Left vs. Right Brain Injury Guide

The human brain is divided into two sides (called cerebral hemispheres)–AKA the “left brain” and “right brain”–that work together to control most aspects of the human experience, from emotion to cognition to movement. They can work in tandem due to the corpus callosum, a thick bundle of nerves that allows brain signals to travel between the two sides of the brain. However, each brain hemisphere does have specialized functions that differentiate it from the other.

The right side of the brain is especially important for:

• Organizing information
• Abstract meaning
• Context
• Spatial relationships (like map reading or shape recognition)
• Visual information
• Face recognition
• Intuition
• Emotion
• Imagination
• Detecting motion
• Music & art awareness
• Controls left side of body

The left side of the brain is especially important for:

• Speaking
• Reading
• Writing
• Listening
• Grammar
• Number skills
• Computation skills
• Analyzing information
• Reasoning
• Logic
• Sequential thinking
• Time awareness
• Controls right side of body