A right hemisphere stroke is more disabling than a left in that one loses the ability to socialize and empathize
Things that are value-laden for me, because of their place in ‘my’ world, are salient to the right hemisphere, a consequence of its concern for what has personal meaning (The right hemisphere deals with real things that have meaning to us in the lived world). The ‘I’, here, is a social being, however, not an objectified isolated entity, since the right hemisphere mediates social behavior in all its ramifications. This is why a right hemisphere stroke, although not involving speech directly, is in practice more disabling than a left hemisphere stroke, despite the fact that in a left hemisphere stroke speech is usually lost.
Following a left hemisphere stroke, despite the difficulties incurred with loss of speech and loss of use of the right hand, the chances of independent living are higher than after a right hemisphere stroke. It is not just the capacity to interpret emotional signals, in a functional or utilitarian sense, that is mediated by the right hemisphere (The right hemisphere is responsible for our capacity for emotional understanding). While the capacity to interpret other’s minds, even to appreciate what they must be thinking and feeling—the capacity that is missing in autism—is lost in a right hemisphere stroke, it is more than that too: it is the capacity positively to empathize. Meaning is more than words.
References
- Mcgilchrist, Iain. (2010). The Master and His Emissary Chapter 2 What Do the Hemispheres Do (147). London, UK: Yale University Press.
Metadata
Type:🔴 Tags: Biology / Neuroscience / Neuropsychology Status:☀️