Laterality 2020: entering the next decade

ABSTRACT

In the 2010s, significant progress has been made in several key areas of laterality research, including neuroimaging, genetics and comparative research. In the present article, we discuss which trends are likely to shape laterality research in the 2020s. These include, but are not limited to: (1) Finding laterality-specific solutions to the replication crisis. (2) Integrating non-W.E.I.R.D. (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic) samples into laterality research to a larger extent. (3). Combining meta-analysis and large-scale databank studies to come to unbiased conclusions about true effects. (4) Understanding altered laterality in different psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. (5) Exploring the relevance of laterality research for the treatment of psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. (6) Investigating the molecular correlates of environmental factors that affect laterality. (7) Bridging the gap between laterality research in human subjects and non-human model species. (8) Utilizing “next-generation” neuroimaging in laterality research. (9) Integrating graph-theory and machine learning into laterality research. (10) Enhancing ecological validity in laterality research using mobile EEG and smartphone-based data collection. These trends will likely shape the next decade of laterality research by opening the way for novel questions, enhancing collaborations and boosting the reliability and validity of research findings in our field.

KEYWORDS:

• Hemispheric asymmetries
• lateralization
• laterality
• neuroimaging
• genetics

Acknowledgements

The authors thank Yasmin El Basbasse for help with organizing the references.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [grant number OC127/9-1].