Psychology2016

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84 CHAPTER 2


Table 2. 2 Specialization of the Two Hemispheres
Left Hemisphere Right Hemisphere
Controls the right hand Controls the left hand
Spoken language Nonverbal
Written language Visual–spatial perception
Mathematical calculations Music and artistic processing
Logical thought processes Emotional thought and recognition
Analysis of detail Processes the whole
Reading Pattern recognition
Facial recognition

of the integrated mind, and he continues to work in related areas including human con-
sciousness, perception, and neuroethics ( Gazzaniga, 2006, 2009).
HANDEDNESS The separate functions of the left and right sides of the brain are often
confused with handedness, or the tendency to use one hand for most fine motor skills.
Roughly 90% of individuals are right handed, and handedness appears to be influenced
largely through genetics (Corballis, 2009; Ocklenburg et al., 2013). While most right-
handed people also have their left hemisphere in control of their other fine motor skills,
such as speech, a few right-handers actually have their language functions in the right
hemisphere, in spite of the dominance of the left hemisphere for controlling the right
hand. Among left-handed people, there are also many who, although right-brain dom-
inant for motor control, still have their language functions on the left side of the brain.
One study suggests approximately 4% of right-handed, 15% of ambidextrous, and 27% of
left-handed people have language functions in the right hemisphere (Knecht et al., 2000).

Concept Map LO. 2.10, 2.11, 2.12, 2.13, 2.14


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the hindbrain

medulla
pons
reticular formation
cerebellum

thalamus
hypothalamus
hippocampus
amygdala

structures under the cortex
limbic system

The Structures of the Brain


frontal lobes
temporal lobes
parietal lobes
occipital lobes

Broca’s area: found in left
frontal lobe; devoted to
speech production;
damage to this area can
result in Broca's aphasia

Wernicke’s area:
found in the left temporal
lobe; plays a role in
understanding
the meaning of words

the cortex
the outermost, wrinkled
layer of the brain;
comprised of left and right
hemispheres, connected
by corpus callosum; each
hemisphere can be further
divided into four lobes

the association
areas of the cortex
devoted to making connections
between incoming sensory
information and stored
memories, images, and
knowledge; damage to right
association areas can result in
spatial neglect where person
fails to recognize the left side of
the visual field

left hemisphere specializes in tasks that involve sequence
and analysis (language, speech, handwriting, math)
right hemisphere processes information in a more
global sense (perception; visualization; spatial perception;
recognition of patterns, faces, and emotional expression)

the cerebral hemispheres
some brain functions governed by one hemisphere more than
the other; differences found due to work of various researchers
(e.g., split-brain studies)
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