Phenomenon of Left-brained and Right-brained Functions

Human Brain - There are differences between the hemispheres though. We might not have a more dominant half  but in reality our brain split into two hemispheres, left and right.

There is a common belief that most people are either more 'right-brained or more left-brained while there are a few who are a almost equally balanced. A strong left-brain manifests itself through and competency in analytical subjects - science, mathematics, business and accounting, logic, manufacturing etc. whereas a person with a strong right brain is more into fine arts. philosophy, spirituality, holistic concepts and other creative activities.

Based on various accounts that were studied that this is a reasonable classification and it does not depend on race, age, gender or national origin. There are people we meet in our daily life, who have no passion or appreciation for paintings or other objects of art, but they can talk for hours about numbers, be it some topic in theoretical physics or how to make money by investments. Similarly there have been plenty of people who simply do not like in talks about financial numbers, taxation or loan amortization or any technical subject but can get visibly excited in their admiration for a sculpture or a book  or other items of creative output.

Dominance - Myth vs Science

A very popular question " Are you left-brained or right-brained ?" hovering at the edges of sound neuroscience. If we search on the dominance of left or right brain in the internet we will find endless blogs / articles on the subject. And also quizzes are available to find out our brain dominance.
The study named - An Evaluation of the Left-Brain vs. Right-Brain Hypothesis with Resting State Functional Connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging in the journal PLOS One, found no evidence for significant differences in brain side dominance among individuals.

There are differences between the hemispheres though. We might not have a more dominant half  but in reality our brain split into two hemispheres, left and right.

Interestingly, left and right hemispheres are not the same. But they are highly similar and redundant. Most processes that we would find on the left side also take place on the right and vice-versa.
In their book neurologists Dr Alexander G Reeves and Dr Rand Swenson, Disorders of the Nervous System  quotes Dr Harold Wolff - one of the great brain scientists - as saying that both sides of the brain have

Dr Harold G Wolff

the capacity to express appropriate feelings, appetites and drives; the capacity [for] … learning, memory, logic, etc.; the capacity to maintain appropriate thresholds and tolerance for frustration and failure, and to recover promptly from their effects; the capacity to maintain effective and well-modulated defense reactions (i.e., repression, denying, pretending, rationalization, blaming, withdrawal, fantasy, depersonalization, obsessive-compulsive behavior and bodily reaction patterns involving alimentation, respiration, metabolism, etc.) 

It is obvious though we find our various pair organs / body parts have dominance, be it left nostril and right nostril, left ear and right ear, left eye and right or even left hand/leg and right hand/leg. Some of their dominance can be altered by practice.

I refer here the British Orthodox rabbi. philosopher, theologian, author and politician, Jonathan Henry Sacks talking on BBC Radio 4

What made Europe happen and made it so creative, is that Christianity was a right-brain religion … translated into a left-brain language [Greek]. So for many centuries you had this view that science and religion are essentially part of the same thing.

With metaphorical appeal, the seductive idea of the right brain and its untapped creative potential also has a long history of being targeted by self-help gurus peddling pseudo-psychology. The makers of self-improvement video games and apps pick the similar ideas. There are various applications are available in the net.

Then what is the truth to the left-brain right-brain myth ?! While they look alike, the two hemispheres of the brain do function differently. It has become known to most of people that left-brain is dominant for language. The right-brain, on the other hand, is implicated on emotional processing and representing the mental states of others. However the distinctions are not as clear as the myth makes out- for instance, the right hemisphere is involved in processing some aspects of language, such as intonation and emphasis.

The Theory of Left-Brain and Right-Brain

The theory is that people are either left-brained or right brained, meaning that one side of their brain is dominant or for the equally balanced can be said that both sides are dominant or there is no dominance at all.

The theory is based on the fact that the brain's two hemispheres function differently. In 1960s, psychologist and  Nobel Laureate Roger W Sperry highlighted the theory in his research paper. The left brain is more verbal, analytical and orderly than the right brain. It is also sometime called digital brain.

Now we know that the two sides of our brain are different but the question is, does it necessarily follow that we have a dominant brain just as we have a dominant hand ?

Again the research (named -An Evaluation of the Left-Brain vs. Right-Brain Hypothesis with Resting State Functional Connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging ) by a group of neuroscientists have an interesting answer. The study revealed that our brain does not actually favor one side over the other. The connectivity and networks on one side are not normally stronger than the other side.

The two hemispheres are connected together by nerve fibers, which create series of connectivity. It is

Photo by Sebastian Palomino on Unsplash

definite that the two sides function differently but they work together and complement each other. We do not use only one side of our brain at a time.

It is a comprehensive and analytical account basically concluding that the issue is much more complicated than a simple left-brain / right-brain classification.    
A few of the some more recent studies seem to be in denial. For example,

one highly publicized paper, summarized at The Guardian, failed to find evidence that individuals tend to have stronger left - or right sided brain networks. A new book by Stephen M Kosslyn and G Wayne Miller argues that the left/right brain distinction is bogus.      

In a further write up titled
Left Brain, Right Brain: Two Sides, Always Working Togetherthey very clearly proclaims,

And far from having separate lives, the two halves work together. They are not isolated systems that compete or engage in some kind of cerebral tug-of-war; one is not an undisciplined child, the other a spoilsport that throws schoolyard tantrums. Rather, as we have stressed, the brain is a single, marvelously complicated, and deeply integrated system. Like those of a well-maintained bicycle, the parts of the brain do have different functions—but, like the parts of a bike, they are designed to work together.  

Final Thought

Apart from being just an interesting observation this classification plays a key role in our personal lives. Be it with our life partner, immediate colleagues, Boss and subordinate or even with our children, if they are both left or both right brained. Otherwise, one half of a person's passionate interests would remain unaddressed leading to frustrations. loneliness and misunderstanding. By the same logic, a person who is equally balanced between the two brains would be truly happy in a relationship if she/he meets or works with a person who is similarly balanced.

However the question is - whether science would accept  the classification or not. But almost every one of us experiences extremities in relationship somewhere in our family life or in the work place etc. , which support the validation of classification into left and right brained people. And if we can able to determine our stand as a left-brained or right-brained, it would be helpful in selecting our academic path, profession and even life partner.     


                                
         

A Possible Dependence Syndrome Emerges from Mobile Phones

Photo by Adolfo Félix on Unsplash

We would like to be a little happier. The problem is that much of what determines happiness is not in our control. Some of us are genetically predisposed to see the world through rose-coloured  glasses, while others have a generally negative outlook. Bad things happen, to us and in the world. People can be unkind and jobs can be tedious. But we do have some control over how we spend our leisure time. That's one reason why it's worth asking, which leisure time activities are linked to happiness and which are not.

There are some organizations, universities that conduct studies on happiness. In a recent analysis of one million US teens shows how teens were spending their time and which activities correlated with happiness, and which didn't.
The study focused if changes in the way teens spend their free time might partially explain a significant drop in teens' happiness after 2012 - and perhaps the decline in adults' happiness since 2000 as well.

Overuse of Mobile Phone 

Mobile Phone overuse is a dependence syndrome seen among mobile phone users. Some mobile phone users exhibit problematic behaviors related to substance use disorders. These behaviors can include preoccupation with mobile communication, excessive money or time spent on mobile phones,

Photo by René DeAnda on Unsplash

use of mobile phones in socially or physically inappropriate situations such as driving an automobile.  Increased use can also lead increased time on mobile communication, adverse effects on relationships, and anxiety if separated from mobile phones or in a signal connectivity issue.

World Health Organization on Dependence Syndrome

The Tenth Revision of  the International classification of  Diseases and Health Problems (ICD-10) defines the dependence syndrome as

being a cluster of physiological, behavioural, and cognitive phenomena in which the use of a substance or a class of substances takes on a much higher priority for a given individual than other behaviours that once had greater value. A central descriptive characteristic of the dependence syndrome is the desire (often strong, sometimes overpowering) to take the psychoactive drugs (which may or not have been medically prescribed), alcohol, or tobacco. There may be evidence that return to substance use after a period of abstinence leads to a more rapid reappearance of other features of the syndrome than occurs with nondependent individuals.  

ICD-10 further states that in unqualified form, dependence refers to both physical and psychological elements. Psychological or psychic dependence refers to the experience of impaired control over drinking or drug use while physiological or physical dependence refers to tolerance and withdrawal symptoms. In biologically-oriented discussion, dependence is often used to refer only to physical dependence.

Dependence or physical dependence is also used in the psychopharmacological context in a still narrower sense, referring solely to the development of withdrawal symptoms on cessation of drug use. In this restricted sense, cross-dependence is seen as complementary to cross-tolerance, with both referring only to physical symptomatology (neuroadaptation).

Substance use disorders can be defined by 11 factors, according to DSM-5, such as

1. Use in larger quantities or for longer than initially intended. 
2. A desire to cut down or control use.
3. Spending a great deal of time obtaining, using or recovering from the substance
4. Cravings and urges to use the substance 
5. Unable to manage undertakings at workplace, home or school because of substance use.
6. continuing to use, even when it causes problems in relationships.
7. Giving up important social, occupational, or recreational activities because of substance use.
8. Use in situations in which it is physically hazardous.
9. Continued use of the substance despite adverse physical and psychological consequences associated with use.
10. Needing more of the substance to get the desired effect (tolerance)
11. Development of withdrawal symptoms

Smartphone addiction can be compared to substance use disorders in that smartphones provide the drug (entertainment and connection) while acting as the means by which the drug is consumed. A study conducted at Alabama State University on the effects of smartphones on students, defines the issue by stating that we are not addicted to smartphones themselves, but that

we are addicted to the information, entertainment, and personal connections (that a smartphone delivers).   

People have an affinity for constant entertainment, and smartphones provide the quickest and easiest accessible route to it.

A Possible Threat Emerges

In another study, it was analyzed data from a nationally representative survey of eighth, 10th and 12th grades that's been conducted annually since 1991.

Every year, teens are asked about their general happiness, in addition to how they spend their time. It is found that teens who spent more time seeing their friends in person. exercising, playing sports, attending religious services, reading or even doing homework were happier. However, teens who spent more time on the Internet, playing computer games, or social media. texting, using video chat or watching TV were less happy.

Photo by qi bin on Unsplash

         
In other words, every activity that didn't involve a screen was linked to more happiness, and every activity that involved a screen was linked to less happiness. The differences were considerable - teens who spent more than five hours a day online were twice as likely to be unhappy as those who spent less than an hour a day.

Of course, it might be that unhappy people seek out screen activities. However, a growing number of studies show that most of the causation goes from screen use to unhappiness, not the other way around.

In one experiment, people who were randomly assigned to give up Facebook for a week ended that time happier, less lonely and less depressed than those who continued to use Facebook. In another study, young adults required to give up Facebook for their jobs were happier than those who kept their accounts. In addition, several longitudinal studies show that screen time leads to unhappiness but unhappiness does not lead to more screen time. If we want to draw a conclusion based on these researches, it would be very simple - put down your phone or tablet and go do something - just about anything - else.       
 

It's not just Teens 

These links between happiness and time use for screens are worrying news, as the present generation of teens spends more time with screens than any previous generations. Time spent online doubled between 2008 and 2016, and 82 per cent of 12th grades now use social media everyday (up from 51 per cent in 2008).

Sure enough, teens' happiness suddenly plummeted after 2012 . So did teens' self-esteem and their satisfaction with their lives, especially their satisfaction with their friends, the amount of fun, they were having and their lives as whole. These declines in well-being mirror other studies finding sharp increases in mental health issues among them, including depressive symptoms, major depressions, self-harm and suicide. Especially compared to to the optimistic and almost relentlessly positive millennials. They are markedly less self-assured and more are depressed.

A similar trend might be occurring for adults. In the same study it is found that adults over age 30 were less happy than they were 15 years ago, and that adults were having sex less frequently. There

Photo by Ross Sneddon on Unsplash

may be many reasons for these trends, but adults are also spending more time with screens than they used to. That might mean less face-to-face time with other people, including with their sexual partners. The result is - less sex and less happiness.

Causes are more Social than Economic Environment

Although both teen and adult happiness dropped during the years of high unemployment and the Great Recession (2008-2010), happiness didn't  rebound in the years after 2012 when the economy was doing progressively better. Instead, happiness continued to decline as the economy improved, making it unlikely that economic cycle were to blame for lower happiness after 2012.

Growing income inequality could play a role, especially for adults. But if so, one would expect that happiness would have been dropping continuously since 1980s when income inequality began to grow. Instead, happiness began to decline around 2000 for adults and around 2012 for teens.

Nevertheless, it's possible that concern about the job  market and income inequality reached a tipping point in the early 2000s. Somewhat surprisingly, we found that teens who didn't use digital media at all were actually a little less happy than those who used digital media a little bit (less than an hour a day0. Happiness was then steadily lower with more hours of use. Thus, the happiest teens were those who used digital media, but for a limited period of time.

Final Thought

The answer, then, is not to give up technology entirely. Instead, the solution is a familiar adage -

Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash

everything  in moderation. We should use our phones for all the cool things, it's good for and then set it down and go do something else.
Enough evidences support and ensure us that we might be happier for it.
            

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