The right hemisphere cares about the meaning of language, whereas the left cares more about having control of language
The left hemisphere is attached to language per se: language is where it is at home. It seems to be actually less concerned about meaning than the right hemisphere, as long as it has control of the form and the system. In conditions of right hemisphere damage, where the left hemisphere is no longer under constraint from the right, a meaningless hypertrophy of language may result.
Once again the stereotypes are wrong. The left hemisphere may have a lot to do with language, but the right hemisphere plays a vital part in language, too. It uses language not in order to manipulate ideas or things, but to understand what others mean. This ‘silent’ hemisphere recognizes words, and has vocabulary, as discussed above, and even some aspects of syntax. In fact not just language reception, but expression, too, is highly right hemisphere dependent: the verbal expression problems of right hemisphere damaged patients can be severe, and it has been suggested that they are almost as severe as those of left hemisphere damaged patients.
References
- Mcgilchrist, Iain. (2010). The Master and His Emissary Chapter 2 What Do the Hemispheres Do (p. 143). London, UK: Yale University Press.
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Type:🔴 Tags: Biology / Neuroscience / Neuropsychology Status:☀️