Are people either “right-brained” or “left-brained"?
- Published5 Dec 2012
- Reviewed5 Dec 2012
- Author Jennifer Carr
- Source BrainFacts/SfN
FALSE
Regardless of personality or skill set, you use both the right and left hemispheres of your brain to perform everyday tasks. Although certain functions, such as speech production, handedness, and facial recognition, tend to be dominated by one side of the brain in the great majority of people, most tasks require parallel input from both hemispheres. The integration of input is made possible by the fiber connections between right and left sides of the brain called the corpus callosum. Unless an entire hemisphere is completely removed or damaged, no one is considered to be fully “right”- or “left”-brained.
About the Author
Jennifer Carr is the former manager of science writing at the Society for Neuroscience. While working as a technician at a neuroscience lab at the University of Pennsylvania, Jennifer discovered she is happiest when communicating the excitement of scientific discovery to the general public. She has written for Kaiser Health News, The Scientist, and The Times-Picayune.
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BrainFacts/SfN
References
Gazzaniga, M. Cerebral specialization and interhemispheric communication. Brain. 7, 1293-1326 (2000).
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Understanding the Brain: Towards a New Learning Science (2002).
