During a neurological examination, the doctor tests strength and sensory perception is both sides of the patients’ body. Explain why this is necessary by the defining the term ‘decussation’ and describing its implications for human function.

Decussation is the crossing of sensory and motor pathways as they travel through the central nervous system. Because of decussation, sensory information from the right side of our body ends up being processed in the left side of the brain and motor control in the right side of our body is being done by the left side of our brain.