Path: utzoo!telly!attcan!ncrcan!scocan!seanf
From: seanf@sco.COM (Sean Fagan)
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Left Handed programmers (was Sinister Hackers 8-))
Message-ID: <1990Aug23.053911.15572@sco.COM>
Date: 23 Aug 90 09:39:11 GMT
References: <1488@chinacat.Unicom.COM> <19624@well.sf.ca.us> <12772@hydra.gatech.EDU> <1990Aug20.084113@bert.llnl.gov> <90234.141257DN5@psuvm.psu.edu>
Reply-To: seanf@sco.COM (Sean Fagan)
Organization: The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc.
Lines: 50

In article <90234.141257DN5@psuvm.psu.edu> DN5@psuvm.psu.edu writes:
>Good you you!  Most of the left-brain/right-brain tests were done
>with people who had the connection between the left and right halves
>of their brain cut.  Normally their is a connection between the
>two halves, which allows them to communicate fully.

Most of the *early* tests.  Now, some tests are done that way, others are
done while monitoring brain usage (CAT-scan and other, better methods), and
the use of some drugs which can, temporarily, disable one side of the brain
(or the communication between them; I forget which).

>This connection is one of the reasons for the power of the human
>mind and though.

Not really.  It allows for the *versatility*.

Dolphins' brains are even more seperated.  Usually, a dolphin will "sleep"
by letting one half dream at a time.  Physical rest is, as most people know,
the least part of sleep; it's mostly a time for the brain to rest and
"unwind."

Dolphins are rather intelligent; however, most of their intelligence is
dedicated to echolocation (an analogy:  a large portion of the human brain
is dedicated to language processing [or, more accurately, symbol
processing]; symbol plus vision would, I believe, account to the same
percentage in human beings as echolocation does in dolphins).

N.B.:  the above information is about 2 years out of date.  Sorry...

Back to humans:  the two sides do communicate, of course, and some functions
are spread throughout both sides of the brain, and need to work as a unit.
Other functions, such as language processing, or mathematical ability, seems
to (mostly) be concentrated in a single side of the brain, and which side is
dominant will determine how much it works.

For a computer analogy, think of the brain as a bunch of processors, all
operating independently, and in parallel.  Think of the BBN Butterfly 8-).
Consider the Language Center as a specialized function of some of the
processors; and side-dominance as a priority scheme for allowing one side to
grab more resources.  If the side the LC is in is dominant, than that side
will be able to grab more resources, and, as a result, the LC will be able
to do more than if that side *weren't* dominant.

You know, I shouldn't try doing physiology lectures at 5:30 AM 8-).

-- 
Sean Eric Fagan  | "let's face it, finding yourself dead is one 
seanf@sco.COM    |   of life's more difficult moments."
uunet!sco!seanf  |   -- Mark Leeper, reviewing _Ghost_
(408) 458-1422   | Any opinions expressed are my own, not my employers'.