Right Brain Characteristics
Robert Louis Stevenson's classic novel, "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," published in 1866, is a famous fictional portrayal of what may happen when the right brain takes over the left brain's reasoning. The majority of people are left-brain dominant. However, if you or someone you know is right-brain dominant, you process information differently than your left-brain dominant peers. Understanding right-brain characteristics can help you to comprehend information quicker and easier.
Other People Are Reading
-
Facts
-
Hemisphericity, or hemispheric dominance, is a widely held belief that the dominance of the right or left brain determines your personality and the way you think. The left brain is rational, logical, verbal, intellectual and analytical, whereas the right brain is intuitive, holistic, integrative, non-verbal and creative, states the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development website. Right and left-brain dominance is believed to be determined genetically and can be noticeable while at the earliest stages of an embryo in the womb, points out Sarah Nosal, a graduate student at Bryn Mawr College.
Characteristics
-
The right brain is responsible for insight, 3D spatial reasoning, art awareness, imagination and music awareness, states Nosal. If you are right-brain dominant, you tend to be more extroverted than your left-brain counterpart. Dan Eden, author of "Left Brain, Right Brain," shows that other characteristics of the right brain include being ruled by imagination, being a risk taker and impetuous, comprehension of meaning and understanding the 'big picture', creativity and using feeling in comprehension.
-
Learning Style
-
Right-brain dominant people have difficulty comprehending logical subjects like mathematics and need different methods of learning than left-brain dominant individuals. Right-brain people prefer to learn by direct experience and learn information in chunks, points out Dr. Oliver Sacks. Visual charts, hands-on training and listening to background noise while studying, like music or television, help right-brain individuals to comprehend material better. Subjects that require subjective reasoning, like philosophy and religion, are easier to comprehend. Creative writing courses often use right-brain techniques in combating writer's block, states Eden.
History
-
In the 19th century, hemisphericity became a major doctrine in neurophysiology, states OECD. In 1861 to 1863, Pierre Paul Broca, a French neurologist, developed the concept of localization of different functions in the two hemispheres of the brain, explains OECD. This work was expanded on a few years later by Carl Wemicke, a German neurologist who specialized in language comprehension. In the 1960s and '70s, this subject was again researched by Nobel Peace laureate Roger Sperry who used a rare treatment of epilepsy in splitting the corpus callosum, the connecting cord between the brain's hemispheres, in living patients.
Considerations
-
Musicians, actors, and actresses are commonly right-brain dominant. Our dominant brain hemispheres are often influenced by our environment, as demonstrated statistically in school children. According to Eden, most kids are highly creative when they enter school, but only 10 percent will remain highly creative by age 7. By adulthood, only 2 percent will remain highly creative.
-
