According to conventional wisdom, people tend to have a personality type, thinking style, or way of doing things considered right-brained or left-brained, meaning that one side of their brain is more dominant.

There is evidence some brain functions do reside more on one side of the brain than the other. We know this partly from what is lost when a stroke affects a particular part of the brain.

Damage to the front part of the brain shows reduced motivation, difficulty planning, and impaired creativity.

We also know the back of the brain (the occipital cortex) integrates visual information from the eye, and damage to this area can cause partial or complete blindness.

These are just a few examples of how certain brain parts appear responsible for specific functions.

The brain's two hemispheres are tied together by bundles of nerve fibers, creating a network, and one side isn't generally more substantial than the other side unless damaged by trauma in some manner.

Okay, so we know that each side of our brain has dominant functions, but does it necessarily follow that we have a dominant brain hemisphere, just as we have a dominant hand?

Whether you're performing logical reasoning or creative thinking, you receive input from both sides of your brain. And although the two sides of your brain function differently, they work together and complement each other.

Even so, people seem to behave following a style that appears to come from one side over the other.

Left vs. Right Brian Personality Comparison

The right brain is associated with imagination, holistic thinking, intuition, the arts, rhythm, nonverbal cues, feelings, and visualization—the left-brain deals with logic sequencing, linear thinking, mathematics, and facts.

Right-brained people are intuitive, creative thinkers, and "qualitative." They like to think about the big-picture, experiencing the world in descriptive or subjective terms.

Conversely, left-brained people are more "quantitative" and analytical. They pay attention to details, prefer logical reasoning, are more verbal, and are better at reading, writing, and computations.

So, where the left brain handles mathematical equations, the right brain comes up with comparisons and rough estimates.

While the left brain deals with language, the right brain enables you to understand context and tone.

Emotions

• This is the right brain's domain in humans and non-human primates.
• Emotions are expressed and recognized in others by the right brain.

Language

• The left brain is more active in speech production than the right.
• In most people, the two main language areas, Broca's and Wernicke's areas, are found in the left hemisphere.
• Sign language Visually-based languages are also the domain of the left brain.
• People who are deaf show speech-like brain activity when watching sign language.

Left vs. Right Handed

• Left- and right-handed people use their left and right brains differently.
• For example, a left-handed person uses their right brain for manual tasks and vice versa.
• The side of the brain that gets used for certain activities may be influenced by whether a person is left- or right-handed.
• Handedness is inbuilt and can even be detected while the baby is in the womb.
• Some babies prefer to suck their left or right thumb from as early as 15 weeks.

Attention

• The left side of the brain is more involved with attention to the inner world.
• The right side is more interested in attending to the external world.
• Recent brain imaging studies have shown no differences between males and females regarding their brain lateralization.
• The side of the brain used in each activity is not the same for every person.