Right cerebral hemisphere

Function

The right hemisphere specialises in the holistic: spatial construction, face recognition, prosody of speech, attention across both sides of space and musical contour. It moves the left body, feels the left world and, in most brains, stays silent in speech while comprehending it fully.

Its parietal lobe builds the body schema — the mind's map of where the body is. Injury here produces the startling neglect syndromes in which half of the world simply ceases to exist for the patient.

Blood supply

Right internal carotid → right MCA and ACA.

Nerve supply

Thalamocortical radiations and commissural fibres.

Clinical relevance

Hemispatial neglect

Right parietal damage makes patients dress, draw and eat from only the right half of space — a window into consciousness's construction.

Expressive prosody deficit

Right frontal lesions flatten emotional tone of speech — the speech sounds flat though grammar is intact.

Related conditions

• Stroke
• Migraine
• Epilepsy
• Alzheimer's disease
• Brain tumours (glioma)
• Depression