Popular culture has taught us to believe many facts about the brain. For example, one of the most common misunderstandings is that logical, linear-thinking people are left-brain dominant, while those of us who are creative and artistic are right-brain dominant. Other neuromyths have also been widely accepted. Dave Rocker explains some of the most popular neuromyths about the brain.

1. NEUROMYTHS: MISUNDERSTANDINGS
ABOUT THE BRAIN
By Dave Rocker

2. – Neil deGrasse Tyson
“I'm 'brained.' Not right brained or
left brained. I have a brain.”

3. Neuromyth
#1:
People are “left-brained” or
“right-brained.”

4. Popular culture has
taught us that logical,
linear-thinking people
are left-brain
dominant, while those
of us who are creative
and artistic are right-
brain dominant.

5. The problem
with this black
or white kind
of thinking?
The left-brain/right-
brain neuro-dichotomy
concept is not
scientifically true.

6. Neuroscience research
has never supported
the model of people
being “left-brained”
or “right-brained.”

7. In actuality, neuronal
networks in the human
brain are interwoven,
and the right and left
hemispheres of the
human brain function
in tandem--they don’t
operate independently.

8. Split-brain theories

9. Michel Gazzaniga
The origins of split-
brain theories derive
from a legitimate study
on cognitive processing
that was conducted
several decades ago by
neuroscientist Michael
Gazzaniga.

10. Although Gazzaniga’s research yielded
important discoveries regarding
functional lateralization in the brain (a
fancy way of saying “how our brain
hemispheres communicate with each
other”), his research also led to the
perpetuation of incorrect information in
our popular culture.

11. Neither the left nor the right brain
hemisphere is totally dominant in any
one person, and there's little evidence
to support the notion that “creative”
and “logical” personalities correspond
to brain hemisphere preference.

12. Neuromyth
#2:
The brains of men and
women are fundamentally
different.

13. Speaking at an academic
conference in 2005,
Lawrence Summers--
who was president of
Harvard University at
that time--made a
remark that sparked an
enormous controversy.

14. Essentially, Summers
suggested that biological
and genetic differences
between men and
women underlie the
underrepresentation of
women in tenured
faculty positions in
science and engineering.

15. National Academy of Sciences
This past December, a
study published in the
Proceedings of the
National Academy of
Sciences further
undermined the idea that
male and female brains
are physiologically
distinct.

16. – Rockefeller University Research team
“Human brains don’t
subscribe to categories of male
or female. Their distinguishing
features vary across a
spectrum.”

17. Neuromyth
#3:
Depression is caused by low
levels of serotonin.

18. Beginning in the 1980s,
pharmaceutical
marketing espoused the
notion that depression
could be treated by
increasing levels of the
neurotransmitter
serotonin.

19. Though arguably a
useful metaphor, this
“chemical imbalance”
explanation isn’t
substantiated by research
and is a gross
oversimplification of
neurotransmitters and
brain function.

20. SSRIs do work—but not all the
time, and not for all people.
And scientists aren’t
exactly sure how they
work; “chemical
imbalance” cartoons
produced by
pharmaceutical
companies were a real
misrepresentation of
reality.

21. Neuromyth
#4:
People have different
“learning styles.”

22. Like New York magazine
and other news outlets
have reported, the idea
that people learn
differently according to
their individual
“preference for visual,
auditory or kinesthetic
cues” is a myth.

23. Misconceptions about the
ways in which humans
learn appear to derive
from the scientific fact
that different areas of the
brain cortex play
different roles in visual,
auditory, and sensory
processing.

24. However, that
students learn
differently depending
on what part of their
brain works “best” is
specious.

25. –Paul Howard-Jones, Professor, Bristol
University
“The brain’s interconnectivity
makes such an assumption
unsound.”

27. If you liked this piece, visit:
www.daverocker.org
As a humanitarian, Dave Rocker is
most passionate about helping
disabled veterans reenter the
workforce in a meaningful capacity.
In his current role, Dave brings
more than 30 years of executive
experience in corporate finance and
workflow optimization as managing
partner of the Rocker Group, LLC, a
management consulting firm based
in Atlanta, GA specializing in
analytics, compliance and planning.