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During the mid-1980s, I read over a thousand books about the human brain. That sounds like a boast, but it's just something I did. I was passionately interested in finding out "what's going on up there." The result of all that research is MindFrames, the brain-based personality test on Initforlife.com. Back then, everybody was talking about the differences between the left-brain and the right-brain. Many authorities claimed it was pop psychology nonsense. While most of the popular writers hadn't done their homework and all too often published inaccurate information, my research confirmed that there were, in fact, profound differences between how the left cortex thinks and how the right cortex thinks. And I learned something else that was equally important but missed by popular writers: there were equally profound differences between how the front cortex thinks and how the back cortex thinks. The front brain and the back brain are physically separated by the motor strip, a band of cortex that goes from ear to ear across the top of the brain. The motor strip sends movement (behavioral) commands from the cortex to every part of the body. Thinking in both the front cortex and the back cortex informs these commands, although the processing in both areas is profoundly different. In simple terms, the back part of the brain processes sight, sound and body sensation. This gives us an awareness of the physical world—the ability to have real-time concrete information such as specific images, feelings, names, facts, data and other practical details. In other words, the back-brain cortex is mostly concerned with "what is," the here-and-now details of experience. It coordinates perceptual thinking. While the back brain produces instinctive stimulus-response reactions, the front brain produces decisions based on association and analysis. The front brain also receives input to create patterns, but the patterns are conceptual, not perceptual. The prefrontal lobes receive information from the back cortex and other parts of the brain in order to associate, relate and make sense of specific information. These ideas are stored in long-term memory as meaningful conceptual patterns and processing skills. In short, the front-brain cortex is mostly concerned with "what things mean," the association and relationship of things and events. It coordinates conceptual thinking. The back brain processes imagery; the front brain uses those images to produce imagination. The back brain produces practical facts; the front brain uses those facts to produce analysis. Both areas are standard equipment in the flesh-and-blood human computer. Every healthy human being uses both front and back areas of the brain extensively, although most people use one area more than the other. These variations contribute to differences in personality. Both areas are essential to normal functioning and a happy, successful life.
Article Source: http://www.articledestination.com
Dennis E. Coates is CEO of Performance Support Systems, author of MindFrames, a brain-based personality assessment system (www.initforlife.com) and co-founder of the Train-to-Ingrain alliance (www.train-to-ingrain.com, info@train-to-ingrain.com, 800-488-6463), which delivers a reinforcement-centered approach to learning and development that achieves permanent, measurable improvements in workplace behavior and positive impacts on business results.
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