How to kill natural learning abilities and talents through Right Brain / Left Brain “fallacy”?
Vivek Sharan
Head of Marine-UAE | Marine Insurance | Ex-Mariner | Doctoral Student-Economics & Public Policy
Has anyone ever told you that you are right-brained or left-brained?
Well, I have been told this a few times. I have also come to know many people who have been in this trap for too long that it now seems impossible to escape from.
Few years back when a friend of mine told me that my traits are similar to that of a right-brained, I smiled and agreed. Reinforcing my own perception about myself. In a way, fooling myself with this belief that has no scientific backing or proof. We are always looking for confirmations and reinforcements to what we like to be believed. This is the mechanism how this Right and Left brain expression got so much air and popularity in the last 4 decades.
How it started?
In 1981, Roger W. Sperry was awarded Nobel Prize for his work “The split-brain: Rooting consciousness in biology”. There were many experiments done around the argument “Is the Brain Split in two exclusive half” or “If there were two mental systems working simultaneously”. If this is proven right, it would create a close semblance to the functioning of the “Dual-Core processor” on our laptops. As you might know a dual-core processor is a CPU with two processors or “execution cores” in the same execution circuit. In other words, a computer with a dual-core processor might appear to function like it has two separate processors independent of each other.
Corpus callosum is the part of the brain that connects the two hemispheres of the brain. Sperry studied patients after brain surgery where the Corpus callosum was severed to control epilepsy. The whole idea of the experiments was to prove that even if the “Corpus callosum” is severed or damaged, still patients can do certain functions fairly well. This meant that each part of the brain operated independently of each other to a large extent.
Exaggeration
With advance brain imaging techniques, neuroscientists found that certain parts of the brain were active in certain types of work. For example, language and math illuminated certain spots and circuits in the left part of the brain while creative works like imagination and arts etc. illuminated some parts of the right hemisphere of the brain. In last 30 to 40 years people and media combined the result of the above experiment, i.e. each side of the brain seem to have its own function and that certain set of activities usually occur in a certain side of brain to create a more exclusive Right-Brained and Left-Brian personality traits.
Either / Or
The prevailing perception is that you are either left-brained or right-brained. This either/or theory can be termed as the single biggest disaster that has far-reaching implications. This means that if you are a creative person, you can’t think analytically and you can’t solve complex mathematics problems. On the other hand, people with stronger mathematical abilities are supposed to be emotionless nerds. This social image about the two categories tends to put people in one or another kind of box and the expectation to conform to this popular belief spans throughout our lives.
Effects on learning and education
Many times I hear within my own friend circle, parents ridiculing kids who show interest in creative work like arts if their kids are good at maths. As if the artwork is going to diminish your ability to think mathematically or analytically. Similarly, kids who show early signs of creativity are assumed to be poor in maths which leads to a certain kind of discouragement towards reasoning and mathematics. In essence, this brick walling between brain traits over time inhibits early learners and adults to completely lose their abilities to harness the other side of their own personalities.
Ultimately, the brain is all muscle, if you don’t use it for long, you won’t be able to use it ever.
Myth Vs Truth
The myth that people are either right-brained or left-brained is already debunked by science. However, there is still some truth in the “location” of where certain activities are dominantly placed with the brain. It however doesn’t mean that only those spots are in full control.
What does the research say?
Latest development in neuroscience proves that brain is not as dichotomous as people earlier thought. Both sides of the brain work in tandem to produce the best results. For example, when an artist is making a charcoal portrait of a person, he might appear to be using his right brain only (as per popular belief ). But, making a perfect sketch involves detailed mathematical precision as well. An artist is emotionally and passionately involved in his sketch ( right brain traits ) uses mathematical precision ( a left-brain trait as per popular belief ), to produce a great result.
Real-life examples
We all know about the genius of Einstein. If one has to believe right-brain / left-brain theory, one can easily categorize Einstein as left-brained. But was he? You might know about Einstein’s thought experiments. He was truly remarkable in his abilities to conceptualize complex scientific ideas by imagining real-life scenarios. “What would happen if you chased a beam of light as it moved through space?” If you could somehow catch up with the speed of light, relatively, you will see light frozen in space but light can’t be frozen otherwise it won’t be light and light can neither be slowed down. This just means one thing that something else had to change, and that was “Time”. This laid the groundwork for his special theory of relativity.
Again, if Einstein was left-brained, he would not have been capable of so vividly imagining this thought experiment. Because imagination is a right-brained (as per popular belief) trait.
Bottom line
Categorizing kids, students, learners as right-brained or left-brained can do irreparable damage to their natural abilities. The popularity of right vs left brain categorization stems from “confirmation bias” and has taken a life of its own. Both types of traits, whether analytical and emotional are equally valuable in any kind of learning and problem-solving.
While creativity gives a direction, analytical abilities lay down the structure and process. Neither can exist independently of each other. Great thinkers and achievers have always been polymaths. Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, scientist, architect, inventor, and probably much more and he was all of that with absolutely no formal academic training. He is widely considered one of the most diversely talented individuals ever to have lived.
I am sure Leonardo Da Vinci would have binned this right/left debate then and there, luckily no such misconception was spread at that time.
“Everbody is genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” – Albert Einstein
References:
https://www.pnas.org/content/111/51/18097
https://www.pnas.org/content/111/51/18093
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/16/left-right-brain-distinction-myth
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/right-brainleft-brain-right-2017082512222
https://www.verywellmind.com/left-brain-vs-right-brain-2795005