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Science Facts That Will Shock and Surprise You

Your Right Brain and Left Brain Are Basically the Same Brain

by Tom Currie

Your Right Brain and Left Brain Are Basically the Same Brain

The brain is an incredibly resilient and adaptable organ system that we may never fully understand, so it’s a little frustrating when people reduce it to “one half is the fun art stuff and the rest is boring math stuff.” While it’s true that certain brain functions fire off more neurons in one lobe than the other, particularly those concerning language and speech, many important functions use both sides roughly equally. It’s even possible to lose an entire lobe and function normally—people who’ve undergone hemispherectomies early in life concentrate all the normally lobe-specific tasks into whatever bits of brain they have left. This ability of the brain to adapt to damage is referred to as neuroplasticity.

Photo Credit: Flickr user jvleis