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Hemisphere Differences (3)

Page history last edited by Jenny Mackness 3 years, 10 months ago

The personal vs the impersonal

The right hemisphere appreciates things in their context and as such is interested in the personal, whereas the left hemisphere has more affinity for the abstract, or impersonal.

The living vs the non-living

The right hemisphere has a capacity for empathy and whatever exists apart from ourselves; it is more sensitive to environmental influences and more concerned with living individuals than man-made objects.

The left hemisphere codes for non-living things, tools and machines. ‘… there is an intuitive relationship between cutting things up and depriving them of life’ (p.55)

Empathy and theory of mind

The right hemisphere plays an important role in theory of mind, and empathises with the ‘Other’ but only with a living being not with a machine. It has emotional understanding.

But the left hemisphere is unconcerned about others and their feelings.

Both hemispheres have mirror neurones (p.58) and both contribute to the processing of watching and imitating, but they do so differently and with different intention (instrumental – LH and non-instrumental – RH). ‘Mirror neurones are a means of understanding another’s intentions, amongst other things, and are not just about copying actions'.

Continue to: Hemisphere Differences (4) Emotional asymmetry; Emotional receptivity; Emotional expressivity; Differences in emotional affinity

Links

Link to: Chapter 2 Commentary

Link to: Image Credits

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