4.0345 Right Brain/Left Brain (2/72)

Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Thu, 2 Aug 90 10:08:56 EDT

Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0345. Thursday, 2 Aug 1990.


(1) Date: Wed, 1 Aug 1990 9:35:57 GMT+0400 (32 lines)
From: Judy Koren <LBJUDY@VMSA.technion.ac.il>
Subject: 4.0327, Frank Dane's comment on left brain-right brain

(2) Date: Tue, 31 Jul 90 13:03:42 CDT (40 lines)
From: "Michael S. Hart" <HART@UIUCVMD>
Subject: Re: 4.0331 Memory, Right and Left (2/39)

(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Wed, 1 Aug 1990 9:35:57 GMT+0400
From: Judy Koren <LBJUDY@VMSA.technion.ac.il>
Subject: 4.0327, Frank Dane's comment on left brain-right brain

Wow, Frank, the hour must have been late! Your riposte landed square, if
not exactly fair, on my right brain (which side were you aiming at?)
Well, I can't claim to read the research the way a psychology professor
does, but quite a lot of it does trickle through my fingers, and I take
a quick, unprofessional peek at it (which is more than I do at the
popular press). And it definitely tells me that however good the links
through the corpus callosum, most people process linguistic information
on the left and pictorial information on the right and there's precious
little they can do about it. Or did all those ingenious experiments
come up with false results? What about the poor souls who lost the
ability to speak following left-side-only neurological damage, are we to
tell them that according to all the latest theories it shouldn't have
happened to them? I doubt very much that the split is all-or-nothing,
and obviously there's a lot of connection (what, after all, is the
physical basis for what I referred to as "pointers" between the
pictorial information and the associated linguistic, just to mention one
aspect?); still I suspect that I unwittingly touched a raw nerve of
yours with that quite incidental comment of mine, and perhaps not all
researchers (certainly not the more biomedically inclined, rather than
the more psychology-inclined) would have hit the ceiling at what I said.

Following the other comments to my note, I think we have a new and
fruitful line of research here. Any other left-handed females out there
who have trouble matching faces to names? (Or even males who do, but
have so far been too bashful to admit it...) Perhaps we could apply for
a multi-national research grant...the possibilities seem endless...

Judy Koren
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------64----
Date: Tue, 31 Jul 90 13:03:42 CDT
From: "Michael S. Hart" <HART@UIUCVMD>
Subject: Re: 4.0331 Memory, Right and Left (2/39)

On Mon, 30 Jul 90 21:03:21 EDT you said:

>From: Frank Dane <FDANE@UGA>
>Subject: Re: 4.0327 Responses: Memory ...
>
>When one reads the research, as opposed to popular press, concerning
>hemispheric differences, it is apparent that the whole R/L business has
>been quite overblown. In most people, the left brain is more active
>when processing linguistic information than is the right brain. Except
>in those individuals who have had their corpus callosum severed as a
>treatment for epilepsy, that's the extent of the R/L brain "business".
>For all others, the CC provides a complete link between the two
>hemispheres. Thus, most of the R/L business is, in the words of one of
>former professors, pop crap.
>
>Frank Dane, Psychology, Mercer University
>
>P. S. As my finger moves to send this, I have a sinking feeling
>that I am going to get blasted in future discussions. Nevertheless...

When someone says, as does the Melancholy Dana above "When one reads the
research . . . it is apparent . . . ." what is apparent that a flag
should go up . . . WARNING . . . WARNING! This is a similar warning
to "always" and "never" which he approaches when he says "except" for a
very small group . . . "For all others . . . ."

This man is saying something similar to "Dallas and Ft. Worth are really
the same city since they are connected by a CC highway and road system -
or - "Cities are cities, even if they are only connected by bridges over
the rivers going through them." We have four chambers in the heart, does
that mean they all have the same function?

The Melancholy Dane also had at least one part of his brain saying he
sending the message . . . . Proof positive he was of two minds. mh

PS I am glad he sent the message. We need more like it.