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September 24, 2005
Chapter 2 Question
3) The left hemisphere dominates language, rythmic perception, judgement and mathematical thinking while the right hemisphere is superior in pattern-matching, recognizing faces and spatial thinking. Since the left brain controls language functions, Kana (phonetic, like English) would be more affected by left brain damage. Additionally, the left brain is known to process letters, numbers and words. This ties to the speech aspect of the left side.
On the other hand, a patient with right brain damage would have more difficulty reading Kanji because it is symbolic and uses spatial and recognition skills. The right side of the brain is able to distinguish objects or symbols from one another. The right brain is better at processing faces, places and objects.
My answer can be backed by the apple experiment conducted with a split-brain patient. The experiment placed an apple in the left hand of the patient. The left hand was being governed by the right side of the brain (dominant in processing objects etc.). The person, with the apple in hand was able to use it, but not name it. Contrarily, when the apple was placed in the right hand (controlled by the left part of the brain) the patient was then able to name the object- apple.
Posted by lcissearls at September 24, 2005 01:20 PM