The article in which I chose to examine is called Right Brain, Left Brain:
Fact and Fiction, written by Jerre Levy. In the past fifteen years or so there has been a lot of talk of left brain and right brain people. Levy's reason for righting this article was clearly to stop the misconceptions and show the truth about how our brain hemispheres operate.
Levy first explores the myth of the left brain and right brain theory.
She states that generally people see the left hemisphere of the brain controlling logic and language and the right, creativity and intuition. In addition people differ in their styles of thought, depending on which half of the brain is dominant. She believes that most of what these notions state is farce.
Next the article explores the history of this fascination of the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Apparently the study of this aspect of the brain traces back to time of Hippocrates. Levy weaves in and out of the various theories and prominent people known for contributing to the confusion. It wasn't until 1962 when Roger W. Sperry began experimenting on certain aspects of the brain that contribute to the truth of the left and right brain theory. Sperry studied people who had undergone surgical division of the corpus callosum, the bridge between the two hemispheres.
His studies showed that, "an object placed in the right hand (left hemisphere) could be named readily, but one placed in the left hand
(nonverbal right hemisphere) could be neither named nor described.
Next to branch off of Sperry's studies was psychologist Doreen Kimura.
Kimura developed behavioral methods which involved presenting visual stimuli rapidly to either the left or right visual fields. Another important method developed was "dichotic listening" which centered around the use of sound to study the hemispheres. Through these tests and the continual study the theory that the left brain controlled ended. Instead a new theory was born known as the two-brain theory. This said that at different times one of the two hemispheres would be operating. An example of this is that the right hemisphere is in control when an artist paints but the left hemisphere was in control when a novelist wrote a book.
This theory failed because of one physical studies showed that people with hemispheres surgically disconnected could operate in everyday life. Also, research demonstrated that each hemisphere had its own functional expertise, and that the two halves were complementary.
Next, the article states its worth. The author shows the up to date agreed upon theory of the two hemispheres in five simple points.
The Silber Medal winning biography, “Surviving Hitler," written by Andrea Warren paints picture of life for teenagers during the Holocaust, mainly by telling the story of Jack Mandelbaum. Avoiding the use of historical analysis, Warren, along with Mandelbaum’s experiences, explains how Jack, along with a few other Jewish and non-Jewish people survived.
A Lucky Child by Thomas Buergenthal is a memoir about his time as a Jewish child in multiple ghettos and death camps in and around Germany during World War II. The author shares about his reunions with family and acquaintances from the war in the years between then and now. Buergenthal wished to share his Holocaust story for a number of reasons: to prevent himself from just being another number, to contribute to history, to show the power and necessity of forgiveness, the will to not give up, and to question how people change in war allowing them to do unspeakable things. The memoir is not a cry for private attention, but a call to break the cycle of hatred and violence to end mass crimes.
According to J.K Rowling, “It is our choices that show who we truly are, far more than our abilities.” This conclusion postulates that it does not matter whether a person is fragile or robust, brilliant or dull, gifted or challenged, it is the choices that they make in life that crystallize who they are as people. Yet, can these words be ripped from their simple format and be plastered to the pillars of life themselves? For example, does the child protégé always have the will power to use their knowledge and select the right path? Or does the godlike athlete always think twice before taking a third steroid pill that week? In other words, this statement truly holds the glittering gold of truth and is often exhibited throughout society, and frequently through history as well. Two pieces of literature that clearly demonstrate this idea of a person’s personal building blocks being their decisions are the novel, Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck and the Epic Poem, The Odyssey, by Homer. These texts both support this observation by requiring the protagonist to formulate great decisions that define them as people and what will be in store for them later in life.
Nowadays, it is widely known that the right and left hemisphere have different functions. The two hemispheres are equally important in a daily life basis. Nevertheless, in the 1960’s this was not common knowledge. Even though today the importance of the brain hemispheres is common knowledge, people don’t usually know to whom attribute this findings. One of the people who contributed to form a more defined picture about the brain hemispheres and their respective functions was Roger Wolcott Sperry, with the split brain research. Roger Sperry did more contributions than the split brain research, but this is his most important and revolutionary research in the psychological field. Thanks to the split brain research, Sperry proved that the two hemispheres of the brain are important, they work together and whatever side of the brain is more capable of doing the task is the hemisphere that takes the lead.
Can one be considered left-brained or right-brained? Recent findings prove that no, one cannot. Before doing research on this topic, a person may think they are one or the other however it seems that that may not be accurate any longer. Although the left-brain, right-brain theory is a popular theory in the classroom, recent research just may have proved the theory wrong.
The second portion of the semester has had a focus on how the Holocaust has continued to cause devastation and familial conflict even after the war ended. Of the texts we have read, Maus by Art Speigelman and Still Alive by Ruth Kluger were two very different accounts of the Holocaust, however there was one strong continuity between the texts: the effects of the Holocaust were not exclusive to any single person or family, survivors and their offspring continued to suffer long after escaping the camps. The constant tension documented in Maus between Speigelman and his father was not exclusive to their family as Holocaust survivors; Ruth Kluger also incorporates her family struggles into her book by detailing the differences between her and her mother, even after her mother has passed away. Because their experiences differ, with Speigelman being the son of a Holocaust victim and Kluger actually enduring it, the texts took different forms, both linguistically and aesthetically, to communicate their messages of familial conflict.
A majority of Helen’s life was a disaster, yet the true physical pain began on September 3, 1944. On this day, Helen and her husband, Siegfried, were loaded onto a crowded train car that would take them to the living hell known as Auschwitz. The darkness of the car could
Prefrontal Cortex The prefrontal cortex is the most anterior portion of the frontal lobe. It responds mostly to stimuli signaling the need for movement, however it is also responsible for many other specialized functions. It receives information from all sensory systems and can integrate a large amount of information (Kalat 2004). Studies have shown that the prefrontal cortex is responsible for working memory. Working memory is defined as "the information that is currently available in memory for working on a problem" (Anderson 2005).
Gerda Weissmann, Kurt Klein, and families endured horrible things under Nazi rule and throughout World War II; such as: famine, work labor, and a great deal of loss. Gerda’s memoir All But My Life and Kurt’s appearance in America and the Holocaust explain the hardships of their young lives and German Jews. One was able to escape, one was not; one lost everything, the other living with a brother and sister in a new and safe place. The couples’ stories are individually unique, and each deal with different levels of tragedy and loss.
In theory, the left and right hemisphere of the brain process diverse information to the corpus collosum. The corpus collosum will consecutively process information about what the left and right brain identify and then generate the conclusion. Both sides of the brain have its own specialized function to interpret the information but it cannot comprehend the same way. A research experiments conducted by Roger Sperry, validate the characteristics of each side of the brain. The left hemisphere of the brain is logic. It main focuses is language, critical thinking, numbers, reasoning, and objective. The right hemisphere is more creativity. It abilities include expressive, recognizing, music, reading emotions, color, images, intuition, and subjective.
When I was a child, a very close family friend of ours from Israel, Joyce Kleinman (now Wilner), and her sister Reisi Kleinman (now Greenbaum) entered the Auschwitz concentration camp at the ages of 15 and 12 years old. Years later, Joyce’s son Mike Wilner composed an interview that included his mother Joyce and Aunt Reisi outlining the significant events that led to the survival of both sisters and illustrated the events that took place during the Holocaust in which an estimated 6 million Jews were killed.
When we encounter a Holocaust survivor, a lot of questions come to our mind. We start to wonder how did they manage to survive. We tend to assume that once the Holocaust was over, survivors began to reestablish their lives and their pain disappeared. However, Holocaust survivors suffered, and even after 70 years after the liberation, Holocaust survivors still experience difficulties on their day-to-day basis. In the years followed the Holocaust they struggled with their painful memories while attempting to renew their lives, most of them in new countries. The Holocaust was one of the greatest massacres against humanity. As time goes by, the Holocaust survivors’ memories start to fade. The obligation to remember is engraved on every Holocaust memorial, but even words “Never Forget” become wearing eventually. With the fear of future generations forgetting the Holocaust, these survivors bare witness in many ways. One of the ways Holocaust survivors bare witness was by literature and education.
The human brain is the most complex organ in the known universe. It controls everything in the human body and has produced marvelous ingenuity. The basic size, shape, and location of the human brain does not vary much from person to person. But the way in which humans use their brain varies greatly. Learning is defined as “the act or process of acquiring knowledge or skill” or “the modification of behavior through practice, training, or experience” (Dictionary.com, Year?). The different sections of the brain can impact how and individual will learn and in what manner they will be most comfortable learning.
The human body is divided into many different parts called organs. All of the parts are controlled by an organ called the brain, which is located in the head. The brain weighs about 2. 75 pounds, and has a whitish-pink appearance. The brain is made up of many cells, and is the control centre of the body. The brain flashes messages out to all the other parts of the body.
Back to Poland, 1939: a small boy roamed around the Umschlagplatz, an assembly area for the Jews before they were loaded onto cattle cars toward certain death. He was all alone, his mother murdered, his father taken away. The s...