Thread: Right-minded or Left-minded... which are you, and why?

That's too bad. It woulda' been fun... reeeal fun...*sobs and shakes head*

We could've made it real together! And now, I'm doomed to forever repeat this perpetual dream alone, not alive and not dead either!!

Originally Posted by SolSkye

I'm sure we all use both sides. You'd need to, in order to function in every day life.

However, I would think that one would tend to excel in one area more than others, or from their disposition or outlook on life be inclined to lean in one direction more, as gnome demonstrated and UM showed us.

When I said sides, I really meant the characteristics associated with them as in the initial post.

Originally Posted by pj

No matter what the physiology may or may not be, there is clearly, (to me, based on my lifetime of observation,) a continuum with hard rationality on one end and emotive on the other.

I do agree with that. I mean, the very existence of the terms 'hard rationality' and 'emotive' means there must be some basis for them in human behaviors. I'm not saying this continuum doesn't exist, just that it's probably mediated by a much more complex mechanism than 'which side of your head works better'.

Originally Posted by Howie

We have two hemispheres and each hemisphere has shown proficiency or dominance in certain areas. This can be seen through brain scans and tests, it is not just a rational guess.
Why would some people be left or right handed, just happenstance?

Why wouldn't an individual be more proficient at some tasks than others?

The left-handed right-handed thing is indeed an example of tasks being largely assigned to one side or the other. However, we're already pretty certain that different parts of the brain have different functions. This doesn't imply that

1) One entire side of the brain should work 'better' than the other
2) Either side can be generally associated with the qualities of 'hard rationalists' or 'emotive people'.

I mean, you could say people are 'compassionate' and 'not compassionate', but this doesn't mean that the traits belong to different sides of the brain. As the SciAm article discussed,

In most of us, the left hemisphere is specialized for most aspects of language, whereas the right hemisphere is specialized for most visuospatial skills. Yet even these differences are only relative; for example, the right hemisphere tends to play a larger role than the left does in interpreting the vocal tone of spoken language.

The distinctions are not all that clear to begin with.

Originally Posted by Oneiro

It was really simple.. if the ball bounced in front of you, you had to say out loud the word "bounce".. when you hit the ball, you had to say "hit", unless you were at the net, in which case you had to say "touch".. so you just had three words to learn to say.

Hmm, interesting... is that all there is to it? I'm trying out for tennis this season, so I'll definitely try it out. Can't hurt

1) One entire side of the brain should work 'better' than the other

I am not saying one should, I just am saying that in some cases it just does. Subjectively good or bad. I would like to know how to juggle like that, regardless what side.

Don't mean to brag or be snobby, but people I know think I'm both. I improvise on jazz piano, make games (creativity, right brain), yet succeed in math and similar. Although I am more right brain then left. My right brain skills aren't comparable to those that are truly right brained.