The Right Hemisphere

"Indeed, the entire history of neurology and neuropsychology can be seen as a history of the investigation of the left hemisphere.

One important reason for the neglect of the right, or 'minor' hemisphere, as it has always been called, is that while it is easy to demonstrate the effects of variously located lesions on the left side, the corresponding syndromes of the right hemisphere are much less distinct. It was presumed, usually contemptously, to be more 'primitive' than the left, the latter being seen as the unique flower of human evolution.

And in a sense this is correct: the left hemisphere is more sophisticated and specialised, a very late outgrowth of the primate, and especially hominid, brain. On the other hand, it is the right hemisphere which controls the crucial powers of recognising reality which every living creature must have in order to survive.

The left hemisphere, like a computer tacked onto the basic creatural brain, is designed for programmes and schematics; and classical neurology was more concerned with schematics than with reality, so that when, at last, some of the right-hemisphere syndromes emerged, they were considered bizarre."

Page 4, 'Losses', from the book 'The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat' by Oliver Sacks

In popular culture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_Who_Mistook_His_Wife_for_a_Hat)

"Peter Brook adapted Sacks's book into an acclaimed theatrical production, "L'Homme Qui...", which premiered at the Theatre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris, in 1993.
An Indian theatre company, performed a play The Blue Mug, based on the book, starring Rajat Kapoor, Konkona Sen Sharma, Ranvir Shorey and Vinay Pathak."