We Are Left Fielders When It Comes to Language

“Normal people recognize words more accurately when the words are flashed to the right side of their visual field than when they are flashed to the left, even when the language is Hebrew, which is written from right to left. When different words are presented simultaneously to the two ears, the person can make out the word coming into the right ear better. In some cases of otherwise incurable epilepsy, surgeons disconnect the two cerebral hemispheres by cutting the bundle of fibers running between them. After surgery the patients live completely normal lives, except for a subtlety discovered by the neuroscientist Michael Gazzaniga: when the patients are kept still, they can describe events taking place in their right visual field and can name objects in their right hand, but cannot describe events taking place in their left visual field or name objects placed in their left hand (though the right hemisphere can display its awareness of those events by non-verbal means like gesturing and pointing). The left half of their world has been disconnected from their language center.” (p. 305, The Language Instinct, Steven Pinker)