Hand preference and cerebral dominance for some aspects of language processing are hallmarks of human brain functioning. Yet, their mutual relationships, similar to interrelations between hemispheric dominance for low-level sensorimotor control of the hand and the representations of higher-order, skilled actions (praxis) still remain unclear. Whereas in some accounts (Liepmann, 1900, 1908; Geschwind and Galaburda, 1985; Heilman, 1997; see also Goldenberg, 2013b) right handedness reflects (at least in part) the functioning of the left-lateralized manual praxis system, evidence from majority of left-handers weakens such a notion because they often represent praxis skills in their motor non-dominant—left—hemispheres, too (Lausberg et al., 1999; Frey et al., 2005; Goldenberg, 2013a; see also Gonzalez and Goodale, 2009; Grabowska et al., 2012; Haberling and Corballis, 2015; Kroliczak et al., 2016; cf. Carey et al., 2015). Although the putative links between praxis and language, and their interactions with handedness, have been long considered (Dejerine and Andre-Thomas, 1912; Heilman et al., 1973, 1974; McManus, 1985; Annett and Alexander, 1996; Meador et al., 1999), more recent studies clarify their relationships (Króliczak et al., 2011; Vingerhoets et al., 2013; Biduła and Króliczak, 2015; Goldenberg and Randerath, 2015; cf. Goldenberg, 2013b), further strengthening the idea that they are contingent on each other (Vingerhoets, 2014; Króliczak et al., 2018). Moreover, evidence from individuals with rarer forms of brain dominance now supports the idea that there is a longstanding evolutionary origin to the cerebral arrangement and distribution of both related and complementary skills, e.g., praxis and language vs. attention (Grabowska et al., 1994; Corballis, 2003; Cai et al., 2013; Goldenberg, 2013b).
The primary goal of this Research Topic is to present new pieces of evidence on the neural and functional organization of language and praxis, their links (or lack of thereof) with handedness and low-level motor skills, as well as behavioral consequences of their representations for other functions. Among the 12 contributing Original Research Articles, the considered functions include short-term tactile learning of Braille reading, visual word and number processing, and visuospatial discrimination. Yet, because the neural underpinnings of these functions are often strongly lateralized in the human brain, and may have common ancestry, their evolution and development is discussed in two Hypothesis and Theory articles.