Brain Hemispheres. Change the way you think?

[Fwbdmmbv]

I came across this while looking at some design tips to help me improve my design skills for web development.

According to many theories and debates, the brain is split into two hemispheres.

Many specialists claim that each side of the brain controls a "mode" of thinking. The left side supposedly controls the logic thinking. Being able to analyse, observe and find patterns. The right side supposedly controls creativeness and intuitiveness.

Each side of the brain is also believed to control opposite sides of the body. The left hemisphere controls your right side, while your right hemisphere controls your left side.

It is speculated that you can stimulate each side by using more of that sides function. So if you're right handed (most likely a logic thinker using your left hemisphere) you should switch hands and learn to write and draw left handed. This will supposedly increase your creative thinking. The opposite can be done to stimulate your logic hemisphere if you are naturally left handed.

I'm right handed and I suck with design. I don't really think it matters, but I'm going to do some drawing/writing with my left hand just as a kind of test, to see if my creativeness improves. (over the next few months). I'm not expecting too many results, but you don't know if you don't try right?

What is everyone's take on training your hemispheres? Is anyone left handed and more logical than designing, thus disproving these theories?

Is it a load of BS?

Opinions?

[superbonzo]

the "left VS right brain hemisphere" thing is an example of how popularized science gives rise to these stupidities ... :)

The left side supposedly controls the logic thinking. Being able to analyse, observe and find patterns. The right side supposedly controls creativeness and intuitiveness.


one thing is saying that cortex areas of each side process stimuli in different ways ( for example, different responses to the verbal VS emotional content of speech ) another thing is associating to these differences vaguely defined things like "logic thinking", "creativeness" or "intuitiveness" ( that in any case simultaneously involve cognitive/psychological/social processes that go beyond brain wiring per se ).

Each side of the brain is also believed to control opposite sides of the body. The left hemisphere controls your right side, while your right hemisphere controls your left side.

this is not a "belief"; it's a well proven fact that sensorimotor neural pathways split with respect to body side; for most pathways this happens in a "reversed" way ( for example, a lesion of the right motor cortex will prevalently give a left hemipelegia ), sometimes in a "mixed way" ( for example, pathways going to the cerebellum cross two times; therefore, the right cerebellum mainly has to do with nerves coming from the right part of the body, although some partial mixing occurs in between; another notable example is the optic nerve: only their medial parts cross, whilst distal part don't ; in this way, say, the left vision cortex "sees" the right vision field ( ie. the 1st and 4th quadrants ) and not the right eye as one might think ... )


It is speculated that you can stimulate each side by using more of that sides function. So if you're right handed (most likely a logic thinker using your left hemisphere) you should switch hands and learn to write and draw left handed. This will supposedly increase your creative thinking. The opposite can be done to stimulate your logic hemisphere if you are naturally left handed.

do you know of a peer reviewed scientific paper trying to demonstrate such a thing ( that is, improving "logical thinking", whatever it is, by training the left side of the body ) ? I'd be curious to see one ...

[Skizmo]

do you know of a peer reviewed scientific paper trying to demonstrate such a thing ( that is, improving "logical thinking", whatever it is, by training the left side of the body ) ? I'd be curious to see one ...
Me too, because the fact that the left hemisphere controls the right part of your body doesn't mean that training the right side of your body will also stimulate the left hemisphere. If that where true then massive bodybuilders should be incredibly talented. Reality has shown that most of the time the opposite is true ;)