Is ‘Left Brain vs. Right Brain’ a Real Divide?

People sometimes identify as “left brained” or “right brained,” but does that distinction have any basis in neuroscience? Our brains are indeed split into right and left hemispheres. Those hemispheres are connected by a tract of white matter dubbed the corpus callosum, which transfers information between the two.

It’s true the brain’s right and left sides carry out different functions. The left hemisphere, for example, takes in sensory information to control the right side of the body, and vice versa. Both hemispheres serve different purposes during certain tasks, like reading or doing math. Researchers have also discovered plenty of structural and functional asymmetries between the two. But ultimately, neither hemisphere is truly dominant, so identifying with one over the other doesn’t quite reflect what’s going on in your brain.

Created by Anjali Walsh.