The brain controls whether you laugh at a joke and takes sides when you have a disagreement with a coworker. When functioning normally, it tells your eyelids when to blink, remembers yesterday's news and calculates the cost of new shoes. Each brain follows some general guidelines when processing information, but may have a different way of interpreting the conclusions. Understanding how the brain works might help the next time you debate an issue with a coworker.
Hemispheres
When scientists refer to left and right brain processes, they generally have the largest portion of your brain in mind, the cerebrum. It contains the complicated folds and grooves so often seen in diagrams of the brain. The cerebrum divides into two hemispheres, the left and the right, that interact with one another through a thick layer of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum. These cerebral hemispheres contain your intelligence, memory, reasoning, personality, speech and the ability to feel and move.
Lobes
Each cerebral hemisphere has four lobes--the frontal, parietal, temporal and occipital. The lobes take responsibility for processing information regarding specific activities. Among other things, the frontal lobes control speech and behavior. The parietal lobes interpret sensations such as the pain you feel when you touch a hot coal. The temporal lobes help you understand sounds and spoken words while the occipital lobes help interpret pictures and written words.
Function
Generally, the left hemisphere of the cerebrum controls muscle movement on the right side of the body and the right hemisphere controls muscles on the left. For activities like speech and writing, however, the dominant frontal lobe takes over. Neurologists at Massachusetts General Hospital note the left frontal lobe dominates in all right-handed individuals and some left-handed individuals, but most left-handed people get speech and writing information from the right frontal lobe.
Considerations
According to Kids Health of the Nemours Foundation, many scientists believe the left side of the brain oversees logical or analytical processes, like those used to solve a math problem. Your right brain, then, takes charge during creative activities such as choosing a paint color for the living room. They also note that some people are overall more analytical or left-brained while others lean toward the artistic, right-brained approach. Interestingly, some individuals manage to use both halves of their brain equally.
Significance
Physicians can often make a preliminary diagnosis of stroke or brain damage following trauma by evaluating a patient's ability to move his extremities or through gauging his response to pinprick and other painful sensations. This helps speed decisions regarding further testing and treatment, which can improve therapeutic outcomes.
At work or home, your tendency to think mostly with the left or right brain may shape your view of an upcoming project. The educators at West Virginia University note, for instance, that left brain thinkers often follow logic and reason to make decisions while right brain thinkers like to consider how things could or should be as they determine a course of action. Balancing left and right brain solutions or utilizing a "whole-brain" approach might expand resources and ultimately improve outcomes.
