L/R RESEARCH RESULTS TODAY

W O R D S F R O M T H E R I G H T - S I D E
-- O u r I n v i s i b l e C h i l d r e n

In the modern world -- especially in a Free society like ours -- HOW we think establishes the limits of our Mentality and -- ultimately -- the limits of our achievements as Individuals. In toto, our collective Mentalities on election day establish the direction of our Nation. And these Mentalities -- a complex mosaic of Beliefs and Convictions, Behavior patterns and Attitudes -- today are engaged in a fierce struggle that is tearing our Republic apart.

As Citizens, we no longer share common values and attitudes that form the core or nucleus of a tolerant, peace-loving but fierce protectors of a Free Society. Patriotism is seldom discussed. Flag burning is protected under the First Amendment, a key part of the Bill of Rights that the American Civil Liberties Union now uses to corrupt everything we once regarded with respect. Yet the ACLU champions pornography and explicit sex in movies, TV, etc using the same Amendment. Prayer is legally restricted in public places, especially schools. Everything that was the basis for our feelings of contentment, happiness and well-being is being attacked and changed by politicians, lawyers and cultural terrorists.

It is not skin color, religion or ethnic background that is dividing us, however. We are being disrupted by an increasingly complex and diverse galaxy of Mentalities: attitudes that are grotesque and foreign in many respects! These Mentalities are defined by the relationships or "modes" of Cooperation and/or Interference between the Left and Right hemispheres. Profiles of some measurable Mentalities will be defined later.

So that we may connect this language project to the work done in California by Dr. Sperry and Dr. Edwards and others, I want to review what is significant about Left/Right brain phenomena in terms of anatomy and physiology.

1. The human brain (cerebrum) is composed of two chambers
or hemispheres. As it matures, each chamber develops distinctly
different processing approaches and capabilities.

2. The two halves are interconnected or interfaced through the
Corpus Callosum, a nerve fiber mass or trunkline.

3. VISUAL INPUT: The Right-hemisphere of the brain receives
     visual impulses from the Left eye. The Left-hemisphere
     receives visual impulses from the Right eye (this criss-
     cross routing is referred to as a " contralateral" relationship).

4. AUDITORY INPUT: Sounds received by the Right and Left ear
     are transmitted via two pathways (e.g., contralateral and
     ipsilateral) to both halves. Sometimes, what is heard in
     the left ear goes (only) to the Left-hemisphere; what is
     heard in the Right ear is registered (only) in the Right-
     hemisphere.

5. OUTPUT: The Right hand receives instructions from the Left-
hemisphere. The Left hand receives instructions from the
Right-hemisphere. The same is true of leg and foot control.

6. The brain halves have their own unique way of dealing with
information brought to them via the five senses: taste,
smell, sight, hearing and touch.

7. The Left side is able to deal with linguistic, arithmetic
     and analytical problems -- things acquired through training
     and education. (These are the tools and skills learned in
     school, etc.) The Left brain is our Toolbox.

8. The Right side is able to deal with symbols, graphics,
     pictures, visions and ideologies, colors, musical tones and
     spatial relationships such as the size/scale of things and
     the relationship of one form to another. The R-side is
     where Visualization/ Imagination and Dreams occur.

9. In the ideal Human Brain, assuming all sense systems are
     active, the two halves accept information depending upon
     the nature of the in-flowing data. To add 8 + 6 , the Left
     accepts the chore and returns 14. If the first four bars of
     a symphony are played, the Right, responsive to Musical
     tones, considers the sounds then helps the Left lobe identify
     Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

10. The Left and Right hemispheres seem to perceive the world
      in distinctly different ways. In an Ideal Brain, these two
      hemispheres cooperate, ponder and mediate the incoming
      data. However, some input arouses interests and responses
      in both halves, leading, at times, to conflict and
      interference. Sometimes, one side will "shutdown" and
      perform no special work at all while the other becomes
      engrossed in deep thinking or concentration. The exchange
      or "dialogue" between the two halves flows through a nerve
      fiber mass called the Corpus Callosum. See Figure X3.

11. The Corpus Callosum has been severed in epileptic patients
      and tests of the eye and hand movements have proven that
      what is perceived by the Left brain through the right eye
      (with the left eye covered) remains unknown and unlearned
      by the Right brain. Many other tests proved that the Right
      side was far more capable to select certain objects (by
      touch and feel) because it is the "spatially" smart
      hemisphere.

12. The brain's "dual chambers" and symmetrical design is
     consistent with the symmetry and duality of the body
     (i.e., having two eyes, two ears, two hands, two feet, etc) of
     the human anatomy and that of many other creatures.
      However, the jobs performed by the two hemispheres are
  strikingly different (called "asymmetrical": having different
  primary functions).

13. In the matter of Mental Concentration or "focus, the Two Brain
      Theory provides us with a new and interesting insight. Previously,
      persons who could not concentrate on one subject for any period
      of time were said to be shifting attention to another subject. Now,
      we see that the shift is between the Left and Right brains, rather
      than merely jumping to another subject! The insight offers the
      possibility for training a person to remain "focused" or "concentrated"                                                  through exercises in meditation and the like.

Although it is not necessary that you take a quiz on the above, you should accept the fact that your brain uses two distinctly different types of thought processors. They are like two different tools or software designed to perform different tasks. The means by which these differences occur are not clearly understood. We probably do not know for sure whether both lobes emit the same kinds of brainwaves. For example, it might be reasoned that the Left lobe emits alpha and beta frequencies, with the Right lobe emitting the theta and delta output. To make my hypothesis really sing, it would be nice to learn that the two lobes have identifiably different emissions. Are there any postgraduates willing to take up this work? Or has such work been done and buried someplace by an LMO professor!

Sperry's work changed our view of what psychologists and physicians once spoke of as "the Mind", as if it was a single organ. While it is one brain, the two processors are similar to a computer that has a central processor and a math co-processor. This one fact opened to me a whole new world of interpretations and research possibilities. It was at this point (following my retirement) that I began to understand my torment as a child who had to work very hard to learn!

Questions and mysteries abound, however! We know how to measure the content of the Left brain Teachers do it everyday. But what about the more mysterious, creative Right-side? And which side is "in-charge" of a child's day-to-day activity? What are the interactions between these two halves? How can we make a qualitative evaluation of a person's Right brain orientation? Above all, can Hemispheric Dominance be detected reliably by brainwave analysis?

Once you ponder these questions, assuming that, like me, you or a child of yours has had a learning problem, you can begin to imagine what it must be like inside your Brain. The problem for adults is that most of us have forgotten our frustration as youngsters when we were trying to learn. Most of us shut out the unpleasant Past. As I have an irrepressible curiosity, I have continued to seek answers to many questions about human learning and human development!

A child can usually tell his parent or a doctor where an ache or pain is located. The same child with a learning problem has nowhere to point. The popular attitude is that "some just can't learn as a matter of heredity"! Rubbish! This is a crutch that many youngsters use once they have been told that their parents were not very good students. Many intelligent children are victims of their parentage, home environment and the conditioning effects of an abnormal childhood.

Motivation, plus a technical understanding of where the stream of learning was first interrupted, can make every normal child an efficient learner! The only variable between pupils may be speed. It may be an inherited constant that cannot be changed. But we can deal with that! In the brain itself or the history of its maturation lies answers we need to know!

Now, we have a place to point to as well as a basis for further exploration! We need to be more aware of our R-mode thinking that occurs in the right Visualizing hemisphere.

However, we must understand at the outset that Creative is not exclusively artistic or musical -- a common misconception by the Uninformed. Creative, as used here, refers to an ability to see things or visualize in new ways, new combinations of elements and ideas -- which means R-mode thinking can be an asset to ANYONE regardless of his or her activity. Successful medical doctors are those who have an active RMO brain, a power that is useful in the diagnostic phase of treating a patient.

A more active Right brain provides us the means for finding solutions to our personal problems and challenges. It helps us visualize the consequences of a reckless act. How much of the carnage on our highways would be eliminated if our Citizens could "see in their Mind’s eye" the results of their bad driving habits before they kill somebody? Are many just bad gamblers or do they do stupid things because they lack the skill to visualize the consequences? An analysis of traffic accident data for Germany, Sweden, England and Japan would reveal interesting conclusions since these countries have a different learning culture which does NOT depress the Visualizing instinct. Their safety and liability experience is strikingly different -- much lower, that is to say! In fact, when products made in Europe are introduced in the USA marketplace, injuries and liability tort actions soon arise. Why? The essence of Defensive Driving, promoted by the National Safety Council, is in teaching a driver to comprehend what the other driver is likely to do -- an exercise in Anticipation and Imagination!

In an age when adults can no longer make informed decisions, choosing instead to seek out expensive surrogate services (i.e., counselors), there is good reason to wonder about other decision-making chores such as what is a healthy lifestyle or which office-seeker would be the better public official? Decisions made by each Citizen are crucial in a Free and Democratic Society.

I believe that many children are learning poorly because they process information through the wrong hemisphere. It is a condition over which they have no control. Most of them are Right-mode Dominant or RMOs for too long a time. We must learn how to turn off this dominance before it seriously blocks what they learn around the 8th to 10th year. Unless the problem is diagnosed by the 6th grade, the pupil begins to fall behind. The evidence of this deficit may not be clearly indicated to the parents until 7th or 8th grade!

My own experience covering a long and varied career is the base-line from which this hypothesis was developed. The learning phenomena, noted in the Foreword, in which a child remains Right Mode Dominant is called DOMINANCE TRANSITION SYNDROME (DTS). It can be Positive or Negative. The latter (i.e., Negative) is of major concern because when this condition begins the child no longer retains what he or she is being taught. The stream of retained information becomes interrupted and a void begins. Important “building blocks” of knowledge fail to be cemented into their Wall of Learning.

A child that moves from R-mode to L-Mode early has a Positive (or favorable) DTS. This child is often said to be "more mature" or "precocious" compared to his/her contemporaries. The Negative DTS child shifts from Right to Left Dominance much later. Sometimes -- as in my case -- the shift to Left Dominance does not occur at all until mid-life! I would like to spare every NDTS child this same terrible experience!

During the period a child remains in R-modality, important "building blocks" are not learned or retained. These lost learning elements represent a serious inability to learn. Effective learning, during the first six grades -- especially -- is a continuum of basic or foundational skills. A good educational program builds a wall atop a solid "footer". It starts in preschool and Kindergarten and becomes a complete wall by the end of sixth grade. The wall is continued through the 12th grade. But the wall built by the NDTS child has many bricks missing. If they are not picked up at some point -- and cemented into place -- the wall will be weak and the final wall will not stand. I want to stress that in my vision of the Learning Wall, you can build a wall of bricks or stones without using cement or mortar. That wall I consider is a wall held together simply by "memory". The real Learning Wall is more solidly constructed by using cement or mortar. The cement that makes that wall strong is Understanding! I hope the analogy is useful to you!

Let's consider how I arrived at the above conclusion. These are the pieces of an hypothesis that unfolds through the next sixteen chapters.

The newborn needs certain "knowing" and an immediate capacity or "road map" to deal with its new environment. That "startup" capacity is contained in the Right brain which appears to be the primordial intuitive intellect. It is that seed of special knowing (a chromosome or DNA code?) that a newborn needs to commence Life. Part of this knowing is "feeling" and sensing of totally non-quantifiable perceptions. It is the kind of stuff that the Right brain was made to deal with by Nature -- things ephemeral and holistic. Piaget speaks of this beginning period as the Sensor Motor Stage. Example: sucking the thumb!

In the beginning, this intuitive knowing makes us very much like an animal, helpless and very dependent upon the nurturing parent.

Borrowing from the world of modern computers again, we might say that Nature includes a number of "default" capacities "things to do". Those "default values" reside in the Brain's Right-side like an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory). From infancy into the third year, a child operates principally with the Right-side of the brain. As it is exposed to more formalized information such as numbers and words, the Left-side begins to take over learning chores.

In an "enriched" learning environment, subjects and activities for the Right brain must be offered -- but this is where education in the USA has failed for the last eighty years. The American approach to learning in public schools has been to neglect or suppress the "creative and imaginative" impulse. In this country, the Daydreamer and Creative child has no home! The Kindergarten Concept dealt with this need, creating a learning environment where the child is carefully started on a journey from the Infant World to a Child who is ready to transition into the LMO World.

In the normal home, many parents provide an "enriched" environment. By the 8th to 10th year, the transition from Right-hemisphere dominance to Left-hemisphere predominance should be completed. This period corresponds well with the end of the Preoperational Stage and the beginning of the Concrete Operations Stage, as identified by Dr. Jean Piaget, the recognized Father of Child Psychology.

From the 8th to the 14th year -- as formal or 'concrete' learning intensifies -- activities in the Normal child become more and more Left brain-oriented. As the Concrete Operations Stage progresses we see the child wrestling with Intellectual objects like letters, numbers, words, sentences and verbalized skills. As we ponder these developments we see how the two brains are making distinctions between the world of Tangible and Intangible things.

From the 14th year on, the Left-mode is dominant except for an aberration caused by puberty. That aberration is a strong distraction creating many behavioral problems. In reality, this period may be a switch back to Right-mode dominance -- a transitory event filled with emotion and emotional extremes. It is a period of great confusion and it is the time when many Parents “lose” touch with their children.

Visualizing skills, activity in the art and music areas become non-existent for most children at this crucial point. As physical education and athletic activity intensify, R-mode orientation is rapidly diminished. Most young people become engaged with tangible (i.e., concrete), social things. Thinking is replaced by emoting, by feeling and prolonged periods of empathy and extended reveries in the newly unfolding world of intimate human experiences. This is the place in time when each human organism is trying to establish its sexual orientation.

In this evolution of the child from a visualizing, imaginative person, the R-mode resources may be preserved by outside hobbies and extra-curricular interests. By its very nature, if not by design, our schools increase the dilemma of the child who suffers NDTS (Negative Dominance Transition Syndrome). They are different children! Sadly, the stream of information or the "knowledge bricks" put in place by the Left-hemisphere, has been interrupted. During this period, young people come to grips with issues involving Truth, Honesty, Sincerity, Compassion, Sex, Love, Hate, Indifference and Egomania.

By age 14, this transition -- generally identified as pubescence -- has reconstituted the human being into what it will (likely) remain the rest of his or her life. The most important of these changes is How and What motivates an individual to ACT. It is at this moment that the undiscovered NDTS child decides that he or she is a loser and they adopt ideas, practices and behavior leading to their dropping out of school by age sixteen. Another group will not drop out but will find a niche in the school program like athletics, theatre, choral, instrumental music where many continue to suffer through the remaining years of high school. Depending the niche found, some enjoy themselves but learn virtually nothing.

But, that was yesterday! Today, many join cliques and gangs who have turned schools into playgrounds, jungles and shooting galleries. Young people become willing recruits for cults and pseudo-religious groups. They become drawn into experiments with drugs, alcohol and dangerous sexual perversions. When a child finally decides that he or she cannot learn as others do, they will look to other avenues of escape. The Human Mind insists on being occupied with something -- good or bad!

Even the most "off-the-wall" input will tantalize the Right-side, while that same input would drive the Left-side crazy or put it to sleep. It is the place where our Dreams and Fantasies occur. It includes anything that is realized or simply exists by visualization and imagery. As this transition to Left-hemisphere activity deepens, the Right-side activity begins to slow down. In fact, in the absence of special creative challenges, it functions less and less. Usually, extra-curricular activity in music, model building, wood carving, drama/theater and art will be the refuge of the R-mode types. The L-mode types who have no intellectual interests will have already been recruited by the Athletic Coaches.

This -- in brief -- is the process by which an educational system destroys creative abilities. In the absence of hobbies and interests that engage creativeness, the most crucial of all mental skills -- Imagery -- dies. And with it goes the most marvelous attribute that makes us different than animals! They are the abilities to Visualize and Synthesize new combinations, new businesses, products and new worlds!

The relatively limited interest in performing arts in the USA and the traditional abhorrence of classics and foreign language in all forms can be traced to the suppression of Right-hemisphere interests. At least some of it! LMOs, absent intellectual interests, are more comfortable in a world full of moving objects (footballs, tennis balls, golf balls, etc). The vast army of loyal spectators who provide steady revenue to the athletic industry and its satellite gambling businesses, are clearly LMOs. They also fill our theatres, race tracks and living rooms with 24 hour TV shows.

The consequences of a population that cannot Perceive, Visualize and Imagine are tragic. Profound unhappiness, human failure, personal hardship and reckless, unsafe lifestyles are but a few of the potential results. This is because all human events -- at the personal level -- depend upon proper decision-making and disciplined judgment. And making decisions requires actions in a specific sequence: you cannot Analyze until you are able to Visualize the elements of the problem or issue. Whether the decision relates to choosing a spouse, a job, a career, a consumer product, or whatever, that decision is a pure gamble when R-mode's capabilities or skills are not at work. Today, contacting an astrologist or fortune-teller is popular and -- apparently -- very gratifying. We are a Surrogate-oriented Society because the ability to solve our problems and needs is NOT within us!!

To decide wisely requires Visualization of a number of potential future outcomes -- seeing beyond the obvious within one's own mind. The role of the Right hemisphere is to manage and moderate what the Left hemisphere wants to do. One of those moderating chores is injecting compassion, empathy, truth and Integrity into a situation that is otherwise cold and barren -- a purely alpha-numeric world!

Based upon the theory of a "cytoplasmic gradient" by Corballis and Morgan, there is considerable validity to my long-held view that the priority of the Right-hemisphere is due to the earliest seconds of conception when the embryo begins to produce cells and grow. It is the first biological decision of the newly viable embryo -- a new Life.

This conclusion was arrived at during the 25 year period as I watched my Mother fight MS. The destruction of her central nervous system began in the Left foot and proceeded for nearly ten years after which the Right foot and leg also lost all feeling. The Left side remained the most traumatized and the leg spasms that had troubled her from the time she was 18-20, became massive, uncontrollable seizures that would drive her knee nearly into her face. Watching these events for twenty-five years, from the time when I was only ten, indicated that the Left side of the body is the first to lose viability. Other events like strokes seem to affect the Left side of the body which is controlled by the Right-hemisphere, also!

However flimsy the evidence, I have simply concluded that the first viable and oldest part of the body, was the first to succumb to the effects of the disease. That side of the body (i.e., the leftside) is controlled by the Right-hemisphere. Hopefully, someday research will confirm my analysis. More recent experience has indicated that the reason for a stroke affecting the Left side of the body is due to a blocked basilar artery -- a condition that medical science has chosen not to address or even talk about.

The above prompted me to conclude that the first half of the Brain to be used by an infant is the Right-side. 90% of newborns are programmed to begin operating as RMOs (Right Mode Operators). If more infants use their left hand to hold their bottles, it further proves that the Left side of the body and the brain's Right-hemisphere is the older. The Left-half may well remain unchallenged and relatively unemployed for some period of time. It may learn and perform menial tasks associated with physical activity and body locomotor functions. It should not be difficult to prove which hemisphere is the most active in an infant by using Evoked Potential or Brainwave measurements.

The first association made between feeling and sound begins when hunger pains cause us to cry. The entire unfolding of the Cause and Effect system takes place in the Right hemisphere. It is Nature's plan that the Right half be the first to shift into gear and start moving. There is a simple explanation for this besides the fact that it is the more mature of the two halves. It contains Nature's own magical force; the code of Life and the Will-to-Live and the most indomitable part of the Human Kernel: the EGO. It is our ROM (Read Only Memory) containing the Default data (i.e., the fundamental instructions) placed there by Nature or Our Maker.

The Right-hemisphere contains all Human Intuitive tools needed to carry the newborn through the early period of Life -- and even beyond. As noted earlier, during puberty there is a brief return to the Right-hemisphere control as human sexuality asserts its role. When we reach 70 and older, we begin to return to Right hemisphere dominance. It is as if the Great Engineer has left his instructions for entering and leaving this World someplace in the Right-hemisphere! If I am correct in this conclusion, then the key to understanding Alzheimer's disease lies in the fact that what has been learned by the Left lobe -- no matter whether Short Term or Long term memory -- has become unavailable to the elderly person who has AD symptoms! Life, therefore, is a journey begun in the Right lobe, that transitions into the man-made world of the Left-lobe. As years pass and we go through the Metabolic Period and into the Catabolic Period, control reverts back to the Right-lobe in preparation for the final journey into that place where we first existed as a Spirit. Some who read this paper may "lock-on" to this Vision!

NEXT

Please Note: Should you wish to read the entire manuscript, please contact us via: csfranklyn@ hotmail.com/

The contents of this work have attracted attention from parents and teachers in more than sixty countries. The least interest was shown by Internet users in the United States! Not a surprize!