4 Rew i r e
Yo u r
B r a i n
evenly together. The female brain is more symmetrical. The male
brain has an asymmetrical torque, which means
that the right frontal
lobe is larger than the left frontal lobe, and the left occipital (back of
the head) lobe is larger than the right occipital lobe.
For both sexes, the right hemisphere processes visual and spa-
tial information, enabling you to grasp the “ big picture. ” The right
hemisphere pays more attention to the context
or the gist of a situ-
ation. The left hemisphere, in contrast, is more adept at details,
categories, and linearly arranged information such as language. The
right hemisphere is more active when you ’ re learning something
new. Once the knowledge becomes routine and overlearned, the
left hemisphere comes more into play.
This is another reason that
language is processed by the left hemisphere.
The right hemisphere makes better connections with the parts
of the brain below the cortex, so it is more emotional by nature.
In other words, it ’ s better able to pick up the emotional climate
of a conversation. Since women ’ s brains have a better connection
between the two hemispheres than men ’ s
brains do, women are said
to be more intuitive. Words often carry more emotional meaning for
women than they do for men.
There are four lobes in each hemisphere: the frontal lobe, the pari-
etal (middle) lobe, the temporal (side) lobe, and the occipital lobe.
Each has specifi c talents. For example, when you appreciate a specifi c
object, such as a chair you sat on at your friend ’ s house,
the thoughts
and feelings you have about the chair are dispersed throughout your
brain. You remember the elegant shape of the chair through your right
parietal lobe. You remember the words your friend used to describe
his trip to Costa Rica through your left temporal lobe, and you process
the tone of his voice through your right temporal lobe. You
remember
looking back at the chair as you were leaving the room and noticing
its deep cinnamon color through your occipital lobe.
Women have a greater density of neurons in the temporal lobe,
which specializes in language. This verbal advantage begins to appear
during the fi rst two years of life, when little girls develop the ability
to talk about six months earlier than little boys do.
When developing
verbal strategies, women activate the left hippocampus (a part of the
c01.indd 4
c01.indd 4
1/29/10 10:09:18 AM
1/29/10 10:09:18 AM
F i r i n g t h e R i g h t C e l l s To g e t h e r
5
brain related to memory) more than men do. Men generally have
greater visual and spatial skills, because they
show greater activity in
the right hippocampus than women do.
The most recent addition to our evolutionary development is the
frontal lobe, which makes up about 20 percent of the human brain.
In comparison, the frontal lobe of a cat occupies about 3.5 percent
of its brain. The frontal lobe is the last part of the brain to mature in
humans; its development is not complete until sometime in the
third decade of life.
At the
forefront of the frontal lobe, the
Dostları ilə paylaş: