The commonly held idea that some people are “right-brained” and others are “left-brained” is in my opinion, a myth. I think this because people do not utilize one side of their brain more frequently than the other. It is commonly believed by many people that those who are “right-brained” tend to be more creative, artistic, and emotional, while people who are “left-brained” tend to be more logical, analytical, and excel in mathematics. I have heard this idea throughout my education many times and my reaction to this idea is that it seems to be a very simplistic way of thinking. Additionally, it tends to reflect more on a person’s personality, rather than which side of the brain they use more. In class, I learned that the brain has two hemispheres
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According to research by Lindell and Kidd (2011) “the notion of hemisphericity (idea that people are “left-brained” or “right-brained”) is a neuromyth that was debunked in the scientific literature 25 years ago”. But this hasn’t stopped people from using this popular idea to form opinions about education, personality, and even appropriate job placement. In fact, a Google search of “right-brained and left-brained test” yields about 141,000 hits with websites claiming that you can take a test to determine your dominant hemisphere, measure your cognitive style, or find out what kind of office or work environment is the best fit for you. Additionally, there are many “educational tools” being marketed based on this neuromyth, despite the absence of scientific support and lack of merit. (Lindell & Kidd 2011) Furthermore, research by Lindell and Kidd (2011) states that neuroimaging techniques have enabled an increasingly sophisticated insight into human brain function, hence it is a fact that both hemispheres of the brain are simultaneously activated and constantly interacting and integrating information throughout every task, including those proposed to activate solely one hemisphere of the …show more content…
The focus of their research was to look for lateralization, the idea that certain mental processes mainly occur in one hemisphere of the brain. After analyzing the brain scans of 1,011 individuals between the ages of 7 and 29, there was no evidence that brains are left-dominant or right-dominant. While it is a popular idea that people who are “right-brained” and people who are “left-brained” have different personality types and cognitive styles, there is no evidence in neuroimaging data suggesting that dominant networks exist in brain function. (Nielsen et al., 2013) In other words, there were no patterns in the data showing that one side of the brain is more connected than the other. Therefore, there is not a dominant side of the brain and it is not true that people use one hemisphere of their brain more often than the
According to research by Lindell and Kidd (2011) “the notion of hemisphericity (idea that people are “left-brained” or “right-brained”) is a neuromyth that was debunked in the scientific literature 25 years ago”. But this hasn’t stopped people from using this popular idea to form opinions about education, personality, and even appropriate job placement. In fact, a Google search of “right-brained and left-brained test” yields about 141,000 hits with websites claiming that you can take a test to determine your dominant hemisphere, measure your cognitive style, or find out what kind of office or work environment is the best fit for you. Additionally, there are many “educational tools” being marketed based on this neuromyth, despite the absence of scientific support and lack of merit. (Lindell & Kidd 2011) Furthermore, research by Lindell and Kidd (2011) states that neuroimaging techniques have enabled an increasingly sophisticated insight into human brain function, hence it is a fact that both hemispheres of the brain are simultaneously activated and constantly interacting and integrating information throughout every task, including those proposed to activate solely one hemisphere of the …show more content…
The focus of their research was to look for lateralization, the idea that certain mental processes mainly occur in one hemisphere of the brain. After analyzing the brain scans of 1,011 individuals between the ages of 7 and 29, there was no evidence that brains are left-dominant or right-dominant. While it is a popular idea that people who are “right-brained” and people who are “left-brained” have different personality types and cognitive styles, there is no evidence in neuroimaging data suggesting that dominant networks exist in brain function. (Nielsen et al., 2013) In other words, there were no patterns in the data showing that one side of the brain is more connected than the other. Therefore, there is not a dominant side of the brain and it is not true that people use one hemisphere of their brain more often than the