Researching Genealogy Virtual Library Resources: Left Brain vs. Right Brain Dominance

Have you ever heard people say that they tend to be more of a right-brain or left-brain thinker? From books to television programs, you've probably heard the phrase mentioned numerous times. Or perhaps, you've even taken an online test to determine which type best describes you.

Are you a logical, precise thinker, or would you say that you’re more free-spirited and artistic? If you’re the former, somebody’s probably told you at some point that you’re a left-brained person, and if you’re the latter, right-brained. The notion that the right half of the brain is the creative half and the left half is the analytical half and that our individual traits are determined by which half is dominant is widespread in popular psychology. There’s even a small industry devoted to this idea. There are self-help books, personality tests, therapies, and educational materials that claim to help you optimize the functions of the stronger half of your brain, get in touch with the weaker half, or even make the two halves stop their (supposedly) incessant battling inside your skull so you can finally get some peace and quiet.

The division of labor by the two cerebral hemispheres—once thought to be uniquely human—predates us by half a billion years. Speech, right-handedness, facial recognition and the processing of spatial relations can be traced to brain asymmetries in early vertebrates