The human brain is a miraculous organ. It regulates thought, memory, judgment, personal identity, and other aspects of what is commonly called the mind. It also regulates aspects of the body, including body temperature, blood pressure, and the activity of internal organs, to help the body respond to its environment and maintain its health. In fact, the brain is considered so central to human well-being and survival that the death of the brain is legally considered in many parts of the world to be equal to the death of the person. In the past fifteen years, there has been a lot of talk about left-brain and right-brain people. There are clearly misconceptions and truths about how our brain hemispheres operate.
First of all, there is the myth of the left brain and right brain theory. This states that generally, the left hemisphere of the brain controls logic and language, while the right hemisphere controls creativity and intuition. Additionally, people differ in their styles of thought depending on which half of the brain is dominant. However, some people believe that most of what these notions state is farce. The article then explores the history of this fascination with the left and right hemispheres of the brain.
It wasn’t until 1962 that Roger W. Sperry began experimenting on certain aspects of the brain that contribute to the truth of the left and right brain theory. Sperry studied people who had undergone surgical division of the corpus callosum, the bridge between the two hemispheres. His studies showed that an object placed in the right hand (left hemisphere) could be named readily, but one placed in the left hand (nonverbal right hemisphere) could be neither named nor described.” – Doreen Kimura.
Kimura developed behavioral methods that involved presenting visual stimuli rapidly to either the left or right visual fields. Another important method developed was dichotic listening,” which centered around the use of sound to study the hemispheres. Through these tests and continual study, the theory that the left brain controlled everything ended. Instead, a new theory was born, known as the two-brain theory. This theory states that at different times, one of the two hemispheres operates. For example, the right hemisphere is in control when an artist paints, but the left hemisphere is in control when a novelist writes a book.
This theory failed because of one physical study that showed that people with surgically disconnected hemispheres could still operate in everyday life. Additionally, research demonstrated that each hemisphere had its own functional expertise, and the two halves were complementary. There are five points to each hemisphere:
- The two hemispheres are so similar that when they are disconnected by split-brain surgery, each can function remarkably well, although quite imperfectly.
- Although they are remarkably similar, they are also different.
The differences are seen in contrasting contributions. Each hemisphere contributes something to every action a person takes. Logic is not confined to the left hemisphere. Although dominant in the left, logic is present in the right hemisphere.
4. There is no evidence that either creativity or intuition is an exclusive property of the right hemisphere. 5. Since the two hemispheres do not function independently, and since each hemisphere contributes its special capacities to all cognitive activities, it is quite impossible to educate one hemisphere at a time in a normal brain. Through my research, I came to the conclusion that people are not purely left or right-brained.
There is a continuum in which the hemispheres work together in harmony. Often, the left or right hemisphere is more active in some people, but it is never the sole operator. We have a single brain that generates a single mental self,” but merely somewhere on the scale between the left and right brain. Some of us are extremely left, few are extremely right, and most are in the middle, leaning left a bit (this is where I fall). Psychology.
