handedness and sex … Categorization versus distance: hemispheric differences for processing spatial information
McGilchrist draws on studies of individual variation in lateralization to show that hemispheric asymmetry in spatial processing interacts with handedness and sex, underscoring its multidimensional character.
McGilchrist, Iain, The Matter with Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions, and the Unmaking of the World, 2021aside