Right Hemisphere and Arousal

Abstract

The basic arousal theory, discussed above, is largely axial in nature with brain-stem reticular formation activation of the arousal response and with the regulatory inhibition or modulation of arousal, through the descending fibers originating in the prefrontal region. Similarities, though, were apparent to some that the bilateral prefrontal lobectomized hyperkinesis demonstrated in nonhuman primates was more comparable, perhaps, to a right prefrontal lesion in a human (personal communication Walt Isaac). This relationship in lateralized energy level and regulatory control is discussed elsewhere in these writings. By the 1980s and through the contributions of Kenneth Heilman, Wendy Heller, and many others, it became clear that these brain systems were lateralized and especially in humans. Ken’s group was able to demonstrate this through several discussions within the neuroscience literature. But, most notable were the applications of the classic arousal theories discussed above to more modern constructs involved in unilateral neglect disordersand in the lateralization of emotion preferentially to the right cerebral hemisphere.