Jeff-
I'll try not to offend either in response to your question about the
grandmother. Your number re laterality in right handers is a _bit_ high but
a bigger issue is to remember that laterality is not complete nor is it
absolute. Nor do we really understand the single case very well (i.e., it
is much easier to explain what does happen than it is to predict what
will!). Anyway, my favorite metaphorical example for the neurosciences
(stolen from too many sources to identify its rightful owner) is, suppose a
pig came into your room tonight and engaged you in conversation. You know
you are sane and others heard the pig too. (no hallucination or delusion).
Somehow you can be sure trickery is not afoot! (no hidden microphones,
etc.) Would you argue that you will not believe a pig can talk until you
see at least 100 pigs do it? Another way to say it is that if the student
is correct and her grandmama lost English but not French (a single case),
conjecture as to laterality (a general tendency) seems superfluous if not a
waste of time. Which reminds me of the other pig story. Don't try to teach
a pig to sing- it wastes your time and annoys the pig.:) We can, however,
remind students and each other to be careful how we generalize from
specific instances (however odd or convincing they might be) to the level
of rule or expectancy (i.e., a single talking pig is enough to convince me
that a pig could talk. On the other hand, it wouldn't increase the
likelihood of finding another one any time soon or establish any generality
for the pigs!).
I suppose now I'm going to hear from some porcine rights group ;) (just
kidding)
Tim
>A student in one of my courses stated that, after her grandmother's
>stroke, she lost the ability to speak her second language (English), but
>was still able to speak her native language (French). This, I know, is
>not uncommon. What interested me in this case was that my student stated
>that the LEFT side of her grandmother's body was paralyzed
>(right-hemisphere stroke) and that her grandmother was right-handed
>(language functions associated predominantly with activity in the left
>hemisphere in over 95% of right-handers).
_______________________________________________________
Timothy O. Shearon, PhD
Albertson College of Idaho
Department of Psychology
2112 Cleveland Blvd
Caldwell, Idaho
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
208-459-5840
