Sacks writes that he is less interested in the traditional left-hemisphere deficits studied by neurology than he is by the questions of self that emerge from right-hemisphere deficits. They are in the unique position of living with an inner reality that is impossible to rationalize or even describe. Hence, patients with right-hemisphere disorders have long gone overlooked.
The right hemisphere, on the other hand, has always been considered the more primitive side of the brain, even though its functions form the bedrock of how we construct reality. Luria’s The Man with a Shattered World, for example, is an account of a young Russian soldier in World War II who survives a catastrophic gunshot through the left side of his head and loses his short-term memory.Īs the hemisphere with more distinct, schematic and quantitative functions, the left side of the brain has easily lent itself to scientific research. Many of the emerging field’s early discoveries had one thing in common: they were the result of studies conducted on damaged left hemispheres. Modern neuropsychology came into being after World War II, due to the joint efforts of Soviet physiologists Alexander Luria, Pyotr Anokhin, and Nikolai Bernstein. "Losses," the book’s first of four sections, begins with a short introduction that provides some historical context on the evolution of neuroscience.
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