Quizzes on Facebook, Youtube and other places online, claim they can help you find out whether you’re right-brained or left-brained.
Left-brained behavior labeled as logical, detail-oriented and analytical. While right-brained individuals are thought to be creative and thoughtful.
While the right brain versus left brain theory commonly gets references in pop culture, does one side of the brain really dictate your personality and behavior? Our Verify team took a closer look at the science.
Kim Huhman, Ph.D. is a Distinguished University Professor at Georgia State University’s Neuroscience Institute. According to Dr. Huhman, there is a kernel of truth to the idea behind the right brain/left brain theory due to the fact that some brain functions are indeed localized.
“In most people, the language center is on the left,” Dr. Huhman said. “But even when you're using language, both sides are active."
Such localization may be the reason why the right brain/left brain idea caught on, Huhman said.
“This idea, led to this pop idea that the left brain is more mathematical and logical, and the right brain is more creative and artsy," she said.
According to Dr. Daniel Drane, PhD at Emory University School of Medicine, the perpetuation of the right brain/left brain theory also stems from studies of injured patients.
"The classic study was Roger Sperry in the 1960's...but basically he was studying people who were having epilepsy surgery," Drane explained. Perry's study furthered research on functional differences between the two sides of the brain. Yet, Drane said those functional differences do not ultimately dictate personality.
“There is that kernel of truth that different sides do different things to some extent but there not a complete style unto themselves.”
A 2013 study from the University of Utah further tackled the right brain/left brain idea, scanning the brains of more than 1,000 people and ultimately, debunking the theory.
“It’s absolutely true that some brain functions occur in one or the other side of the brain. Language tends to be on the left, attention more on the right. But people don’t tend to have a stronger left- or right-sided brain network. It seems to be determined more connection by connection, ” said Jeff Anderson, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study, in a news release.
“There is no indication if we scan your brain activity for instance that one side is more active than the other,” Dr. Huhman reiterated.
Alternately, she said we use both sides of our brain equally.
‘You use all of your brain to do everything,” Dr. Huhman said. “The two sides of the brain are interconnected at all times, and they are always coordinating with one another. But the idea that one hemisphere is dominant to the other one? There is no scientific evidence of that whatsoever."