Am I In My Right Mind?

A fellow listgroup member recently started a discussion thusly:

I was thinking about the topic of left-handed vs. right-handed drawing...

I was born left-handed (and left-footed too). My mom taught me to write when I was 4, and I did everything (drawing, eating, etc.) left-handedly. When my first-grade teacher came on a visit the month before primary school began ... she criticized the fact that I was writing with my left hand, and said I should immediately switch to my right hand. And while I was at it, she practically ordered, I had better start drawing with my right hand as well.

Since then, I have been torn between left- and right-handedness. I am to all intents and purposes (acculturatedly, not naturally) ambidextrous... Many times when I pick up my pen I am fascinated by this state of affairs. At other times I draw something without thinking about it, put the pen down, and a minute later look at it and realize I have forgotten which hand drew it. ...

Personally I'm not so much interested in the theoretical, neurological basis of the phenomenon... I am more than anything looking for testimony from others and practical advice.

Being an analytical, right-handed, INTJ, left-brained (or so I believe), sort of person, I am interested in the theoretical and neurological basis of the phenonemon, among other things. I did a little web research on this topic. What I found wasn't precisely what I expected (yes, this is why we do research; to confirm our theories or provide new venues for exploration. :-)

I am right-handed, right-footed (I cannot step onto an escalator with my left foot first; I will stumble) and right-eyed (my left eye goes so far as to close in bright light). I can't even comb my hair or brush my teeth with my left hand, although I do type with both.

I'm not an artist. I'm a computer programmer with a Masters Degree in Science and a long fascination with all things scientific and technical. I'm not particularly artistic, although I am creative in many respects and I can (and have done) many types of crafts. I'm analytical and data driven. I presume I'm a mostly-left-brained individual.

I googled "right brain", "left brain". There were, as I expected, quite a few hits.

At Funderstanding's Right Brain vs. Left Brain page, I read:

This theory of the structure and functions of the mind suggests that the two different sides of the brain control two different "modes" of thinking. It also suggests that each of us prefers one mode over the other.

When I look at the list of thinking styles on that page:

Left Brain		Right Brain
Logical Sequential Rational Analytical Objective Looks at parts		Random Intuitive Holistic Synthesizing Subjective Looks at wholes

I would say that I am decidedly left-brained.

I then considered a related question — the left hand is said to be controlled by the right brain and vice versa (hence the T-shirt, "Only Left-handed People Are in Their Right Minds"). I wondered if more artists matched left-brained thinking styles. So, I added "left hand" to my Google search.

An article at About.com, (specifically under painting.about.com), says that "hand dominance is not directly related to brain dominance". However, the same article also goes on to add "a significant number of artists have been and are left-handed, more than would be suggested by the one-in-ten occurrence of left-handedness in the population."

You might want to read the article, especially if you are an artist. One section is entitled "How is the Right Brain / Left Brain Concept Relevant to Artists?"

The About.com article closes with the question "Have you tested whether your right brain or left brain is dominant?" and a pointer to a very interesting Right Brain Left Brain Quiz for Artists. I don't paint. I'm not an artist; I'm a programmer. So, to answer the quiz questions, in my mind I substituted "programming" for "painting" in most cases. (Hmmm... Was that a left brain or a right brain substitution? :-)

Given my belief that I am "decidedly left-brained", I found my quiz results to be quite surprising.

You answered 10 items out of 20 as right brained.
Your score is 50%. Your right and left brain work together equally.

Apparently this right brain left brain thinking doesn't work quite the way I originally surmised...

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Here are some questions for you, the reader

• Are you an artist?

• Are you artistic, creative, right-brained?

• Are you left- or right-handed?

• Which of the thinking styles at Funderstanding resonate with you?

• How do you score on the right brain / left brain quiz.

• Did you expect that score?

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Interesting links

"HELP!! Right Brain/Left Brain — a request for help from a student planning a research paper comparing the percentage of left hand dominance in students in advanced art classes vs. the percent of left hand dominance in the general population.
Left Brain : Right Brain — a discussion of bicameral images.
Funderstanding article.
About.com article
About.com quiz

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p.s. Do they still pull that prejudicial forcing trick on left-handed kids in school these days?