The Lateralized Brain

Sebastian Ocklenburg is a post-doc in the biopsychology lab at Ruhr-University Bochum in Germany. Born in Duisburg, Germany, he knew since primary school that he wanted to become a scientist. After obtaining his bachelor¿s and master¿s degree in psychology, Sebastian conducted his PhD thesis on the genetics and neurophysiology of hemispheric asymmetries. For this work, he was awarded the prestigious Heinz-Heckhausen award by the German Society for Psychology. Subsequently, he worked as a post-doc in the Bergen fMRI group in Norway, before returning to Germany. Since the very beginning of his career, Sebastian holds a deep fascination with understanding how hemispheric asymmetries develop. His work focuses on answering this question using an integrative multi-method approach including techniques from neuroimaging, electrophysiology and molecular genetics. Sebastian is member of the Global Young Faculty (GYF) and the International Society for Behavioral Neuroscience (ISBN). He authored more than 60 papers on hemispheric asymmetries and other topics in international peer-reviewed journals, including top journals like Neuron or eLife.

Hemispheric asymmetries, that is, the functional or structural differences between the left and the right hemispheres of the brain, are one of the major organizational principles of the human nervous system. Many cognitive systems are asymmetrically organized, including among others, language, memory, social cognition, spatial attention and emotion. Interestingly, hemispheric asymmetries seem to be altered in a number of neurocognitive and psychiatric disorders, making a profound knowledge of the topic important for clinicians, too. . The widespread use of modern neuroimaging techniques such as fMRI and DTI as well as modern molecular genetic techniques has completely changed the way hemispheric asymmetries are currently investigated. Authored by world-renowned researchers in the field, this book is a comprehensive up-to-date teaching resource for neuroscience faculty members that teach courses concerning hemispheric asymmetries, providing students with all relevant information on the subject in a single book. This resource also provides aspiring researchers in the field an up-to-date overview of relevant previous work in the field, meeting the needs of two distinct audiences.The Lateralized Brain is a valuable, up-to-date learning resource for students attending courses on hemispheric asymmetries, and a comprehensive introduction into the topic for all researchers interested in starting scientific project in this exciting field of study.

1. Brain asymmetries - Two millennia of speculation, research and discoveries 2. Evolution of asymmetries 3. The connected hemispheres - the role of the corpus callosum for hemispheric asymmetries 4. Language and the left hemisphere 5. Handedness and other behavioral asymmetries 6. Spatial attention, neglect, and the right hemisphere 7. Recognizing yourself and others - The role of the right hemisphere for face and self-perception 8. Hemispheric asymmetries in emotion processing 9. Structural hemispheric asymmetries 10. Hemispheric asymmetries over the lifespan 11. Sex differences in hemispheric asymmetries 12. Altered hemispheric asymmetries in neurodevelopmental, psychiatric, and neurological disorders