MYTHS & FACTS

Left Brain / Right Brain

Why this personality theory falls flat

You've probably heard people say 'I'm a left-brain person', meaning logical and analytical, or 'I'm right-brained', meaning creative and artistic. It sounds tidy, but it's completely wrong. A landmark neuroimaging study scanned over 1,000 brains and found zero evidence that people preferentially use one hemisphere over the other. Both sides of your brain work together on virtually every task, from solving math problems to painting a picture.

Source

Nielsen, J. A., Zielinski, B. A., Ferguson, M. A., Lainhart, J. E., & Anderson, J. S. (2013). An evaluation of the left-brain vs. right-brain hypothesis with resting state functional connectivity magnetic resonance imaging. PLoS ONE, 8(8), e71275.

In real life...

Stop limiting yourself with hemisphere labels. If you've been telling yourself you're 'not a math person' because you're 'right-brained,' it's that belief, not your brain wiring, that's the real obstacle. Try new challenges without filtering them through this myth.