In article <3i312u$sk1 at oravannahka.Helsinki.FI>,
Dag Stenberg <stenberg at cc.Helsinki.FI> wrote:
>Bruce Quinn (quinn at is2.nyu.edu) wrote:
>} A physical explanation would be assymetry of blood flow in the left
>} and right carotid arteries, since the heart and aorta are assymetric.
>} This sets up one hemisphere to be slightly different than the other.
>>That is a good idea. There is asymmetry in structure; why is situs
>inversus totalis so scarce? Read J P Changeux on this one, if ever he
>wrote anything in English.
Just the other day at the library I looked quickly at a chapter in a new
book that seems to have discussed this notion. The upshot of their
hypothesis was that because sudden cardiac death is apparently related to
autonomic asymmetry, perhaps some evolutionary selection for "normal"
hemispheric asymmetry (including right brain language), set up by
differential blood flow to the hemispheres. An interesting speculation...
Here's the reference, for those who want to pursue it:
Lane, RD & Jennings, JR (1995)
Hemispheric asymmetry, autonomic asymmetry, and the problem of
sudden cardiac death. IN: R.J. Davidson & K. Hugdahl (Eds.)
_Brain Asymmetry_. Cambridge, MA: MIT/Bradford, pp. 271-304.
david
