The right hemisphere is responsible for our capacity for emotional understanding

The right hemisphere has by far the preponderance of emotional understanding. It is the mediator of social behavior. In the absence of the right hemisphere, the left hemisphere is unconcerned about others and their feelings. Social intercourse is conducted with a blanket disregard for the feelings, wishes, needs and expectations of others. Patients with deficits in the right orbitofrontal cortex, but not left, suffer a change of personality whereby they become incapable of empathy. I believe this is because the right hemisphere sees things in their context and thus understands our dependence on the rest of species and it’s need to protect it.

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References

• Mcgilchrist, Iain. (2010). The Master and His Emissary Chapter 2 What Do the Hemispheres Do (117). London, UK: Yale University Press.

Metadata

Type:🔴 Tags: Biology / Neuroscience / Neuropsychology Status:☀️