Side Bias: Cerebral Hemispheric Asymmetry in Social Cognition and Emotion Perception

This chapter characterizes the nature of the hemispheric biases in social cognition. This includes both description and discussion of the literature examining the extent of hemispheric specialization in firstly how we identify and interpret the mental states of other people, and secondly how we perceive emotion. Overall, research continues to demonstrate the importance of the right cerebral hemisphere for social cognitive processes. The role of the right hemisphere is most apparent in studies involving patients with brain damage(i.e., the brain lesion approach)and in studies of healthy participants using behavioral paradigms, such as chimeric faces or tachistoscopic procedures.