Behavioral and Brain Sciences

Table of Contents - 2003 - Volume 26, Issue 02  

Short Communication

A zetetic's perspective on gesture, speech, and the evolution of right-handedness

Amir Raz a1 and Opher Donchin a2

a1 Department of Psychiatry, Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York Presbyterian Hospital – Westchester Division, White Plains, NY 10605 amr2006@med.cornell.edu
a2 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21205 opher@bme.jhu.edu

Abstract

Charmed by Corballis's presentation, we challenge the use of mirror neurons as a supporting platform for the gestural theory of language, the link between vocalization and cerebral specialization, and the relationship between gesture and language as two separate albeit coupled systems of communication. We revive an alternative explanation of lateralization of language and handedness.