Divided Brains

Lesley J. Rogers is Emeritus Professor at the Centre for Neuroscience and Animal Behaviour, University of New England, Armidale, Australia. A Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, she has made outstanding contributions to understanding brain development and behaviour, including the discovery of lateralization in the chick forebrain at a time when lateralization was thought to be unique to humans. Her publications, numbering over 450, include 16 books and over 200 scientific papers and book chapters, mainly in the field of brain and behaviour with a focus on development and lateralization. She has received a number of awards for excellence in research, including a Special Investigator Award from the Australian Research Council, an Australian Centenary Medal, and the Clarke Medal from the Royal Society of New South Wales. Giorgio Vallortigara is Professor of Neuroscience at the Centre for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy. His research includes the study of spatial cognition in the avian brain, number and object cognition in animals and lateralization of cognition. He discovered functional brain asymmetry in the so-called 'lower' vertebrate species. Richard J. Andrew is Emeritus Professor at the School of Life Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. He has worked extensively on lateralized processes in memory formation in chicks and on behavioural transitions during early development. At present he uses zebrafish to explore the role of brain asymmetries in the generation of lateralized behaviour.

• List of illustrations; Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. Function; 3. Evolution; 4. Development; 5. Causation; 6. Applications and future directions; References; Index.

'This fascinating book has been written by three experts in the field. The different roles played by the two sides of the brain were thought to be a uniquely human characteristic, but the authors show that such lateralisation has ancient origins in biological evolution. They have written a superb book which I shall use as an invaluable source for years to come.' Professor Sir Patrick Bateson, University of Cambridge, and co-author of Plasticity, Robustness, Development and Evolution