Laterality and hemispheric specialization of self-face recognition.

Area of Science:

• Neuroscience
• Cognitive Psychology
• Cerebral Laterality

Background:

• Self-face recognition is a key indicator of self-awareness.
• Pioneering work by Sperry, Zaidel & Zaidel in the 1970s laid the groundwork for understanding hemispheric roles in cognition.
• Extensive research has accumulated over five decades, including behavioral, neurological, and neuroimaging data.

Approach:

• This review synthesizes neuroimaging literature on self-face recognition.
• It examines self-face recognition from a laterality perspective, focusing on cerebral hemisphere involvement.
• The review revisits the historical roots of self-related cognition research.

Key Points:

• A consistent finding across studies is the right-hemisphere dominance for self-face recognition.
• The self-face serves as a crucial proxy for the broader concept of self.
• Neuroimaging data provides strong evidence for lateralized self-processing.

Conclusions:

• The right hemisphere plays a dominant role in self-face recognition.
• This laterality in self-face processing contributes to our understanding of self-awareness.
• Future research should explore current models of self-related processing and identify new research avenues.