Right Brain vs Left Brain

DIM
2008 Nov 25

Have you ever wondered which portion of your brain is the dominant one? The Brain has two distinct sides, or hemispheres, the Left Brain vs the Right Brain, each responsible for different things.


Everybody has two cerebral hemispheres that make up one brain. The left part is where speech comes from. It also controls the right side of your body. Our logic and reasoning skills come from this half as do number skills. The right side of your brain is your creative and athletic part. Art appreciation comes from this half. The right is known as the visual side. The right side is where spatial imagery comes from. People with damage here have a hard time picturing things. As people get older, they use one side more. Other parts of my page will go in depth with this.


The two halves are connected by a bundle of nerves called the corpus callosum. This is how the two halves communicate. Doctors used to think it served no purpose and it is still a common procedure to have it severed to protect you from seizures. Patients who have under gone this have little difference in the life. Doctors were sure that the bundle of millions of nerves must have some use. They started to do a lot of test. Most experiments used a split screen which would present a question or image to only one side of the brain. One test I read about and thought was neat involved a person named P.S. To the left side, the logical side, a picture of a chicken was presented. To the right side, a picture of a snow scene was shown. He was asked to select two cards from a series of cards. He picked one of a chicken, with his right hand, and one of a shovel with his left hand. (The right side of the brain controls the left hand and the left side controls the right hand.) The selections he made went together. He was then asked why. His left brain took over and used its language superiority to answer this. His right side couldn't contact his left side so he did not know why he selected the shovel. His left brain automatically employed its logic and gave the answer, "The chicken goes with the chicken and the shovel is used to clean his pen." He thought the answer was right but it wasn't. Pretty cool.


The Right Brain vs Left Brain test ... do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?




If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.



Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it.



LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe



RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking



Here you can find another test!

Here some additional information:


Lateralization of brain function
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A longitudinal fissure separates the human brain into two distinct cerebral hemispheres, connected by the corpus callosum. The sides resemble each other and each hemisphere's structure is generally mirrored by the other side. Yet despite the strong similarities, the functions of each cortical hemisphere are different.

Popular psychology tends to make broad and sometimes pseudoscientific generalizations about certain functions (e.g. logic, creativity) being lateral, that is, located in either the right or the left side of the brain. Researchers often criticize popular psychology for this, because the popular lateralizations often are distributed across both hemispheres, [1] although mental processing is divided between them.

Fundamental to brain process lateralization is the fact that the lateral sulcus generally is longer in the left hemisphere than in the right hemisphere. The extent of specialized brain function by area remains under investigation. If a specific region of the brain is either injured or destroyed, its functions can sometimes be recovered by a neighboring region, even in the opposite hemisphere, depending upon the area damaged and the patient's age.

While functions are lateralized, the lateralizations are functional trends, and are not applicable in every case. Short of having undergone a hemispherectomy (removal of a cerebral hemisphere), no one is a "left-brain only" or "right-brain only" person.

Brain function laterization is evident in the phenomena of right- or left-handedness and of right or left ear preference, but a person's preferred hand is not a clear indication of the location of brain function. Although 95% of right-handed people have left-hemisphere language function, only 18.8% of left-handed people have right-hemisphere language function. Additionally, 19.8% of the left-handed have bilateral language functions.