The topic of this study is left-handedness as a phenomenon in violin playing and classical violin pedagogy. The aim of the study is to investigate what kind of knowledge and approaches are crucial for taking left-handedness into account when teaching left-handed violinists in the normatively right-handed violin pedagogy. The body of knowledge arises from literature on hemispheric lateralization, left-handedness, attributes of violin playing, and earlier studies on hand-preference and musical performance, hemispheric adaptations to musical training, and children’s conceptions of left and right. A background-study was carried out on left-handedness in guitar playing. The study employs abductive reasoning, has an auto-ethnographic thread and draws on the hermeneutical epistemology. The theoretical framework rests on the cultural-psychological perspective on music education. The data was collected in two parts using qualitative ethnography-inspired methods. First qualitative thematic interview was used for gathering strategically sampled data from expert respondents on violin playing, pedagogy and violin-making. Secondly non-participant observation and follow-up interview was used for examining a beginner violin lesson. The findings of the study suggest that violin pedagogues need knowledge of the lateralization effects on violin playing and methodological understanding for pupils’ handedness and maturity of motor development. The data suggests that left-handedness is not a disadvantage in violin playing when provided with education that recognizes it. Reversed violin playing is considered as an alternative for strongly left-handed pupils. The data shows that violin education needs open discussion on left-handedness in terms of prejudices in orchestras, and raised awareness on the availability of left-handed instruments.

No description available.

Cerebral lateralization was once thought to be unique to humans, but is now known to be widespread among the vertebrates. Lateralization appears to confer cognitive advantages upon those that possess it. Despite the taxonomic ubiquity and described advantages of lateralization, substantial individual variation exists in all species. Individual variation in cerebral lateralization may be tied to individual variation in behaviour and the selective forces that act to maintain variation in behaviour may also act to maintain variation in lateralization. Sex differences may also be an important source of variation in lateralization, as differences between males and females are often observed. Here, I present three papers that collectively deal with the interrelationships between sex, behaviour and cerebral lateralization in the convict cichlid. My results illustrate that lateralization is related to personality-like characteristics in the convict cichlid, and that there are important differences between the sexes in their pattern of lateralization.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-10-13T15:08:09Z No. of bitstreams: 1 marceloluizdutravicente.pdf: 2312980 bytes, checksum: b37c60d826b1535e34d7681e6ff5daee (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-10-22T12:57:22Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 marceloluizdutravicente.pdf: 2312980 bytes, checksum: b37c60d826b1535e34d7681e6ff5daee (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-10-22T12:57:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 marceloluizdutravicente.pdf: 2312980 bytes, checksum: b37c60d826b1535e34d7681e6ff5daee (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-03-07 / CNPq - Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / FAPEMIG - Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais / Estudos prévios têm mostrado que a agenesia calosa causada por irradiação ionizante prénatal promove alterações na expressão de lateralidade cerebral. Sugere-se que fatores genéticos possam estar envolvidos na expressão de lateralidade cerebral. A intenção deste trabalho foi estudar, em camundongos, as correlações entre expressões de lateralidade cerebral no teste de preferência de patas, que avaliou o comportamento lateralizado motor e no teste de campo aberto, que avaliou o comportamento lateralizado sensório-motor, quando avaliado o comportamento em sua periferia. No teste campo aberto, os animais foram divididos em subgrupos: aqueles que foram expostos a um fator sonoro contínuo estressante de 105 decibéis a 3000 Hz e os que não foram expostos. Foi testado um número total de 49 machos não irradiados e 51 fêmeas não irradiadas, 34 machos irradiados e 39 fêmeas irradiadas. Os instrumentos estatísticos utilizados foram análise de regressão com o coeficiente de Pearson e ANOVA. Os resultados mostraram índice de significância nas correlações lateralidade direcional da preferência de patas x lateralidade direcional do campo aberto e lateralidade direcional da preferência de patas x índice de lateralidade do campo aberto, em machos não irradiados sem som e em fêmeas não irradiadas com som. A modificação nos índices de lateralidade nos animais irradiados dos respectivos grupos sugere a participação da ontogênese calosa no estabelecimento da lateralidade como expressão conjunta. Além disto, a presença de índices de significância nos grupos não irradiados citados sugere a participação de fatores genéticos e/ou epigenéticos no estabelecimento da lateralidade como expressão conjunta. / Previous studies showed that callosal agenesis by exposition to prenatal ionizing irradiation leads to changes in the cerebral lateralized behavior. Other studies suggest genetic factors as involved in the establisment of cerebral lateralization. The intention this work was to study, in mice, the correlations between the establisment of the cerebral lateralization on the paw preference test, that objectives the study of motor laterality, and on the open-field test, that objetives the study of sensoriomotor lateralization on the periphery. In the open-field test the animals were subdivided in subgroups: that were exposed a stressing continuous sound factor of 105 dB and 3000 Hz and that weren’t exposed. It were tested 49 nonirradiated males, 51 nonirradiated females, 34 irradiated males, 39 irradiated females. The statistical tool used were the regression analysis with the Pearson Coefficient and the ANOVA. The results showed significance in correlations of directional laterality of the paw preference x directional laterality of the open-field, and in directional laterality of the paw preference x lateralisation index of the open-field. This was expressed in the nonirradiated males without sound and nonirradiated females with sound. The changes on the laterality index in the irradiated mice on the respective groups suggest the role of the callosal ontogenesis on the establisment of laterality as a dual expression. On the other hand, the presence of significance index on the above cited nonirradiated grouos suggest the role of genetic and/or epigenetic factors on the laterality establishment as a dual expression.

The purpose of this thesis focused on a literature curriculum designed to improve reading comprehension through the stimulation of the right hemisphere of the brain. A case study of this curriculum development effort involved a third-grade student from a local public 2 school. He was a part-time Specific Learning Disability student with weaknesses in visual organization, visual concentration, and reading comprehension. A time span of six weeks was dedicated to increasing the child's reading comprehension within a literature framework through the use of right-brain stimulants, specifically, color and visualization. The Gates-MacGinitie Reading Test, Level C, administered at the conclusion of the instructional sessions, and teacher observation provided the evaluation of the curriculum. Results of the study proved inconclusive. Further field study was recommended.

Sensorische Asymmetrien zeigen sich vor allem im Bereich der Augen und der Ohren. Es gibt verschiedene Möglichkeiten, diese Asymmetrien zu untersuchen. Hierbei kann man Präferenz-, Leistungstests and sensorische Tests unterscheiden. Im Gegensatz zur Präferenz der Augen wurde die Ohrpräferenz bisher nur wenig berücksichtigt. Das Ziel dieser Studie ist es, einige neue Aspekte zur Untersuchung vorzulegen. Wir konnten in der Literatur insgesamt 13 verschiedene Tests zur Bestimmung der Präferenzohrigkeit nachweisen: «Schublade», «Tischdecke», «Schachtel», «Stoppuhr», «Telefonhörer», «Wandtelefon», «Ohrstecker», «Tür», «Herzschlag», «Taschenradio», «Stimme», «Wand» und «Kopfbewegung». Bei insgesamt 300 Studenten wurde nun die Brauchbarkeit dieser 13 Testproben geprüft. Es konnte eine hohe Beziehung zwischen «Stoppuhr», «Herzschlag», «Tür» und «Schachtel» nachgewiesen werden, nicht jedoch zwischen Telefonieren und Ohrigkeit. Es wird vorgeschlagen, die Ohrigkeit mit einer Testbatterie zu bestimmen, welche vier Testproben umfasst («Stoppuhr», «Herzschlag», «Tür» und «Schachtel»). / Sensory asymmetries are most prominent with respect to the eyes and ears. There are various ways to investigate these asymmetries. The tests used for this purpose can be classified as preference, performance and sensory tests. Contrary to eyedness, earedness has received little attention. The objective of this study is to provide a few new investigatory aspects. We were able to identify 13 different tests for the determination of earedness in the literature: ‘drawer’, ‘tablecloth’, ‘box’, ‘stop watch’, ‘telephone receiver’, ‘wall phone’, ‘earphone’, ‘door’, ‘heartbeat’, ‘transistor radio’, ‘voice’, ‘wall’ and ‘head movement’. A study including 300 student test subjects was done to determine the usefulness of this battery of 13 tests. A high correlation was found between ‘stop watch’, ‘heartbeat’, ‘door’ and ‘box’, but not between telephoning and earedness. The determination of earedness by a battery comprised of 4 tests (‘stop watch’, ‘heartbeat’, ‘door’ and ‘box’) is suggested. / Les asymétries sensorielles se manifestent surtout au niveau des yeux et des oreilles. Il existe plusieurs façons d’étudier des asymétries. On distingue les tests de latéralité, les tests de performance et les tests sensoriels. Contrairement à la latéralité visuelle, la latéralité auditive a été peu étudiée jusqu’ici. Cette étude a pour but de présenter des aspects nouveaux dans ce domaine. Nous avons retrouvé dans la littérature 13 tests au total pour la détermination de la latéralité auditive: «le tiroir», «la nappe», «la boîte», «le chronomètre», «l’écouteur téléphonique», «le téléphone mural», «l’appareil auditif», «la porte», «les battements du coeur», «la radio portative», «la voix», «le mur», «le mouvement de la tête». L’utilité de ces 13 tests a été éprouvée chez 300 étudiants. Une relation significative avec la latéralité a été obtenue pour «le chronomètre », «les battements du coeur», «la porte» et «la boî- te», mais pas pour le téléphone. Les auteurs proposent d’établir la latéralité auditive au moyen d’une batterie de 4 tests: «le chronomètre», «les battements du coeur», «la porte» et «la boîte». / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

Die Ursache für das idiopathische Stottern ist bis zum jetzigen Zeitpunkt unbekannt. Typischerweise beginnt die Redeflussstörung im Vorschulalter. Es wird davon ausgegangen, dass 1% der Bevölkerung an Stottern leidet. Bei der Frage nach pathophysiologischen Hintergründen von Sprech- und Sprachstörungen ist der Zusammenhang zwischen einer pathologischen, funktionellen Lateralisierung und einer morphologischen Asymmetrie im Bereich von neuronalen Netzwerken der Sprachbildung bereits seit längerem Gegenstand der Forschung. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde die Lateralisierung von Sprache bei 17 stotternden Probanden und 20, im Alter entsprechenden, flüssig sprechenden Probanden untersucht. Hierbei wurde die Sprachlateralisierung mithilfe der fMRT sowohl mit einem Satz- als auch mit einem Wortgenerierungsparadigma ermittelt. Ausgehend von den in der fMRT ermittelten Sprachzentren wurde die angrenzende weiße Substanz unter Verwendung der DTI auf eine Asymmetrie hin untersucht. Im Vergleich zu der Gruppe der Normalprobanden zeigten die schwer stotternden Probanden eine Verschiebung der Indexwerte, deren endgültige Ursache offen bleibt. Gesteigerte funktionelle Aktivierung in Bereichen der rechtshemisphärischen Analoga der Sprachzentren scheint ein möglicher Erklärungsansatz. Vorausgegangene funktionelle Untersuchungen u. a. mittels PET und fMRT bei stotternden Probanden belegten eine Überaktivierung von Teilen des motorischen Kortex sowie eine atypische Lateralisierung bei der Produktion von Sprache mit rechtsseitiger Lateralisierung oder eine bilaterale Aktivität. Darüber hinaus zeigte sich eine morphologische Veränderung, im Sinne einer Abnahme einer linkshemisphärischen Asymmetrie bei den schwer stotternden Probanden, besonders in der an das Wernicke-Areal angrenzenden weißen Substanz. Mithilfe der VBM konnten in mehreren früheren Studien morphologische Unterschiede bei Stotternden gezeigt werden. Gegenüber dem rein morphologischen Untersuchungsansatz vorangegangener Untersuchungen berücksichtigte die Kombination der funktionellen und der diffusionsgewichteten Analyse stärker die intraindividuelle Variabilität der Sprachzentren.

In neuro surgery, the expression awake surgery generally refers to tumour surgery in the brain while the patient is concious. At Akademiska Sjukhuset, Uppsala, it is today standard to perform awake surgery on tumours located in the dominant left hemisphere while awake. However, regarding awake surgery in the non-dominant right hemisphere it is not clear what functions should be tested and how this should be done. A test battery for awake surgery in the right hemisphere should be developed like the test that are used in awake surgery in the left hemisphere. Science recommends awake surgery in the right hemisphere which already being done around Europe. As patients with brain tumours have a good prognosis post operative it is important to retain, or ameliorate, their quality of life. This literature study’s main purpose is to present which functions, important for language and communication, are located in the right hemisphere. The study also intends to account for testing of these functions intraoperatively, after rightsided stroke and on persons with right hemisphere lesions. The functions are many in number, essential for maintaining the quality of life but some are difficult to test. According to the literature study, the functions that appeared most significant are neglect and pragmatic with its functional, social and communicative effects. More research on the right hemispherical functions and how they are organized is necessary. The work intends to be the basis for continued development of awake surgery tests in the right hemisphere in Akademiska Sjukhuset, Uppsala. / Inom neurokirurgin avser uttrycket vakenkirurgi oftast tumörkirurgi i hjärnan samtidigt som patienten är vid fullt medvetande under ingreppet. Vid Akademiska Sjukhuset i Uppsala är det standard att operera tumörer belägna i den språkligt dominanta vänstra hemisfären i vaket tillstånd medan man vid en del andra centra även förespråkar vakenkirurgi i den icke-språkligt dominanta högra hemisfären. Det är emellertid inte klarlagt vilka funktioner som i så fall bör testas och hur detta ska gå till. Ett testbatteri vid vakenkirurgi i höger hemisfär skulle behöva utvecklas likt det test som används vid tumörer i vänster hemisfär. Vakenkirurgi i höger hemisfär genomförs i dag på enstaka center i Europa. Då patienter med hjärntumörer kan ha en god prognos postoperativt är det angeläget att behålla, eller förbättra, deras livskvalitet. Denna litteraturstudies huvudsakliga syfte är att presentera vilka funktioner, viktiga för språk och kommunikation, som är lokaliserade i höger hemisfär. Studien redogör också för testning av dessa funktioner intraoperativt, efter högersidig stroke och på personer med högerhemisfäriska skador. Funktionerna är många till antalet, viktiga för att bibehålla livskvaliteten men en del även svårtestade. Enligt vår litteraturgenomgång är de funktioner som framstått som mest betydelsefulla neglekt och pragmatik med dess funktionella, sociala och kommuniktiva påverkan. Mer forskning om höger hemisfärs funktioner och hur dessa är organiserade behövs. Arbetet ämnar ligga till grund för fortsatt utveckling av vakenkirurgitest i höger hemisfär på Akademiska Sjukhuset i Uppsala.

The main aim of this dissertation was to investigate the difference in neural language patternsrelated to language ability in healthy adults. The focus lies on unraveling the contributions of theright‐hemispheric homologues to Broca’s area in the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and Wernicke’s areain the posterior temporal and inferior parietal lobes. The functions of these regions are far from fullyunderstood at present. Two study populations consisting of healthy adults and a small group ofpeople with generalized epilepsy were investigated. Individual performance scores in tests oflanguage ability were correlated with brain activation obtained with functional magnetic resonanceimaging during semantic and word fluency tasks. Performance‐dependent differences were expectedin the left‐hemispheric Broca’s and Wernicke’s area and in their right‐hemispheric counterparts. PAPER I revealed a shift in laterality towards right‐hemispheric IFG and posterior temporal lobeactivation, related to high semantic performance. The whole‐brain analysis results of PAPER IIrevealed numerous candidate regions for language ability modulation. PAPER II also confirmed thefinding of PAPER I, by showing several performance‐dependent regions in the right‐hemispheric IFGand the posterior temporal lobe. In PAPER III, a new study population of healthy adults was tested.Again, the right posterior temporal lobe was related to high semantic performance. A decrease in lefthemisphericIFG activation could be linked to high word fluency ability. In addition, task difficultywas modulated. Increased task complexity showed to correlate positively with bilateral IFGactivation. Lastly, PAPER IV investigated anti‐correlated regions. These regions are commonly knownas the default mode network (DMN) and are normally suppressed during cognitive tasks. It wasfound that people with generalized epilepsy had an inadequate suppression of regions in the DMN,and showed poorer performance in a complex language test. The results point to neural adaptabilityin the IFG and temporal lobe. Decreased left‐lateralization of the IFG and increased rightlateralizationof the posterior temporal lobe are proposed as characteristics of individuals with highlanguage ability.

A large body of research has depicted relative arousal of the left and right cerebral hemispheres as related to utilization of particular defensive coping styles, level of anxiety, and perceptual styles. The right and left hemispheres are also presented in the literature as differing in visual-spatial and verbal-auditory short term memory abilities. The present research studied 127 right handed undergraduates' relative performance on forward spatial and digits memory spans in relation to hemispheric lateralization and other perceptual and personality variables hypothesized in the literature to be related to hemispheric arousal. It was hypothesized that the forward spatial and digit memory spans would display asymmetrical sensitivity to hemispheric arousal. That is, in a series of successive factor analyses, a hemispheric balance factor, a trait anxiety factor, and a short term memory factor would emerge. The three factors were hypothesized to be unrelated to each other. During an initial group pretesting, subjects were given pencil and paper measures of handedness, trait anxiety, and several defensive coping styles. During a second individual testing, subjects were administered measures of short term memory, field independence, and a computerized presentation of geometric designs which measured the subjects ability to detect differences which occurred at either the global or analytic level (Navon task). The factor analyses revealed only the hypothesized trait anxiety factor. The hypothesized short term memory and hemispheric balance of arousal factors did not emerge. Instead, a. defensive coping style factor and separate verbal—auditory and visual-spatial short term memory factors emerged. Several methodological difficulties of the present study which possibly contributed to the failure of the two hypothesized factors to emerge were discussed. Several additional findings, including sex differences in hemispheric lateralization, were presented. Also, signal detection analysis revealed a pattern such that trait anxious subjects were biased toward over-reporting differences on the Navon task. Implications for further research were presented.