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Visual Imagery: The Language of the Right Brain

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Imagery

Abstract

Neurological research has rediscovered the concept that we have two separate brains, capable of two separate ways of perceiving the world. As early as 1844, Wigan, in his book, The Duality of the Mind, wrote “that a separate and distinct process of thinking or ratiocination may be carried on in each cerebrum simultaneously.” Since then, with the splitting of the brain in severe epileptics, Sperry, Bogen and others have been able to elucidate the cognitive characteristics and styles of the two hemispheres. The left or major hemisphere, controlling the right side of the body, appears to predominate in verbal, sequential, and analytic problem solving, while the right or minor hemisphere predominates in perceptual, holistic, manipulo-spatial and parallel processing, and in gestalt formations. The right brain also serves as a perceptual feedback system, while the left selectively focuses on aspects of the input, utilizing analytic sequential processing aimed at problem solving (Eaton, 1977).

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© 1980 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Virshup, E., Virshup, B. (1980). Visual Imagery: The Language of the Right Brain. In: Shorr, J.E., Sobel, G.E., Robin, P., Connella, J.A. (eds) Imagery. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-3731-7_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-3731-7_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4684-3733-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4684-3731-7

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