Re: THEORY: language and the brain [Interesting article]
| From: | Mark J. Reed <markjreed@...> |
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| Date: | Tuesday, July 1, 2003, 14:44 |
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On Tue, Jul 01, 2003 at 09:33:23AM +0100, Chris Bates wrote:
> What is the actual difference between the brains of left and right
> handed people?
Well, basically, right-handed people's brains are in many respects
generally the same as each other, while left-handed people's brains are
not only not like right-handed people's brains, but not even like each
other's brains.
Beyond structural dependencies, in which the function depends on
the particular type of brain matter and therefore can't move around
much, neuroscientists have identified general areas of the brain
responsible for certain specialized functions, The exact location
varies with the individual, but in right-handed people the variation
among the population is not that wide. In left-handed people,
however, functional areas show up in completely different places.
Sometimes they have moved to the other hemisphere, but not always
or even usually - it's not a simple matter of swapping left and
right to agree with handedness.
-Mark
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