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The Divided Brain

By 29th January 2020 No Comments

The Divided Brain

In this TED talk, psychiatrist Iain McGilchrist sheds new light on the roles of the right and left parts of the brain.  The common perception that the left side of the brain does reason and the right side emotion is not true – they are both profoundly involved in both.

However, there is no doubt that the brain is divided, so what role does each part play?  Like in other animals, the left side of the human brain provides  narrow, sharply-focused attention to detail while the right side works on broad, open vigilance.  Unique to humans is the frontal lobe, the role of which is to inhibit the other parts, enabling us to manipulate and outwit others but also to empathise.

Click here for the talk