O papel do hemisfério direito no processamento de inferências: o que dizem os estudos cerebrais?

Abstract

This paper aims to map studies from the last twelve years which have investigated the brain networks activated during inference making, with special attention to the role of the right hemisphere. To do so, a search was done in Portal de Periódicos Capes and PubMed which resulted in fifteen papers, of which eleven articles fulfilled the analysis requirement. Based on comprehension models proposed by Gagné et al. (1993) and Kintsch and Rawson (2013), we present and discuss what the studies bring in terms of inference making, coherence establishment and the neural bases involved in these processes. The discussion points to a superficial involvement of the right hemisphere in the majority of the studies, indicating a joint role of both hemispheres. It is important to consider, though, that the pieces of research presented here do not work with larger portions of text and this can be an important factor regarding the role of the right hemisphere in the processing of higher levels of reading.