4.0354 Memory, Information, Gender, and Handedness (3/87)
Elaine Brennan & Allen Renear (EDITORS@BROWNVM.BITNET)
Fri, 3 Aug 90 18:40:39 EDT
Humanist Discussion Group, Vol. 4, No. 0354. Friday, 3 Aug 1990.
(1) Date: Thu, 02 Aug 90 13:32:41 BST (15 lines)
From: Douglas de Lacey <DEL2@phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [4.0339 Sensation v. Information; Handedness and Memory
(2) Date: 2 Aug 90 10:38:00 EDT (31 lines)
From: Mary Dee Harris <mdharris@guvax.georgetown.edu>
Subject: Gender and Handedness
(3) Date: Thu, 2 Aug 90 12:30:52 EDT (41 lines)
From: Sheizaf Rafaeli <USERLLHB@UMICHUB.BITNET>
Subject: Left-Right Brain, Information vs. Sensation
(1) --------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Thu, 02 Aug 90 13:32:41 BST
From: Douglas de Lacey <DEL2@phoenix.cambridge.ac.uk>
Subject: Re: [4.0339 Sensation v. Information; Handedness and Memory
The idea of memory 'pointers' to a mental FAT is fascinating,
but I'm not sure one can conclude (with Judy Koren) that the name is
'the key' because it is stored in a particular place. What about music?
It's an old quiz game trick to give someone the third line of a tune and
ask for the first--*very* much more difficult than the other way round.
So it looks more as though we *use* names to co-ordinate info about
people in the same way as we use the beginning of a tune. Is this a
learned response? Is it always the name which triggers other info?
If Germaine Warkentin is *told* a name, does that trigger the rest?
Regards, Douglas de Lacey <DEL2@PHX.CAM.AC.UK>
(2) --------------------------------------------------------------40----
Date: 2 Aug 90 10:38:00 EDT
From: Mary Dee Harris <mdharris@guvax.georgetown.edu>
Subject: Gender and Handedness
As a left-handed female who admits to memory deficiencies, I had to
respond to the continuing discussion. I wondered even as a child w
hether I didn't look at the world differently than other people,
especially other girls. I have made my living for 25 years in the
computer field (I'm reluctant to refer to myself as a "computer junkie"
for that reason) and during those years I've noticed an inordinate
number of left handed folks being especially good with computers (and
math and science). I don't think the research has determined entirely
why this is, but it certainly seems to be the case that left handed
people are better at scientific and mathematical work. What fascinates
me is that in the field of computational linguistics and natural
language processing (one field called two different things by different
people) a very high percentage of the original research is done by
women. I don't know how many of them are left handed.
As someone reminded us recently, the pop analysis of the right
brain/left brain phenomenon has been blow out of proportion by the
media, but the general concensus is that lefties use both sides of their
brain for language to a greater extent than righties. Since women are
supposedly more adept at language to start with, what does that say
about left-handed women? An intereesting question.
Mary Dee Harris
mdharris@guvax.bitnet
mdharris@guvax.georgetown.edu
(3) --------------------------------------------------------------53----
Date: Thu, 2 Aug 90 12:30:52 EDT
From: Sheizaf Rafaeli <USERLLHB@UMICHUB.BITNET>
Subject: Left-Right Brain, Information vs. Sensation
On Left/Right brain and Sensation/Information
Two related topics. My (limited) knowledge of both topics draws from
the following sources:
On sensation vs. information: Robert B. Zajonc: numerous articles in
the mid 80's in American Psychologist and Journal of Consumer Research,
variously titled: "On the primacy of affect", "Preferences need no
inferences", etc. These titles are so good, you don't need an abstract.
On L/R Brains: Norman Geschwind: "Specializtions of the Human Brain",
_Scientific American_, Sept. 1979. Also reprinted in _Language,
Writing And The Computer_, edited by William S-Y. Wang.
On the L/B issue: Geschwind is unambiguous: while some recovery and
substitution are possible, there are clear divisions of labor among
regions in the brain regarding various speech and cognition abilities.
One pathological occurence related to L/B brain of interest to Judy:
"...prosopagnosia: it is a failure to recognize faces. In the normal
individual the ability to identify people from their faces is itself
quite remarkable. At a glance one can name a person from facial
features alone, even though the features may change substantially over
the years or may be presented in a highly distorted form, as in a
caricature. In a patient with prosopagnosia this talent for association
is abolished.
What is most remarkable about the disorder is its specificity. In
general it is accompanied by few other neurological symptoms except for
the loss of some part of the visual field, sometimes on both sides, and
sometimes only in the left half of space. Most mental tasks are done
without particular difficulty" (p. 11).
No mention of gender.
Are their any more recent sources on these issues?