We can study and study and study and still not know everything there is to know about how the brain fully functions. There are so many factors and an infinite number of variables that have to be taken into account.
Greg, your early life is an example that. Teachers treated you like you weren't trying. You worried that you were (as you put it) "Dumb". When the whole time, the real reason the information wasn't getting through was because you had this foreign mass getting in the way of your normal brain function. Once the foreign element was removed, it was like your brain said "Finally I can get the signal through."
Truly the brain is amazing. You bounced back and it sounds like you have been doing well.
To answer Susan's question; Yes, studies have shown that gender does play somewhat of a role in what "Brained" you are.
Now, that being said I must clarify. There are more women that have "Right-Brained" attributes than men.
It wasn't until the split-brained studies in the 1960's that we really started to see the difference between functions in the sides of the brain. For the most part, the hemispheres of the brain work together. It's kind of like two hands working together to tie a shoe, both have a function but they work better when they work together. It must also be noted that we can have days where we may be more left-brained than right-brained or visa-versa. Again, it depends on so many factors. There is still so much exploration going on in the field of brain function.
Like Greg pointed out, the more studying that is done, it seems that the more questions arise. Part of that is human nature though. We want to learn and understand.. Just like the 3 year old that asks, "But why, but why?"
That is why I study and research, because I want to know more than just "why", I also want to know how and then so much more then that!!
Thank you for your questions. Please keep them coming.. and if you like my Blog, please pass it on to a friend...
Smiles and hugs!!! (because that's just me!)
Carol, can you recommend some good reading on this subject? It seems that brain division has triggered an avalanche of writings ranging from mediocre to sensational (as in tabloid-style cash-in-on-the-phenomenon sensational.) Where's a good place to start?
ReplyDeleteI have a Phrenology Head on my desk. Although discredited now, phrenology flourished for over three centuries. The phrenologists may have gotten it all wrong, but they gave us the germ of the concept; that our brains compartmentalize information. What nobody foresaw was that our brains were capable of rearranging the contents of the compartments in the event of traumatic head injury or autism or epilepsy, or simply because we'd begun perceiving that information differently; and that right and left sides can share duties or even trade off entirely.