# T/S = Left brain serial processing , N/F = Right brain parallel processing



## phoenixpinion (Dec 27, 2012)

WARNING! LONG POST!






The two functions are equal in "wavelength", both use the frontal lobes of the neocortex (the most lately developped part of brain, evolutionairy speaking), only one is lineair/strategic (Thinking), while the other is dynamic/impulsive (iNtuition) (skip to 3:00 in the video where she explains this serial/parallel functioning of the left/right brain). Jill Bolte Taylor's left brain stroke was her consciousness moving from Thinking dominance to complete iNtuition (and perhaps Feeling) dominance, much more than even the most extreme ENxP/INxJ is capable of. Not a single rational thought entered her consciousness during this left brain shutdown, proving why the Jung Thinking function is obviously a left brain function. iNtuition on the other hand, as I understand it, seemed off the charts, thus also offering evidence that the Jung N function is most likely the right brain equivalent of T.

(What's interesting is that her consciousness did not diminish/disappear during this stroke, but simply moved from the broken part to the still functioning part (---left brain +++right brain), raising interesting questions about life after death: "If consciousness can go from one to the other, does it mean it can also completely leave the body should both hemispheres cease functioning?" Many stories of near-death experiences/out-of-body experiences/... seem to hint toward this hypothesis.)

BUT, this is not all - about the functions that is - that is revealed in the video. 
Not only did Jill Bolte Taylor's 'Thinking' disappear, her SENSING disappeared aswell! 
(9:00)
Everything seemed like pure energy to her (instead of matter), and she could no longer identify the boundaries of her body that separated her from the environment. She felt "enormous and expansive".
(11:10) 
Business cards did no longer look like business cards to her eyes. ("I couldn't tell if this was my card or not. All I could see were pixels. And the pixels of the words blended with the pixels of the background, and the pixels of the symbols and I just couldnt tell.") And when she finally made the call, she sounded like a 'golden retriever' to her colleagues, even though she really thought she was speaking normally. 

So it almost seemed like she was on hallucinogens, which is basically the opposite of Sensing, Sensing which means perceiving the material world on the most direct superficial layer as it is (Chairs are chairs. Clouds are clouds), while being on hallucinogens is like flying off into Wonderland. (Chairs can seem like monsters. Clouds can seem like faces or animals.)

(14:10)
"Stimulation coming into my sensory system felt like pure pain. Light burned my brain like wildfire and sounds were so loud and chaotic that I could not pick a voice out from the background noice that I just wanted to escape." She also had problems identifying her body in space (she felt like a genie just separated from her bottle), almost like her sensory system just got put back on and was fine-tuning itself based on the input from Jill's consciousness. 

So the conclusion I take based on this is that when her left brain fired back during recovery after the stroke, her 'sensing' function suddenly fired back on aswell, but it had to completely fine-tune itself again. I take it that sensing simply put means decoding the material world around you so that you perceive it correctly as it is, which the left hemisphere seems to be in-charge of. 


So, we now have:
*Left hemisphere: Sensing and Thinking
Right hemisphere: iNtuition*

So it looks we have one more function remaining: _Feeling_. However, this should seem an obvious placement, right-brain together with iNtuition.
(10:00)
She felt an inner sense of peace/euphoria, like she had lost almost 37 years of emotional baggage. I would imagine emotional baggage being more a result of neglect of the F function, instead of the opposite, since F seeks harmony in relationships. But I admit I'm not sure on this one.
(Yet you should take this in consideration when you talk about Feeling. Many whom you think you are Feelers may not actually be so:


> *Why are Extraverts sometimes mistakenly identified as Feeling Types?*
> 
> Many Extraverted people have been thought to be Feelers when they were actually natural Sensors, Thinkers or Intuitives. The reason is that all Extraverts are attracted to people because people are a dependable source of stimulation – from conversations to playing games to fighting or arguing. Quite often, in a business meeting, someone will identify another person as “a real people person”. This person may be a Feeler, but he or she is just as likely to be a Sensor, Thinker or Intuitive.


source: Benziger » THE PHYSIOLOGY OF TYPE: INTROVERSION AND EXTRAVERSION)


Also, since iNtuition is the opposite of Sensing, and Sensing is left hemisphere while iNtuition is right hemisphere, then logically Feeling should be right hemisphere if its opposite, Thinking, is left hemisphere. Ofcourse, this argument should be taken with a grain of salt since it's based on the assumption that the human brain is logically orchestrated.

So let's assume this is in fact the case for a second, then we have:
*Left hemisphere: Sensing and Thinking
Right hemisphere: Feeling and iNtuition*


What does this imply? If iNtuition is the parallel processing equivalent of the Thinking function, then so should Feeling be the parallel processing equivalent of the Sensing function. In other words, both Sensing and Thinking are lineair/serial functions, while Feeling and iNtuition are dynamic/parallel functions. That is why both Sensing and Thinking are left brain functions because the left brain as explained by Jill Bolte Taylor (who is a neuroanotomist btw) functions like a serial processor, while the right brain functions like a parallel processor.

This personal account discredits Lenore Thomson's theory but gives credit to Benziger's one:
Lenore Thomson:
View attachment 85119








Benziger (#1):















(#2):








View attachment 85108


And these ones (#3):
View attachment 85124















Picture #2 shows the connection between the Feeling function with the emotional level of existence, because Feeling is more closely connected to emotions than for example Thinking. Ofcourse Feeling =/= emotion, yet it is obvious that Fi'ers and Fe'ers are clearly more affected by the emotional state of themselves (Fi) and others (Fe) (we assign more importance to emotion). This is because the back part of the neocortexical brain (see #1, feeling is back/right) is closer connected to the reptilian brain/limbic system (more ancient parts of the brain (emotions are more ancient than thoughts), see #3) than the front part of the neocortexical brain/frontal lobes. 

Conclusion: Sensing and Feeling are both in the back part of the neocortexical brain because Sensing is in-charge of dealing directly with the 5-sense material world (connection with reptilian brain/cerebellum), while Feeling is in-charge of dealing with emotions (connection with limbic system). The back of the neocortex is more closely associated to these more ancient brains than the front of the neocortex.

Then this leaves Thinking and iNuition which are more analytical/imaginative in nature, hence you will most likely find these functions in the most lately developped part of the human brain, the frontal lobes, as hypothesized by Benziger. To logically think succesfully, you need to separate emotion from decision-making, hence the Thinking function must be furthest separated from the emotional limbic system. iNtuition on the other hand must be furthest separated from the cerebellum, because too much focus on the material world will hinder intuitive ability, iNtuition which looks for the forest instead the trees, for the puppeteer instead of the puppets, for spirit instead of matter. A bird sees the big picture because he is separated from the ground. 

Then finally we have introversion vs extraversion. (I leave out judging and perceiving because they are not functions). I know too little about this but based on what I know introverts generally have more blood flow in the frontal lobes vs extraverts. The frontal lobes are said to have more dopamine (feel good molecule) receptors than any other part of the higher/neocortexical brain. As such, introverts (NT introverts in particular) do not need to engage in external stimuli to feel good. Extraverts (SF extraverts in particular) on the other hand who have less blood flow in the frontal lobes generally do the opposite. My theory is that they seek external stimuli to fire up their limbic system's dopamine pathways instead:











> _One theory goes like this: As the introverts have a naturally high level of activity in the anterior part of the brain, they are therefore not in need of significant extraneous stimuli. You could say that introverts are by nature is more or less chronically preoccupied by their own cognitive processes. Extroverts, by contrast, live in a form of chronic “activity deficit” and must therefore seek external stimuli to maintain a certain level of activity and function in their brains. – You can say that extroverts need stronger influences before the brain understands the message (e.g. more lemon juice to produce the same response), and so a room without stimulants provokes the extrovert to produce his own entertainment._


source: The Scientific Evidence for Introversion and Extroversion | CelebrityTypes

Thinking and iNtuition are also easier done in a solitary setting, similar to meditation (which PET scans show increases frontal lobe activity), seeing as they are more contemplative than Sensing or Feeling. If you think of a philosopher trying to find out the truth about life, you would imagine either a INTP or INTJ, isolating themselves from the rest of the world so they can engage in hardcore contemplation, hardcore frontal lobe activity, using Thinking, iNtuition and Introversion combined. (Personally, I see a philosopher more as INTP than INTJ, a thinker before an intuitive, so most likely INTP.)

So, this is my conclusion:
*Front left hemisphere: Thinking / Introversion
Front right hemisphere: iNtuition / Introversion
Back left hemisphere: Sensing / Extraversion*
Back right hemisphere: Feeling / Extraversion**

(so basically the same as Benziger, with the simple addition of introversion/extraversion)
*Because the back part of the neocortex has little dopamine pathways, it is much more likely that extraverts will be predominantly operating from here, as they will then have to seek out external experiences/stimuli to activate the alternative dopamine pathway of limbic system instead.

So this leaves Te, Ne, Si and Fi as kind of paradoxes, since pure T or N would be introverted processes, while pure S or F would be extraverted processes. Yet this is easily solved if you think of these functions as "bridges", less extreme counterparts of the same function. For example, an Ne would be a frontal lober who still prefers the dopamine pathway of the limbic system, a less 'extreme' iNtuitive. An Si would be a less extreme sensor, or a sensor who uses the frontal lobes for contemplative recollection of past sensations. A Te would be a less extreme thinker and an Fi would be a less extreme feeler. 
Or think of it this way:
_Front left to back right hemisphere: Ti -> Te -> Fi -> Fe
Front right to back left hemisphere: Ni -> Ne -> Si -> Se_


Ofcourse you are free to disagree with my ideas or if you know something I don't, please say so.


----------

