Left Brain Struggles To Put Right Brain Emotion Into Words

[batgirl]

Hi Batgirl. I could be reading into this wrong, but if not, I think this is promising news though:
"Exciting recent research has shown that the hippocampus has the capacity to regenerate nerve cells ("neurons") as part of its normal functioning..."

Very cool mac, thanks for that information. I'd be interested to know where you found it, so I can read up on it myself.

And Nam, I'd also be interested to know what book you are reading.

 

[mac]

Batgirl, check out the first page of this thread and scroll down to the two MRI images of the brain. Directly below that is where I acquired the quote:wink:

 

[batgirl]

Oh duh, I guess I should have read that part more closely. Thanks mac!

 

[mac]

Hey Batgirl, I don't read any of those long-winded posts too closely either... initially, it was the MRI pics that caught my eye.:biggrin:

 

[anthony]

Ah... busted! If people did read threads and post in their entirety, maybe the same questions would not constantly come up???

 

[mac]

I'm busted!:biggrin:

 

[Roerich]

What questions? Oooops, guess I should have read the posts before this. Was that a Freudian slip? Nah, the floor looks clean, couldn't have slipped on it.

Am I busted too?:doh:

Roerich

 

[Nam]

The book I was reading is called Whole Brain Thinking. Working from Both sides of the Brain to Achieve Peak Job Performance (phew!) by Jacquelyn Wonder and Priscilla Donovan. William Morrow and Company, Inc. New York 1984. It's a little out of date (over twenty years old), but it's an interesting read anyway. I got this book from a book fair. Fill a bag for 15 bucks. I love to read and I got to the point that this was the only unread book in the house. (I'm only slightly addicted...) As it turns out, it's pretty good, but I'm only on chapter eight out of fifteen.

 

[Roerich]

Hi Nam,

Thank you for posting the title of the book you are reading. Is there a list of right and left brain functions such as the one below? I have been reading Dr. Paul Valent's work, which I downloaded from his website. The following is from his 7 page PDF file titled, " RIGHT AND LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONING":

"We know that the brain is divided into two large hemispheres,
connected across the centre by relatively few interconnective neurons.
Contrary to our intuitive subjective sense and even desires, these two
lobes are responsible for us living simultaneously in two separate complex
mental worlds. These worlds live, literally, side by side, but perceive,
process, and express information in very different ways. Further, these
separate mental worlds may know little about each other.
For instance, because the right brain processes events and survival
contexts twice as fast as the left brain, people may become aware belatedly
in their left brains of actions which are felt to have been done automatically
under right brain direction. Similarly, the left brain may be amazed at
dreams, intuitions, and symptoms generated in the right brain."

Left Hemisphere Functions:

Responsible for verbal expression and language
Recognizes words and numbers
Sense of linear time ( past, present, and future)
Deals with inputs one at a time
Does logical and analytical thinking
Crucial side for engineers
The seat of reason

Right Hemisphere Functions

Responsible for non-verbal, facial, and body language
Recognizes faces, places, music
No sense of time line present (past, present, future, are one)
Integrates many inputs at once
Does intuitive and holistic thinking
Crucial side for artists, musicians
The seat of passion

Based on Sousa, (1995, pg. 88)

Roerich:wink:

 

[batgirl]

Right Hemisphere Functions

Crucial side for artists, musicians

Based on Sousa, (1995, pg. 88)

Okay, so back to my original question then, which I don't think was answered, or if it was, I didn't understand the answer. I'm an artist, and I have reduced hippocampal volume in the right side of my brain (18%). Since the trauma, I haven't been able to draw the same kind of images as I used to. Is this partially why, because art is controlled on the right side of the brain?

 

[Nam]

I'd like to know the answer to that also, since I'm also an artist.

 

[Roerich]

Hi Batgirl, Nam,

From About.com:

"Right Brain: The right brain controls the artistic abilities of a person. A person with a predominant right brain over the left brain will be more artistic, creative and spontaneous."

"In our schools today, more emphasis is given to Left Brain Activities like math, logic, spelling, and related activities as compared to right brain activities. We can however, influence development of both sides of the brain equally by introducing the child to more right brain activities alongside with the more traditional logic, math and spelling activities. Right Brain Activities involve a lot of visuals, patterns, fluidity, role playing and imagination."

Source: Right Brain vs Left Brain by Dipika Mirpuri

Is 'unable to draw' a voluntary choice based on feelings or a conscious decision not to draw? Is artistic ability affected, that is the quality or imagination required to produce the art not the same as before?

"Children tend to draw the part of the trauma they don't understand, the part they're 'stuck' on. Like adults, sometimes what they're saying is not what they're feeling. When they draw, they put it all out on paper," says Suzanne Silverstein, president and co-founder of the Psychological Trauma Center at Cedars-Sinai.