{"id":23357,"date":"2021-01-02T09:52:12","date_gmt":"2021-01-02T13:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=23357"},"modified":"2021-01-15T19:06:10","modified_gmt":"2021-01-15T23:06:10","slug":"left-and-right-brain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/left-and-right-brain\/","title":{"rendered":"The Left and Right Brain: What&#8217;s the Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What is the difference between the left and right brain? What functions are associated with each hemisphere? <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The human brain is visibly split into two hemispheres\u2014the left brain and the right brain. The left hemisphere is associated with language and logical thinking and the right brain is associated with emotion, creativity, and intuition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read about the difference between the left and right brain, as well as their functions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Left Brain and Right Brain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The human brain is symmetrical, consisting of two hemispheres\u2014commonly referred to as the left and right brain. The left brain controls movement on the left side of the body, while the right brain controls the left side. They are also associated with different <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/modes-of-thinking\/\">modes of thinking<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The left brain:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Operates in <strong>logic<\/strong><\/li><li>Manages <strong>language<\/strong><\/li><li>Interprets things <strong>literally<\/strong><\/li><li>Sorts things into a <strong>linear <\/strong>order or sequence<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>The right brain:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Operates in <strong>emotions and intuition<\/strong><\/li><li>Manages <strong>physical sensations<\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/power-of-nonverbal-communication\/\">nonverbal communication<\/a><\/strong> (such as eye contact, gestures, tone of voice, and facial expressions)<\/li><li>Interprets things in the context of the <strong>big picture<\/strong><\/li><li>Processes <strong>autobiographical memories <\/strong>(Shortform note: Autobiographical memories are memories of personal experiences, as opposed to memories of information, such as a grocery list.)<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>If you rely too heavily on your left brain, you end up in an emotional desert.<\/strong> You operate only with cold, calculating logic, neglecting your and others\u2019 emotions. In an emotional desert, you lose compassion, empathy, and big-picture perspective. Teens often retreat to emotional deserts, because it gives them a feeling of control when they become overwhelmed by the emotional overload of adolescence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In contrast, <strong>if you rely too heavily on your right brain, you face an emotional flood.<\/strong> You\u2019re bombarded with feelings and physical sensations, unable to make sense of it all. Babies and toddlers are ruled by their right brains, because they don\u2019t start developing command of logic until around age 3\u2014however, parents can still effectively guide them to age-appropriate reasoning.<strong>When you\u2019re horizontally integrated between the left and right brains, you use both your logic and your emotions to understand your experiences, your thoughts, your behaviors, and those of the people around you.<\/strong> Let\u2019s explore two strategies for helping children integrate their left and right brains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What is the difference between the left and right brain? What functions are associated with each hemisphere? The human brain is visibly split into two hemispheres\u2014the left brain and the right brain. The left hemisphere is associated with language and logical thinking and the right brain is associated with emotion, creativity, and intuition. Read about the difference between the left and right brain, as well as their functions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":6070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,160],"tags":[186],"class_list":["post-23357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psychology","category-science","tag-the-whole-brain-child","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Left and Right Brain: What&#039;s the Difference? - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The human brain is visibly split into the left and right brain. The left brain is associated with logic and the right brain with emotion.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/left-and-right-brain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Left and Right Brain: What&#039;s the Difference?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The human brain is visibly split into the left and right brain. The left brain is associated with logic and the right brain with emotion.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/left-and-right-brain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-02T13:52:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-15T23:06:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/mindset-growth-mindset-characteristics.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"874\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"442\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Darya Sinusoid\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/left-and-right-brain\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/left-and-right-brain\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Darya Sinusoid\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/0421cce75bc249b11e2517b3a91f9c46\"},\"headline\":\"The Left and Right Brain: What&#8217;s the Difference?\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-02T13:52:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-15T23:06:10+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/left-and-right-brain\/\"},\"wordCount\":380,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/left-and-right-brain\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/mindset-growth-mindset-characteristics.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"The Whole-Brain Child\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Psychology\",\"Science\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/left-and-right-brain\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/left-and-right-brain\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/left-and-right-brain\/\",\"name\":\"The Left and Right Brain: What's the Difference? - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/left-and-right-brain\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/left-and-right-brain\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/12\/mindset-growth-mindset-characteristics.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-02T13:52:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-15T23:06:10+00:00\",\"description\":\"The human brain is visibly split into the left and right brain. 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