Nonetheless, evidence from healthy adults and from brain-damaged patients has shown that the right hemisphere is superior to the left in analyzing emotional content in linguistic and non-linguistic communication (Borod et al 1998, 2000; Springer and Deutch 1998). The hypothesis of right hemisphere dominance for emotional functions is supported by a large body of clinical and experimental evidence (Gainotti 1997, 2001) and concerns several components of the emotional behavior. Thus, Ross (1984), Blonder et al (1993), and Borod et al (1997) have repeatedly stressed right hemisphere dominance for non-verbal emotional communication. Heilman et al (1978) and Meadow and Kaplan (1994) have shown that the right hemisphere plays a critical role in autonomic functions, and Mammucari et al (1988) and Wittling and Roschmann (1993) have obtained data showing that the right hemisphere is also critically involved in the subjective experience of emotions.
