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Left Brain-Right Brain Split

The document discusses hemispheric lateralization in the human brain. It notes that while other animals have mirroring functions between the left and right hemispheres, humans have specialized each hemisphere. The left hemisphere is primarily dedicated to language and is dominant for functions involving linear thinking and time such as arithmetic. The right hemisphere handles simultaneous processing like spatial reasoning, pattern recognition, and creativity. Overall traits traditionally associated with masculinity like logic and science are linked to the left hemisphere, while traits like intuition and art are linked to the right hemisphere.

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Vishnu Kanth
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33 views

Left Brain-Right Brain Split

The document discusses hemispheric lateralization in the human brain. It notes that while other animals have mirroring functions between the left and right hemispheres, humans have specialized each hemisphere. The left hemisphere is primarily dedicated to language and is dominant for functions involving linear thinking and time such as arithmetic. The right hemisphere handles simultaneous processing like spatial reasoning, pattern recognition, and creativity. Overall traits traditionally associated with masculinity like logic and science are linked to the left hemisphere, while traits like intuition and art are linked to the right hemisphere.

Uploaded by

Vishnu Kanth
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Left Brain–Right Brain Split left, every function that takes place there is time dependent.

One could almost say that the left hemisphere is a new


sense organ designed by evolution to perceive time. It differs
Let’s examine how the human brain processes information. from our other conventional sense organs in that it does not
All vertebrates from fish onward have a bilobed brain, that have an opening to the outside world through skin or skull.
is, a right hemisphere and a left hemisphere. In all animals Because the loss of speech results in a catastrophic effect on
with this configuration, each side of the brain performs in a human communication, the left hemisphere has been com-
mirror image fashion the same tasks as its opposite side. monly referred to as the “dominant” hemisphere and the right
Only humans have sharply diverged from this arrangement. hemisphere is called the “nondominant” one. Researchers
While each side of the human brain is similar in appearance have identified the right hemisphere as the side best suited to
to each other and resembles the configuration of other process novel information; the left side is better at organizing
animals, each lobe of a human’s brain performs functionally and retrieving information that has already been learned. One
different tasks. This specialization is called hemispheric could say that creativity is more a right brained function than
lateralization. (Some other higher mammals and birds exhibit a left one.
brain lateralization but none approach the extent to which While not scientifically proven, it is also fair to say that the
this feature is present in humans.) The evolutionary reason right hemisphere has those attributes that are commonly asso-
for this arrangement is nature’s decision to dedicate one ciated with the feminine and the left has those that are tradi-
hemisphere primarily for language. This then became the left tionally thought of as being masculine. Intuition, holism, syn-
hemisphere in right-handed people. Slightly over 90% of the thesis, simultaneity, and emotions have been traits we usually
population is right handed and 90% of their language associate with the feminine. Linearity, sequence, reduction-
centers reside in their left hemisphere. (The arrangement is ism, analysis, and duality are concepts traditionally associated
not so lopsided in women, homosexual men, and lefthanded with the masculine. In a similar duality, science is traditionally
people of both sexes.) The other hemisphere, the right side, associated with the left hemisphere and the masculine, and art
then became the primary location for functions that used to is traditionally associated with the right hemisphere and the
reside in both lobes, but because of space requirements now feminine.
had to be squeezed into the right lobe. Since language is
processed one word at a time, one sentence at a time, and
one paragraph at a time, the left hemisphere functions primar-
ily in time. All of the other human abilities and concepts that
are time dependent, such as arithmetic, causality, determinism,
logic, and rationality, require a well developed linear
sequential time sense.
The left hemisphere controls the act of willing through its agent the
right hand, which carries out the commands of this
hemisphere. The right hand is the agent of action and aggression. In
battle or the hunt, the right hand swings the club or sword, throws
the spear, and pulls the trigger. It is the right hand that hammers
the nail while the left one steadies the nail. As such it is more
dominant than the left hand. The four cardinal abilities of the left
hemisphere are language, numeracy, abstract thinking, and doing.
All the human abilities that depend on holism and simultaneity,
such as the recognition of spatial relationships, were crowded into the
remaining right hemisphere. Pattern recognition, identifying faces,
manipulating three-dimensional objects in space, appreciating a
70-piece orchestra, or deciphering inner emotional states through a
person’s expressions or gestures fall under the purview of the right
brain. The left hand, controlled by the right brain, is often the one
that cradles a baby, carries what the right hand has gathered, and
wards off blows. Its function is more protective and nurturing.
The four cardinal features of the right hemisphere are perceiv-
ing patterns, recognizing faces, synthesizing music, and creating the
existential state of being. Immanuel Kant proposed that human be-
ings have two innate dimensions built into their brains which
they use to construct their perception of reality. Kant imagined
these two parameters as time and space. In many ways, the
hemispheric lateralization scheme recently elucidated by
neuroscientists seems to confirm Kant’s speculation. The
right hemisphereis predominantly a spatial hemisphere. Dri-
ving, dancing, skiing, and seeing the relationships of the parts
to the whole are better handled by this hemisphere. On the

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