Left / Right brain dominance

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I found this article and test from Donna Williams on her website. It helps me to understand why I have always felt I can't relate much to most aspies because I have a right brained dominance and see the world through right brained
eyes........

I have been formally Dx with AS

Was curious if anyone can relate to me and Donna Williams?

I found it v interesting when she mentions that being aspie you naturally see the world in a left brained way......seeing details but struggling to see the bigger picture. But with auties, it's the other way around.

In this context and clearly many others I am much more autie than aspie.....just like Donna. I have always found it so painful when I ask my aspie friends to look at some of my writing for them to miss the essence (the poetry) and be preoccupied with the full stops.

I deeply value my aspie friends in my life, yet often feel I am so different.

Was curious if others connect with this, and find that they too are right brained dominant as well as being in the spectrum?

http://brain.web-us.com/brain/LRBrain.html

http://www.donnawilliams.net/leftandrightbrain.0.html

Have you done the myers briggs Jung type personality test Chris?
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

It could be that the difference you find is because you are an ISFP rather than a lot of aspies who are INTJ.

I personally dont think that people are more likely to be aspies if they are INTJ but I think it fits the aspie stereotype better so people are more likely to be missed for diagnosis if they are not INTJ.

love to you xxx

Right brain/left sided person as well here. Also formally diagnoised as an aspie. Also I don't think all aspies are INTJ, I fit the aspie "sterotype" pretty well and I'm without a doubt INTP.

*edit: I think there were surveys done and aspies on WP seemed to be more left handed than general compared to the normal population. It doesn't necessarly correlate with being right brained in all circumstances but its a start.

thanks LB..........I will ask a friend of mine to help me with the Briggs test as I cant understand how to use it.....thankx for drawing my attention to this.

Much love to you

Cx

some info of interest for when you have done the test and read the profiles

myself- INTJ, Deano- INTJ, Baz- INTJ, Marianne- INTJ, Dave-ISTP, Tom- ISTP, I think Melissa was INFP.

Hey criss,

I took the test and scored 16 right-brained questions and 2 left-brained questions. I'm definitely "right-brained." I was always confused by descriptions of AS because I tended to be quite opposite of some of the descriptions (such as I had a language delay) while still having social difficulties and "aloneness."

You might find this book helpful because it describes right-brain dominant / holistic / visual-spatial learners. I've read a number of times that those with autism tend to have more right-brained (visual-spatial) strengths, while those with Aspergers tend to have more left-brained (verbal) strengths, but I don't know if that distinction holds up to scientific scrutiny.

Thanks for posting and for the link to the test!!

Z

hmm weird result for myself...

9 right brained, 9 left brained, Im not even kidding about it. It still says Im left brained though, which really it should read ambibrained/ambidextrous mentally >_>

As if it matters, myers-briggs type is ISTP

14 to the right 4 to the left for me

Sometimes my right brain has not got a clue what my left is up to.

But since my dx I feel the two parts of me are learning to dance together after a life time of being at war.


Funny ol world.

Thanks for everyone so far who has contributed

Chris

Thanks LB, will check the list of personality types out later.....sounds fun

I was 8 right 10 left, but I found it irritating that the questions did not have an alternative responce as with a lot of the things I can do both of the things in the answers without a preferance, for example when i read things I remember all of it, the main ideas and the specific details, and I dont have a preference for where i sit in the theatre and I remember names and faces equally well etc etc.

I'm left brained and INTJ, apparently..

Hey! I just took the test and scored 100%. 18 to zip in favor of the left side. Guess my brain is rather lop-sided. And yes, I am INTJ. And no, I have no artistic, creative, acting, or musical talent WHATSOEVER.

As a child, I presented more like classic autism, and was anything but a typical aspie prodigy before starting to connect with the real world at the age of 11 or 12.

I find It really interestin though, that as Donna Williams pointed out, it is most common that Autie are more right brained dom, whilst mostAspies are left brained dom.

I am skeptical as to the accuracy of your conclusion. Donna Williams provides no evidence to back up her very tentative suggestion, and doesn't even make an argument in its favor. Are you basing your opinion on something more than Williams' suspicion?

It is interesting that I, as a seriously left-brained person, share your inability to relate much to most aspies. I, too, have wondered if it is because I am more autie than aspie, which is the actual case as per my childhood presentation. To me, most of the discussion on WP is overwhelmingly right-brain inspired. Am I correct in thinking that it seems left-brain dominated to you? Perhaps it is in the middle, and as people on the extremes neither of us relate well? I would note that on WP there very many artistic people, and quite a few who can't do what I would consider elementary math. And as was mentioned above, there are relatively more left-handed people here, which is an indicator of the right-brained.

I would be very interested, in particular, in knowing your reason for believing auties are more right-brained. There are only a couple of WP members who I am confident are extremely left-brained. One is quite autistic, having been diagnosed as a toddler and then spending his/her youth in institutions.

Btw, honing in on punctuation when perusing a text is not a significant indication of being left-brained, in my opinion. It is more an indication of OCD, or a general inability to come up with a more relevant comment. What would be particularly galling the very left-brained would be any logical inconsistencies in the text - punctuation is not the type of detail that is important to us.

Cheers

I am always in the middle with those tests myself... It is weird to me. Ever see that spinning woman test? That one is a trip...

I was also a bit annoyed with the test about the 'which side do you sit on' question.... they had no option for 'the area with the least amount of people' or 'who cares as long as it is in a corner in the back'. Heh. Some of the questions were not what I would do, but simply the least incorrect of responses... either way, I was, as I always am, in the middle. As for personality type... I am ISTJ.

yeah, ive also seen similar tests/optical illusions to the spinning woman. There was one that can be a lamp or a woman in a bikini, and I said both. I tend to see through optical illusions and stuff like that too, so whatev. But yeah, I do get annoyed when you can only give "absolute" answers for a test. They need more middle ground responses for test-takers, such as in alot of the personality tests.

Hi Wildgrape

I have come to no conclusion at all

I am merely throwing up Donna's reflections for debate.

Chris