I have spent a considerable number of pages reviewing the research on the lateralized, asymmetric (as it is known) processing of the two hemispheres of the brain. There is a reason for this. I wanted to demonstrate as conclusively as possible that these hemispheres process their experience of the world in which they exist in different ways. Though in some people the left and right modes may be reversed or may even be in both hemispheres, these modes are, nevertheless, the keys to our conscious cognition of the world.
The following tables summarize the points made so far. They are designed to provide a perspective on the way the two hemispheres function as reported by the scientists who have studied them. If we think of the brain as a biological organ similar to other organs in the body, we begin to see that it functions in certain defined ways, just as all organs do. Of course in this case, the brain's functioning is reflected directly in our behavior and in our thoughts and feelings. Indeed, it is reflected in the study of itself. How our brains work is how we consciously work. Brain-damaged individuals, split-brain patients, and subjects with one hemisphere anesthetized, were not trying to deceive researchers in responding to their questions. There really is no way we can validly tell persons with injured brains that they are wrong about the world. They are as right as they can be based on how they are brains are functioning, as are we all.
Continue to "Classifying Our Modes of Thought"
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