The Novelty-Routinization Principle of Brain Organization

Abstract

The verbal–non-verbal dichotomy of left versus right hemispheric specialization of brain function is problematic for several reasons. To start with, it is not biologically consistent across different species of the vertebrate brain. This dichotomy seems to emphasize the uniqueness of the human brain because of specialized language systems while ignoring phylogenetic continuity. Other primates make choices and decisions; they use tools, such as using branches for reaching, which implies imagination, anticipatory control and perhaps even divergent thinking in object usage. In a seminal paper by MacNeilage and colleagues [29], it was proposed that the left hemisphere of the vertebrate brain specialized for the control and execution of well established patterns of behavior under ordinary, familiar circumstances. The right hemisphere specialized for detecting and responding to unexpected stimuli. By de-emphasizing the role of language in hemispheric specialization, the authors traced the consistency of the novelty-routinization principle across 500 million years of the evolutionary development of the vertebrate brain. This is a dynamic principle that accounts for individual differences. For example, what is novel for one individual, as in learning a new task, might be familiar and highly routine for another person. This principle, in contrast to the verbal versus non-verbal dichotomy, argues against the fixed assignment of particular tasks to one or the other hemisphere [130]. The novelty-routinization principle represents a dynamic view of brain function, accounting for the changing functional neuroanatomy and locus of behavioral control that occurs during the course of learning and skill development [1]. Goldberg and Costa [131] were arguably among the first investigators to systematically review the structural and functional neuroanatomic substrates that support this principle. This principle is consistent with the rapidly emerging literature concerning the functioning of large scale brain networks. Finally, this principle represents an organizational system that allows for optimal, maximum flexibility in adaptation.