Although parts of the brain are particularly active during certain memory or learning activities, all brain activities requiring cognition activate neural
networks on both sides of the brain.
In addition, substances called growth factors, produced naturally in the brain, were more abundant in key regions
on both sides of the brain in optogenetically stimulated, stroke - affected mice than in their unstimulated counterparts.
The anterior
insula on each side of the brain (red) is smaller in children diagnosed with depression as preschoolers and kids who experienced excessive guilt as very young children.
It is thought an area
on the side of the brain called the amygdala controls how we feel — excited to open a present, sad when someone breaks a toy, or angry at unfairness.
Together with his colleagues, he turned to a brain - damaged patient called Roger who had suffered damage to the insula and
ACC on both sides of the brain after suffering a serious bout of hepatic encephalitis.
In this case, the team used a variant called ipsilesional anodal tDCS, where a positive (anodal) current is
applied on the side of the brain where damage has occurred.
Ultimately the electrical and chemical signals reach the centers of memory, the almond - size amygdala and the banana - shaped hippocampus, adjacent structures
buried on either side of the brain.
An entire mouse brain viewed from above: Neuronal extensions connect the two amygdalas (brightest green
spots on both sides of the brain) with the prefrontal cortex (top).
This seahorse - shaped area is buried inside the
temple on each side of the brain and is part of the limbic system, a set of inner structures associated with emotion and memory.
This idea has also been tested physiologically, by recording from individual neurons in two areas of the monkey brain: the primary visual cortex (V1), which receives signals from the retina (after being relayed through the thalamus), and the middle temporal area (MT)
on the side of the brain, which is specialized for seeing motion.
When the subjects truly saw the color rectangles, the fusiform circuit lit up
on both sides of their brain; when they had to imagine the color, the circuit only lit up in the right hemisphere.
Previous brain - imaging research has shown that interpreting metaphors requires a variety of areas
on both sides of the brain, compared with literal language, which is processed in known language areas in the left hemisphere.