Handedness and The Cerebral Representation of Speech

Precise hand movement and speech are two of man’s most highly skilled performances. In most people they appear to go together in the sense that the preferred right hand and speech are controlled by the left hemisphere. Whether this conjunction depends on coincidence or on some intrinsic connection is unknown. It is clear that a simple contralateral relationship between speech hemisphere and handedness does not hold as there are many left-handers with left cerebral speech and some right cerebral speakers who are right- handed. But handedness and brainedness are not independent. The incidence of left-handedness is much higher among the right- brained than among the left-brained.