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Students studying the philosophy of mathematics were the subjects of an experiment to examine the functioning of the cerebral hemispheres. Results show that students whose right hemisphere is more developed than their left tended to prefer Platonistically presented logicism over nominalistical formalism. They also tended to prefer Brouwer's intuitionalism, which is based on Kant's temporal mode of perception, over Frege's geometrical approach. The result is tentatively explained by an information theoretical model of the brain's functioning and is related to the current discussion regarding constructivism and Kant's theory of consciousness.

It is suggested that the left hemispheric neurons and the magnocellular visual system are specialized in tasks requiring a relatively small number of large neurons having a fast reaction time due to a high firing rate or many dendritic synapses of the same neuron which are activated simultaneously. On the other hand the right hemispheric neurons and the neurons of the parvocellular visual system are specialized in tasks requiring a relatively larger number of short term memory (STM) Hebbian engrams (neural networks). This larger number of engrams is achieved by a combination of two strategies. The first is evolving a larger number of neurons, which may be smaller and have a lower firing rate. The second is evolving longer and more branching axons and thus producing more engrams, including engrams comprising neurons located at cortical areas distant from each other. This model explains why verbal functions of the brain are related to the left hemisphere, and the division of semantic tasks between the left hemisphere and the right one. This explanation is extended to other cognitive functions like visual search, ontological cognition, the detection of temporal order, and the dual cognitive interpretation of the perceived physical phenomena.

Robinson (1998) found that women have a larger cerebral arousal than men, and men have a larger Gsar factor of intelligence than women. It is suggested that this finding had been predicted by a previously published theory of this author. This is a continuation of a discussion, most of it in cybernetical journals, between Robinson and the present author about the biological origin of intelligence. Robinson relates intelligence to arousability, which he defined as the maximal level of activity which the cortex can obtain without activation by the brain‐stem. The author’s theory also takes into account the probability of transmission errors in the synapses and individual differences due to hemisphericity. The development of the ideas of this theory is surveyed; in each stage this theory encompassed more biological theories of intelligence. An appendix provides empirical evidence of sex‐related and hemispheric differences.

This study is a sequel of a paper by Fidelman in 1996, where it was argued that the idea of Hendrickson and Hendrickson in 1982, that high intelligence is related to a small probability of neural transmission‐errors, may be correct, in spite of the contradictory evidence. The relation between several biological theories of intelligence is discussed in this study. These theories are Haier’s and Schafer’s theories relating intelligence to the energy consumption of the brain, the Hendrickson paradigm, Eysenck’s extension of the Hendrickson paradigm according to which a neural message is sent repeatedly until it is received identically a certain number of times, Jensen’s theory relating intelligence to reaction‐time, and Haier’s theory of synaptic density. Discusses the proposition that the attentional theory of Bates and Eysenck may be considered as an extension of the paradigm of Schafer.

Robinson and Behbehani (1997) contended against Fidelman (1996) and argued that neural transmission errors influence neither EEG nor intelligence. They also contended the suggestion of Fidelman (1996) that the mean hemisphericity of a sample may determine the sign of the correlation between IQ and the averaged evoked potentials (AEP) measures of string length and amplitude. These contentions are answered.

Suggests that the probability of transmission errors in the central neural system (CNS) is a major factor determining intelligence. That is, the smaller this probability, the larger is the intelligence of the subject. Explains the observation that Hendrickson’s AEP measures, which are supposed to measure this probability, are sometimes correlated positively and sometimes correlated negatively with IQ.

Finds a statistically significant relation between top‐down concept‐mapping and the right cerebral hemisphere, and between bottom‐up concept‐mapping and the right hemisphere. Correlates scores on concept‐mapping with scores on hemispheric tests, and compares the scores of the subjects on hemispheric tests with the preferable style of concept‐mapping. Concludes that top‐down concept‐mapping, the right hemisphere, and Frege’s logic are mutually related. Similarly, bottom‐up concept‐mapping, the left hemisphere, and Russell’s logic are mutually related.

The purpose of this paper is to present a classification of students according to their hemispheric‐related cognitive stile.

Reviewing of former studies and correction of conceptual mistakes in a reviewed former study.

The required classification is possible, and a battery of tests has been developed.

This research is applicable for choosing for each individual student the teaching approach most suiting this student.

The suggested classification method is new. It may prevent learning problems like dyslexia and dyscalculia, and it may increase the learning level of the entire population.

A course of study on the philosophy of mathematics involved learning about Zeno's paradoxes and the solutions suggested for them by the ancient Greeks; the Eleatic and atomistic. The two schools were related to modern physics and the course students were asked which of the two approaches they preferred. They also participated in a test of the cerebral hemispheres. It was found that preference of the Eleatic solution over the atomistic is related to a dominance of the right hemisphere Over the left. The results are discussed in relation to the opposing views concerning Kant's theory of the a priori perception of physical phenomena.

It is suggested that nominalism and Platonism are modes of perceiving experience in the Kantian sense. These two modes, like the temporal and the spatial Kantian modes of perceiving experience, are related to the left and right cerebral hemispheres respectively. Learning experiments showing the relation of all these four modes of perceiving experience to the hemispheres are described. It is discussed that the nominalist and Platonic modes of perceiving experience are subjective as well as the Kantian modes, time and space. Some relation of this discussion to the collapse of the wave function in quantum mechanics is considered. A phenomenon of a one‐and‐a‐half hour cycle in hemispheric activity, which may have implications to the designing of examinations, is described.