The left side of the brain is responsible for. What is the left hemisphere of the brain responsible for?

Dear readers! I offer you an interesting and very useful article by Mikhail Fedotov on how the development of thinking, the development of abilities, is influenced by the fact which hand we have is leading.

Right and left hand. Right and left hemisphere

Albert Einstein, the Roman emperor Gaius Julius Caesar, Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, Charlie Chaplin, Leo Tolstoy, Pablo Picasso, my favorite actress Marilyn Monroe - they were all left-handed.

Who are they, these brilliant left-handers? There is a theory that every left-hander is only one of the born twins and the separation occurred at the cellular level! It is not for nothing that in pairs of born twins, one of them is always right-handed, and the second is left-handed.

I must confess that I'm terribly jealous of lefties. They are memorable, they are talented and always unpredictable! And I was happy when I learned that "left-handedness" and "right-handedness" can be absolute, but they can also be partial, and sometimes hidden, not revealed in everyday life. This means that each of us can be “a little bit” left-handed, it remains to find out the degree of our leftism. This will require a family study. It is known that if both parents are right-handed, the probability of having a left-handed child is 2%. If one of the parents is left-handed, the probability rises to 17%. If both are left-handed, the probability that the child will be born left-handed reaches 46%.

SO WHAT DO I DO WITH THE FACT THAT MY CHILD IS RIGHT-HANDED OR LEFT-HANDED?

To answer this question, let us recall the features of the brain. Normally, a person has a functional asymmetry of the brain. What does it mean? Responsibility for different types activity is divided between the hemispheres of the brain. They differ both in function and even in their structure. The right hemisphere commands the left half of the body and operates with images, manages orientation in space, distinguishes between musical tones and melodies, and produces dreams. The left hemisphere commands the right half and operates with verbal-sign information, reading texts. We can say that the right hemisphere is figurative, sensual, moreover, “artistic”, and the left hemisphere is logical, analytical.

It's no secret that modern world is oriented to right-handers, and some left-handers are forcibly retrained (this is a separate problem). Absolute right-handers, in which the right hand, foot, eye and ear are leading, in the European population, where they write with the right hand and read from left to right, are approximately 42%. In such people, the center of speech in 95% of cases is located in the left hemisphere. The right hemisphere performs more global functions: it is in charge of visual perception(recognition) of faces, shapes, colors, auditory perception music, intonation, voice timbre, birdsong, animal cries, water splashing, it is also responsible for the skills of walking, dressing, feeling the body in space. For absolute left-handers (they are 8-10% on average), the opposite is true.

In most people, as a result of a certain system of study, training, lifestyle, one hemisphere (left) dominates sharply. Because we develop only a strong hemisphere! The weaker hemisphere, which has its own unique characteristics, does not fully perform its functions because it is CLUTTERED by the stronger one.

In addition, the weak hemisphere is very sluggish in activities that require dual control. PARADOX: from common today traditional approach not only a small number of overtrained left-handers suffer, but also the bulk of the population - right-handers also suffer. They have little use of the RIGHT half of the brain.

Try to hit the ball with your left hand, write something or draw a little man. It turns out? Not very smart, but it works. But after all, no one taught the left hand all these difficult movements, which means that she quietly learned herself while we were teaching the right. But it is possible to teach “vice versa”: if we begin to teach all the skills to the left hand, this will create significant reserves for even more perfect work of the right hand.

In many cultures of the past, it was believed that a person should be symmetrical, TWO-HANDED. It needs to be taught for "two-handedness".

DECIDED

The founder of Russian neuropsychology A. R. Luria proposed to determine the leading hand and the leading eye according to the following tests.

Cross your arms over your chest in Napoleon's pose. Which hand from the elbow to the wrist is on top, that is the leading one. If you change the positions of your hands, you will experience discomfort, since you are either left-handed or right-handed.

Interlace your fingers several times in a row. Thumb whichever hand is on top, that is the leading one when performing small movements.

See which hand is on top when you applaud.

Fold your palms evenly, close to each other. Note: the fingers of the dominant hand are usually 1-2 mm longer than fingers on the other hand.

Take a pencil. "Aim" by selecting a target and looking at it with both eyes through the tip of a pencil. Close one eye, then the other. If the target moves strongly with the left eye closed, then the left eye is the leading one, and vice versa.

The leading foot is the one that you push off when you jump.

Quite often, for many people, these tests do not match. This suggests that they have both hemispheres of speech and that they are partial (partial) left-handers.

Training should be structured in such a way that the weaker brain is an active assistant to the strong one, and not its passive appendage. Developing this theme mutual assistance cerebral hemispheres, it is convenient to give an example of a corridor, on both walls of which mirrors hang. When both hemispheres are active, their activity is repeatedly reflected and intensified, just as mirrors in the corridor repeatedly reflect the object and its reflections in each other many times.

Both arms, both legs, both eyes, both sides of the body must be taught.

FOR ATTENTIVE MOTHER

Under the age of three years don't get too caught up on whether the child is right-handed or left-handed. At this time, such clarification is a burden for children and the study itself is unreliable.

And there is one more “but” (finally everything is confusing). Most authors still believe that at six and a half to seven years ordinary child makes hand selection. Such a choice is obligatory, and it indicates that the higher management of activity has come into force: all processes have begun to be controlled by the cerebral cortex. And in order for this state to be achieved faster, at some point (usually around six years) you need to start paying more attention to the dominant hand. But when the choice is made, we advise you to again intensively engage in the symmetry of movements.

What should we strive for? There are people who have exactly the same tests for both hands, plus both eyes are leading, target, and their fields of view are the same. This is a rather rare occurrence. Such people are called ambidexters. They are jacks of all trades. Ambidextrous was Leonardo da Vinci. His example confirms the hypothesis: the ability to use the left hand in the same way as the right one contributes to harmonious development both hemispheres of the brain. To do this, you need to do a lot of those activities that require dual control: cycling, rollerblading, brachiation (it's great if the child has the opportunity to run and swim a lot). We are firmly convinced: to teach with two hands means to achieve more accurate, confident and perfect movements. For athletes, this is especially important! To teach the left hand of a fencer, tennis player, the left eye of an arrow, the left leg of a football player - to create a reserve that an athlete of any age has (and there are athletes in the world who successfully use this). By the way, in the West it is customary to teach children to write with both the right and left hand.

WHAT IS OVERLEARNING HARMFUL?

Usually we have a retrained left-hander. The conversion of right-handers to left-handers was carried out as an experiment using a magnetic field at the University of California, but it only worked for one hour. And left-handers were retrained by order both in kindergartens and in lower grades schools. And here is the result: the movements of a person begin to be controlled by the weaker hemisphere of the brain, because this person was retrained in this way. To be realized as much as possible (I compare each only with his own potential) such a person will not be able to! Moreover, in moments of high tension - for example, in competitions - the dominant hemisphere (not taught) takes responsibility for the movements, and the athlete makes incredible mistakes that are simply unimaginable in training. Remember the footballers who last moment suddenly they make such a blow above the gate that you are only amazed.

Fortunately, this "relearning" applies only to the most pronounced left-handers. But there are still 48-50% of people who are either right-handed with signs of left-handedness, or left-handed with signs of right-handedness, and more than half of them are left-handed over right-handed. Such people are called partial, or mosaic (partial), left-handers. Mosaic in the sense that they are dominant (predominant) in the implementation speech activity are not all four lobes (occipital, temporal, parietal and frontal) of the right hemisphere in the left-hander and the left hemisphere in the right-hander, but, as it were, interspersed. According to the leading eye, a person can be left-handed, and according to the leading hand - right-handed, and vice versa. In a partial left-hander, when testing for signs of "handedness", tests for "fingers in the lock" and "Napoleon's pose" may not coincide.

There are many other mixed types of dominance of the cerebral hemispheres. And each of them has its own peculiarities of behavior, peculiarities of thinking, and they need to be taken into account by parents and coaches so as not to break the child with unjustified demands.

For example, even an adult, if you shift the telephone receiver from his right to his left ear, may stop understanding what he is being told, because he begins to perceive information with the other half of the brain. And in such a situation, it is pointless to demand something from both the child and the adult. He doesn't "won't", he can't. These are the situations to consider mixed types"right-handed-left-handed".

If a child picks up a racket right hand, this does not mean that he can be brought up as a right-handed person. He can be right-handed only by hand, and according to the type of brain functioning, he can be a typical left-hander. And if in such children it is possible to unobtrusively develop the left hand, then this is a rather advantageous and rewarding occupation. And vice versa, if you forcibly develop the left hand of a pronounced right-hander, then this will be the same stress as for left-handers when they are retrained to the right hand. And if not by force? It is very interesting that a lot of research has been done on right-handed people who have broken their dominant hand. At the same time, not only the weak left hand quickly began to learn and perform complex functions, but also in the "command post", in the right hemisphere, the amount of gray and white matter changed.

Teach your child to use two hands!

The brain is divided into left and right hemispheres. When considering the difference between these hemispheres, it is very important not to fall into a "dichotomy".

During the evolution of vertebrates, the left and right side nervous system performed different functions. The advantage of this asymmetry, which we share with fish and frogs, lizards, birds and rats, is that this differentiation helps to perform more complex functions.

Why, in fact, top and bottom, left and right should be the same? The brain stem and limbic system predate the cortex. Their asymmetry led to a difference in the structure and connections between the right and left hemispheres of the cortex. big brain. These structural differences lead to a distinct difference between their functions.

The right hemisphere develops and functions most intensively in the first two or three years of life. The left begins to develop in the second year of life, and then both develop, alternately overtaking each other. The corpus callosum, the structure that connects both hemispheres, reaches its full development at about 25 years of age.

The general meaning of the difference can be illustrated at least by the fact that the columns of the cortex of the right hemisphere have more horizontal connections, as a result of which the communication between different parts of the cortex of this hemisphere acquires a greater multimodality. This discovery helps us understand why the right hemisphere is better than the left at distinguishing contexts and grasping complete picture than the detail-oriented left hemisphere.

In the left hemisphere, the columns work more independently, in more are isolated from each other, which allows the cortex of the left hemisphere to delve into deep essence processes and phenomena, be more analytical, better focus on certain problems, closely follow individual subjects and accumulate concrete facts.

Signal streams from the subcortical regions provide sensory data to both hemispheres, and this helps to understand why there is a difference between them. People often ask about the differences between the brains of a man and a woman, so the following is a general statement that exposes good light both sexes.

female brain characterized by greater integration, women have a more massive corpus callosum, connecting the right and left hemispheres.

male brain, so to speak, more differentiated, more specialized. Different parts of the brain of a man, as a rule, work independently, without connection with its other areas. These generalizations often make me shudder, but such are the data of objective science. However, in clinical work, it is very important to see people as they are, and not as statistics prescribe them to be.

Features of functioning left hemisphere can be easily remembered by reaffirming the rule of three "l" and one "b":

• linguistics,
• linearity,
• logics,
• literalism.

Against, right hemisphere characterized by the following properties:

• it forms non-verbal, holistic representations,
• it is characterized by visual-spatial perception,
• a number of disparate functions, including
• autobiographical memory,
• integrated body map,
• the formation of unprocessed spontaneous emotions,
• sympathetic non-verbal responses and alertness, as well as stress modulation.

The right hemisphere is believed by many scientists to be responsible for mitigating the effects of distress and negative emotions and seeks to distance himself from everything new and unfamiliar. The left hemisphere is responsible for more positive affects and governs exploratory behavior..

The coordination of the work of the left and right hemispheres in the formation of a general emotional tone is probably important aspect affective profile changes under the influence of mindful awareness. As we have seen, mindful awareness promotes exploratory behavior, which is manifested by a left-sided shift in cortical activity.

If the functions are separated from each other, then the brain can combine them, which allows for more complex and adaptive functions. This is how neural integration works. In this way, the complex systems of the brain and consciousness become more flexible, creating new combinations of functions. With physically and functionally separate right and left hemispheres, we will be able to create more adaptive functions if we combine and integrate the separate functions of each of the hemispheres. So, I believe that creativity is born not in any one hemisphere, but as a result of the integration of their functions.

As we will see later, the left hemisphere can take on the role of a "narrator", linguistically articulating the current story of a person's life. However, the "content" of our autobiographical memory resides in the repositories of the right hemisphere, and thus a coherent verbal description of this content depends on the cooperation and integration of both hemispheres. Integration of the right and left hemispheres helps us give meaning to our existence (more on this in the appendix, discussion of hemispheric laterality).

Awareness of the totality of sensations own body may require linking a right hemisphere-integrated holistic body map with an activated lateral prefrontal cortex. In the course of mindful awareness, we often focus on various aspects of our bodily functions.

This process requires not only interoception involving the insula and median prefrontal cortex, but also the involvement of the entire body map represented in the right hemisphere. If in the process of mindfulness practice our mind is filled with the verbal story of the left hemisphere, then this means that there is a powerful neuronal competition between the right hemisphere (sensation of the body) and the left hemisphere (clothed with thoughts) for the limited resources of focus of attention available at that moment.

The work, in the process of attentive awareness, shifting to focusing attention on the body leads to its functional shift from linguistically formed conceptual facts to non-verbal imagination and somatic sensations mediated by the right hemisphere. We find confirmation in the work of Lazar, who found an increase in the volume of the median prefrontal cortex and insular cortex in the right hemisphere.

But if internal storytelling (even if wordless, in the form of witnessing awareness, or internal observer) is indeed a function of the left hemisphere, then we should observe the activation of the left prefrontal cortex (responsible for organizing attention with active narrative observation) in this situation, as well as the activation of the right prefrontal cortex. areas (non-verbal reflection and meta-awareness, mediated by the medial prefrontal cortex) and activation of the right insula - representation of the internal organs.

These facts will help us understand and synthetically combine data on the left-sided shift and exploratory response noted by Davidson and colleagues with Lazar's data on activation of the prefrontal cortex and insula on the right.

These reasonings require empirical, experimental confirmation, which will allow them to be verified. However, this is an example of how we can rely on modern knowledge about how the brain works (lateralization of functions), to ask verifiable questions about observed phenomena (attentive awareness), and general principles(integration of neural activity and a sense of well-being) to deepen the understanding of subjective and objective (neural) life.

The brain is the most important part of the human nervous system, reliably protected by the cranium. This organ contains a huge number of neurons interconnected by synoptic connections. When these neurons interact, impulses of complex origin arise in the human brain, which, thanks to nervous system, are transmitted throughout the human body and allow you to control the entire body.

Despite a fairly long period of study by the whole world of the processes occurring in the human brain, little is known about this surprisingly important organ, it still remains a special mystery how the processes of controlling the whole body proceed through one small mass inside the cranium. However, several facts still managed to be discovered over the years of research. So, it is known for certain that Humans can only control a small part of their brain. Another point that everyone knows is that human brain consists of two hemispheres: left and right. The functions and features of the left hemisphere will be considered in the future, and the ways of its development will be described.

basic information

As mentioned earlier, in the brain it is customary to distinguish the left and right hemispheres. They are separated from each other by the cerebral cortex, but they do not lose their connection, because the normal functioning of this organ is possible only with the optimal interaction of both hemispheres. That is why the human brain has a corpus callosum. Each of the hemispheres has its own functions. Conventionally, it is the left hemisphere that is responsible for sequential execution of certain tasks.

The right one, no less important, also needs to perform a number of secondary tasks in parallel. Very often in everyday life they say that creative people the right hemisphere is more developed, and people with a developed left hemisphere are given success in the exact sciences, for example, in mathematics or physics. And this is quite logical, because the right hemisphere is responsible for processing information that entered the human mind in the form of images and symbols. But the features and functions of the left hemisphere should be considered in more detail.

Thinking function

Unlike the legal hemisphere, the left is responsible for processing the facts coming from outside what is used for logical thinking. AT this case specific information is taken into account, while factors such as feelings and emotions play absolutely no role. It is worth noting that it is the left hemisphere, as mentioned earlier, that tends to process several tasks one after another, which contributes to the analysis of facts.

verbal function

The left hemisphere is responsible for verbal ability to a person. Depending on the degree of development of these abilities, a person develops writing skills and the ability to read a text in different ways. In addition, it is thanks to the work of the left hemisphere of the brain that a person can contact the outside world through speech and, of course, develop communication skills.

Human body control function

In the aspect of brain control of the wearer's body, the human body resembles a mirror. So, the left hemisphere controls the right half. human body, while the right hemisphere controls the left half. That is, in other words, raising the right hand or taking a step right foot forward, a person performs these actions precisely due to the work of the left hemisphere of the brain.

"Account" function

The so-called "counting" function only applies to the left hemisphere. Its main value is reflected when a person makes mathematical and other accurate calculations. In other words, it is the left hemisphere that sends signals to the entire body when solving mathematical or physical tasks, calculating the budget, mentally adding up the amount for the purchase of a particular thing, etc. Therefore, it is fair to say that if a child is gifted in the aspect, for example, of algebra, then his left hemisphere is developed.

Development of the left hemisphere of the brain

Very often, many people have a question: “Is it possible to develop the left hemisphere of the brain? And if so, how?". The answer will be positive. And here are some options:

• It was mentioned earlier in the article that right body controlled by the left hemisphere. Adding here the fact about positive influence physical activity on the development of the brain, we can conclude: for the development of the left hemisphere of the brain, it is necessary to give physical exercise right half of the body.
• Since the left hemisphere is responsible for counting and logic, attention should be paid to solving math problems. Of course, it is not necessary to take tasks in higher mathematics right away. It is better to start with simple equations, gradually increasing the level of complexity. This will definitely help the development of the left hemisphere.
• Strangely, the best and easiest way to develop the left hemisphere of the brain is to crossword puzzles. Trying to guess the word that needs to be entered into the cells especially works analytical thinking characteristic of the left hemisphere.
• And finally, it is necessary to recall the special tests developed by teams of psychologists that contribute to the development of the left side of the human brain. Fortunately, a huge number of them can now be easily found on the expanses of the World Wide Web.

Collaboration

It should be noted that the hemispheres cannot work separately. Therefore, with the development of one hemisphere, it is necessary to devote time to the development of the second. The social factor plays a role here, because people who have both the left and right hemispheres equally well developed, that is, both creative and logical abilities, are more in demand in society.

Moreover, there are special people, the so-called ambidexters, whose hemispheres are equally developed. Sometimes such people even know how to write equally well with both hands. Anyone can achieve such heights of mastery, but for this it is worth making a lot of effort.

An interesting video about the work of the hemispheres: