Right Cerebral Hemisphere Dominance for a Sense of Corporeal and Emotional Self

Several lines of evidence suggest that the right cerebral hemisphere is dominant for sense of physical and emotional self, specifically, for an individual's awareness of his or her own corporeal being and its relation to the environment and affective state. Right parietal lesions impair body image. Left-sided neglect, anosognosia, and anosodiaphoria can arise from destruction of the hemispheric module controlling body image and the physical relation of self to the environment. Right parietotemporal lesions impair topographic orientation, the relation of the body to environmental location. Right frontotemporal lesions impair impulse control. Right temporal disorders affect the sense of the familiar and unfamiliar, evoke fear and mania, and evoke experiential phenomena. Right frontal lesions impair social behavior, impairing the relation of self to others, the social self. Whereas linguistic consciousness is a function of the left hemisphere, consciousness of the corporeal and emotional self and aspects of the social self may be a right hemisphere-dominant function. (C) 2000 Academic Press