The cerebral hemispheres The organizing principles of the two hemispheres of the brain are useful in understanding the relationship of brain function to psychological processes. First, the left hemisphere of the brain controls most processes for the right side of the body, including the visual field, movement, and sensation; similarly, the right hemisphere plays a major role in processing and regulating behavior and sensation on the left side of the body. Second, the two hemispheres have different information processing styles (Marinsek et al., 2014). The left hemisphere is linear and analytic when processing information, for example, by breaking down information into its component pieces for analysis. In contrast, the right hemisphere is more holistic when processing information, tending to appreciate the whole rather than the component parts. Third, in most persons the two hemispheres appear to be specialized to process different types of information. Broadly speaking, the left hemisphere is specialized for speech and verbal functions; the right hemisphere is specialized to process visuospatial information that does not lend itself to verbalization. Even though the two hemispheres are specialized in different ways, these differences are not experienced on a psychological or behavioral level. That is because the two hemispheres are intimately interconnected by fibers stretching from one half of the brain to the other, forming the corpus callosum , and thus act in concert with one another.
Figure 2-1(a-c): Three Views of the Brain
Note : From “Biological Psychology: An Introduction to Behavioral, Cognitive, and Clinical Neuroscience” (7th Ed.), by S.M. Breedlove, M. R. Rosenzweig, and N. V. Watson, 2013, p. 39, Figure 2.12. Copyright 2013 by Sinauer Associates. Reprinted with permission.
Figure 2-2(a-b): Two Brain Systems
Note: From “Biological Psychology: An Introduction to Behavioral, Cognitive, and Clinical Neuroscience” (7th Ed.,), by S. M. Breedlove, M. R. Rosenzweig, and N. V. Watson, 2013, p. 45, Figure 2.17. Copyright 2013 by Sinauer Associates. Reprinted with permission.
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