why being left- or right-brained is nonsense, how much of our brain power we actually use during a day, and why we do not learn while asleep

Oliwier Kubiak & Pola Czyblis

For starters…

Both Oliwier and I are passionate about biology; thus, when we heard about the school newspaper, we knew that we wanted to share this passion with all of you. Popularization of science is no easy job – especially biology, with its scientific nomenclature and words no one actually understands, can be a bit tough to comprehend. We also do not want to bore you (we are quite sure school is doing enough of it) and we are aware of how tedious scientific papers can be.

Therefore, we do not plan to focus on some specific and complicated findings and research. (We have to mention, however, that if such findings were to appear in the scientific field and prove to be incredibly interesting, we would have to break this promise). Our aim is to address things most of you probably have heard some time during your life – various science myths and misconceptions that were passed down through ages. In this section of our school newspaper, we are going to put an end to all of these inaccuracies, correcting them and explaining where and why they have arisen.

The myths we are going to mention will not always focus on human biology strictly; as you may know, biology is a wide field of science, so we might discuss various science “facts” that are bizarrely wrong about animals, food, health, etc.

If there is a myth or a fact you are not sure is true – you are more than welcome to send it to one of our emails (Pola’s: pola.czyblis@gmail.com; Oliwer’s: o.qbiak@gmail.com). Just put “school newspaper” in the topic of your email and remember, there are no stupid questions!

MYTH: “Left-brained” people are creative, while “right-brained folks are analytical

The myth of being “left-brained” or “right-brained” seems to be one of those that will eftnever die. Basically, it states that people described as “left-brained” are strong in math and logic skills, while those “right-brained” are more skilled in the fields of arts and other creative tasks. The myth became very popular not only due to its simplicity but also because of its metaphorical appeal; you probably have heard it numerous times and, maybe, you even have done an online test to see whether you are “left-” or “right-brained”.

However, as you may guess, the distinction between two sides of the brain is not as clear as the statement suggests and to explain it, we need some background information.

As you may know, the brain is formed by two cerebral hemispheres – left and right – and each hemisphere controls the muscles and glands on the opposite side of the body, that is, the left hemisphere controls the right side of the body and vice versa. Even though there are many similarities when it comes to functions, there are also some tasks that are not equally represented by both hemispheres; in general, the left hemisphere is considered to be responsible for language and speech, while the right hemisphere mostly focuses on interpreting visual information and spatial processing. However, there is no clear distinction; for instance, while the left hemisphere is indeed considered to be responsible for speech and language, the right one is involved in processing some aspects of language, such as intonation and emphasis, thus, to properly understand one’s statement you need both of your hemispheres.

What is worth mentioning, however, is from where the theory has originated; and that is from the work of Roger W. Sperry, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1981. It sounds pretty absurd, at first; myth coming from a Nobel Prize winner? That cannot be. And indeed, the research the scientist presented was later on largely exaggerated and almost dramatically distorted which is the case of many popular “science” myths. Sperry studied brain functioning in patients who had their corpus callosum (that is, the structure that connects the two hemispheres of the brain) surgically severed to treat refractory epilepsy. He noticed that many of his patients were unable to name objects processed by the right side of the brain, but they could name those processed by the left side; therefore, he suggested that language was controlled by the left hemisphere.

However, as we already have mentioned, later research has shown that the distinction is not as clear; in a brain where the corpus callosum is not cut out, both hemispheres are constantly exchanging information, working together and complementing each other. A person does not use only one part of their brain while functioning; even when exposed to a creative task (which, according to the myth, is associated with the right hemisphere), you are receiving input from both hemispheres.

There was even a study, where a team of neuroscientist at the University of Utah set out to determine whether people favour one side of the brain over the other (by using magnetic resonance imaging), and after two-year analysis they concluded that while activity was sometimes higher in certain critical regions, both sides of the brain were essentially equal in their activity on average.Therefore, while the two sides of your brain are different and there are certain areas responsible for specific tasks, there is no such thing as being “right” or “left” brained, which was proved by various researchers.

MYTH: Most people use only 10% of their brain capacity

The brain is the most complex organ in the human body. Many believe that a person only ever uses 10% of their brain. Is there any truth to this? A person’s brain determines how they experience the world around them. It has around 100 billion neurons-cells that carry information. In this part of the article, we explore how much percent of the brain a person uses. According to a survey from 2013, conducted by the Michael J. Fox Foundation, 65% of Americans believe that we only use around 10% of the brain. However, this organ is quite busy all day and night using about 20% of the body’s resources and it is never really “turning off” until death; almost every part of the brain is busy doing all sorts of things even when you aren’t paying attention. In fact, various parts of your brain are active all the time – it is far more than 10%. Depending on how you use your brain, and how you care for it, there’s always the possibility of tapping into unrealized potential but it’s not because your gray matter was doing nothing before. Learning a new skill, gaining a new memory, or thinking about a person’s face can all stimulate your brain in different ways but they aren’t activating an unused part. Instead, they are utilizing an active part for a new purpose. However, where did this myth about 10% brain power come from? Well, it is not quite clear, but there are several sources. In 1907 psychologist William James argued that people use only part of their mental resources; however, he did not specify the percentage. There is also a belief among some scientists that neurons make up 10% of brain cells and this may be the possible reason for the mythical 10%.

MYTH: People can effectively learn skills and commit information to memory while asleep

Each day lasts 24 hours and people should reserve 7 to 9 hours of it for sleep; this means that an adult should spend a third of the day sleeping. Many ambitious people wondered: is it possible to use this time productively? Every person has surely seen on some television program someone playing a tape with recorded sentences in a foreign language. For example, in a famous cartoon “Dexter’s Laboratory” the protagonist tries to learn French by playing a tape during the night; this process is supposed to teach the character to speak this language. Probably such scenes were the reason for this myth to come up; the repeated action present in various movies finally caused many people to believe that learning useful skills while sleeping is possible. If this was true, human productivity would increase rapidly; unfortunately, it is impossible for people to learn during sleep. Absorbing complex information or picking up a new skill by simply listening to an audio recording during sleep is almost certainly impossible. However, in recent research, it was found that sleep-learning can produce some memory traces. Unfortunately, they are consciously inaccessible when you are awake. This ‘method of learning’ can have a hidden influence on us, but not a conscious one while we are in an awake state. For instance, one study on sleep-learning concluded that a specific type of learning, the most basic one, conditioning, is possible. In the experiment, sleeping participants were exposed to an unpleasant odour, preceded by a particular tone. Their sniff responses were monitored and it was shown that people started to inhale more shallowly in response to the odour; due to said conditioning, after many repetitions, the participants began to associate the tone with the odour and, therefore, when they heard the sound while asleep, they also inhaled more shallowly, even in the absence of unpleasant smell. However, what is extremely interesting, is the fact that this conditioning persisted into wakefulness. When the participants heard the tone while awake, they started to inhale more shallowly – even though they were sleeping while they were exposed to said conditioning, and thus, not remembered the action completely. Nevertheless, the conditioning was present in an awake state only if tones and odours were presented during NREM rather than REM sleep, suggesting that NREM sleep may provide favourable conditions for this particular type of learning. Still, the type of learning that would possibly interest us (that is, not just simple conditioning) proved to be impossible while asleep. In conclusion, if you hope to learn for a short test by playing a tape containing the required information, we have some bad news for you: it will not work.

Our sources:

1. Corballis, Michael C. “Left Brain, Right Brain: Facts and Fantasies.” PLoS Biology, vol. 12, no. 1, 2014, p. e1001767. Crossref, doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001767.
2.  Gainotti, Guido. “Why Are the Right and Left Hemisphere Conceptual Representations Different?” Behavioural Neurology, vol. 2014, 2014, pp. 1–10. Crossref, doi:10.1155/2014/603134.
3. Gazzaniga, Michael S. “The Split-Brain: Rooting Consciousness in Biology.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 111, no. 51, 2014, pp. 18093–94. Crossref, doi:10.1073/pnas.1417892111.
4. Cherry, Kendra. “Left Brain Vs. Right Brain Dominance.” Verywell Mind, 10 Apr. 2020, www.verywellmind.com/left-brain-vs-right-brain-2795005.
5.  Shen, Helen H. “Inner Workings: Discovering the Split Mind.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 111, no. 51, 2014, p. 18097. Crossref, doi:10.1073/pnas.1422335112.
6. Liederman, Jacqueline. “The Dynamics of Interhemispheric Collaboration and Hemispheric Control.” Brain and Cognition, vol. 36, no. 2, 1998, pp. 193–208. Crossref, doi:10.1006/brcg.1997.0952.
7.  Nielsen, Jared A., et al. “An Evaluation of the Left-Brain Vs. Right-Brain Hypothesis With Resting State Functional Connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging.” PLoS ONE, edited by Yong He, vol. 8, no. 8, 2013. Crossref, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0071275.
8.  Macdonald, Kelly, et al. “Dispelling the Myth: Training in Education or Neuroscience Decreases but Does Not Eliminate Beliefs in Neuromyths.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 8, 2017. Crossref, doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01314.
9.  Ruch, Simon, and Katharina Henke. “Learning During Sleep: A Dream Comes True?” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, vol. 24, no. 3, 2020, pp. 170–72. Crossref, doi:10.1016/j.tics.2019.12.007.