REPORTING

ABM-1206
GROUP III
 RESEARCH STUDY

“The Brain’s Left and

Right Sides Seem to Work
Together Better in
Mathematically Gifted
Middle-School Youth”
 “Left brained or Right
brained theory”

• meaning that one side of

the brain is dominant
This theory is based on the
fact that the brain’s two
hemispheres function
differently. This first came to
light in the 1960s, thanks to
the research of
psychobiologist and Nobel
Prize winner Roger W. Sperry.
Researchers at the U.S. Army
Research Institute for the
Behavioral and Social
Sciences at Fort Benning, Ga.
and the University of
Melbourne, Australia were
able to conduct a experiment
were a selective group of
gifted students in math
who were around the same
age(14/15) were taken and
given test that would
examine their capabilities in
single sided or double sided
brain usage. The researchers
also used "normally
equipped in math" college
students and high school
Each student was given a
visual exam, while taking the
exam, they were hooked up
to a machine that would
monitor brain activity on
both sides.
Each student was shown a
different group of pictures,
on the right side, left side
and middle of the computer
screen.
However, the mathematically
gifted boys showed no such
hemispheric differences.
In addition, whereas
average-ability boys and
college students were slower
on cooperative trials, which
presented letter patterns on
both sides of the screen, the
math-gifted showed the
opposite pattern.
They were slower on one-
sided trials, but when a task
"asked" both sides of the
brain to work together, they
were considerably faster
than the other boys.
The study supports the
growing notion that the
mathematically gifted are
better at relaying and
integrating information
between the cerebral
hemispheres.
The research supports the
broader notion that "the
functional (though not
necessarily structural)
organization of the brain
may be an important
contributor to individual
differences in
cognitive abilities, talents
and, at the very least,
information-processing
styles," says O'Boyle.
 Thank you!
Hope you
learned
something 