The Consciousness Wars

Logic is dominant in the Left-Brain, though.

 

The insinuation that a esoteric culture uses a particular hemisphere of the brain more or less than a "material" scientific culture is completely unfounded and bordering on nonsensical to me.

 

True, thought they are also discovering the brains 'resiliency', the ability to form new neuro-pathways, can extend much further into adulthood than was previously assumed.

I had a coupla papers on this, unfortunately I lost a bunch of shit in my last computer catastrophe, lol

 

Ah, I see. Well it seems to make sense in a general way as the Left-Brain is more leaning towards things that the Sciences embrace. There are those in fact that argue that the Right-Brain was generally more dominant in older cultures. While we still use both sides of the brain, certain tendencies can happen in certain eras, can they not?

We all have the same brain and yet use it in very different ways. We all have muscles but some people exercise those muscles more than others. So I think the OP is pointing to what's generally the foundation of society in relation to the two hemispheres. A more Logic-based society could be said to be more Left-Brain based, generally, while not saying that we are simply using one side of the brain only.

 

Possibly, but logic isn't the whole picture. There's a lot of creativity goes into the conceptual side of science, and creativity has been said to be predominantly right hemishpere.

 

I suppose, but I think as a general statement that the Right-Brain may have been more relied upon in older times than in the present. There's obviously plenty of use of the Right-Brain, no doubt.

But if you had to ask what the foundation of society is and what is considered truth in the modern West, would you in general say that Logic is the foundation, or Creativity?

 

I suppose you could say the ancients, out of necessity had to rely on intuition more than reason but after many many generations of accumulated knowledge, reason became a more convenient and reliable way of apprehending the world.

I think the foundation of society in the modern west is stupidity...We're just lucky we've had enough logical and creative people around to keep it from imploding for this long! LOL

 

Right. This is basically the point that I think is trying to be made in the OP.

 

Again, the neuroanatomist who I referred to earlier, with the book, My Stroke of Insight, has demonstrated that there is a difference in the hemisphere's. She did not deal with Neuroplasticity since she still had the other hemisphere functioning, but at a much lower level, Therefore she was able to clearly discern the difference between the hemispheres, particularly as she worked to get her other side back to a functional health.

I know you automatically have a bias aganst her, but she does have valid credentials and has produced peer reviewed research.

 

OH-----well maybe I jumped in too soon with that comment----it has been a while since I participated.

Sorry-----theprodu----if you do recognize that there is a difference, and are just trying to keep pop-cultural misunderstandings out of it...

 

I'm having a hard time deciphering if those that disagree recognize that there is a difference or not. I can totally understand trying to not over-generalize that someone is either left or right brained, but there still is a difference.

I do feel that in a larger way that you can generally say that in the past that people relied more on Myth, which is dealing with images and symbols, and is much more about the right-brain than the left. This is just one example.

It's being over-simplistic to simply say that someone is one or the other. They use both, but they still might have certain leanings. But I think it's more appropriate to make general statements about entire eras of humanity in regards to which hemispheres were more dominant.

 

Neuroplasticity is a phenomena of the brain, EVERYONE "deals" with neuroplasticity. The woman had a stroke, it goes without saying that she was likely to have some personality changes after the incident and in the long road to recovery she may or may not be attributing certain things about her circumstances appropriately. I have not read the book from her, but I have seen her give a TED talk and she does seem kind of reliant on that hemisphere dichotomy and also says some other things that seem pretty subjective and not really hard science. With that incident, it seems primarily an inspirational story and her area of expertise as a neuroanatomist apparently was/is post mortem studies of the brain.

 

I do understand there's a difference, and one of my thoughts is it's possible different parts of the brain are allocated for certain tasks simply out of convenience.

Other than bipedal locomotion, stereoscopic vision and binaural hearing, a good question might be; why one side or the other?

 

Yes, she did a Post-Mortem study of my brain----I found it most revealing... ;-)


(...Ok, I couldn't help myself----I just had to write it...)

 

I suspect that a greater part (not all, but a greater part) of our conscious awareness involves the left side of the brain, while a greater part of our subconscious awareness occurs with the right side.

 

more like a recruitment advertisement rather than a reputable scientific article.

 

ditto

 

I have a notion the subconscious originates in the gut. You know, that 'gut' feeling?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/gut-feelings-the-second-brain-in-our-gastrointestinal-systems-excerpt/
"This mind-gut connection is not just metaphorical. Our brain and gut are connected by an extensive network of neurons and a highway of chemicals and hormones...

The enteric nervous system is often referred to as our body’s second brain. There are hundreds of million of neurons connecting the brain to the enteric nervous system...

The enteric nervous system is so extensive that it can operate as an independent entity without input from our central nervous system, although they are in regular communication.

Recent evidence indicates that not only is our brain “aware” of our gut microbes, but these bacteria can influence our perception of the world and alter our behavior. It is becoming clear that the influence of our microbiota reaches far beyond the gut to affect an aspect of our biology few would have predicted—our mind.
(bold added Theprodu)

....the gut microbiota influences the body’s level of the potent neurotransmitter serotonin, which regulates feelings of happiness. Some of the most prescribed drugs in the U.S. for treating anxiety and depression, like Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil, work by modulating levels of serotonin. And serotonin is likely just one of a numerous biochemical messengers dictating our mood and behavior that the microbiota impacts."

 

one thing that also plays a huge role in this is how the child was stimulated in very early infancy-early childhood when the majority of the fundamental groundwork for neural pathways and interconnections are laid out.
The more varied the stimulation, the more numerous the pathways and more interconnections produced that are lifelong connections.
There are specific brain areas that perform specific duties, that much is certain, but neuroplasticity allows for any area of the brain to learn and adapt to performing new functions, yet retain the pathways and features that were laid out in early childhood.

One amazing example of this I saw was a guy who can do crazy math in his head, and the more problems you threw at him the faster and faster he could solve them until it was just ridiculous.
Upon brain imaging it was discovered that his brain processed mathematical equations with a different part of the brain than normal (I don't recall if it was due to injury). The part of his brain that took over that role originally is the portion of the brain that makes all the minute and fine adjusts to motor/muscle control and can process info incredibly fast. Imagine surfing or riding a skateboard and all those minuscule and quick muscle changes being made to maintain balance and everything. That is the part of this guys brain that was doing math and just like riding a bike or surfing, the more info that was input, the faster and faster it was processed.

Depending on the type of stimulation and amount will dictate to a large extent which qualities are more highly developed and that, I believe, accounts for the cultural differences being noted.


I'm surprised nobody has mentioned split brain patients who have had the corpus callosum cut in order to stop seizures. They represent the most dramatic examples of the different functions of the different hemispheres.

 

Actually I did, and hemispherectomys. You'll have to read back.