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ASYMMETRY IN MOUTH OPENING DURING DIFFERENT SPEECH TASKS
Author(s) -
Graves Roger,
Landis Theodor
Publication year - 1990
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1080/00207599008247856
Subject(s) - psychology , cognitive psychology , expression (computer science) , recall , emotional expression , asymmetry , right hemisphere , repetition (rhetorical device) , laterality , lateralization of brain function , conversation , communication , linguistics , developmental psychology , computer science , philosophy , physics , quantum mechanics , programming language
When a normal subject is speaking, the right side of the mouth typically opens more widely or moves over a greater total distance. This asymmetry is most consistent during purely verbal word list generation and verbal recall tasks, less consistent when emotional expression and/or visual imagery is involved, and reversed during smiling. Aphasic patients also show the right bias during word lists, repetition, and conversation, but not during serial speech, singing and smiling. Since observable mouth asymmetry is presumed to result from hemispheric asymmetry in motor control, these observations confirm the major role of a left hemisphere control system for pure verbal expression and provide evidence for involvement of the right hemisphere in mouth motor control during emotional and prosodic expression or visual imagery. Therapeutic possibilities are also suggested.