Left Brain or Right Brain? A Quiz, and What Brain Research Shows

Take this test to know which side of your brain is more dominant. Your left, logical side, or your right, creative side?

The human brain is split into two major parts - the left and right hemispheres of the brain. Each half of the brain has unique strengths and weaknesses.

Left brained people are more analytical and objective. They think about things logically and are great at solving math and logic problems. They learn fast and excel when doing new things. They enjoy scientific pursuits and advanced problem solving.

Right brained people are the polar opposite in many ways. They are more expressive and creative thinkers. Their imaginations are strong and they approach issues differently, though often with as good a result as left brained people. They're a bit more emotional and intuitive. (Correction: brain research does not support sorting people into “left-brained” and “right-brained” types. A 2013 imaging study of 1,011 people found no sign that individuals favour one whole hemisphere.)

Are you left or right brained? Many people think they know based on their personalities, but that isn't the only indicator. Take this quiz to find out.

Quiz: Are You a Planner, an Improviser or a Bridge-Builder?

Brain research does not split people into "left-brained" and "right-brained", but we all have favourite ways of tackling things. Answer eight everyday questions and see which thinking style you leaned on today.

You are assembling new furniture. What do you do first?
A free Saturday opens up. How do you spend it?
Which school subject felt most like home?
A friend asks for advice. You usually…
Your desk or workspace is best described as…
When you cook, you…
Which compliment would please you most?
On a long trip you would rather…

The Planner

You like a clear route and a well-made list, and people trust you to follow through. Structure gives you calm, and that calm helps everyone around you. Remember to leave a little room for surprises; some of the best moments are unplanned.

The Improviser

You trust your instincts and enjoy finding your own way. New ideas come easily to you, and you bring energy to any project. A small amount of planning can help your best ideas reach the finish line.

The Bridge-Builder

You move comfortably between structure and spontaneity, choosing whichever suits the moment. That flexibility makes you a natural connector of people and ideas. It is also a good reminder that real brains work this way too: both hemispheres cooperate all the time.

This is a light reflection for fun, not a psychological test; the idea of a dominant brain hemisphere is a popular myth.

What the left-brain, right-brain idea gets wrong

Some functions do lean towards one side of the brain, and that observation gave rise to the popular idea of logical “left-brained” and creative “right-brained” people. When researchers at the University of Utah tested it, they analysed brain scans from 1,011 people aged 7 to 29 and looked for individuals whose networks were stronger overall on one side. They did not find them. As their 2013 paper put it, lateralisation “appears to be a local rather than global property of brain networks”: particular networks lean one way, but whole people do not.

Logical and creative tasks both draw on both hemispheres. The quiz below is a light personality game from 2016; its result reflects your answers, not the structure of your brain, and the third-party widget may no longer load.

Sources: Nielsen et al., PLOS ONE, 14 August 2013: An evaluation of the left-brain vs. right-brain hypothesis with resting state functional connectivity MRI

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