Keep It Going: Do You Know These 15 Essential Tbi Recovery Tips
If you like our content, youll love our ebook and newsletters! Get instant access to our TBI recovery tips ebook with 20 pages of helpful advice by signing up below.
Youll also receive our emails that share survivor stories and more useful TBI recovery tips, which you can opt out of at any time.
We will never sell your email address, and we never spam. That we promise.
Right Hemisphere Brain Damage Symptoms
An injury to the right hemisphere of the brain can result in many cognitive and physical difficulties, which can affect your ability to process information, interact with your surroundings, and communicate with others.
Below is a list of some of the most common effects of right hemisphere brain damage.
Left Brain Vs Right Brain
By Eagle Gamma, published May 18, 2021
The brain consists of twin halves, a left hemisphere alongside a nearly symmetrical right hemisphere.
Hemispheric lateralization is the idea that both hemispheres are functionally different and that certain mental processes and behaviors are mainly controlled by one hemisphere rather than the other.
The left hemisphere controls the right hand side of the body and receives information from the right visual field controlling speech, language and recognition of words, letters and numbers.
The right hemisphere controls the left hand side of the body and receives information from the left visual field controlling creativity, context and recognition of faces, places and objects.
According to the left-brain, right-brain dominance theory the left-side of the brain is considered to be adept at tasks which are considered logical, rational, calculating. By contrast, the right side of the brain is best at artistic, creative, and spontaneous tasks
| Left Brain |
|---|
| Being intuitive |
Recommended Reading: Ct Vs Mri Brain Scan
Ventricles And Cerebrospinal Fluid
The brain has hollow fluid-filled cavities called ventricles . Inside the ventricles is a ribbon-like structure called the choroid plexus that makes clear colorless cerebrospinal fluid . CSF flows within and around the brain and spinal cord to help cushion it from injury. This circulating fluid is constantly being absorbed and replenished.
There are two ventricles deep within the cerebral hemispheres called the lateral ventricles. They both connect with the third ventricle through a separate opening called the foramen of Monro. The third ventricle connects with the fourth ventricle through a long narrow tube called the aqueduct of Sylvius. From the fourth ventricle, CSF flows into the subarachnoid space where it bathes and cushions the brain. CSF is recycled by special structures in the superior sagittal sinus called arachnoid villi.
A balance is maintained between the amount of CSF that is absorbed and the amount that is produced. A disruption or blockage in the system can cause a build up of CSF, which can cause enlargement of the ventricles or cause a collection of fluid in the spinal cord .
Your Brain Is Divided Into Two Sides Called Hemispheres
The right side of your brain controls the left side of your body, and the left side of your brain controls the right side of your body. Interesting, right? The two sides of your brain are similar to one another for example, the part of your brain that tells your arms and legs to move is the same on the right and left it just controls different sides of your body. Download a copy of the Right Brain vs. Left Brain infographic here
Also Check: Northern Virginia Mental Health Institute
Detailed Information About The Functions And Characteristics Of The Left Brain
- It has the ability to understand the sum of any situation/look at things from.
- It involves the movement of large muscles such as walking.
- It plays an important role in maintaining balance.
- It is responsible for non-verbal communications.
- It can sense smell, taste, and sound.
- It is responsible for emotional functions.
- It regulates avoidance behavior.
- It controls the immune system.
- It is in charge of involuntary body functions like digestion, the beating of the heart, and breathing.
- It is stimulated by new experiences.
- It affects the persons ability to pay attention to details.
- Fine motor skills.
- Convert sounds to language and translates meaning.
Attention And Concentration Problems
Right hemisphere brain damage often causes difficulties concentrating and focusing on a task. It can also make it hard to follow a conversation or focus on what another person is saying.
One area of the right hemisphere that plays a major role in attention is the lateral intraparietal cortex. This area helps us visually focus on important objects and filter out other stimuli. For example, it plays a major role in paying attention to pertinent signs on the road while driving, while filtering out less important environmental information such as billboards.
When this region is damaged in an injury, it becomes extremely challenging to filter out other stimuli. As a result, the persons attention skills are severely reduced.
Read Also: Mental Health Counseling Certificate Online
A More Holistic Picture
But lateralization isnt the whole story. Even in language: stroke or injury to the right side of the brain commonly impairs the ability to understand the emotional aspects of speech carried by intonation and phrasing. To understand language fully, then, requires both sides of the brain, working together.
The hemispheres, after all, are not truly separate: communication between them is enabled by commissural fibers, broad white matter tracts through which a constant traffic of neural messages pass from side to side. The most prominent of these is the corpus callosum, but smaller commissural tracts connect the hemispheres as well.
Beyond the implications of gross anatomy, our increasingly nuanced view of lateralization reflects a more general evolution in our understanding of how the brain works: while some basic functions can reasonably be localized to modules or specific regions , more complex functions, such as the cognitive capacities popularly associated with the right and left hemisphere, are better explained in terms of networks that may spread across large areas of the brain.
Problems With Facial Recognition
Right hemisphere brain damage can lead to the inability to recognize familiar faces known as prosopagnosia. If you have this condition, looking at the face of your best friend may feel like looking at a stranger.
Prosopagnosia is caused by lesions to the fusiform face area located on the inferior temporal cortex. Some individuals with prosopagnosia can still recognize facial expressions and cues, but those with more severe forms cannot. For example, they may not know that a smile means a person is happy.
However, prosopagnosia does not make you forget a person or mean you have no way of identifying them. For example, individuals with this condition are often able to recognize their loved ones voices and identify them in other ways.
Don’t Miss: Mental Illness Interfering With Work
What Research Says About Brain Functions And Dominance
Several studies have debunked the old brain theory and straightened out information regarding hemispheric differences. Recent research has shown that the human brain has a symmetrical structure for a reason everyone uses both brain regions equally unless one side has been damaged due to a brain injury.
After studying the brains of 1,000 people using an MRI, a 2013 scientific article published by PLOS One concluded that there’s no such thing as a dominant brain because a person uses both sides of their brain, depending on the task that needs to be completed.
How the left hemisphere of the brain emerged as more dominant than the right stemmed from the split-brain study of neuropsychologist Roger W. Sperry in the 1960s, which won him the Nobel Prize. According to PLOS Biology, the study involved patients who had undergone split-brain surgery, wherein the corpus callosum connecting the two hemispheres was removed to address a type of severe epilepsy. After testing each hemisphere, the language centres were revealed in the left and emotional and nonverbal functions in the right.
However, Sperry’s findings were exaggerated by many ill-founded publications that immortalised the popular belief that the right hemisphere is responsible for creativity in the world of art, business and education.
What Is The Right Side Of The Brain Is Responsible For
The right side of the brain is responsible for most actions and decisions we make. It is also responsible for controlling our emotions and making us feel good or bad. The left side of the brain is responsible for more complex tasks and is also responsible for controlling our emotions and making us feel bad.
Related Topics
Recommended Reading: Muse The Brain Sensing Headband
Problems With Reasoning And Problem Solving
Generally, the left side of the brain is in charge of logic and reason. However, the right side contributes to those skills as well. Because the right side controls our imagination and helps us organize information, it allows us to perceive things more fully and generate creative solutions. If the right hemisphere of the brain is damaged, this can severely hamper a persons ability to identify and solve problems.
Tips For Keeping Your Brain Sharp
According to the Alzheimers Association, keeping your brain active via mentally challenging activities, like learning a new skill, may have benefits for brain health in the short and long term. They also suggest that a lack of mental stimulation may increase the chance of developing Alzheimers disease.
Here are a few tips to stimulate your brain:
Recommended Reading: Sleep Deprivation And Mental Health
The Right Side Of The Brain
The right hemisphere governs and controls as many specialized functions as the left, but what distinguishes them is the way in which information is produced and processed.
The right side of the brain does not use conventional mechanisms or reasoning for analyzing thoughts the way that the left side does. It is an integrative brain and is the center of non-verbal visual-spacial functions. It specializes in feelings and sensations, in spacial abilities as well as visual and sound abilities, but not those related to language.
This side of the brain receives information and comes up with situations and through strategies in a complete manner, it integrates several types of information and transmits them as one complete whole. This hemisphere organizes information by adjusting to the type of immediate response required in visual and spacial organization processes. This right side of the brain is considered to be the receptor and identifier of spacial orientation, and is responsible for the way we perceive the world in regards to color, shape and place.
In summary, the right hemisphere specializes in non-verbal functions. We know that we are using the right brain faculties when:
About Right Hemisphere Brain Damage
Right hemisphere brain damage, or RHD, is damage to the right side of the brain. Our brains have two sides, or hemispheres. In most people, language skills are in the left side of the brain. The right side controls attention, memory, reasoning, and problem solving. RHD may lead to problems with these important thinking skills. A person with RHD may have trouble communicating with others because of this damage. In many cases, the person with RHD is not aware of their problems.
Also Check: Drinking Water And Minding My Business
/7the Endless Possibilities Of The Right Brain
The human brain is separated into two cerebral hemispheres-the left and the right brain. Both parts of the brain control different parts of the body and have different functions. The left side of the brain controls your bodys right side and vice versa. When you are being analytical, attentive, objective, rational or are trying to process a language, you are using the left or logical side of your brain. The right side is creative, impulsive, intuitive, thoughtful and is driven by feelings, beliefs and subjective thinking. Training the right side of your brain can stimulate your creativity and imagination. Here are 5 easy ways to train the right side of your brain:
Where Did The Myth Come From
The concept of left-brained and right-brained individuals appears to stem from research in the 1960s on split-brain patients, whose corpus callosum had been separated. The research revealed that patients responded in different ways to stimuli such as images, depending on which brain hemisphere perceived them.
You May Like: Love On The Brain By Ali Hazelwood
Insight And Organization Problems
Right hemisphere brain damage may make it difficult to arrange information, which can cause problems with executive functioning skills such as organizing and planning basic tasks.
Additionally, damage to the right hemisphere may lead to impaired judgment when it affects a persons insight or ability to understand the consequences of an action. Often, individuals with right hemisphere brain damage struggle with self-awareness, which can make it challenging to control their actions.
Left Brain Vs Right Brain Theory
In the 1960s, the neurobiologist Roger W. Sperry suggested that all people have one-half of their brain, which is more dominant and determines their personality, thoughts, and behavior.
Due to the different functions of the two brain hemispheres, the idea that people can be left-brained and right-brained is tempting.
According to the dated theory, left-brained people are more:
Research suggests that the left brain vs. right brain theory is not correct. While specific parts of the brain do dominate the processing of different mental tasks, there is typically no overall dominant side.
A 2013 study assessed 3-D pictures of over 1,000 peoples brains. They measured the activity of the left and right hemispheres using an MRI scanner. Their results show that a person uses both hemispheres of the brain and does not seem to be a dominant side.
However, a persons brain activity does differ depending on what task they are doing.
For example, a 2020 review suggests that the left side of the brain is the dominant force in language processing, even though both sides are necessary for full comprehension.
Although people do not fall neatly into the categories of left-brained or right-brained, there are differences in what the left and right hemispheres do.
Differences in the left and right brain hemisphere function exist in:
Don’t Miss: Inpatient Mental Health Facilities In South Dakota
Right Brain Injury Vs Left Brain Injury
Youve had a brain injury or stroke and certain things in your daily life are affected, but not everything. You know your injury was on the right side of your brain. So, why are you having trouble with actions on the left side of your body? Heres a quick explanation of which side of the brain is responsible for what types of thoughts, emotions, and actions. You might be surprised!
Your brain is amazingly complex. It allows you to accomplish all kinds of feats every day, from simply picking up an apple off a table, to singing, reading, speaking, understanding or feeling emotions. The human brain is so complex that scientists are still making new discoveries about how it works.
How The Left And Right Hemispheres Work Together
Both sides of the brain collaborate to handle major functions such as language processing and vision. But they are also, to a degree, specialized. Some areas of the brain are more active than others during particular tasks, and one hemisphere may be more involved than the other in specific parts of a larger mental operation.
For example, Brocas area and Wernickes area are both linked to language and are most commonly located on the left side of the brain. Yet the right hemisphere is also known to play a role in language processing. Meanwhile, the limbic systemwhich includes the amygdalae and hippocampi and is involved in functions such as emotion and memoryresides on both sides of the brain.
Also Check: Why Am I So Slow Mentally
Right Brain Left Brain
The cerebrum is divided into two halves: the right and left hemispheres They are joined by a bundle of fibers called the corpus callosum that transmits messages from one side to the other. Each hemisphere controls the opposite side of the body. If a stroke occurs on the right side of the brain, your left arm or leg may be weak or paralyzed.
Not all functions of the hemispheres are shared. In general, the left hemisphere controls speech, comprehension, arithmetic, and writing. The right hemisphere controls creativity, spatial ability, artistic, and musical skills. The left hemisphere is dominant in hand use and language in about 92% of people.
Does The Left Side Of The Brain Control The Right Side Of The Body
Yes, the left side of the brain control the right side of the body.
Although this statement is not true for the total body of the human being, it is true that we can affirm that a good part of the motor functions is controlled by the opposite side of our brain. That is, the functions that involve, for example, moving the right leg, are controlled by the motor cortex of our left hemisphere. What is this phenomenon due to?
Our nervous system is made up of a large number of fibers and bundles that run throughout the body. Our senses, perceptions, thoughts and emotions are governed by this system. Also our ability to move. There are multiple beams that govern the latter, being especially relevant for voluntary movement those that are part of the pyramidal system.
But if we look from where they originate to where they arrive, we will see a detail that may seem peculiar: at a specific point most of the nerve fibers cross from the hemisphere where they originate to the opposite side of the body.
Recommended Reading: Mental Health Hospitals In Texas
Right Brain Hemisphere Vs Left Brain Hemisphere
The left brain hemisphere is needed for rational thinking and logical skills such as mathematics and language. On the other hand, the right side of the brain is responsible for creative activities like arts and connecting to others in an emotional way. So, a person who is left brain dominant is logical while the right brain dominant is more emotional.
