Diane Halpern: Left-Hand Man Or Right-Handeded Person

While reading “Gender,” an essay by Jack Halberstam, the topic of sexism was brought to the forefront of my mind. It has been brought up more often in conversation in the modern era, issues such as how a few cruel insults pertain to female reproductive anatomy and, in a sense, degrade females and ultimately identify them, as well as femininity, as inherently “bad”. Such a thought stemmed from how Halberstam touches on the “problematic stabilization of the meaning of ‘women’ and ‘female’”: meaning there is no room for argument when it comes to your gender—you’re either a girl or not. You either fit into a strict mold, or you do not.

Throughout the late 1900s and early 2000s, Charles Smith began receiving many concerns and negative attention of his methods of collecting evidence, methodology, and conclusions. On June 7th of 2005, Dr. Barry McLellan (then the Chief Coroner for Ontario) and Michael Bryant (then the Attorney General) announced in a press release that a formal review will be conducted. In the October 2007 report, Dr. McLellan concluded that Smith’s findings of asphyxia were “illogical and completely against scientific

Centuries ago, the Catholic Church declared that left-handed people were servants of the devil. The word "left" comes from the Old English word meaning "weak" and "worthless." In the 1600s in Europe, lefties were burned at the stake for alleged witchcraft and sorcery.

2013). Functional lateralization is found to form at an early age, and lateralized connections can be unique amongst individuals (Nielson et al. 2013). Change in lateralization with age is insignificant, defending that lateralization development occurs during the stages of early development (Nielson et al. 2013). Current studies have concluded that lateralization does not vary amongst genders, but instead individuals (Nielson et al. 2013). The question of left or right brain dominant has arisen after Sperry’s contributions. Research has concluded that left or right brain dominance does not exist as a whole, but instead varies amongst individuals (Nielson et al.

In the excerpt “Right Brain Rising”, Daniel Pink tells his experience in depth detail of an intriguing brain scan beneficial both to his curious mind, and the world of science. He then goes on to inform readers of the two distinct halves resting in our skulls; following up with the past inferiority associated with the human right brain, thought to be due to years of evolution. After acknowledging the disproved theory, Pink delves into information pertaining to psychology’s six

It is proven on my population pyramid that women live longer than men. This could have to do with many things. If a person is smaller, their heart doesn’t have to pump as much as a person who is taller. So, women are typically smaller than men and are less likely to have a heart attack. Women also take better care of their health and are less likely to be daredevils.

Through more research though, this isn’t wholly true. Her mind was specifically attentively deficient to the left of everything. Sarah was not blind, she was not paralyzed, her brain just didn’t register the left side of her body, and moreover, the left side of her world. This is just a small portion of the complications that arose for Sarah from the disorder. An interesting concept that was shown in the novel was how Sarah drew pictures. Sarah being a very talented artist would draw the right side of a picture perfectly, while completely disregarding the left side of the picture. Reading changed by requiring Sarah to use a special bookmark to call attention to the left, walking changed with the need for a four-pronged stainless steel cane for Sarah to balance on two feet, life itself changed for Sarah in a few split seconds on the freeway. Even when fully concentrated and aware that she had the disorder, Sarah still found massive difficulty in performing ordinary, simple, everyday tasks. While it may take an “ordinary” individual a few minutes to get dressed for the day, this task usually being individual in nature as well, it took Sarah not only longer to perform but also required help from her family. Sarah had to devote optimal physical and mental effort in order to for her left side to react and keep up with the right side of her body.

Pink’s argument that we are moving out of a left-brain dominance and in to a new era where right brain qualities will be prized is well illustrated in part one the book. According to Pink “the two hemispheres of our brain don’t operate as on-off switches…both halves play a role in nearly everything we do” (2011). Pink suggests that both hemisphere of the brain are equally important. In fact, “a healthy,

Left Neglected by Lisa Genova is a novel based on a woman who gets into a car accident, suffers from a stroke, and ends up developing left neglect. Left neglect, otherwise known as Hemispatial neglect, develops after a stroke or brain damage to the right side of the brain. Left neglect is a neuropsychological condition that causes an attention deficit to the awareness of the left side of space. A person with left neglect has difficulty processing and perceiving stimuli on the left side of their body. It can affect a person’s visual perception where they are unable to see things or interpret them on the left side of them. Typically a person with left neglect forgets that their left side exists. Someone who suffers from left neglect may not be able to dress themselves on their left side; they may not eat the food on the left side of their plate, or be able to read a left side of a book. It can cause issues with their mobility where they are unaware of their left extremities, which can lead to problems in walking or any task using bilateral coordination or skills.

Mead & Hampson (1996) developed a study involving the divided visual field paradigm and a phonological rhyme/non-rhyme task to test the speed and accurateness of either side of the brain. This study was used to investigate functional asymmetry between the left and right hemispheres in phonological processing. The research was taken out equally on 15 male and 15 females London Metropolitan University students ranging from ages 18 – 35 years old. They were all specifically chosen to be right–handed and had English as their first language thus providing a fair experiment to see whether our left hemisphere (left side of the brain) or the right hemisphere is faster and more accurate. In conclusion using the mean and standard

For many decades people have been considered to be either right or left side dominant in regards to brain function which came with defined roles such as “creative” or “analytical”. This thinking tends to be over-simplified as most people use their entire brains daily (Jensen, 2010). On the other hand people do use different parts of their brain for different tasks according to how they perceive those tasks.

Left-right brain dominance is about the fact that the distinct hemispheres influence thinking. The left hemisphere is associated with logical, analytical thinking and a linear approach to problem solving. The right hemisphere is associated with creative, intuitive and value-based thought process. It is important to note that everyone uses its both hemispheres, but to varying degrees. Four quadrants of the brain, related to different thinking style, have been identified:

Right brain? Left brain? Both sides are very different and have their own characteristics that help determine what a persons potential strengths and weaknesses will be. “The human brain is split into two halves, each with its own unique abilities. This phenomenon, discovered three decades ago by Nobel Prize winner Dr. Roger Sperry and his associates at the California Institute of Technology, is known as brain lateralization” (Raudsepp, 1992, p. 85). Certain characteristics of a person can go so much deeper then just hobbies that a person enjoys. Brain function can play a major role in how a person perceives their surroundings, such as if someone like to draw or do math. On the other side of that if a person is very analytical and good at subjects in school such as math it could be linked to which side of their brain is dominant.

People who are left brain tend to approach each problem with an analytical point of view. Right

To begin my research I had to decide on a topic. Using a lotus diagram, I came up with 9 possible enquiry areas of interest to me and narrowed this down to one by deciding which worked best and interested me most. I decided on researching left-handedness. I then had to decide on a topic within the area and influenced by my love of science I landed on my research question: ‘In what ways, physically and psychologically are right-handers different to left-handers and what causes this?’