The brain is a complex and hardworking organ. It is made up of as many as billion neurons or brain cells but only weighs 3 pounds. The left and right sides of the brain are connected by a great number of nerve fibers. In a healthy brain, the two sides communicate with one another. The two sides do not necessarily have to communicate, though.
If a person has an injury that separates the two brain hemispheres, they are still able to function relatively normally. According to the left brain vs. Because people can be left-handed or right-handed, the idea that people can be left-brained and right-brained is tempting. They measured the activity of the left and right hemispheres, using an MRI scanner.
Their results show that a person uses both hemispheres of their brain and that there does not seem to be a dominant side. For example, a study in PLoS Biology says that the language centers in the brain are in the left hemisphere, while the right hemisphere is specialized for emotion and nonverbal communication. Sperry the Nobel Prize in However, popular cultural exaggeration of these findings led to the development of beliefs of left brain and right brain personalities.
Although people do not fall neatly into the categories of left-brained or right-brained, there are some differences in what the left and right hemispheres do.
This is the domain of the right brain, in both humans and also in non-human primates. Emotions are expressed and recognized in others by the right brain. The left brain is more active in speech production than the right. Visually based languages are also the domain of the left brain. People who are deaf show speech-like brain activity when watching sign language.
Left- and right-handed people use the left and right brain differently. For example, a left-handed person uses their right brain for manual tasks and vice versa. Handedness is inbuilt, and it can even be detected while the baby is in the womb. A popular book first published in , Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain , extends this concept. It suggests that regardless of how your brain is wired, getting in touch with your "right brain" will help you see — and draw — things differently.
These notions of "left and right brain-ness" are widespread and widely accepted. But they may also be wrong. There is truth to the idea that some brain functions reside more on one side of the brain than the other. We know this in part from what is lost when a stroke affects a particular part of the brain. For example, it has long been thought that, in most people, control of language resides in the left side of the brain.
And there are areas of the right half the brain that control movement of the left arm and leg and vice versa. Damage to the front part of the brain is linked with reduced motivation, difficulty planning, and impaired creativity. Meanwhile, the back of the brain the occipital cortex integrates visual information from the eye. Damage to this area can cause partial or complete blindness. These are just a few examples of how certain parts of the brain appear responsible for specific functions.
So, location does matter. But for more individual personality traits, such as creativity or a tendency toward the rational rather than the intuitive, there has been little or no evidence supporting a residence in one area of the brain. So, is the idea of "thinking with the left side of your brain" a myth? But, the lack of proof does not prove the opposite. For people living thousands of years ago, an inability to prove the earth was round did not prove the earth was flat!
They looked at the brain scans of more than 1, young people between the ages of 7 and 29 and divided different areas of the brain into 7, regions to determine whether one side of the brain was more active or connected than the other side.
No evidence of "sidedness" was found. The authors concluded that the notion of some people being more left-brained or right-brained is more a figure of speech than an anatomically accurate description. As a service to our readers, Harvard Health Publishing provides access to our library of archived content. Please note the date of last review or update on all articles. No content on this site, regardless of date, should ever be used as a substitute for direct medical advice from your doctor or other qualified clinician.
I enjoyed reading this article. Do you find that you have strengths in both the left and right brain equally? Do you feel that you have any advantage or disadvantage in any way? I am easily more creative than average, taught math in secondary and college level for 25 years, and find directions when driving my greatest challenge. Earning a doctorate in historical theology was much easier for me than a masters in mathematics at the same university.
One thing I see is that Arabic is written right to left. Were the inventors of written Arabic left handed? Just an addendum: As a medical student at Harvard, our genetics faculty was convinced that handedness was defined by a typical dominant-recessive distribution. As a left hander, this concept has always intrigued me.
Clearly, I used my left hand preferentially from birth but many influences in my life changed my pattern of activity. Probably the first was the effect of my grade school teachers who tried to convert, at least my handwriting, to my right hand.
Fortunately my mother stopped that but did get to to straighten out my left handing when writing. It is frustrating to this day and I have not been able to change. It did cause a few problems when I was a pilot of my own airplane; but, not as a surgeon!
What was difficult in my career was the overwhelming emphasis on right-handedness in the operating room. Even the majority of instruments are designed specifically for right handers, to wit, scissors, needle holders and ratcheted clamps!
I can say after a right sided, frontal lobe CVA, that muscle control of my left arm is the prime issue, not speech, etc. Still a vast majority of people are unaware that growth of neurons forming human brain starts early and is almost complete by the age of 4 to 5 years and the basic hard wiring or circuitry connections patterns get developed in early childhood and neurons not used or sparingly used get decomposed.
Parenting with good coaching and focus on ability of parents and teachers for a healthier upbringing and use of brain by children is the most important part. Good that lefties are at no major disadvantage except writing of scripts can be left to right only…. Do we use our brain to its full capacity? We do not use even the skills and knowledge gathered to even a quarter of the whole! The amazing thing is that when I feel most in tune with God, my brain feels clear and light.
I hope there can be more studies done with people who use prayer to become more inspired. I am amazed at how the Lord can forgive me and clear my brain, even after it has felt muddled or unclear. Robert is wrong. Handedness is strictly hard-wired. Also, it is everyday experience, that left-handed people have different menthality than right-handed ones. Not better, just different. But even if the science cannot prove it, you should accept that there is a main difference between righ-handed and left-handed people.
Congratulations, well done. However, the difference still exists between right-handed and left-handed people. What about ambidextrous individual like me? The theory is that people are either left-brained or right-brained, meaning that one side of their brain is dominant. This first came to light in the s, thanks to the research of psychobiologist and Nobel Prize winner Roger W.
The left brain is more verbal, analytical, and orderly than the right brain. The right brain is more visual and intuitive. It has a more creative and less organized way of thinking. We know the two sides of our brain are different, but does it necessarily follow that we have a dominant brain just as we have a dominant hand? A team of neuroscientists set out to test this premise. After a two-year analysis , they found no proof that this theory is correct.
The two hemispheres are tied together by bundles of nerve fibers, creating an information highway. Although the two sides function differently, they work together and complement each other. For example, the left brain is credited with language, but the right brain helps you understand context and tone. The left brain handles mathematical equations, but right brain helps out with comparisons and rough estimates.
The exact areas of some functions can vary a bit from person to person. In addition to thinking exercises, your brain benefits from a good physical workout. Just minutes of aerobic exercise a week can help improve learning and verbal memory. Avoid junk food and be sure to get all the essential nutrients you need through diet or dietary supplements. Read about and listen to the creative ideas of others. You might discover the seed of an idea you can grow, or set your own imagination free.
Try something new. Take up a creative hobby, such as playing an instrument, drawing, or storytelling. A relaxing hobby can help your mind wander to new places. Look within. This can help you gain a deeper understanding of yourself and what makes you tick. Why do you gravitate toward certain activities and not others?
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