Since Brocas 1861 discovery, the left and right cerebral hemispheres have been characterised as being verbal and nonverbal respectively. Though this dichotomy serves adequately as a rule of thumb, an increasing body of research has highlight

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Since Broca's 1861 discovery, the left and right cerebral hemispheres have been characterised as being verbal and nonverbal respectively. Though this dichotomy serves adequately as a rule of thumb, an increasing body of research has highlighted linguistic capacity in the supposedly 'nonverbal' right hemisphere. Compare and contrast the language processing abilities of the left and right hemispheres, paying particular attention to their phonological processing abilities. Make sure you draw on evidence from visual half field research and either clinical/split brain or imaging research to support your arguments.

The right and left hemispheres of the brain are similar in appearance; being mirror images of each other. However, on closer neuropsychological examination the hemispheres differ, particularly in the planum temporal of the cortical region. This area is involved in the processing of language and it is seen that it is larger in the left hemisphere than the right hemisphere in 65% of subjects (Haralambos, 2002).

The major differences between the two hemispheres are their functions. Each hemisphere controls the movements made by the opposite side of the body. The same applies to visual processing but with more complicating factors. So the left visual field is represented in