Right Brain, Left Brain :: essays research papers

     The article in which I chose to examine is called Right Brain, Left BrainFact and Fiction, written by Jerre levy. In the prehistorical fifteen years or sothere has been a lot of talk of left wag and right superstar people. Levysreason for righting this article was all the way to stop the misconceptions andshow the truth about how our brain hemispheres operate.      Levy first explores the myth of the left brain and right brain theory. She states that generally people arrest the left hemisphere of the braincontrolling logic and language and the right, creativity and intuition. Inaddition people differ in their styles of thought, depending on which halfof the brain is dominant. She believes that most of what these notionsstate is farce.      Next the article explores the history of this fascination of the left andright hemispheres of the brain. Apparently the study of this aspect of thebrain traces back to time of Hippocrates. Levy weaves in and out of thevarious theories and prominent people known for contri provideding to theconfusion. It wasnt until 1962 when Roger W. Sperry began experimentingon certain aspects of the brain that contribute to the truth of the leftand right brain theory. Sperry studied people who had undergone surgicaldivision of the corpus callosum, the bridge between the two hemispheres. His studies showed that, "an object placed in the right hand (lefthemisphere) could be named readily, but one placed in the left hand(nonverbal right hemisphere) could be neither named nor described.     Next to branch off of Sperrys studies was psychologist Doreen Kimura. Kimura developed behavioral methods which involved presenting visualstimuli rapidly to either the left or right visual fields. Anotherimportant method developed was "dichotic listening" which centered aroundthe use of unspoiled to study the hemispheres. Through these tests and theconti nual study the theory that the left brain controlled ended. Instead anew theory was born known as the two-brain theory. This express that atdifferent times one of the two hemispheres would be operating. An exampleof this is that the right hemisphere is in control when an artist paintsbut the left hemisphere was in control when a novelist wrote a book.     This theory failed because of one physical studies showed that people withhemispheres surgically disconnected could operate in everyday life. Also,research demonstrate that each hemisphere had its own functionalexpertise, and that the two halves were complementary.     Next, the article states its worth. The author shows the up to dateagreed upon theory of the two hemispheres in five wide points.