Sample Solution

Brain lateralization is a widely studied concept in psychology. It is the idea that certain abilities and functions are located on one side of the brain or the other. This has been used to explain why some people are better suited for certain tasks or activities than others, and why certain people excel at certain skills such as math or language (Springer && Deutsch, 2013).

However, there has been an over-simplification of this concept which has led to the popular myth of being “left-brained” or “right-brained”. This oversimplification is based on a misunderstanding of what research into brain lateralization actually shows; namely that different types of information – such as visual and verbal stimuli – are processed by different hemispheres (Heller et al., 2020). Therefore, it is not accurate to say that someone is “left brained” when they excel at mathematics, because both sides are involved in mathematical processing; rather it would be more accurate to say that they have developed strong connections between their two hemispheres which helps them process mathematical information more efficiently than other people (Morais et al., 2016).

The idea that someone can be either left-brain dominant or right-brain dominant also ignores the fact that our brains do not operate in isolation from each other but instead work together in order for us to think effectively (Van Essen et al., 2021). For example, memory processes involve multiple regions across both hemispheres working together in order for us to remember things accurately; if any part fails then our memories can become distorted.

Overall, this paper serves to showcase how common misconceptions about brain lateralization can lead to misunderstandings about how our brains work. While there may be differences between individuals regarding which hemisphere processes specific kinds of information more quickly, these differences cannot accurately be summarized by saying someone is either left brained or right brained since all cognitive tasks require input from multiple areas across both sides.