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Margarete Perisseau
Psychology 1010-021
Instructor Gary Reed
07/11/2014

Right Brain Vs. Left Brain Activity

I. Thesis
Every persons brain is unique, just as every persons fingerprint is unique. But while a
fingerprint identifies us as unique individuals, it does not seem to affect how we literally grasp
things, nor what we are able to do with our fingers and hands.
The brain is infinitely more complex than a fingerprint in making us unique individuals.
In contrast to the fingerprint, brain differences have an enormous effect on how we literally and
figuratively grasp the reality around us. For instance:
How well we perceive and interpret external data through our five senses
How well we think about things: using images vs. words, using the big picture vs. the
details, using concrete vs. abstract concepts
How well we remember what we learn, how we connect new information with old, how
we explain what we know to others
How well we excel in physical activity vs. contemplative thought
Research supports further differentiation within the brain itself. While the left half and
right half are approximately the same in size and shape, and seem to control the two sides of the
body similarly in many functions, they can be shown to control different thought processes.
Furthermore, the degree to which individuals excel in those processes can also be dramatically
different.
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The thesis of my paper is that individuals can have a more productive and satisfying life,
if they learn what their brain strengths are and choose an education and a career that use their
strengths rather than their weaknesses.
II. Similarities between the right brain and the left brain
It is interesting that the right brain controls movement for the left side of the body, and
the left side controls movement for the right side. For many movements and functions it seems
that the two sides of the brain act identically or quite similarly, as they control the two sides of
the body.
Certain brain functions are dominant on one side of the brain relative to the other, an
organization called brain lateralization. But, that is, not every persons brain is dominant for a
particular function on the same side. In 90% of the population, the left brain is dominant for
movement of the hand; thus 90% of the population is right-handed. As another example,
approximately 95% of the population shows dominance for language on the left side of the brain.
III. Differences between the right brain and the left brain
Some of the differences in the left and right brains of humans include the following: The
right brain is generally associated with spatial orientation, creativity, face recognition, music,
dream imagery, philosophy and intuition. In addition, it tends to perceive external data as a
whole, rather than focusing and analyzing their pieces. Emotions and feelings, which play such
an important role in human relationships, also reside primarily in the right brain.
The left brain is generally associated with logic and analytical processing, strong
language capabilities, and math skills. A left brain approach to solving a problem would be fact-
based, analytic, and step-by-step, favoring words, numbers, and facts presented in logical
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sequence. (Herrmann 17) Left-brainers are verbal, take a linear approach to things, and reject
ambiguity. They distrust emotions and intuition. They tend to control their environment and
themselves by imposing thought over reality. They are efficient.
An effective brain must integrate two sides. Lynn C. Robertson says that studies have
created auditory stimuli with global and local features (that is, the tone as a whole versus its
components) have shown hemispheric differences comparable to those found in vision. The
computations are similar, but in case of audition, local-level information is needed for language
comprehension (associated more with the left than the right hemisphere).
The findings to date have shown a higher degree of temporal coherence between neural
responses in the right and left hemispheres when visual stimuli are integrated in perceptual
experience. When this coherence breaks down, it can appear as if we have two entirely separate
brains within our heads, one on the right and one on the left. But the evidence, Robertson says,
is most consistent with one very cooperative brain that includes many specialized neural systems,
some of which just happen to be located in opposite hemispheres. When these cannot
communicate with each other, the deficits can be striking: a normally small difference in
processing can become a large difference that affects fundamental everyday abilities.
IV. Conclusion
As has been shown, everyones brain is unique. Due to differences in how the right brain
and left brain function, one may excel in a variety of processes with a very individualized mix of
skills.
The following passage from Charles Darwins autobiography shows that in his younger
years, his range of skills was broad and the pleasures he received from right-brain activities were
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important to him. But after a life-time concentrated in scientific research using left-brain skills,
he felt his capability in right-brain processes had atrophied. In retrospect, he feared he had lost
skills and abilities that denied him former pleasures.
Poetry of many kinds.gave me great pleasure and even as a schoolboy I took intense
delight in Shakespeare, especially in the historical plays. I have also said that formerly pictures
gave me considerable, and music very great, delight. But now for many years I cannot endure to
read Shakespeare, and found it nauseated to me. I have also lost almost any taste for pictures or
music.My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of
large collections of fact, but why this should have caused the atrophy of that part of the brain
alone, on which the higher tastes depend; I cannot conceive. The loss of these tastes is a loss
of happiness, and may possibly be injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral
character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our nature. (Herrmann 11)
To avoid the frustrations of a career that is not suited to ones skills, and to maximize
ones productivity and job satisfaction, it is obvious that one should identify the personal
strengths one has in ones own personal mix of right and left brain capabilities and choose
accordingly. Part of the role of education should be to help one achieve this goal.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Herrmann, Ned. The Creative Brain. Brain Books, 1990.
Robertson, Lynn C. "The Bilateral Brain: Are Two Brains Better than One?" Phi Kappa Phi Forum
(Winter/Spring 2005): Vol. 85 Issue 1, p.19-22.
Stanfield, Cindy L. Principles of Human Physiology. Pearson, 2013.