The right hemisphere has broad, global, and flexible attention, while the left has narrow attention🧠
There is evidence of left hemisphere dominance for narrowly focused attention and right hemisphere dominance for broad, global, and flexible attention. The scope of the right hemisphere’s world is broad. Patients with a right hemisphere lesion (therefore relying on their intact left hemisphere) start with the pieces and put them together to get the overall picture, whereas those with a left hemisphere lesion (relying on their right hemisphere) prefer a global approach. Patients with right hemisphere damage don’t seem able to adjust the breadth of the ‘spotlight’ of their attention: they suffer an excessive and more or less permanent narrowing of their attentional window. That’s what happens when we have to rely on left hemisphere attention on its own.
References
- Mcgilchrist, Iain. (2010). The Master and His Emissary Chapter 2 What Do the Hemispheres Do (84). London, UK: Yale University Press.
Metadata
Type:🔵 Tags: Biology / Neuroscience / Neuropsychology Status:☀️