{"id":333,"date":"2013-06-24T15:42:04","date_gmt":"2013-06-24T15:42:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/?p=635"},"modified":"2022-01-04T19:49:15","modified_gmt":"2022-01-04T19:49:15","slug":"the-complementarity-of-the-brains-two-hemispheres","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/2013\/06\/24\/the-complementarity-of-the-brains-two-hemispheres\/","title":{"rendered":"The Complementarity of the Brain&#8217;s Two Hemispheres"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-1362\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog-lecerveau.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/hemispheres1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"112\" height=\"109\" \/>Einstein said that intuition is a gift, and rationality is its servant. But in<span style=\"color: #008080;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/blog\/2013\/05\/06\/what-are-peoples-deepest-motivations\/\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\">another RSA Animate lecture <\/span><\/a><\/span>to which we provide a link this week, about the <span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrain.mcgill.ca\/flash\/i\/i_10\/i_10_cr\/i_10_cr_lan\/i_10_cr_lan.html#3\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\">specialization of the two hemispheres of the human brain<\/span><\/a><\/span>, psychiatrist and author Iain McGilchrist says that we have created a society that honours the servant but has forgotten the gift.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>McGilchrist first deconstructs a few oversimplifying myths, such as the idea that the brain\u2019s left hemisphere is the seat of reason and the right is the seat of the emotions (in fact, both sides are deeply involved in both), or that for most people <span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrain.mcgill.ca\/flash\/i\/i_10\/i_10_p\/i_10_p_lan\/i_10_p_lan.html\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\">language<\/span><\/a><\/span> is solely the province of the left hemisphere (<span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrain.mcgill.ca\/flash\/i\/i_10\/i_10_cr\/i_10_cr_lan\/i_10_cr_lan.html#4\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\">the right hemisphere is also deeply involved in many aspects of language<\/span><\/a><\/span>).<\/p>\n<p>But then McGilchrist explains some actual differences in the way that the brain\u2019s two hemispheres operate. According to McGilchrist, the left hemisphere has evolved to let us concentrate on specific tasks so that we can accomplish them successfully, while the right hemisphere has evolved to let us remain alert to our environment at all times\u2014not only to the resources that it may contain, but to the dangers as well.<\/p>\n<p>McGilchrist goes on to say that having built such close connections with each other, both sides of the brain have contributed to the complexity of human civilizations. The left has let us concentrate on problems and transform not only the physical world, but also the social one, with language enabling us to <span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thebrain.mcgill.ca\/flash\/i\/i_01\/i_01_s\/i_01_s_fon\/i_01_s_fon.html\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\">manipulate<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0one another.\u00a0The right enables us to feel <span style=\"color: #008080;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/blog\/2012\/07\/09\/embodied-cognition-and-emotions-2\/\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\">embodied<\/span><\/a><\/span> and interconnected with other people and our environment (a faculty whose importance is too often underestimated, according to McGilchrist)\u00a0and thus to have a better overview of the world.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/comment.rsablogs.org.uk\/2011\/10\/24\/rsa-animate-divided-brain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0pt;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog-lecerveau.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/i_lien.gif\" alt=\"i_lien\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\" \/> RSA Animate \u2013 The Divided Brain <\/span><\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/The_Master_and_His_Emissary\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"color: #008080;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border: 0pt;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.blog-lecerveau.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/i_lien.gif\" alt=\"i_lien\" width=\"15\" height=\"15\" \/> The Master and His Emissary<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Einstein said that intuition is a gift, and rationality is its servant. But in another RSA Animate lecture to which we provide a link this week, about the specialization of the two hemispheres of the human brain, psychiatrist and author Iain McGilchrist says that we have created a society that honours the servant but has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[161,64,162,163],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1013,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333\/revisions\/1013"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blog-thebrain.org\/beginner\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}