Left Brain, Right Brain Trivia Quiz

Answer: Feeling

First of all, an explanation of the solution:

Right Brains 5 and 6 have the same number of letters, so must be either three, six or seven letters in length. However, Right Brain 5 also has to be one letter shorter than Right Brain 3 and as there are no words that are four or eight letters long, Right Brains 5 and 6 have to be the two six-letter words, Thrill and Vision. The clue also tells us that Right Brain 5 ends with the same letter as Right Brain 3, so it has to be Vision and Right Brain 3 has to be the only seven-letter word that ends in 'n' - Passion.

Right Brain 4 comes directly before a six-letter word so it has to be Style, which comes directly before Right Brain 6, Thrill. Also, as Right Brain 8 has an even number of letters it has to be Innovation, the only even-lettered word remaining.

Right Brain 1 begins with a consonant so has to be either Feeling or Joy. However, alphabetically it can't come directly before Right Brain 3 (Passion), so it must be Feeling.

This leaves Aesthetic, Art, Empathy and Joy to be placed in Right Brains 2, 7, 9 and 10. Right Brain 7 is more than two letters shorter than Right Brain 2, so it has to be either Art or Joy and Right Brain 2 has to be Aesthetic or Empathy. Right Brain 2 also has to come directly before Right Brain 10 alphabetically, so it can't be Empathy, which is followed alphabetically by Right Brain 1 (Feeling). Therefore Right Brain 2 has to be Aesthetic, Right Brain 10 must be Art and Right Brain 7 has to be Joy. That just leaves Right Brain 9 as Empathy.

---

A feeling can be both an emotional or a physical response to stimuli. However, it is the emotional response that would be the responsibility of a person's right brain. While the words associated with emotions that have been used in this puzzle as examples of the feelings generated by the right brain are all broadly positive, there are also a wide range of negative feelings, including anger, grief, hate and frustration. I really hope though that this puzzle proved enjoyable and not too frustrating for the majority of people reading this!

Answer: Aesthetic

If something is aesthetic then it is beautiful or pleasing to the eye. However, when it comes to the creative arts, aesthetic can be used as a noun to mean the particular rules of an artistic movement, i.e. the use of geometric shapes in works classified as Cubist. An aesthetically pleasing image may even appeal to the emotional element of the right brain, eliciting happiness or pleasure from the people who view it.

Answer: Passion

The word 'passion' implies a particularly strong emotion and, while commonly associated with love, it can actually be used in many contexts. Synonyms include eagerness, excitement and vigour, and having 'a passion for something' might simply mean that you are especially interested in it. Whatever the context, it is likely that your right brain is responsible for it.

Answer: Style

Style can mean a fashion, trend or design, which are all things that take a certain level of creativity to produce. It can also be used as a verb to describe the process of creating said fashions or designs, for example 'to style hair' or 'to style clothes'.

The emotional element of the right brain can also be impacted by style - there will always be some people that love a style despite the fact that other people detest it.

Answer: Vision

Vision is a term that relates to the ability to see, in both a literal and figurative sense. If someone is said to have vision, it is more likely that people are commenting on their creativity and ability to imagine how something will look, rather than making a statement about the quality of their eyesight. Apparition, hallucination and mirage are also synonyms for vision (and would definitely be anathemas to your left-brain).

Answer: Thrill

Thrill can be defined as the emotion that is experienced in an exciting or exhilarating situation and often comes hand-in-hand with adrenaline, nervousness and fear. As a result actions that result in a thrill may have also set your left brain in conflict with your right brain.

For example, leaping out of a plane while 10,000 metres up in the air might not seem like the most logical course of action, even if you do have a parachute attached to your back. However, it's undeniable that some people get an immense thrill out of doing it.

Answer: Joy

Joy is a particularly happy emotion that might emerge from your right brain. Like other emotions, the level of joy felt would probably differ depending on its cause. Major life events such as marriage or the birth of a child would be more likely to produce a deep and long-lasting joy, while a little burst of fleeting joy might be experienced following a small or simple achievement - like solving this quiz!

Answer: Innovation

Innovation is a form of creativity that is particularly associated with the development of new ideas, products or ways of doing things. Innovation has been synonymous with the development of the human race, which perhaps isn't surprising when you consider the fact that even thousands of years ago people would have been in possession of a right brain. Famous innovations range from the invention of the wheel right through to the creation of the internet and will undoubtedly continue to emerge from the cutting edge research being carried out worldwide.

Answer: Empathy

To have empathy for someone means that you are able to share or understand their emotions. This can relate to people you know and interact with in real life (either face-to-face or via a website such as this one), people whose stories you hear about through the media, or fictional characters that you read about in a favourite novel or see on film.

A writer or actor with the ability to make people feel empathy for their characters is one who is particularly skilled at their craft and is presumably well in touch with their own right brain.

Answer: Art

Art is the tangible outcome of a person engaging their right brain and applying their creativity to produce something. The "purpose" of a work of art is often indefinable, but possibilities include the desire to capture and reproduce images or natural beauty (a landscape painting or a portrait), record history (the Bayeux Tapestry), or evoke an emotional response from those who view it.

The term 'art' can also refer to the performing arts such as theatre, music or dance.