7.

3 : Applying Left/Right Brain Thinking: Truths and Myths

The black and white dichotomy of left and right brain thinking can be a compelling way
to think about personality traits and inherent skill sets. Popular thinking suggests left
brain thinkers are logical, detail and fact oriented, linear, analytical, and a lot of other
traits associated with type A personalities. In contrast, right brain thinkers are free
spirits, imaginative, non-linear, non-verbal, and of course, creative personalities. But
where does the concept of left/right brain thinking come from, and is there any truth to
this left or right brain dominance? Can we really compartmentalize creativity into
functions of one-half of our brain, and can we improve ourselves by thinking about our
skillsets in this way?

Since the age of antiquity it was often believed that the left side of the brain was the
essential half, as it was on the same side of the body as the heart. During the 1800s,
scientists began to compile evidence in support of this. In general, the left hemisphere
controls language, processing sound and speech control; at the time was believed to mean
the left was dominant. It wasnt until the 1950s that a professor named Roger Sperry
developed a set of experiments that showed this left dominant view was flawed. Sperrys
research involved epileptic patients, who had undergone surgery to remove nerve fibers
that connect the two hemispheres of the brain. The experiments revealed that the right
hemisphere was dominant when it came to certain tasks such as interpreting emotions
and facial expressions, and recognizing patterns.

It wasnt long after these experiments that the concept of this clear cut, right and left
brain dichotomy became popularized, and several factors contributed to this. With the
rise of self help books it became easy to compartmentalize personality traits. Educational
models began to become tailored to learning styles. Right-brain thinking became heavily
associated with artistic endeavors in the public eye with a popular book, Drawing on the
right side of the brain by an art instructor named Betty Edwards.

Now, what the right hemisphere really does is mainly take charge of spatial abilities,
helping to make sense of visual imagery. Drawing on the right side really means to draw
what you see, to learn a way of seeing. Somewhere along the line, creativity became
associated with the arts and while its true artistic endeavors require creative thinking,
creativity is by no means limited to this realm.

The left side of the brain is in charge of retrieving facts, pulling things from your
memory. In the case of drawing, drawing from memory means representation through
symbols of objects, rather than learning to draw what you see. So in reality, a skill like
drawing can depend on both sides of the brain. The same is true for other fields. Take
math, which is often considered a left brain activity. Certain tasks like counting are
performed by the left side, while others, like estimating and applying real-world problems
are done by the right. What this means is both skills math and drawing require both
sides of the brain. There really is no logical or creative side. A recent major study out
of the University of Utah confirms this, as they found no physical evidence that we are
either left or right brain dominant we use both equally for a variety of tasks. (linked in
suggested readings).

In Daniel Pinks book a whole new mind, another one of your recommended readings for
this course, he discusses a concept he calls Symphony. This is the ability to put together
the pieces, see relationships between seemingly un-related fields, to detect broad patterns,
or to invent something new through a combination of elements no one else thought to
pair. This ability is crucial to creativity, and depends on your entire brain to work.

What does being able to see relationships and make connections really have to do with
creativity?

Creativity researcher Csikszentmihalyi sums up creativitys origins as crossing
boundaries of domains. The ability to make big leaps and see the whole picture is a
common trait of highly innovative people with game changing ideas. Part of this ability
comes from a diverse background of experience, who have tried different things in various
fields, but arent necessarily a master within a specific field. They are largely
interdisciplinary.

So in short, thinking about creativity as a right brain dominant activity, or only an
artistic endeavor, or considering yourself to be a left brain thinker can be detrimental to
your creative ability. Observing details, and organizing facts and pieces of a whole, and
maintaining a realistic outlook (slide: left) while frequently maintaining a view of the big
picture with potential outcomes, as well as working in a consistently stimulating
environment and finding outlets for your imagination (slide: right) are all key to creative
skill in any domain, and require a holistic approach to thinking about how our minds
really work.



Nielsen, J., Zielinski, B., Ferguson, M., Lainhart, J., & Anderson, J. (2013). An
Evaluation of the Left-Brain vs. Right-Brain Hypothesis with Resting State Functional
Connectivity Magnetic Resonance Imaging. PLOS ONE, 8(8): e71275. doi:
10.1371/journal.pone.0071275
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0071275

Pink, Daniel H. (2006) A Whole New Mind: Why Right Brainers Will Rule the Future.