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The left brain/ right brain myth
Are you a creative and emotional person? Maybe an artist or a musician? Then you are probably right-brained. No? Perhaps you are a rational, analytical and logical thinker? Maybe a mathematician or an engineer? Then you are most likely left-brained. Who does not know that creativity and emotion are located in the right half of the brain, while rationality and logic are situated in the left half of the brain? Everyone has come across this popular notion of left or right brain dominance, which determines a person’s way of thinking and his/her personality. This notion, however, is a widely held misconception. Here we will discuss the concept of this notion, known as hemisphericity or hemispheric dominance, how it arose, and why it is a misconception.
Arguments against a left brain and right brain thinking style and its application to education
The notion of different hemispheric thinking styles is based on an erroneous premise: each brain hemisphere is specialised and therefore each must function independently with a different thinking style. This connection is a bridge too far: it uses scientific findings regarding functional asymmetries for the processing of stimuli to create conceptions about hemispheric differences on a different level, such as a cognitive thinking style. Furthermore, there is no direct scientific evidence supporting the idea that different thinking styles lie within each hemisphere. Indeed, deriving different hemispheric thinking styles from functional asymmetries is quite a bold venture, which oversimplifies and misinterprets scientific findings.
If one considers the right hemispheric creative and emotional thinking style, there is no scientific evidence that supports a correlation between creativity and the activity of the right hemisphere, let alone evidence for a correlation between the degree of creativity and the use of the right hemisphere. Similarly, a recent analysis of 65 neuroimaging studies on emotion found no scientific support for the hypothesis of an overall right hemispheric lateralisation of emotional function. There is no direct scientific evidence that supports an analytical, logical thinking style for the left hemisphere, which predetermines the left hemisphere for mathematical tasks, or reading and writing. In contrast, Stanislas Daheane found that both the right and left hemisphere are active in the identification of Arabic numerals (e.g. “1”,”2”). Similarly, other data showed that subsystems in both hemispheres are activated for parts of the reading process, e.g. decoding written words or recognising speech sounds. Based on these and many more scientific findings, scientists nowadays think that while there are some functional asymmetries, the two brain hemispheres do not work in isolation, but rather together in every cognitive task. In light of this notion, using the conception of hemisphericity to guide and direct educational practice is highly questionable.
it uses scientific findings regarding functional asymmetries
In Stanley Kubrick's movie Dr Strangelove, the main character is described as "erratic" and displays a bizarre movement disorder. His right hand seems to be driven by a will of its own, at times clutching his own throat and at other times raising into a Nazi salute. Dr Strangelove must try to restrain this wayward limb with his left hand. Bizarre as this fictional character is, a similar movement disorder can occur in neurologic disease. The complex phenomenon associated with this disorder falls under the rubric of alien hand syndrome. This syndrome is characterized by a limb that seems to perform meaningful acts without being guided by the intention of the patient. Patients find themselves unable to stop the alien limb from reaching and grabbing objects, and they may be unable to release these grasped objects without using their other hand to pry open their fingers. These patients frequently express astonishment and frustration at the errant limb. They experience it as being controlled by an external agent and often refer to it in the third person. This article outlines the origins of the terminology used in describing this syndrome, early observations, and studies regarding its functional neuroanatomy.
By using functional magnetic resonance imaging in a patient with alien hand syndrome after right parietal lesion, we could identify brain regions activated during involuntary or voluntary actions with the affected left hand. Alien hand movements involved a selective activation of contralateral primary motor cortex (M1), presumably released from conscious control by intentional planning systems. By contrast, voluntary movements activated a distributed network implicating not only the contralateral right M1 and premotor cortex but also the left inferior frontal gyrus, suggesting an important role of the dominant hemisphere in organizing willed actions.
originally posted by: kodasaufa
a reply to: St Udio
What an incredibly horrific accident. I hope you keep on the path to recovery.
Do you think or believe you imparted your essence onto the Cartouche? And it leaving you and becoming lost/departed from you it no longer protected you? Or it being lost a part of you left like the Cartouche?