The right hemisphere is responsible for the capacity to understand metaphor

Particularly important difference between the brain hemispheres lies in the right hemisphere’s capacity to understand metaphor. The right temporal lobe appears to be essential for the integration of two seemingly unrelated concepts into a meaningful metaphoric expression. Fascinatingly, however, clichéd metaphorical or non-literal expressions are dealt with in the left hemisphere: for such an expression, it is seeing the literal meaning of the hackneyed phrase that refreshes it, that requires insight (a bit like seeing a joke), and therefore in this case the non-salient (unfamiliar, because non-clichéd) meaning gets to be processed in the right hemisphere.

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References

• Mcgilchrist, Iain. (2010). The Master and His Emissary Chapter 2 What Do the Hemispheres Do (103). London, UK: Yale University Press.

Metadata

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