Thursday, May 2, 2024
Carol Goodman Heizer
I’VE BEEN THINKING
Carol Goodman Heizer is an author who moved to Hood County from Louisville, Kentucky in 2019. She has had short stories and articles published in six editions of “Chicken Soup for the Soul” books. Her column for the Hood County News will appear every two weeks. She was a public school teacher for 17 years, earlier in her professional career.
The brain is such a simple thing – merely an average two-pound clump of “gray matter.” What a falsehood that first statement is! With each passing year, scientists learn more than ever imagined about what is tucked inside our skull. The brain is complex beyond man’s ability to adequately explain its nature and full range of characteristics and responsibilities! And yet we attempt to do that very thing – try to describe the indescribable!
Now … back to the brain. As most individuals know, the brain is divided into two hemispheres – the left hemisphere and the right hemisphere. These two hemispheres are joined by a large bundle of neurons called the corpus callosum. Back in the 1950s and 60s, Roger Sperry was an American neuropsychologist, neurobiologist, cognitive neuroscientist, and Nobel laureate. He worked with David Hunter Hubel and Torsten Nils Wiesel, winning the 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for his work with split-brain research. He began his research by separating that neuron bundle to study the functioning differences between those two hemispheres of the brain, and he was astonished by the results!
Sperry learned that such corpus callosum separation permitted each hemisphere to function independently of one other. He also learned that the two hemispheres had different functions. He also realized that most left-brain dominant individuals are right-handed (70-90 percent of the general population). Conversely, most right-brain dominant individuals are left-handed (10 percent). Figures vary, depending upon the source.
This “cross-over” of hand and brain is due to the brain controlling the muscles and senses on the opposite side of the body. So we clearly see that our brain controls our left- or right-handedness. In the past, children who were naturally left-handed were often forced to use their right hand. Forcing a child to do the opposite of what the brain is dictating can cause some serious problems. Some children, when learning to use eating utensils or pencils, may frequently switch hands. It is their brain’s way of deciding their “future handedness,” and they should not be instructed by adults to use a particular hand. It is not an example of messing with their hand. It is an example of messing with their brain.
Thus, we could say that the left brain knows what the right hand is doing. And the right brain knows what the left hand is doing.
The left side of the brain is connected with language, number skills, reasoning, scientific skills, and spoken language. It is often referred to as the “hub” of language where one puts together words and sentence structure in communication.
The characteristics of left-brain dominant include the following: works well with daily task lists; tends to be the critic in a group; are rational and logical; perform research that is precise and well-documented; enjoy setting goals; find it easy to interpret information. Certain activities are more suited for left-brain folks. Famous left-brain people were/areAlbert Einstein, Michelangelo, Lewis Carroll, Sir Paul McCartney, Ted Koppell, Winston Churchill, Babe Ruth, and Prince William.
The right side of the brain deals more with images than words. It processes information in a more simultaneous manner. These individuals usually have more creativity, spatial ability, artistic and musical skills. They tend to be: more intuitive; express themselves and tend to help others more freely; have a high level of empathy; see the “big picture” more easily; prefer visual communication; seek out patterns and group things according to similar attributes.
A website devoted to right-brain thinkers says, “Right brains don’t express well how they feel and are often misunderstood. They think of one thing and say another because their brain has already moved on to another thought.” These qualities do not mean these individuals are not analytical or logical. Famous right-brain people were Sir Isaac Newton, Aristotle, Albert Einstein, and Jonas Salk.
Do you notice one name in both lists? Interesting, isn’t it?
Remember, trying to explain the complicated brain in simple language is nearly impossible! Now that you probably realize you are either left- or right-brain dominant, you may want to check out more famous people like yourself.
However, we must remember that human beings are not molded like “a thousand like it” pieces of pottery. We are uniquely created beings with variety and exceptions.
This column dealt with left-brain and right-brain dominant individuals. But is there a third option? Yes. We will deal with that in the next column.
Happy thinking!
