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The Alphabet and the Brain

The Lateralization of Writing

  • Book
  • © 1988

Overview

Editors:
  1. Derrick Kerckhove

    1. The McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

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  2. Charles J. Lumsden

    1. Sociobiology Research Group, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

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Table of contents (23 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages I-XVI
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  2. General Introduction

    1. General Introduction

      • Derrick de Kerckhove, Charles J. Lumsden
      Pages 1-14

  3. Biological Foundations

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 15-15
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    2. Gene-Culture Coevolution: Culture and Biology in Darwinian Perspective

      • Charles J. Lumsden
      Pages 17-42

    3. Learning and Selection in the Nervous System

      • Jean-Pierre Changeux
      Pages 43-50

    4. Neuronal Group Selection: A Basis for Categorization by the Nervous System

      • Leif H. Finkel
      Pages 51-69

  4. The Evolution of Writing Systems

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 71-71
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    2. Writing: The Invention and the Dream

      • Claude Hagège
      Pages 72-83

    3. The Origin of the Greek Alphabet

      • Joseph Naveh
      Pages 84-91

    4. Relationships Between Speech and Writing Systems in Ancient Alphabets and Syllabaries

      • Robert Lafont
      Pages 92-105

    5. Graphic Systems, Phonic Systems, and Linguistic Representations

      • Parth M. Bhatt
      Pages 106-120

  5. Writing Right and Left

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 121-121
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    2. Canons of Alphabetic Change

      • William C. Watt
      Pages 122-152

    3. Logical Principles Underlying the Layout of Greek Orthography

      • Derrick de Kerckhove
      Pages 153-172

    4. The Material Conditions of the Lateralization of the Ductus

      • Colette Sirat
      Pages 173-201

    5. Psychology of Literacy: East and West

      • Insup Taylor
      Pages 202-233

  6. Neuropsychological Considerations

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 235-235
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    2. The Biology of Writing

      • André Roch Lecours, Jean-Luc Nespoulous
      Pages 236-245

    3. Language Processing: A Neuroanatomical Primer

      • Patricia Ellen Grant
      Pages 246-272

    4. Orthography, Reading, and Cerebral Functions

      • Ovid J. L. Tzeng, Daisy L. Hung
      Pages 273-290
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Keywords

About this book

This book is a consequence of the suggestion that a major key to­ ward understanding cognition in any advanced culture is to be found in the relationships between processing orthographies, lan­ guage, and thought. In this book, the contributors attempt to take only the first step, namely to ascertain that there are reliable con­ stancies among the interactions between a given type of writing and specific brain processes. And, among the possible brain processes that could be investigated, only one apparently simple issue is being explored: namely, whether the lateralization of reading and writing to the right in fully phonemic alphabets is the result of formalized but essentially random occurrences, or whether some physiological determinants are at play. The original project was much more complicated. It began with Derrick de Kerckhove's attempt to establish a connection between the rise of the alphabetic culture in Athens and the development of a theatrical tradition in that city from around the end of the 6th century B. c. to the Roman conquest. The underlying assumption, first proposed in a conversation with Marshall McLuhan, was that the Greek alphabet was responsible for a fundamental change in the psychology of the Athenians and that the creation of the great tragedies of Greek theatre was a kind of cultural response to a con­ dition of deep psychological crisis.

Editors and Affiliations

  • The McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Derrick Kerckhove

  • Sociobiology Research Group, Department of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Charles J. Lumsden

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Alphabet and the Brain

  • Book Subtitle: The Lateralization of Writing

  • Editors: Derrick Kerckhove, Charles J. Lumsden

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-01093-8

  • Publisher: Springer Berlin, Heidelberg

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

  • Copyright Information: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 1988

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-662-01095-2Published: 05 September 2012

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-662-01093-8Published: 17 April 2013

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XVI, 455

  • Number of Illustrations: 81 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Psychology, general, Artificial Intelligence, Neurosciences

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