Are you left-brained, or right brained? It's a common personality test, used to separate individuals into either the logical category (left brain), or the artistic and abstract category (right brain). And sure, there is the rare "center-brained", an equal balance of both. But it's still a rather binary way of looking at people, and only one facet of what makes a person unique. For a more comprehensive personality test, you're better off using enneagrams or the MBTI test.
But as much as I love personality tests, this article is about the one question that an involved biology student would ask herself: "Do the different brain hemispheres (left and right) truly affect the personality of individuals to be more artistic or logical?" Short answer: eh, not really.
The long answer is more involved. First, what exactly do the different sides, or hemispheres, of the brain do? For those who know a little about the central nervous system, the left brain controls muscular function of the right side of the body, while the right brain controls the left side of the body. For this reason, it's often said that left handed people like myself are more often "right-brained". But there are additional functions as well, which govern the functions of the brain itself. The left brain is associated with:
-language function (both verbal and written)
-remembering words and messages
-analyzing information and mathematical function
Conversely, the right brain is associated with:
-spacial positioning of external object and of the body
-remembering things we've seen and done
-facial recognition and visual imaging
-understanding music, as well as emotional context and tone in language (LiveScience)
To the average person, it makes little difference which side of the brain performs each function, as both brain hemispheres are able to communicate information with each other, thanks to a brain structure bridging both sides, the corpus callosum. In individuals lacking this structure (cutting the corpus callosum was once utilized as a treatment for extreme epilepsy), the hemispheres are isolated from each other, leading to "gaps" in cognitive ability.
Now the million-dollar question - does a difference between these two hemispheres lead to a difference in personality? Well, not exactly. For one, the brain is a little different for everyone. The brain has the ability to adapt to how often you use different skills or information; it takes the phrase "use it or lose it" seriously! These adaptations can change depending on you are more inclined to paint portraits or do calculus, which lead to more specialization of the hemispheres, not the other way around.
Finally, there's a reason the corpus callosum allows the hemispheres to communicate with each other. Most every task requires both the left and right brain - every concept has a word, and every word evokes a feeling. Even when doing math, while the left brain is associated with precise calculations, the right brain is also capable of rudimentary estimations as well as comparisons (LiveScience). As a creative writer, I depend on the function of my left hemisphere to put words on a page and in grammatical order. However, it's the right hemisphere that functions to transfer the images I see in my head to words on a page. So while it's fun to take personality tests, remember that any true scientific support for this theory is all in your head.
