In the June/July '08 issue of MIND, Michael Gazzaniga has some new insights into hemispheric specialization and problem-solving:
- The left-brain interpreter makes sense out of all the other processes. It takes all the input that is coming in and puts it together in a make-sense story, even though it may be completely wrong.
- The left hemisphere...tends to falsely recognize new items when they are similar to previously presented items, presumably because they fit into the schema it has constructed.
- The right hemisphere maintains an accurate record of events, leaving the left hemisphere free to elaborate and make inferences about the material presented. In an intact brain, the two systems complement each other, allowing elaborative processing without sacrificing veracity.
- ...the left hemisphere is specialized for language, speech and intelligent behavior, whereas the right is specialized for such tasks as recognizing upright faces, focusing attention, and making perceptual distinctions.
