You’ve probably heard people describe themselves as being more left brain vs. right brain oriented; in fact, you may have even used the phrase once or twice yourself. The idea is that more creative types tend to use the left side of the brain more, whereas more organized and logical types use the right side of the brain more. It turns out that there’s actually no such thing as left brain or right brain dominance.

The Left Brain vs. Right Brain Study

The PLOS One journal published a study in 2013 that focused on brain-side dominance. The study lasted two years and involved over 1,000 subjects. The brains of these subjects were carefully studied in search of differences between the right and left brain hemispheres. The research revealed that there were no major differences.

However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t differences between the left side and the right side of the brain. They’re also not completely different from each other. In fact, many of the processes that take place on one side also take place on the other side. In fact, according to Dr. Harold Wolff, a renowned brain scientist in the 20th century, everything about the brain that makes an individual human exists on both the left side and the right side of the brain.

One of the reasons that the idea that each side of the brain was different originated from the findings of two neuroscientists in the 19th century. They found that people who struggled with language processing often had damage to certain parts of their left sides of the brain. Not to mention that the book, “The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” helped popularize the idea of left brain vs. right brain dominance.

Although people often say “left brain vs. right brain” to describe whether they are more creative or logical, the differences between the two hemispheres of the brain are not that substantial. To learn more about how your brain can affect your health, be sure to visit us at The Benefits Store today.