Do Lefties, Righties Benefit Differently from Power Nap?
At 'Rest,' Brain's Right Hemisphere 'Talks' More Than Left Hemisphere Does
People who like to nap say it helps them focus their
minds post a little shut eye. Now, a study from Georgetown University Medical
Center may have found evidence to support that notion.
The research, presented at Neuroscience 2012, the annual
meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, found that when participants in a
study rested, the right hemisphere of their brains talked more to itself and to
the left hemisphere than the left hemisphere communicated within itself and to
the right hemisphere -- no matter which of the participants' hands was
dominant. (Neuroscientists say right-handed people use their left hemisphere to
a greater degree, and vice versa.)
Results of this study, the first known to look at
activity in the two different hemispheres during rest, suggests that the right
hemisphere "is doing important things in the resting state that we don't
yet understand," says Andrei Medvedev, Ph.D., an assistant professor in
the Center for Functional and Molecular Imaging at Georgetown. The activities
being processed by the right hemisphere, which is known to be involved in
creative tasks, could be daydreaming or processing and storing previously
acquired information. "The brain could be doing some helpful
housecleaning, classifying data, consolidating memories," Medvedev says.
"That could explain the power of napping. But we just don't know yet the
relative roles of both hemispheres in those processes and whether the power nap
might benefit righties more then lefties."
To find out what happens in the resting state, the
research team connected 15 study participants to near-infrared spectroscopy
(NIRS) equipment. This technology, which is low cost and portable, uses light
to measure changes in oxygenated hemoglobin inside the body.
The study participants wore a cap adorned with optical
fibers that delivers infrared light to the outermost layers of the brain and
then measures the light that bounces back. In this way, the device can
"see" which parts of the brain are most active and communicating at a
higher level based on increased use of oxygen in the blood and heightened
synchronicity of their activities.
"The device can help delineate global networks
inside the brain -- how the components all work together," Medvedev says.
"The better integrated they are, the better cognitive tasks are
performed."
To their surprise, the researchers found that left and
right hemispheres behaved differently during the resting state. "That was
true no matter which hand a participant used. The right hemisphere was more
integrated in right-handed participants, and even stronger in the
left-handed," he says.
Medvedev is exploring the findings for an explanation.
And he suggests that brain scientists should start focusing more of their
attention on the right hemisphere. "Most brain theories emphasize the
dominance of the left hemisphere especially in right handed individuals, and
that describes the population of participants in these studies," Medvedev
says. "Our study suggests that looking at only the left hemisphere
prevents us from a truer understanding of brain function." The research
was funded by the National Institutes of Health (grants # RR025786, GM103526
and EB006589). Medvedev and his co-authors report having no personal financial
interests related to this study.
[image source: photostock.com]
Psychtronics.com gives the only interesting topics of
psychology and you need not to be a professional to understand the articles in
the psychtronics. They are easy to understand to every one and it is mainly for
the college students and Psychiatrists.
Like us in FB to get Updates:
www.facebook.com/psychtronics
Follow us in twitter: www.twitter.com/psychtronics
+ comments + 2 comments
Intense research in the area of brain and language led Noam Chomsky to identify an innate ability of the brain. it is nice post.Brain and Language
As you stated in your post that brain's right hemisphere talks more than the left and the reason you explain with the diagram. With the help of diagram it has become very easy to understand and with the information it become more understandable. traumatic brain injury
Post a Comment