Processing ambiguity requires right hemisphere intuition because language is to precise and definite
The left hemisphere deals with conscious explicit linear reasoning, and the right with implicit unconscious deductive reasoning. The realm of all that remains, and has to remain, implicit and ambiguous is extensive, and is crucially important. This is why one feels so hopeless relying on the written word to convey meaning in humanly important and emotionally freighted situations. Non-verbal behavior, language, facial expression, intonations and gestures—the domain of the right hemisphere—are instrumental in establishing complex contradictory, predominantly emotional relations between people and between man and the world. How frequently a touch by the shoulder, a handshake or a look tell more than can be expressed in a long monologue. Not because our speech is not accurate enough. Just the contrary. It is precisely its accuracy and definiteness that make speech unsuited for expressing what is too complex, changeful and ambiguous.
References
- Mcgilchrist, Iain. (2010). The Master and His Emissary Chapter 2 What Do the Hemispheres Do (146). London, UK: Yale University Press.
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Type:🔴 Tags: Biology / Neuroscience / Neuropsychology / Psychology / Philosophy Status:☀️