Left Brain Functions

Brain is no doubt one of the most remarkable organ of the human anatomy. Being the key component of the nervous system, brain commands the various functions of the body. The human brain is divided into two hemispheres - the right brain and the left brain. Each of these hemispheres are assigned particular functions. Normally, the left brain commands the functions of the right side of the body, while the right brain commands the functions of the left side of the body. While left brain functions include reading, understanding languages, analyzing information, etc., right brain functions include imaging, doing gestures to express feelings, etc.

Left Brain Characteristics and Functions

Individuals with left brain domination are considered to be relatively more intelligent than their right brain counterparts. Their characteristic traits include being analytical, sequential, logical, objective and rational. This helps the left brain people to get into the details of the subject, analyze it and come to a rational conclusion, as opposite to right brained people who just grasp the subject half heartedly as their attention always lingers on 'how' things are happening, instead of 'what' things are happening. This happens mainly because left brained people rely more on verbal aspect of the subject, while right brain rely more on the visual aspect.

As we mentioned earlier, the right side of our body is wired to the left brain, while the left side of our body is wired to the right brain. It means our right hand is commanded by the left part of our brain, while our left hand is commanded by the right side of the brain. A look into right handedness and left handedness would make things much more clear for you. Our eyes are no exceptions either, as our right eye is guided by the left brain and left eye by the right brain.

Words and language is given utmost importance by this part of the human brain. Left brain excels in analytical subjects such as math and science. It plays a vital role in the human body mechanism of learning new things, owing to its brilliant ability to comprehend various subjects. Being sequential, right brain facilitates order perception with immense ease as well. One of the most important functions of left brain is forming strategies using analytical and logical skills.

People with left brain domination tend to use logic, whenever they intend to solve any problem in life. Being detail oriented does help them to a great deal, as these people get to the root of the issue before coming to a conclusion or decision. They tend to relate their past with the present, in order to ensure that present as a smooth sail. These people believe that knowing new things is always useful, and hence they thrive for knowledge. The reality based nature of people with left brain helps them in being practical in life. These people are hardly seen taking risks. They play safe, plan things and then execute them.

Damage to the Left Brain

Damage to either side of brain can lead to some adverse effects on the individual's body. Considering that the right part of the body is commanded by left brain, any damage caused to the left brain is known to show its adverse effects on the right side of the body. Nervous system and immune system are related to each other and hence any damage caused to either of them tends to reflect on the other components of human anatomy. Even studies stress on the basic fact that left hemisphere brain damage can lead to immunological disorder in right-handed persons. Other than this, the person is also known to experience difficulty with various left side brain functions, including speaking, writing, memorizing and analyzing.

All these functions and characteristic traits of the left brain mentioned above, help people excel in various fields requiring analytical skills. These fields include law, accounting, engineering and many more.