Formation of functional interhemispheric asymmetry is also of great importance for good performance. At the age of nine, girls’ brains are characterized by a higher degree of hemispheric relationship than boys, and their academic performance is also higher. The predominance of energy exchange in girls in the left hemisphere compared with the right correlates with better memory and attention and higher academic performance. In boys, psychophysiological characteristics and learning rates are lower with a higher SCP in the right hemisphere. Perhaps the high energy exchange in the right hemisphere is associated with insufficient neurophysiological maturation of hemispheric relations. It can also be assumed that right-hemispheric dominance reflects the stress of adaptation systems, which adversely affects the performance indicators.
Maturation of functional interhemispheric asymmetry occurs in children at school age. However, in the preschool period, the hemispheric relations have a great influence on the psycho-physiological indicators and, in particular, on the characteristics of the level of aspirations. Right hemispheric dominance in boys 6 years of age is associated with inadequately inflated level of claims. In girls of this age, the level of inadequate reactions is higher with the predominance of SCP in the left hemisphere.
With aging, the decrease in cerebral energy metabolism, compared with the earlier age period, is of a natural nature, due to a decrease in cerebral circulation, impaired BBB permeability, and mitochondrial dysfunction. However, with moderate severity of these processes, the psychological characteristics remain intact. In people of old age, the indicators of short-term memory and activity are optimal with an average or even low averaging SCP. With a more pronounced decrease in cerebral blood flow and the development of hypoxia in the brain, anaerobic oxidation increases, which is accompanied by acidification of the blood flowing from the brain and an increase in UPP. In such cases, the indicators of memory, activity and emotional state of old people deteriorate.
In old age, compared with childhood, the brain is less resistant to acidosis, which is obviously associated with a decrease in antioxidant protection and a greater increase in free-radical processes during acidification of the nervous tissue. If in childhood psychological characteristics are generally better with SCP values slightly exceeding the average level, then at senile age even a slight acidification of the brain and, accordingly, an increase in SCP adversely affects mental activity.