Page 47 - Advanced Biblical Counseling Student Textbook

ball. Another way to refer to people who use their right hand is to say that they are dominant. It follows
that most of the other 10% of the population is left-handed or “left hand dominant.” There are few
people who use each hand equally; they are “ambidextrous.” Most people also have a dominate eye and
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a dominate ear. Exactly why people are right-handed or left-handed is somewhat of a mystery.

On a piece of paper, write your name below with your right hand, then with your left. Then draw a
simple house with your right hand and then with your left hand. What do you notice? When we’ve done
this activity in class there was much laughter at our own drawings and also at classmates whose
drawings were truly awful. This easy experiment shows how our dominant hand is much stronger than
the other because of being used so much more. In my years of teaching, I’ve only had two students who
are ambidextrous, which means they can use either hand equally.

Control and Damage to the Brain’s Hemisphere
The right side of the brain controls muscles on the
left side of the body and the left side of the brain
controls muscles on the right side of the body. Also,
in general, sensory information from the left side of
the body crosses over to the right side of the brain
and information from the right side of the body
crosses over to the left side of the brain. Therefore,
damage to one side of the brain will affect the
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opposite side of the body.

If a person were to damage the right hemisphere of
their brain, they would show left-side neglect. They
may no longer acknowledge the left side of his/her
body or space. These individuals will not brush the
left side of their hair, for example, or eat food on
the left side of their plate, as they do not see them
or look for them. Reading is also effected as the
individual does not read the words on the left side
of the page, starting only in the middle.
77

75 “One Brain or Two,” 2020.
76 “Right Brain Damage,” 2020.
77 Ibid.

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