The right hemisphere of the brain, its functions and development

At first glance, it seems that both halves of the human brain are mirrored, but it is not. If the issue is studied more closely, one can notice their asymmetry. When measuring the size of the brain, it turns out that the left hemisphere is always slightly larger than the right hemisphere. But this is not the only difference. The right hemisphere contains long nerve fibers connecting the remote parts of the brain, and the left has short fibers that form bonds in a limited area.

Medical observations

Investigating the brain of a patient who suffered a loss of speech, Paul Broca, a French doctor, in 1861 drew attention to the fact that in the left hemisphere the portion of the frontal lobe that is responsible for the generation of speech was damaged.

And only very recently, scientists were able to determine what else each hemisphere is responsible for separately. The fact is that under normal functioning our brain works as a single well-coordinated system, and information is instantaneously transferred from the hemisphere to the hemisphere along a wide bundle of nerve fibers connecting them. These fibers are called a corpus callosum.

With epilepsy, this bridge can cause problems and damage the brain. In an effort to prevent such an outcome, neurosurgeons in some cases dissect the corpus callosum.

Such patients live a normal life, and scientists can carefully investigate the operation of the hemispheres separately. And that's what was defined.

The left hemisphere is able to express itself with speech, perform complex calculations and logical operations. The right hemisphere only responds to simple light speech.

But the right hemisphere is perfectly aware of space and structure, so it is better than the left hemisphere to create geometric drawings and drawings with perspective. The left hemisphere controls the right side of the body, and the right side - the left side.

When the right hemisphere is damaged, a person is disturbed in recognizing persons or perceiving information, depth and space. For more information on the relative specialization of the right hemisphere, scientists have been able to observe patients who are speech-impaired, but the ability to sing continues. It follows that the right hemisphere is responsible for musical abilities.

Differences in the hemispheres

Asymmetry of the cerebral hemispheres is psychic, sensory and motor interhemispheric.

In the study of psychophysiological functions, it was found that control over the verbal information channel in speech is carried out by the left hemisphere, and behind the non-verbal channel, i.e. Voice and intonation, right eye is watching. Information processing in the left hemisphere is performed analytically, sequentially, according to the principle of induction. The right hemisphere processes the incoming information simultaneously, synthesizing it, according to the principle of deduction.

The left hemisphere is most often positive emotions and suppresses the manifestation of weak emotions. The right hemisphere is more "emotionally" and is mainly negative emotions, controlling the manifestations of the strong.

In the sensory sphere, the right and left hemispheres are distinguished for their visual perception. The right hemisphere of the brain perceives an integral visual image and copes more easily with the task of distinguishing objects and visualization. The left hemisphere approaches to an estimation of a visual image is dismembered, analytically. Consciousness and abstract thinking are connected mainly with it.

The motor asymmetry of the hemispheres is expressed in the right-left hand, which is controlled by the motor cortex of the brain of the opposite hemisphere.

Development of the right hemisphere

To develop intuition, you need to learn how to activate the right hemisphere. How can we achieve this? The simplest and most natural way is to engage in those activities that "turn on" the right side of the brain. These are all kinds of creativity: drawing, singing, dancing, as well as listening to music, perceiving smells, handling symbols, images.