The Two Sides of the Human Brain
Essay Preview: The Two Sides of the Human Brain
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One of the most important organs in the body and is essential to living is the brain. The human brain is divided into two hemispheres known as the left and right hemispheres that control the opposite sides of the body. Each hemisphere is similar in their make-up and function together to get tasks done. However, they also have many differences that control diverse activities and functions.
Firstly, it is important to note that one of the prime functions of the brain can be summarized with the following statement: “The right hemisphere controls the muscles on the left side of the body and the left hemisphere controls muscles on the right side of the body.”# If a person is left-handed, then the right hemisphere of the brain is the side doing the controlling. This gives strength to the left side of the body and vice-versa for people that are right-handed.
Primarily, the left hemisphere controls the language skills and its comprehension. For most people, the brains left side is the language dominant side. The understanding of language is coming in for many sources as:
British researchers have found not one pathway, but two that handle communication between Brocas and Wernickes areas. The upper pathway runs through several brain structures, including the arcuate fasciculus that Wernicke knew about. A separate lower pathway lakes a different route — again, not through several structures, but through one. One structure involved in both pathways is the superior temporal gyrus (STG), but the two pathways follow different courses through it. The connections in these pathways occur on both sides of the brain, but they are stronger in the “language-dominant” hemisphere. In most people, this is the brains left side.”#
While the left side dominants the language aspect of the brain, the right side that has thought to be “silent” does serve purpose. It deals with the variation in the tone of voice known as prosody. Also, the right side of the brain because more active in regards to language as the sentence becomes more complicated because “the greater the number of areas in the brain that went to work, line increase in activity occurred in Wernickes and Brocas areas on the brains left side as expected. It also occurred in the same areas of the right hemisphere although to a lesser extent.”# As activities become more intricate, more power