Are Lefties Generally Right Brain Oriented?

"I wonder if 'handed-ness' is any clue to the brains strengths," Geology Joe asks. "I'm a lefty." That question primed the pump of my curiosity, too. So I did some research and found answers in the August/September issue of Scientific American Mind...

People highly gifted in music, art and math make extensive use of the right brain over the left. Back in the 1980's Harvard neurologists Norman Geschwind and Albert Galaburda were fascinated that so many musicians, artists and mathematicians are also more likely to have left brain deficits, such as dyslexia or stuttering.

As a possible answer to this they suggest that this right brain preeminence could result from higher-than-normal testosterone levels in the womb. In fact some research findings show that testosterone can impede the development of the brain's left hemisphere. To compensate for this, the right brain becomes more highly developed.

Since male fetuses are typically exposed to more testosterone than females, this increased exposure provides a possible explanation for higher number of male math prodigies and of males with language disorders, according to psychologists, Christian Hoppe and Jelena Stojanovic at the University Clinic for Epileptology in Bonn, Germany. They add that the hormonal account of origins of genius and pathology remain controversial.

Tom Davenport of Harvard Publishing asks, "Is the Right Hemisphere the Next Big Thing?" He concludes...

Emphasizing only one half of the brain is both individual career suicide, and a sure route to economic decline for a society.

Geology Joe, I think you'd agree that we desperately need the brillance of both sides of our brain, no matter which hand we use.

Thoughts?

Your Brain on Numbers

Music is a secret exercise in arithmetic of the soul, unaware of its act of counting --Gottfried Leibniz, philosopher and mathematician

"Fixing on a number helps me generate ideas, create new options, and crystallise my thoughts," Joanna Young declares. And, she leaped to a challenge of presenting 7 writing tactics in a numbered list. Interestingly the concentration helped her reach 7 unique points to meet that goal. Her mind let go of it once the 7th was complete. Joanna's curiosity led her to question me as to how that might be connected to the brain. You'd be surprised at how many connections play out...

Logical-mathematical Intelligence the math parts of the brain are especially fun for those who think logically or enjoy numbers, according to Ellen Weber. You'd enjoy Ellen's post chock full of blog tips for your math intelligence.

I'm curious, Ellen, as to whether you set a number of tips before you write and how having a number in mind ahead of time impacts your writing. For instance, the math tips include 10 ideas, and you recently posted a challenge to stretch our brains daily in March, which includes 31 suggestions for your readers, as well as the post you developed to list some suggestions for the 22 stressors people face in the course of a day. Do you find that your brain keeps working on these till you hit the magic number like Joanna?

The logical-math part of your brain includes high ability for logical reasoning, predicting probability, organizing, and sequencing as well as numerical dexterity. You'll be surprised with results when you challenge your brain through your math intelligence or any of the others. Here's why...

Puzzles and Challenges: Present your brain with a challenge and your brain steps up to meet it! The human brain thrives on unraveling puzzles and sorting out ambiguities. Recent research shows that your unconscious mind works on the problem...

...a strong Aha! sensation involves minimal meta cognitive (monitoring of one's own thoughts) processes and unconscious restructuring or, better, an automatic, subconscious recombination of information which stands in contrast to conscious mental restructuring which is an attention-demanding process involving executive control. The study shows that it is possible to identify these processes before they reach the level of verbal awareness.

In other words the backburner of your mind is warming the answer as you may be working on other tasks. Bursts of insight may come on the spot or take a day or more... Your brain can reach flow as you compose from a series of "aha's"...

Flow: Flow's described as "the state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it," according to psychologist, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who wrote Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Csikszentmihalyi theorizes that best moments in life occur when the body and mind are stretched to the limit in an effort to accomplish something both difficult and worthwhile. That's likely why you stayed on the path to meet your quest, Joanna.

Invention: When people launch a project they generally follow routines, and in this case, approaches you take to write. Your brain first retrieves methods and schemas from your basal ganglia whenever you approach a task similar to many you've completed in past. Take driving for instance... You build many different skills which arise to meet different road conditions. However, if you're on black ice for the first time, you remember what you read in the driver's manual, and you're forced to use something novel.

On the other hand, notice the difference when you work out of novelty, as in your new approach to focus on a number, Joanna. You tap into your brain's working memory and Ellen Weber explains that in everyday language...

When the brain registers an idea it goes into the short term or working memory. Think of your working memory as a fine wine glass where new wine is poured daily. Your mind’s wine includes exciting ideas you hear, discussions you have or insights you garner from business blogs … or maybe it’s just a reflection beside a quiet stream. Since only a few ounces of wine fit into your wine glass… I mean your working memory … then yesterday’s wine will get washed out or so diluted by today’s. You’ll no longer feel excited by an idea’s possibilities for change unless you move it into action and lead it forward with rewards for excellence. It’s how the brain works to lose or gain business … each time you pour in new ideas or actions that are unrelated to the old ones there, the older ones are replaced. It’s also why multi-tasking may not be a good solution unless these tasks relate to change ideas and actions already in your working memory.

No doubt, Joanna, you desired to use novelty as you wrote because you wanted different outcomes. Not too surprisingly, your brain worked on your challenge till you generated ideas, created new options and crystallized thoughts for the seven ways that numbers help you write. In my next blog I'm giving myself a number challenge so I can go more in depth as you did.

Joanna, your theme of writing leaps and bounds, is something we can all have fun with! The music of your soul comes forth with many melodies from which we all learn.

Here are additional ways for blogging through your intelligences...

Blog Tips for your Math Intelligence

Blog Tips for Your Musical Intelligence

Blog Tips for Your Spatial Intelligence

Blog Tips From Your Intrapersonal Intelligence

Blog Tips from Your Interpersonal Intelligence

Blog From Your Linguistic Intelligence

Blogging From Your Naturalistic Intelligence

Try just one and see the difference in your next blog!

Overcome Stereotypes and Fear of Math!

Actress Danica McKellar's probably not the person who comes to mind when you picture a mathematician. Danica's displayed high mental acumen in the field by proving her own theorem. And, she graduated summa cum laude in math though she first intended to study writing and directing in college.

And because of her influence as an actress, McKellar's changing a stereotype that prevented many girls from success in math. Interestingly, young men are more likely to have higher opinions of their abilities in math and science than women. Added to that, men hold four times the number of full-time university faculty positions in math, science, and engineering. To illustrate this, "As McKellar sat in a sea of male classmates in her advanced classes," according to a recent article in Good Magazine, "she realized she was living the direct repercussions of these early gender inequalities."

What's the difference then? Educational researcher Patricia Campbell, who evaluates math and science programs for the National Science Foundation says, "We've gotten girls to take math. We've gotten girls to use math. But, we haven't gotten them to love it."

Myths about intelligence The problem's multifacted... On one hand it's related to myths gals may hold about their brains... If gals believe guys are smarter at math, they set up self fulfilling prophecies, since the brain picks up that message. The more you feed your brain that perception the less you'll calculate math with ease. To overcome this, if women understand their brains have equal potential and that the more they think they can do math, as Danica McKellar models, the more success they'll experience as they build new confidence.

Fear Danica goes so far as to say that, "Girls fear math." For some, fear leads to lower test outcomes. Recent research at Michigan State University reveals that "while under pressure those most likely to succeed will most likely fail." That's because "individuals higher in working memory capacity are more likely to be negatively impacted by performance pressure on math tests than those lower in working memory capacity." We've all experienced testing pressure and know of some friends who failed because worry incapacitated them. But anybody can bust the fear barrier and turn it around.

Plasticity of the Brain If girls knew more about their brain and how it works, it might help overcome these past stereotypes and fears. According to Barry Conners of Brown University, the plasticity of the human brain impacts its ability to change. So as young women begin with the premise "I think I can..." more positive outcomes they'll see. With positive outcomes, they'll build more dendrite brain cells for calculating math. And as they do, the more confident they'll become. Do you sense that gals may find a love for math as Danica has?

Taking Stats after 40 years When I was recently attending university, I was required to take statistics. Quite frankly I was scared because I had not taken a math course in 40 years. There were many things that influenced my "A" outcome at graduate level. The teacher used new approaches that drew from spatial intelligence. Don't forget that Einstein developed the theory of relativity because he visualized the curve of the arc. I began to understand stats because of the teacher's methodologies. And the more I began to use statistics in my research, the more confident I became. Women and men can grow new smarts, when they open their mind to learn... even when they're older!

Test taking tactics By practicing on sample tests, women and men learn strategies that help build confidence and more dendrite brain cells are built so that test tactics can be summoned when needed. In this way, people can overcome "fear" that could lead to failure at test time.

I'm glad Danica's a "Math Wonder." I anticipate we'll soon see more women engineers and mathematicians as they overcome former stereotypes and fear.

If stereotypes or fear have prevented your success in any area, good news is that you can bust the barriers.

Thoughts?