Left Brain Vs Right Brain

Heres a quick overview of how the brain processes information.

Basic Characteristics of Left and Right brain:
In general, the left and right hemispheres of our brain process information in different
ways. While we have a natural tendency towards one way of thinking, the two sides of
our brain work together in our everyday lives. The right brain of the brain focuses on the
visual, and processes information in an intuitive and simultaneous way, looking first at
the whole picture then the details. The focus of the left brain is verbal, processing
information in an analytical and sequential way, looking first at the pieces then putting
them together to get the whole.
eft brain thinking is verbal and analytical. !ight brain is non"verbal and intuitive, using
pictures rather than words. The best illustration of this is to listen to people give
directions. The left brain person will say something like #$rom here, go west three blocks
and turn north on %ine &treet. 'o three or four miles and then turn east onto (road
&treet.) The right brain person will sound something like this* #Turn right +pointing
right,, by the church over there +pointing again,. Then you will pass a -c.onalds and a
Walmart. /t the ne0t light, turn right toward the 1sso station.)
Though right"brain or non"verbal thinking is often regarded as more 2creative, there is no
right or wrong here3 it is merely two different ways of thinking. 4ne is not better than the
other, 5ust as being right"handed is not 2superior to being left"handed. What is important
is to be aware that there are different ways of thinking, and by knowing what your natural
preference is, you can pay attention to your less dominant side to improve the same.
(y learning abacus through the systematic training approach at 67-/&, children can
fully reali8e their potential by activating both sides of their brain. (y consciously using
the right side of our brain, we can be more creative. -ore so , because left brain
strategies are the ones used most often in the classroom, right brain students sometimes
feel neglected.
(y activating the power of both hemispheres, a child will be able to retain knowledge
better and become proficient in any sub5ect, especially math.
9oin now , its never too late to start:
Workings of Our Brain
The human brain is made up of two halves. These halves are
commonly called the right brain and left brain , but should more correctly be termed
2hemispheres. $or some reason, our right and left hemispheres control the 2opposite side
of our bodies, so the right hemisphere controls our left side and processes what we see in
our left eye while the left hemisphere controls the right side and processes what our right
eye sees.
The concept of right brain and left brain thinking developed from the research in the late
;<=>s of an /merican psycho biologist !oger W &perry. He discovered that the human
brain has two very different ways of thinking. 4ne +the right brain, is visual and
processes information in an intuitive and simultaneous way, looking first at the whole
picture then the details. The other +the left brain, is verbal and processes information in
an analytical and sequential way, looking first at the pieces then putting them together to
get the whole. &perry was awarded a ?obel @ri8e in ;<A;.
&o as you know, the human brain consists of the right brain and the left brain. The shapes
of these two parts are similar, but differences have been gradually found in their
functions. The left brain is also referred to as the digital brain. It controls reading and
writing, calculation, and logical thinking. The right brain is referred to as the analog
brain. It controls three"dimensional sense, creativity, and artistic senses. These two work
together, to allow us to function as humans.
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The amygdala is a brain
structure that is essential for
decoding emotions, and in
particular stimuli that are
threatening to the organism.
/s a result of evolution, many
of our bodys alarm circuits
are grouped together in the

amygdala.

7onsequently, many sensory
inputs converge in the
amygdala to inform it of
potential dangers in its
environment. This sensory
information comes to the
amygdala either directly from
the sensory thalamus or from
the various sensory corte0es.
(ut there are several other regions of the brain that pro5ect their a0ons to the amygdala3
e0amples include the hypothalamus, the septum and the reticular formation of the
brainstem.
The amygdala also receives
numerous connections from the
hippocampus. &ince the
hippocampus is involved in storing
and retrieving e0plicit memories,
its connections to the amygdala
may be the origin of strong
emotions triggered by particular
memories.

The hippocampus also speciali8es
in processing sets of stimuli +as
opposed to individual stimuli,Cin
other words, the conte0t of a
situation. Hence it is because of the
hippocampus and its close
connections with the amygdala that
the entire conte0t associated with a
traumatic event can provoke
an0iety.

-a5or connections to the the amygdala also come from the medial prefrontal cortex.
These connections appear to be involved in the process of e0tinction, whereby a stimulus
that triggers a conditioned fear gradually loses this effect. This happens if that stimulus is
repeatedly presented to the sub5ect without the unconditional nociceptive stimulus that
was initially associated with it to produce the conditioned fear.
The prefrontal corte0 also seems to be involved in the final phase of confronting a
danger, where, after the initial automatic, emotional reaction, we are forced to react and
choose the course of action that can best get us out of danger. In people whose frontal
corte0 is damaged +people with #frontal syndromeD,, planning the slightest task is very
difficult, if not impossible.
Thus, the ability that our superior mental structures give us to voluntarily plan an
emotional response suited to the situation is a wonderful complement to our system of
rapid, automatic responses. The connections from the prefrontal corte0 to the amygdala
also enable us to e0ercise a certain conscious control over our an0iety. However, at the
same time, this faculty can create an0iety by allowing us to imagine the failure of a given
scenario or even the presence of dangers that do not actually e0ist.
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Information from an e0ternal stimulus reaches the amygdala in two different ways* by a
short, fast, but imprecise route, directly from the thalamus3 and by a long, slow, but
precise route, by way of the corte0.
It is the short, more direct route that lets us start preparing for a potential danger before
we even know e0actly what it is. In some situations, these precious fractions of a second
can mean the difference between life and death.
Here is an e0ample. &uppose you are
walking through a forest when you
suddenly see a long, narrow shape coiled
up at your feet. This snake"like shape very
quickly, via the short route, sets in motion
the physiological reactions of fear that are
so useful for mobili8ing you to face the
danger. (ut this same visual stimulus,
after passing through the thalamus, will
also be relayed to your corte0. / few
fractions of a second later, the corte0,
thanks to its discriminatory faculty, will
reali8e that the shape you thought was a
snake was really 5ust a discarded piece of
garden hose. Bour heart will then stop
racing, and you will 5ust have had a
moments scare.
(ut if your corte0 had confirmed that the shape really was a snake, you probably would
not have 5ust been startled. Bou would probably have taken off with all the alacrity that
the physiological changes triggered by your amygdala allowed.
Thus, the fast route from the thalamus to the amygdala does not take any chances. It
alerts you to anything that seems to represent a danger. The corte0 then makes
appropriate ad5ustments, suppressing any reactions that turn out to be inappropriate.
Thus, we see, from an evolutionary perspective, how these two complementary pathways
may have become established. $rom the standpoint of survival, the consequences of
mistaking a garden hose for a snake are less severe than those of mistaking a snake for a
garden hose.
(ut the corte0 is not the only part of the brain that puts in its two cents by specifying the
nature of the ob5ect. The hippocampus can also come into play by giving you information
about conte0t.