Is my child left-brained or right-brained?
Neither. A 2013 PLOS ONE study analyzed brain scans of 1,011 people aged 7 to 29 and found no evidence that people lean toward a mostly left or mostly right brain network. Some functions do favor one side, such as language on the left, but that’s a feature of every brain, not a personality type.
Say it to your kidYour brain has two halves, and they’re best friends. Kalo, the bridge in the middle, carries messages back and forth all day. You don’t have a “math side” or an “art side.” You have a whole team, and you get to practice anything you like.
What did the brain scans show?
In 2013, Jared Nielsen and colleagues at the University of Utah went looking for the left-brain and right-brain person. They analyzed resting-state MRI scans from 1,011 people between the ages of 7 and 29, from public research databases. For each person, they measured how strongly roughly 7,000 small patches of the brain’s gray matter connected with the patches on the same side versus the opposite side.
If some people were truly “left-brained,” their scans would show a stronger left-side network overall. They didn’t. The team found some lateralized hubs: language-related areas leaned left in most people, and attention-control areas leaned right. But the data did not support a whole-brain “type.” In the authors’ words, lateralization looks like a local property of brain networks, not a global one: it varies connection by connection.
The study also found no difference between males and females, and only small shifts with age.
Why does the idea feel true?
Because it starts with something true. Some jobs do lean to one side. Language areas sit mostly on the left in most people, and some attention systems lean right. The myth takes that fact and stretches it into a personality quiz: logical or creative, organized or artsy.
That stretch has a cost. A kid who hears “I’m right-brained, I’m not a math person” has a ready excuse for stopping when something gets hard. Labels also stick to siblings. The “creative one” and the “smart one” can hold those roles for years.
So what do the two halves really do?
They talk, constantly. Kalo, the bridge, is a thick band of fibers connecting the halves, and almost everything your kid does uses both. Reading a story uses language and picture-making. Playing soccer uses planning and body control. Drawing uses attention, memory and fine movement.
A useful rule of thumb: the task is what lights up the brain, not the kid’s type.
What helps instead of a label?
Praise what they did, not who they are. Mueller and Dweck’s 1998 research on praise found that children praised for intelligence later avoided challenges more than those praised for effort. A “you’re a right-brain kid” label works the same way as “you’re so smart”: it tells a child what they are, not what they can grow.
Plasti, the character for neuroplasticity, has a better message: the brain changes from what’s repeated. Math facts, drawing and kicking a ball all get easier with practice, for everyone.
The verdict
The claim“Some kids are left-brained (logical) and some are right-brained (creative).”
Myth
Some skills lean toward one side, but no whole-brain “type” has been found. In a study of 1,011 scans, people did not favor one half of the brain overall.
What you’ll see at home
- A kid who says “I’m a right-brain person, I’m bad at math” (or the reverse)
- A school or relative who calls one child “the artist” and another “the scientist”
- Online quizzes for kids that sort them into left or right
- A kid who gives up quickly on tasks outside their label
Try tonight
- Catch one label tonight (“the artistic one,” “the logical one”) and swap it for a description of what your kid did: “You kept trying different colors until it looked right.”
- Pick something your kid thinks they’re bad at and say: “Not yet. Let’s do five minutes.”
- Do an activity that uses both sides, such as drawing a map of your street, and ask them to explain it out loud.
Want the whole crew on your side?
The Kid Brain Toolkit: the 12 hardest moments decoded, from screens off to bedtime, with what to say and what to try tonight. Read it in one evening.
See the plansThe Toolkit is $9, one payment. For learning only, not medical advice.
Questions parents ask
Do some kids really prefer logic or art?
Of course, and that’s good to notice. Interests and strengths are real. They just aren’t a left-brain or right-brain type, and they change with practice, so it’s worth offering both.
Is it true that language is on the left side?
In most people, yes. Nielsen’s team found language-related hubs leaning left and attention-control hubs leaning right. That’s one reason brain injuries on different sides cause different problems. It doesn’t make a person left- or right-brained.
Are left-handed kids right-brained?
No. Handedness is a separate trait, and it doesn’t sort children into creative and logical types. Your lefty has the same two-sided team as everyone else.
Where does this leave learning styles?
In the same boat. Both ideas sort kids into types and then teach to the type. The separate learning-styles myth is covered on its own page.
Keep reading
- Kids’ brain myths, checked against the scienceTen things parents hear all the time, and what the research actually says.
- Are visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners real?Kids have preferences, but teaching to a “style” hasn’t been shown to help. A major review found almost no good evidence. What to do instead.
- Neuroplasticity for kids: how does a child’s brain change?Neuroplasticity for kids, explained: the brain changes from what’s repeated. Meet Plasti, the path-maker, and learn habits to try tonight.
- What to say instead of “you’re so smart” (praise that builds effort)Praise that builds effort: what to say instead of “you’re so smart”, with six swaps and the classic study on why intelligence praise can backfire.
- 9 year old behavior: what’s normal at ages 8 to 10Fairness fights, hobbies, friends and first puberty signs: what’s normal for a 9 year old and how to help their brain grow skills and confidence.
Sources
- Nielsen et al., 2013. An evaluation of the left-brain vs. right-brain hypothesis with resting state functional connectivity MRI. PLOS ONE 8(8).
- Pashler, McDaniel, Rohrer & Bjork, 2008. Learning styles: concepts and evidence. Psychological Science in the Public Interest 9(3).
- Mueller & Dweck, 1998. Praise for intelligence can undermine children's motivation and performance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
Educational content only, built on everyday habits. It’s not medical advice, a diagnosis or a treatment. If something about your child’s sleep, mood, growth or behavior worries you, talk to your pediatrician.