THE RIGHT MIND
Making Sense of the Hemispheres

Robert Ornstein

Harcourt Brace, 1997

After beginning the conversation about the differing roles of the right and left hemispheres in his best-selling The Psychology of Consciousness, Robert Ornstein revisits the field some 25 years later. 'I began this book with a pretty firm prejudice,' says Ornstein. 'I believed that after two decades of research we'd find ... that there might be little to distinguish the two sides.' Instead, he concluded that 'the division of the mind is profound,' with deep roots in evolution, embryonic development, and society.

Drawing on studies of patients with hemispheric damage, on new research on disorders such as autism and schizophrenia, and research on how the brain handles functions such as speech, sound, motion, emotion, language and vision, Ornstein shows how all human activity involves activity of both hemispheres. The right provides the context, the big picture, while the left keeps track of the details. He considers how understanding the complex process of specialization can help us in a variety of challenges: treating mental illness, in physical medicine and health care, in understanding and appreciating cultural differences and perspectives, and in addressing crises we face in education with new curriculum and techniques.