Right brain? Left brain?

You’ve probably heard this left/right brain dichotomy before. It goes something like this: the left hemisphere of the brain is logical, deductive, mathematical, etc., while the right hemisphere is artistic, visual and imaginative.

The idea stems at least partly from the classic studies of split brain patients performed by Sperry and Gazzaniga in the 1960s. At an intuitive level, I do not agree with this, so I decided to do some research and this is what I found.

There are some functional asymmetries in the brain, and it is true that certain regions of both hemispheres are specialized for particular functions. Speech illustrates this, but also shows that nothing is ever so simple when it comes to the brain.

In most right-handed people, speech is processed in both hemispheres, but predominantly in the left. In some left-handers, speech is processed either predominantly in the right hemisphere or on both sides.

All complex behaviours and cognitive functions require the integrated actions of multiple brain regions in both hemispheres of the brain.

All types of information are probably processed in both the left and right hemispheres, perhaps in different ways, so that the processing carried out on one side of the brain complements, rather than substitutes, that being carried out on the other.

Every mental faculty seems to be shared across the brain, with complementary contributions. It is the combination, not separation, that matters. The mutually exclusive model has all but disappeared from the literature.

People can no longer be characterised or caricatured as right and left brainers. This is now seen as a primitive form of simplistic labelling or phrenology.

It seems like a situation where some results from a study a few decades ago have been extrapolated, distorted and stretched to build this story.

So the notion that someone is “left-brained” or “right-brained” is absolute nonsense. It is like arguing that my left eye is better for movies and the right one is better for reading the newspaper!

Overall, I can’t care less about this whole thing. What matters to me, is not which part of my brain my creativity resides in, but the fact that it does and what I can do to nurture and enhance it.

Shalu is a Singapore based creativity consultant and trainer. His next creativity workshop – ‘Success though creativity and innovation’ is on the 30^th and 31^st October at NUS Extension. To find out more, click here.