Tone of Voice and Mind : The Connections between Intonation ...

The central dogma of human neuropsychology 45
the “central dogma” flow-chart for interhemispheric communications may be
a useful framework into which the neuronal mechanisms will eventually need
to be inserted. (See Chapter 5 for further discussion.)
Notes
1. Although Figure 2-2 summarizes the known pattern of high-level hemispheric cooperation
during language functions, it does not address questions about how the two hemispheres
actually communicate. The mere presence of the corpus callosum, its explosive
growth in primate evolution, and the high density of callosal fibers in association cortex
argue strongly for some kind of direct multi-level hemispheric interaction, but the alternative
view is also worth considering: the two hemispheres may veer in different cognitive
directions solely as a function of the affective bias at an early stage in (auditory) processing,
the consequence of which being that the RH will always be more sensitive to the emotional
implications of language – whatever the linguistic complexity.
2. The second puzzle of bi-hemispheric language processing concerns whether there is an
unpaired module for syntactic processing in the LH or a paired module in the RH. The intonation
argument developed in later chapters suggests that the three-element processing
that lies at the heart of syntax (e.g., SVO word order) might have an analog in three-pitch
processing in the RH. In the latter case, the cognitive capability that is unique to human beings
would not be language per se, but rather the ability to perceive three-body interactions,
whether in the form of basic syntactic structures or three-tone harmonies. The implications
for music perception are discussed in detail in Chapter 3, but the interesting issue of the interaction
between pitch and syntax in relation to interhemispheric communications remains
to be explored.