Take a Left, No Turn Right

About the time of my middle school years I began hearing about left brain and right brained people. I would hear, “he’s left brained” or “she’s right-brained” given for reasons that some people excel in math or score better marks in English. I never could remember what side of the brain was responsible for what, or really understood exactly what that meant, anyway. Now, I have a slightly better understanding, but the subject is still a little confusing.

Evidently, the brain is divided into two hemispheres: left and right. Each hemisphere is responsible for its own ability to store, process, and output hemisphere-specific information. The right brain is responsible for pattern matching, tasks, face identification, and spatial orientation, whereas the left handles language, rhythm patterns, temporal-order judgments and math (Fromkin 48). Studies suggest that these two sides of the brain work independently, but are connected by an area of the brain known as the corpus callosum. People whose corpus callosum has been damaged or severed are said to be “split-brained.” Nobel Prize laureate Roger Sperry believes that these people have two different spheres of consciousness. His idea is argued by physiology Nobel Prize winner, Sir John Eccles, who suggests that consciousness only occurs in the left hemisphere of the brain. Both ideas are interesting, but neither has been proven or disproven.

I am really not sure with which argument I side. When the corpus callosum is intact it seems as if the whole brain is working together to create consciousness. However, split brained people are conscious, too. Does this mean that both sides of the brain are conscious? They are not conscious of each other if responses differ independently (as they did in monkey studies) according to which side of the brain was being stimulated. So does that mean that Eccles is correct in stating that only one side of the brain is conscious? If so, then the left side of the brain would be conscious of the right, but the right would not be aware of the left. This would also mean that a person whose left brain was severely damaged would be unconscious, but a severely right brain damaged person would still be conscious. Is this true? Or would a severely right brained person just not be able to communicate effectively his degree of consciousness? And if each side does possess consciousness, is there a difference in degree of consciousness existing in either side?

To be conscious is to be aware. To exist within one’s own mind and therefore, exist in the external world. But what if one exists only in his mind, in which he resides and functions in a world apart from the majority's perception of worldly existence? In which half of the brain would be this consciousness? It seems as if this topic only produces more questions, to which researchers will continue pursuing answers. Quite a puzzling phenomenon the brain exhibits, and even more puzzling is that which it may not.