Оглавление

Left Brain vs Right Brain

Understanding the Myth and Reality of Left Brain and Right Brain Dominance

Have you ever heard people say that they tend to be more of a right-brain or left-brain thinker? From books to television programs, you've probably heard the phrase mentioned numerous times or perhaps you've even taken an online test to determine which type best describes you.

What Is Left Brain - Right Brain Theory?

According to the theory of left-brain or right-brain dominance, each side of the brain controls different types of thinking. Additionally, people are said to prefer one type of thinking over the other. For example, a person who is "left-brained" is often said to be more logical, analytical and objective, while a person who is "right-brained" is said to be more intuitive, thoughtful and subjective.

In psychology, the theory is based on what is known as the lateralization of brain function. So does one side of the brain really control specific functions? Are people either left-brained or right-brained? Like many popular psychology myths, this one has a basis in fact that has been dramatically distorted and exaggerated.

The right brain-left brain theory grew out of the work of Roger W. Sperry, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1981. While studying the effects of epilepsy, Sperry discovered that cutting the corpus collosum (the structure that connects the two hemispheres of the brain) could reduce or eliminate seizures.

However, these patients also experienced other symptoms after the communication pathway between the two sides of the brain was cut. For example, many split-brain patients found themselves unable to name objects that were processed by the right side of the brain, but were able to name objects that were processed by the left-side of the brain. Based on this information, Sperry suggested that language was controlled by the left-side of the brain.

Later research has shown that the brain is not nearly as dichotomous as once thought. For example, recent research has shown that abilities in subjects such as math are actually strongest when both halves of the brain work together.

The Right Brain

According to the left-brain, right-brain dominance theory, the right side of the brain is best at expressive and creative tasks. Some of the abilities that are popularly associated with the right side of the brain include:

Recognizing faces

Expressing emotions

Music

Reading emotions

Color

Images

Intuition

Creativity

The Left Brain

The left-side of the brain is considered to be adept at tasks that involve logic, language and analytical thinking. The left-brain is often described as being better at:

Language

Logic

Critical thinking

Numbers

Reasoning

The Uses of Right-Brain, Left-Brain Theory

While often over-generalized and overstated by popular psychology and self-help texts, understanding your strengths and weaknesses in certain areas can help you develop better ways to learn and study. For example, students who have a difficult time following verbal instructions (often cited as a right-brain characteristic) can benefit from writing down directions and developing better organizational skills.

Researchers Debunk Myth of 'Right-Brained' and 'Left-Brained' Personality Traits

Aug. 14, 2013 — Chances are, you've heard the label of being a "right-brained" or "left-brained" thinker. Logical, detail-oriented and analytical? That's left-brained behavior. Creative, thoughtful and subjective? Your brain's right side functions stronger -- or so long-held assumptions suggest.

But newly released research findings from University of Utah neuroscientists assert that there is no evidence within brain imaging that indicates some people are right-brained or left-brained.

For years in popular culture, the terms left-brained and right-brained have come to refer to personality types, with an assumption that some people use the right side of their brain more, while some use the left side more.

Following a two-year study, University of Utah researchers have debunked that myth through identifying specific networks in the left and right brain that process lateralized functions. Lateralization of brain function means that there are certain mental processes that are mainly specialized to one of the brain's left or right hemispheres. During the course of the study, researchers analyzed resting brain scans of 1,011 people between the ages of seven and 29. In each person, they studied functional lateralization of the brain measured for thousands of brain regions -- finding no relationship that individuals preferentially use their left -brain network or right- brain network more often.

"It's absolutely true that some brain functions occur in one or the other side of the brain. Language tends to be on the left, attention more on the right. But people don't tend to have a stronger left- or right-sided brain network. It seems to be determined more connection by connection, " said Jeff Anderson, M.D., Ph.D., lead author of the study, which is formally titled "An Evaluation of the Left-Brain vs. Right-Brain Hypothesis with Resting State Functional Connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging." It is published in the journal PLOS ONEthis month.

Researchers obtained brain scans for the population they studied from a database called INDI, the International Neuroimaging Data-Sharing Initiative. The participants' scans were taken during a functional connectivity MRI analysis, meaning a participant laid in a scanner for 5 to 10 minutes while their resting brain activity was analyzed.

By viewing brain activity, scientists can correlate brain activity in one region of the brain compared to another. In the study, researchers broke up the brain into 7,000 regions and examined which regions of the brain were more lateralized. They looked for connections -- or all of the possible combinations of brain regions -- and added up the number of connections for each brain region that was left- lateralized or right-lateralized. They discovered patterns in brain imaging for why a brain connection might be strongly left- or right-lateralized, said Jared Nielsen, a graduate student in neuroscience who carried out the study as part of his coursework.

"If you have a connection that is strongly left- lateralized, it relates to other strongly lateralized connection only if both sets of connections have a brain region in common," said Nielsen.

Results of the study are groundbreaking, as they may change the way people think about the old right-brain versus left-brain theory, he said.

"Everyone should understand the personality types associated with the terminology 'left-brained' and 'right-brained' and how they relate to him or her personally; however, we just don't see patterns where the whole left-brain network is more connected or the whole right-brain network is more connected in some people. It may be that personality types have nothing to do with one hemisphere being more active, stronger, or more connected," said Nielsen.

It turns out, though, that this idea of "brained-ness" might be more of a figure of speech than anything, as researchers have found that these personality traits may not have anything to do with which side of the brain you use more.

Researchers from the University of Utah found with brain imaging that people don't use the right sides of their brains any more than the left sides of their brains, or vice versa.

"It's absolutely true that some brain functions occur in one or the other side of the brain. Language tends to be on the left, attention more on the right. But people don’t tend to have a stronger left- or right-sided brain network. It seems to be determined more connection by connection," study researcher Jeff Anderson, M.D., Ph.D., said in a statement.

Creativity :: Lateral vs Vertical Thinking

You exercise your body to stay physically in shape, so why shouldn't you exercise your brain to stay mentally fit? With these daily exercises you will learn how to flex your mind, improve your creativity and boost your memory. As with any exercise, repetition is necessary for you to see improvement, so pick your favorite exercises from our daily suggestions and repeat them as desired. Try to do some mentalrobics every single day!

When trying to solve a problem, it is very important to consider alternate solutions instead of forging forward with the first decent idea. Picking one idea and proceeding until a solution is reached is called vertical thinking and this is the type of thinking that is most often taught in our schools. When thinking laterally, you continue to generate ideas even after a promising idea has been produced. A vertical thinker must always be moving usefully in some direction and must be correct at every step. A lateral thinker can wander in different directions to find creative solutions and often must be wrong in order to be right in the end. Lateral thinkers welcome and explore seemingly irrelevant facts or ideas, whereas vertical thinkers shut out all irrelevant data. There are merits to both types of thinking. If you used only lateral thinking, you would be constantly experimenting and broadening and you would seldom finish anything. If you only used vertical thinking, you could go very far down the wrong path because you failed to find the correct path before starting out. A good compromise would be to use lateral thinking until you have decided on a solution and then switch to vertical thinking to implement that solution.

Vertical thinking	Lateral thinking
Looking for the right approach	Looking for as many approaches as possible
Rightness	Richness
Proceeds if there is a direction	Proceeds to generate direction
Is analytical	Is provocative
Is sequential	Can make jumps
One must be correct at every step	One does not have to be correct at every step
Uses negative to block off certain pathways	There is no negative
Excludes what is irrelevant	Welcomes chance intrusions
Fixed categories/labels	Labels may change
Explores most likely paths	Explores least likely paths
Is a finite process	Is a probabilistic process

Lateral thinking is like humour: you only get it afterwards. A major force in British creative thinking is Edward de Bono. Although Maltese in origin, de Bono has doctorates from both Oxford and Cambridge and is most famous for his addition of the term ‘lateral thinking’ to the English language in his 1967 book, ‘The Use of Lateral Thinking’. Since then, he has written around 40 books on creativity and thinking. This article is a whistle-stop tour of some of his more notable methods. In our world we are governed by rules and structure, and there is a great deal of time spent developing them. We generally learn in sequence, and organize in the same type of order as most everyone else – like filing things according to name, subject or date so our lives are less cluttered and stressful. With the digital age it has become easier to organize information and retrieve it at will. This is vertical thinking: analytical, developed, sequential, and following the path that others have left behind. There is nothing wrong with being a vertical thinker. They are the analysts of the world, the star student with the highest grades and they don’t make many mistakes. They are dependable, structured, and get the job done just as they are expected to do. They make the ideal employee.

Lateral thinking takes the indirect approach to solve problems. Although the reasoning may not be immediately obvious, and not obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic, it does work in a more indirect way. 

Lateral thinkers are more disruptive in class, always asking questions and wanting to know as much they can about everything. To use an old and abused cliché, they think outside the box. They make a lot of mistakes, but that’s because they try so many different things. They don’t have to be right all the time because, as Thomas Edison once said, If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward. Lateral thinkers don’t give up, and look for new ways to do things. They are the ones who start new companies, and take risks.

There is nothing wrong with being a lateral thinker. They are usually the ones with the highest IQ, although may never have completed school. They are the ones who constantly are trying new things. They are also the ones who are not dependable, have a hard time sitting still and completing a task, and teachers hate to have them in class.

The world needs both types of thinkers to progress – the ones who come up with the ideas, and the ones to implement them. There is nothing wrong with either group, but combining the two together makes for a fun and interesting ride!

Example of lateral thinking:

There is a girl who is to be gambled by her father against a heavy debt. If she draws a white pebble from a bag containing one white and one black pebble, the debt is cleared and she is freed. If, however, the black pebble is drawn out, she must go with the merchant. The dilemma is that she sees the merchant sneak two black pebbles into the bag, so what should she do? The vertical thinker considers all options and concludes that she should say what she has seen. The lateral thinker, however, thinks beyond this solution that, at best, leaves the girl with a 50% chance of  freedom. If we think about the pebble that is left behind, which is black, all she has to do is pull out one pebble, and whilst keeping concealed, clumsily drop it where it cannot be found, then say ‘All we need to do is look at the pebble that is left.’

Lateral thinking is thus very much about standing back, looking at the big picture and understanding concepts. It also requires that you focus in on the parts that have perhaps been overlooked, challenging assumptions and seeking alternatives.

Six thinking hats

When working with other people, sometimes we want to give ideas, pass comment, and so on. The problem is that we do not have an easy way of saying ‘This is just an idea, please accept it as such.’ De Bono offers both a method of solving this problem and also six common situations where we might have need of such explanation of what we are about to say. He uses the principle of ‘hats’ so people can say things like, ‘With my red hat, it looks like…’. This also, of course, encourages people to deliberately use these six modes of thinking where otherwise they may be trapped by habitual use of only one. The six hats are:

·       White hat: neutral information (think of purity).

·       Red hat: emotions and hunches (think of warm fire).

·       Black hat: judging and evaluating (think of the judge’s black robes).

·       Yellow hat: optimism and positive views (think of sunshine).

·       Green hat: ideas and creativity (think of vegetation growth).

·       Blue hat: big picture and control (think of the sky above).

Artificial Intelligence: Improving on God's Creation?

article by Noel Hornor

Scientists predict astounding advancements in artificial intelligence in the coming years. Can AI help us solve our chronic problems?

Intelligent machines will soon surpass the abilities of human beings, say enthusiasts of artificial intelligence. Such predictions are no longer espoused only by science-fiction aficionados. Some serious scientists are saying the same thing.

Why would anyone want to create an artificial entity more intelligent than man? The reasoning of some proponents of artificial intelligence (AI) is that, although mankind represents the pinnacle of intelligence on the planet, we have proven inept at handling many of our problems. Thus we need a new and better solution. "We could turn to these superior intelligences for advice and authority in all matters of concern—and the humanity-induced troubles of the world could at last be resolved" (Roger Penrose,Shadows of the Mind, 1994, p. 11).

Such thoughts set off alarm bells in the minds of people who fear such creations could take over society and enslave us or even decide they don't need us. This concept has provided the themes for several Hollywood action films, including the popular 1999 releaseMatrix and several Terminator movies .

Artificial Intelligence Still Young

"Super artificial intelligence" is not anticipated until well into the 21st century. AI's current state is still in its childhood. Recent developments include a chess-playing IBM computer named Deep Blue that defeated the reigning (human) world champion in 1997. AI-infused machines can also perform complicated analytical chores such as scheduling maintenance of the space shuttle.

On the horizon lies enhanced speech recognition, which some experts consider a part of AI technology. Many companies already use sophisticated computers to answer their phones. Callers dial into a switchboard and an "auto-attendant" directs their calls. Videocassette recorders (VCRs) and personal computers that respond to spoken commands already exist. Automobile ignition systems that recognize drivers' voices are on the horizon. The front door of your home may someday be equipped with a system that will unlock after a recognizable spoken command.

AI developers hope "heuristic" computers, equipped with vast databases and programmed to analyze and dissect problems, will be in extensive use around 2020. Heuristic computers might provide services normally supplied by a doctor or lawyer.

Designing such systems may prove more difficult that many envision. "Ask a computer about a rusty car and it might blithely diagnose measles" (Michio Kaku, Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize The 21st Century, 1997,p. 62).

Some scientists believe machines with even-more-humanlike traits will become commonplace. "It is reasonable to assume that by 2050 we may have robots that can interface intelligently with humans, machines with primitive emotions ... and common sense" (Kaku, p. 90). Some expect robots will have the capacity to actually love their masters.

How to Explain Consciousness

If these things sound fantastic, that's because they are. Major gulfs exist between the present state of AI and the imagined bold new world. One of the problems is how to create a conscious entity out of the inanimate. To be conscious, in a human sense, means to be aware of one's own existence, sensations, thoughts and surroundings, to learn from the past and experiences of others and be able to plan for the future.

Can true intelligence exist without such consciousness? This presents a huge problem to the development of AI because science cannot yet fathom the secrets of human consciousness. The consciousness of a human being has been called the ultimate mystery of existence. As Albert Einstein put it: "The hardest thing to understand is why we can understand anything at all" (Kaku, p. 338).

How does consciousness arise? Some call it an emergent phenomenon, something that "happens naturally when a system becomes complex enough" (Kaku, p. 94). Working from this theory, some scientists believe that eventually a form of consciousness will emerge in a laboratory environment. Others are skeptical, calling the emergent theory of consciousness "more a matter of faith than a strategy for success" (Kaku, p. 94).

Consciousness is a remarkable phenomenon, one that separates us from simpler life forms. For instance, most people would agree that human consciousness is far above any kind of awareness exhibited by insects. Researchers have recorded film footage of one insect devouring another while apparently unaware that it was being eaten by yet a third insect. This raises the question of whether insects have any awareness or consciousness at all. Nor do insects demonstrate any appreciation of art and beauty.

Of course, primates and dolphins may reflect a small degree of what we may provisionally describe as a limited animal "consciousness." But our ability to think, reason and plan clearly sets us apart from other creatures.

Humans also have the ability to think intuitively. An example of intuitive thinking is the moment when we grasp things "in a flash," as when we are trying to solve a word puzzle. Some scientists realize this judgment-making ability will be difficult, if not impossible, to program into artificial intelligence. "One human mental function that is extremely hard to duplicate on a machine ... is the intuitive leap—the sudden inspiration that allows you to 'get it' " (James Trefil, Are We Unique?, 1997, p. 130).

We can overestimate the potential of computers because their components "fire" much more rapidly than the neurons in the human brain. They perform mathematical calculations faster and more accurately than humans. But no computer yet designed understandswhat it is doing.

Computers are woefully inferior to humans in other ways. One is the ability to recognize patterns—human faces, for example. Robots can be programmed to recognize a face, but they are thrown off if the face is rotated by a few degrees. Humans, on the other hand, can instantly pick a familiar face out of a large crowd. Recently it was considered a major achievement when a researcher created a computerized neural network that was able to recognize patterns with the same accuracy as a bee's brain (Kaku, p. 87).

The Origin of Consciousness

Scientists have formulated explanations for the origin of consciousness. The generally accepted scientific view is that "after billions of years of swirling around, matter and energy evolved to create life-forms—complex self-replicating patterns of matter and energy—that became sufficiently advanced to reflect ... on their own consciousness" (Ray Kurzweil, The Age Of Spiritual Machines, 1999, p. 62). When this had happened, according to this perspective, consciousness had evolved.

The Bible gives us God's vantage point. As our Creator, He is in a position to know. God made man in His "image," forming man from the dust of the earth and breathed into him the breath of life; and man became "a living being" (Genesis 1:26 ; 2:7).

Before God enlivened the first man, he was a lifeless creation. Afterward he was a living being, made in the image of God. God placed a unique consciousness in human beings. We can recognize beauty, make judgments and perform other mental tasks that are unique to humans.

Man is the only creature that puzzles over the reason for his existence. We are the only physical beings that demonstrably can ponder past, present and future. We did not evolve this ability; God created it. He is the author of human consciousness and intelligence.

As for man developing a source of artificial intelligence that can supply answers to our insoluble problems, his new knowledge tends to produce even more problems in approximate proportion to the amount of new information he discovers. If we are wise, we will look to God for answers through His revelation, the Bible.

Man cannot find lasting solutions to his problems because they are, at their core, spiritualin nature (Isaiah 59). Unless and until humanity as a whole is ready to recognize the true source of its problems, and seeks God's solutions, we will continue to face the dilemmas and difficulties that have plagued mankind for thousands of years.

The Bible shows us human problems will not be resolved until Jesus Christ returns. "Behold I lay in Zion a choice stone, a precious corner stone, and he who believes in Him shall not be disappointed" (1 Peter 2:6, New American Standard Bible). 

Jungian Models of the Psyche