Contributions of the right cerebral hemisphere in perceiving paralinguistic cues of emotion

Larry I. Benowitz

David M. Bear

Marsel-M. Mesulam

Robert Rosenthal

Eran Zaidel

Roger W. Sperry

pp. 75-95

in: Lucia Vaina, Jaakko Hintikka (eds), Cognitive constraints on communication, Berlin, Springer, 1984

Abstract

Discoveries in neurology and linguistics indicate that many aspects of human language are determined by specific structural features of the brain, a notion which differs radically from the more prevalent idea of language being an arbitrary, culturally evolved set of symbols and combinatorial rules which during development somehow become represented upon an infinitely malleable nervous system. The present study has attempted to examine whether such neurological specification might extend to other aspects of our social interactions as well, particularly the communication of affect through paralinguistic cues. But before describing the rationale for our own studies, it might be best to mention a little more about spoken language.