Left-Brain vs. Right-Brain: Debunked but not Dead Over the past few decades popular culture has conditioned us to think that the way we learn depends on our personality and cognitive style. We have been taught that we are all either right-brained or left-brained thinkers, a theory called brain lateralization. The thought comes from the fact that certain functions come from one side of the brain or the other. Thus, if you are a logical thinker then you are left-brained, and if you are the creative type then you are right-brained. Unfortunately, none of this is true. Brain lateralization, at least in this function, has never been proven, or even supported, by science. The idea that people are either right-brained or left-brained most likely started due to research by Dr. Roger Sperry, a Nobel Prize winning neuroscientist, who’s split-brain theory came from his research with epilepsy patients (Wanjek, 2013). In his research he would disconnect to two sides of the brain by cutting their connection, the corpus callosum. This disallowed the two sides of the brain from communicating and, through a series of experiments, led to the realization that different functions are handled by different sides of the brain (The Split-Brain, 2003). This realization was taken by psychologists and turned into what has become today’s idea of brain lateralization. Pop Culture has been consumed with teaching one side of the brain or the other. There are thousands of books, articles, and papers written on the topic. In a simple internet search using “brain lateralization and teaching” as the search parameters I came up with over 1.6 million hits. Several of those results came from scholarly and reputed sources, too. One of those was famed dyslexia resear... ... middle of paper ... ...son, M.A., Lainhart, J.E., Anderson, J.S. (2013) An Evaluation of the Left-Brain vs. Right-Brain Hypothesis with Resting State Functional Connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging. PLoS ONE 8(8). E71275, DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0071275 Sonnenfeld, B. (Director). (1997). Men In Black [Motion Picture]. Sunderland, M. (2012, August 22). How to Teach Your Right-Brained Child. Retrieved December 22, 2013, from AbundantLIFE: http://www.mariannesunderland.com/2012/08/how-to-teach-your-right-brained-child/ The Split Brain Experiments. (2003, August 30). Nobelprize.org. Retrieved December 22, 2013, from http://www.nobelprize.org/educational/medicine/split-brain/background.html Wanjek, C. (2013, March 9). Left Brain vs. Right: It's a Myth, Research Finds. LiveScience.com. Retrieved December 22, 2013, from http://www.livescience.com/39373-left-brain-right-brain-myth.html
First, in the magazine article “Brainology,” Carol S. Dweck asserted that the way that students learn and how well they do in school
Some do not believe that we have a left and right brain. However, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule The Future by Daniel H. Pink explains that the left and right hemispheres of the brain control different abilities. I have learned from this book how society and the economy have shifted from the “Information Age” to a “Conceptual Age,” how the arguments of left brain theorists (L- directed) differ from those of right brain theorists (R-directed), the three A’s of abundance, automation, and Asia, and the six essential aptitudes or “six senses” of Design, Story, Symphony, Empathy, Play and Meaning.
Also, in Carol Dweck’s research article “Brainology”, she states the subtitle “Transforming Students’ Motivation to Learn”. She dishes mindsets and achievement, how do students learn these mindsets, and so on… … Dweck suggests, “Many students believe that intelligence is fixed, that each person has a certain amount, and that’s that. We call this a fixed mindset, and, as you will see, students with this mindset worry about how much of this fixed in intelligence they possess”. Many students believe that the challenge encountered in learning is a threat to their growth path. She put forward two different minds of the ideological study contrast, the finds showed that students studied with a growth mindset were more interested in learning and
“‘Sinister Children’” was the title psychologist Theodore Blau gave to left-handed children in the late seventies, due to their over abundance “among the academically and behaviorally challenged” and their greater vulnerability to obtaining mental diseases later in life (1). This condescending view on the left-handed population has existed for centuries. The word sinister itself comes from the Latin word sinistra, meaning left hand. In the article “Sinister Minds: Are Left-Handed People Smarter?,” written by Maria Konnikova, a psychologist from Columbia University, she explains how these outdated theories about the intellect of the left-handed community are wrong. In fact, the author elaborates how left-handed people may have higher brain abilities compared to the general population due to the
The textbook mentioned how it is possible to live with one side of the brain (Lilienfeld et al., 2016). However, I was still a bit confused on this concept because I have always thought that you need both hemispheres working together to function properly. As I watched the TedTalk, I was further able to change my understanding of the concept that you can live with one hemisphere, you would just lose some functions associated with that hemisphere, as Jill explained (Taylor, 2008). Not only that, but from the textbook I never understood how you would feel without one of your hemispheres not functioning properly, I personally thought that you would lose some abilities and it would be difficult to survive. However, the TedTalk changed this understanding of mine because, like Jill, although she lost some functions, she lost all her stresses, and she felt peace, as she states, “So here I am in this space, and my job, and any stress related to my job - it was gone. And I felt lighter in my body. And imagine all of the relationships in the external world and any stressors related to any of those - they were gone. And I felt this sense of peacefulness” (Taylor, 2008). It gave her a whole new world and it never occurred to me that this could happen, so it really expanded on the knowledge obtained from the
Every parent desires to have a child who will be successful in life. In “Brainology” author, Carol Dweck explains that there are consequences for praising children for their work. Dweck also explains that there are different types of mindsets that enable an individual’s development. She claims that there are two types of mindsets that people have. In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work ( Dweck 1). Furthermore growth mindset individuals love learning and are resilience that is essential for great accomplishment. (Dweck 1). One more theory, Dweck mentioned was fixed mindset. The author states “In a fixed mindset, people believe their basic qualities, like their intelligence
Goldish, Meish. Everything You Need to Know About Dyslexia. New York: The Rosen Publishing Group, Inc., 1998.
In The article “Brainology” “Carol S Dweck, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, differentiates between having a fixed and growth mindset in addition how these mindsets have a deep effect on a student’s desire to learn. Individuals who have a fixed mindset believe they are smart without putting in effort and are afraid of obstacles, lack motivation, and their focus is to appear smart.. In contrast, students with a growth mindset learn by facing obstacles and are motivated to learn. Dwecks argues that students should develop a growth mindset.
In Carol Dweck’s “Brainology” the article explains how our brain is always being altered by our experiences and knowledge during our lifespan. For this Dweck conducted a research in what students believe about their own brain and their thoughts in their intelligence. They were questioned, if intelligence was something fixed or if it could grow and change; and how this affected their motivation, learning, and academic achievements. The response to it came with different points of views, beliefs, or mindset in which created different behavior and learning tendencies. These two mindsets are call fixed and growth mindsets. In a fixed mindset, the individual believes that intelligence is something already obtain and that is it. They worry if they
This myth is one that is so widespread, that it even lives in the minds of psychology students and well-educated people.
Frey and Fisher initiated the article by clarifying that reading is not innate, thus each person needs to learn how to read. In fact, “reading occurs only through the intentional appropriation of existing structures within the brain” (Frey & Fisher, 2010, p. 104). Then, they explained the term neuroplasticity. The idea that a teacher’s instruction and actions can alter the brain of a student
5)Nature.com, Article discussing the two most prevalent theories of dyslexia; the magnocellular and phonological theories.
Nowadays, it is widely known that the right and left hemisphere have different functions. The two hemispheres are equally important in a daily life basis. Nevertheless, in the 1960’s this was not common knowledge. Even though today the importance of the brain hemispheres is common knowledge, people don’t usually know to whom attribute this findings. One of the people who contributed to form a more defined picture about the brain hemispheres and their respective functions was Roger Wolcott Sperry, with the split brain research. Roger Sperry did more contributions than the split brain research, but this is his most important and revolutionary research in the psychological field. Thanks to the split brain research, Sperry proved that the two hemispheres of the brain are important, they work together and whatever side of the brain is more capable of doing the task is the hemisphere that takes the lead.
...re of the brain is just half of the brain so why is it the only half being explored in school? This failure to confront the other hemisphere causes weakening in the right hemisphere since the right hemisphere isn?t being exercised.
Does it help students to adopt lateral thinking and form their opinions about a particular topic or concept?