Cerebral Lateralization and Personality Style

Lateral brain function, emotion, and conceptualization.

“…The available evidence suggesting hemispheric asymmetries in personality disorders, although not as extensive as that from research on schizophrenia and affective disorders, provides important confirmation for the suggestions of lateralized contributions to emotion that have developed from research on cognitive style in normals (R. E. Gur & Gur, 1975;Smokier & Shevrin, 1979). The finding of right hemisphere involvement in the symptoms of hysteric psychiatric patients (Galin et al, 1977;Kenyon, 1964;Stern, 1977) supports the contention from research with normals that individuals who show hysteric features may rely heavily on right hemisphere processes in their emotional experience and conceptualization.…”

“…The cognitive style studies are particularly relevant to this issue of emotionality and cognitive structure (R. E. Gur & Gur, 1975;Smokier & Shevrin, 1979;Woods, 1977). In contrast to the diffuse, inarticulate and affect-laden ideation of the hysteric, the obsessive-compulsive's thinking is highly verbal, differentiated and analytic to the point of being inappropriately directed toward detail (Shapiro, 1965).…”

Illness without disease: Diagnosis and management of patients with psychogenic medical symptoms

“…A provocative notion under investigation in recent years is that conversion symptoms may be more frequent on the left side of the body, a fact presumably related to the right (nondominant) hemisphere of the brain (Bishop, Mobley, and Farr, 1978). Empirical investigations are conflicting, but the hypothesis would be consistent with much current theorizing that views the nondominant cortex as important in the processes of imagination and unconscious processing (Smokler and Shevrin, 1979).…”

Relationship between Conjugate Lateral Eye Movements and Alexithymia

“…Indeed, the lack of emotional awareness shown by alexithymic individuals, and their preoccupation with the details of external events rather than inner experiences, resembles the obsessive-compul sive personality style, which has also been cor related with a predominance of right CLEMs [39], Furthermore, there are preliminary data suggesting an inverse relationship between al exithymia and hypnotic susceptibility [50], a personality characteristic which has also been shown to be lower in right movers than in left movers [31]. It is important to note that the present study found no relationship between CLEMs and the various personality dimen sions measured by the BPI.…”