I know a neuroscientist who explains bipolar disorder using a “sticky switch” theory of hemispheric oscillation. It’s related to Ramachandran’s theory of hemispheric function. Pettigrew adds to this the idea that there is a natural alternation of hemispheric dominance, on a timescale of seconds, and that in bipolar disorder, the switch rate is much slower, so that a person will spend hours or days with one hemisphere dominant. These long periods are mania and depression. He had some intriguing circumstantial evidence to do with binocular rivalry—the alternation between images was slower in people with bipolar disorder, as if this was driven by the same process.
I know a neuroscientist who explains bipolar disorder using a “sticky switch” theory of hemispheric oscillation. It’s related to Ramachandran’s theory of hemispheric function. Pettigrew adds to this the idea that there is a natural alternation of hemispheric dominance, on a timescale of seconds, and that in bipolar disorder, the switch rate is much slower, so that a person will spend hours or days with one hemisphere dominant. These long periods are mania and depression. He had some intriguing circumstantial evidence to do with binocular rivalry—the alternation between images was slower in people with bipolar disorder, as if this was driven by the same process.