Work

How the development of handedness could contribute to the development of language

Year: 2013

Type: review

Abstract: We propose a developmental process which may link the development of handedness with the development of hemispheric specialization for speech processing. Using Arbib's proposed sequence of sensorimotor development of manual skills and gestures (that he considers to be the basis of speech gestures and proto-language), we show how the development of hand-use preferences in proto-reaching skills concatenate into object acquisition skills and eventually into role-differentiated bimanual manipulation skills (that reflect interhemispheric communication and coordination). These latter sensorimotor skills might facilitate the development of speech processing via their influence on the development of tool-using and object management abilities.

Source: Developmental Psychobiology

DOI: 10.1002/dev.21121

Authors: George F. Michel, Iryna Babik, Eliza L. Nelson, Julie M. Campbell, Emily C. Marcinowski

Institutions: University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Florida International University

Language: English

Topic: Hemispheric Asymmetry in Neuroscience

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: green

Funders: National Institutes of Health, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Awards: INFANT INTERMANUAL COORDINATION AND HAPTIC PERCEPTION, G2099575816, Human Development: Interdisciplinary Research Training