1. Right-Brained Vs. Left-Brained Presented By Michael Murphy & Justine Archibald

2. The Brain Divided In Two  Left side LogicalLogical SequentialSequential RationalRational AnalyticalAnalytical ObjectiveObjective Looks at partsLooks at parts  Right Side Random Intuitive Holistic Synthesizing Subjective Looks at wholes

3. I Know That You Know That I Know You Know In the pervious side you were shown the traits of the two halve of the brain. These traits often are taken in to thought when the term left- brained or right-brained is brought up. But neuroscientists warn us to beware the fad of locating complex human abilities like art and science by hemisphere.

4. True Experiment Doreen Kimura, a psychologist, conducted an experiment. Kimura reported that melodies we fed into the left ear were more easily recognized than melodies fed to the right ear. She knew that the left ear sends most its information to the right hemisphere so she concluded that among her right handed students volunteers the right brain was better at recognizing melodies.

5. The Left-Handed Syndrome Stanley Coren of University of British Columbia uses this experiment to illustrate how journalism often oversimplifies and embellishes science. A few days after Kimura reported her experiment, the New York Times reported ‘Doreen Kimura, a psychologist from London, Ontario, has found that musical ability is controlled by the right side of the brain.

6. The Left-Handed Syndrome (cont.) By reading the Times story one would automatically think that Dr. Kimura claims that musicians are right- brained, but that’s not what she said at all. Later a follow-up newspaper stated ‘ An English psychologist has finally explained why there are so many great left-handed musicians.’

7. The Left-Handed Syndrome (cont.) The point that Kimura was not English, did not study musicians and did not study left-handers did not stop on American reporter from stating ‘ Everything you read in the newspaper is absolutely true, except for the rare story of which you happen to have first-hand knowledge.’

8. What was Coren’s Point What can happen is: As information flows from scientist to reader it get simplified as well as embellished mush like gossip passing from one person to the next. The reporters find a interesting parts and cut and glue them together into a few seconds report. Further the information runs down this chain of events the further it becomes from the actual research, and after a while the scientist disappears from the story altogether.

9. The moral The moral is not to discount everything you read, but to beware. Reporters need newsworthy stories to make it in their professions, and when at their best, their ideal is to extract the essence of the story. ‘Error flies from mouth to mouth, from pen to pen, and to destroy it takes ages.’ -Voltaire 1694-1778

10. It was a long presentation but did you even listen….. Is the artist a right-brained person?

11. Such notions distort scientific findings regarding the cerebral hemispheres. While some areas of each hemisphere specialize in different tasks, the brain two sides cooperate to enable whatever we do. The end