As a potential art major I have frequently heard from my not-so-artistic family and friends that I am a right-brained person, so I decided to do some research on the subject of being right or left brained. Many of us are aware of the long held belief that people are either right or left brained, the right being more creative and visually oriented while the left is more logical and process oriented. Many tests can be found online that will tell you which side of the brain you use the most, all of which at the least are entertaining, however, according to a study by the University of Utah these test and this theory of thinking is completely false.
In this study 1,011 people ranging from age 7 to 29 were selected at random to have their brains scanned while at rest. It was following this study that researchers found that none of these people used either side of their brain more than the other, as was previously thought. As explained in another article from NPR by Kara D. Federmeier, a cognitive neuroscientist and a psychology professor at the University of Illinois, the diversity among humans and how they use their brains makes it very unlikely that people use one side of the brain more than the other consistently. It is true, however, that depending on the task one side of the brain may be used over the other, an example of this is speech, which is controlled by the left brain. However the long held belief is that people consistently use one side of the brain more than the other.
These studies seem to point to the left and right brained theory being false, but is it? There are many things that are still unknown about the brain and exactly how it functions for each different person, it is for this reason that there is no definitive answer to this question. These studies seem to prove this theory wrong but they are not perfect in and of themselves. The University of Utah study, for example, only the resting brain was tested, what would happen if an active brain was tested? Could the outcome of this study differ if 1,011 different people were selected? Does age play a factor, what if older people were selected instead of young people? These are all valid questions that may affect the outcome of the study. For the time being, our personalities could determine the side of the brain that we use the most or they could not.
Here are some of brain quizzes that I found online:
http://braintest.sommer-sommer.com/en/
http://www.web-us.com/brain/braindominance.htm
Works Cited
Lombrozo, Tania. “The Truth About The Left Brain / Right Brain Relationship.” NPR. NPR, n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2014.
“Researchers Debunk Myth of “Right-brain” and “Left-brain”Personality Traits.” Researchers Debunk Myth of “Right-brain” and “Left-brain”Personality Traits. University of Utah Health Care, n.d. Web. 15 Sept. 2014
I love how you can personally relate to this topic, and how you let it influence the concept of one of your science blogs! It is interesting with such a great age deviation that still no finding of exceptional usage of one side of the brain versus the other was found. Do you think this will be a topic studied further in the future?
I love art (not an art major though), and I’ve been told so many times I am a right sided thinker. No i do not know what side of my brain is working when I do my art, but i do believe that artists all have something in common when it comes to thinking like this. I actually did a work very similar to the picture you posted. Love this post.