LEFT BRAIN, RIGHT BRAIN

Our brains are cross-wired: The right half controls the left side of the body and the left hemisphere controls the right. But there are some tasks that one side of the brain performs better. For example, if you’ve got a secret, tell it to your confidant’s left ear. Words with emotional import are heard more clearly when sent directly to the touchy-feely right hemisphere. All signals travel to both hemispheres eventually – just not with the same sensitivity.

Don’t worry about that zit on your left cheek; the right side of your face is the one others notice most. In fact, if you take a picture of your right half and pair it with a mirror image, it will look more like you than two left halves put together.

Non-emotional information is processed more efficiently when heard by the right ear, since it speeds first to the organizational, fact-handling left hemisphere. So if you’re asking for driving directions, get out of the car or at least turn your head so that your right ear is facing the person giving you directions.

Research subjects who tapped the fingers on their right hands for 30 to 45 seconds became less willing to engage in risky behavior like drinking and driving. Right-side movement – a foot works as well as a finger – activates the risk-averse left hemisphere. This could also help us fight off our unhealthy eating behaviors.

Human beings also have a “left-side cradling bias”: Most of us hold infants so their heads nestle in our left elbows. Positioned this way, babies’ facial expressions are processed first by the care-giver’s emotional right brain, allow for faster communication of the babies’ needs and stronger bonding.

LEFT BRAIN, RIGHT BRAIN

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