f scarcity where cold and limited food are concerns LHS domination is prevalent. This phenomenon has been recorded numerous times when examining LHS dominant cultures, such as those of the Arctic, to RHS dominant cultures, like Africa. Similarly, studies of animals such as the Chickadee have shown similar results. Yukon born chickadees have LHS dominance as compared to Texas born chickadees with RHS dominance. In exchanging Yukon borns for Texas borns it was shown that the action reliant Yukon birds consistently became the alpha of their new environment whereas inaction reliant Texan birds died shortly after their arrival in the Yukon. These studies explain the mass deaths incurred upon large migrations throughout history as people of prosperity attempted and largely failed to survive in scarcity.
When speaking of dominance it is important to recognize that each hemisphere continues to function semi-independently but their interactions become dominated by one side. That is, each hemisphere always provides its input to the decision making process but is drowned out by the other. This occurs as individual decisions are made that biologically alter the state of the brain, changing the weight each hemisphere carries in their rivalry. As a choice of activity or inactivity is made it influences how effectively one hemisphere can inhibit the other and simultaneously teaches the now less effective inhibiting hemisphere to provide more excitatory signals with more frequency. For example: if a child eats a cookie their LHS has successfully inhibited their RHS changing the power dynamic as to make LHS ever so slightly more dominant and RHS more submissive in their rivalry. The reverse is also true should the child not eat the cookie.
A lifetime of these anatomically changing decisions, paired with environmental circumstances as discussed above, dictate the structure and plasticity of the human brain. In cases such as common suburban living the LHS has less distinct neural networks and appears significantly blander than the RHS. The opposite asymmetry is observed in individuals such as violent offenders whose LHS is more distinct and pronounced than the RHS. The highest degree of symmetry between the hemispheres has been studied in veteran gang members. These individuals display an amazing propensity to act in extremely risky ways, yet inhibit themselves in the face of provocation to survive.
In gaining a fuller understanding of the interaction and function of cerebral hemispheres one must trace neural networks. The basis of the correlation of LHS with action and emotion is its connectivity with specialized parts throughout both hemispheres that play a role in those behaviors. Most notably LHS has been shown to have integral connections to insula and amygdala. Similarly, the association of RHS with inaction and calculation is tied to its extensive networks connecting to the anterior cingulate, orbitofrontal and prefrontal cortices. These specialized areas are implicated in the calculative and inhibitory processes of inaction and those related to delayed gratification. In studies looking at individuals with damaged LHS invariably the temporal lobe, insula and amygdala also sustained connectivity damage. Limiting the connectivity of such areas seriously limits the effectiveness by which they operate. This means that although logistically the LHS is not the ‘emotional’ hemisphere its connectivity with emotion related areas is crucial to their functioning. This same process implicates the RHS as the ‘calculative’ hemisphere, though logistically it is not.
The role of hemispheric rivalry has become a major talking point for those studying the generation of consciousness within the brain. Some believe the brain’s state of conflict is integrally linked to intelligence and genuine free will.
Failures of lateralization
Lateralization as a concept fails because the brain consistently updates, consolidates, shifts information between the hemispheres. In patients with damage to the LHS, functions traditionally associated with LHS were found pre