School of Life Sciences, Lincoln University, Lincoln, UK.
Laterality. 2021 May;26(3):323-326. doi: 10.1080/1357650X.2021.1876083. Epub 2021 Jan 20.
In the last few decades, research on lateralization has expanded our knowledge about the manifestation, development, and mechanisms of this fascinating feature of nervous systems. This has been possible not only thanks to human studies, but to the use of animal models and the introduction of ground-breaking techniques within this research field. However, recent studies have also demonstrated how complex this phenomenon is and highlighted that we still lack a complete understanding of brain and behavioural asymmetries. Here, I comment on two of the challenges presented by Ocklenburg and colleagues that research on lateralization has to face in the next future. I argue that, in order to improve our understanding of lateralization, we have to consider it as a dynamic and plastic characteristic, which is strongly influenced by both internal factors, such as an animal's motivation and emotional states, and external factors, including the physical environment and the social context.
在过去的几十年里，关于偏侧化的研究扩展了我们对神经系统这一迷人特征的表现、发展和机制的认识。这不仅要归功于人类研究，还得益于动物模型的使用和该研究领域开创性技术的引入。然而，最近的研究也表明，这一现象是多么复杂，并强调我们仍然缺乏对大脑和行为不对称性的完整理解。在这里，我评论了 Ocklenburg 及其同事提出的两个未来偏侧化研究需要面对的挑战。我认为，为了提高我们对偏侧化的理解，我们必须将其视为一种动态和可塑的特征，这种特征受到内部因素（如动物的动机和情绪状态）和外部因素（包括物理环境和社会环境）的强烈影响。
