The Cognitive Implications of Studies on Facial Asymmetry: A General Discussion

Abstract

This General Discussion surveys studies on asymmetry and neuropsychologrical deficits in the production of several kinds of facial activities, with the main purpose of scrutinizing the field in search of its contribution to neuropsychology considered as a particular domain (or method) of cognitive psychology. In this respect. four points are emphasized: the object of research (cognitive processes, not brain mechanisms), the information-processing approach of a complex process of which the facial behavior is only the overt end-product, the specificity of mechanisms underlying facial expression, and the single-case methodology.