Neuromyths, part 3: We are right-brainers, left-brainers, right? Wrong.

After demystifying the concept that we only use 10% of our brains and the idea that we have a 'reptilian brain' let's focus on the third prevalent neuromyth, that we are right-brainers or left-brainers.

The underlying message: We can access talent locked up in our non-dominant hemisphere.

This myth is not so much a myth as a dangerous oversimplification. The brain does have two hemispheres and there is localisation (our hemispheres are ‘specialised’) of some functions (but even these always operate in tandem with other areas of the brain including alternate hemispheres). Problems arise when we overextend that idea to logic and creativity: Left-brained people are thought to be logical and good with math and language, while right-brained people are thought to be more creative and artistic.

But first, let’s explore the fascinating history of this myth.

This misconception began in the mid-1800s when two neurologists, Paul Broca and Carl Wernicke, examined patients who had problems communicating due to injuries. The researchers found damage to the patients' left temporal lobes so they suggested that language is controlled by the left side of the brain. That captured the popular imagination. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde were born.

Much of the further work on location in hemispheres dates back to the 1960s and 1970s and the work and research of Roger Wolcott Sperry and his graduate student Michael Gazzaniga on so-called split-brain patients, in whom the thick cable of nerves - the corpus callosum - connecting the right and left cerebral hemispheres had been severed.

Sperry noticed that the right hemisphere had language recognition but no articulation and that the two hemispheres in split-brain patients did not acknowledge the existence of each other.

However, Sperry himself warned that “experimentally observed polarity in right-left cognitive style is an idea in general with which it is very easy to run wild… it is important to remember that the two hemispheres in the normal intact brain tend regularly to function closely together as a unit”.1 As with William James' remark about human potential, here as well over-interpretation led to yet another neuromyth being born.

In healthy people the two brain hemispheres are well-connected. The fictional doctor Gregory House called the corpus callosum that joins the hemispheres the “George Washington Bridge” of the brain, and in most of what we do, the hemispheres have evolved to operate together, sharing information across this bridge.2

The logical left-brain/creative right-brain myth has a seductive simplicity about it. But again, just because a model is simple, convenient and easy, it doesn’t make it accurate.

It is challenging and tricky to combat belief systems by saying the truth is actually more complicated. But it is worth trying because it would be a shame if the simplistic myth drowned out the more fascinating story of how our brains actually work.3

A strong focus on neuroscience isn't new, but it is still the beginning. As David Anderson, a professor of biology at California Institute of Technology, put it nicely during the Brains & Behavior conference in 2018, “The field of neuroscience is like a bunch of ants at the bottom of Mount Everest. They have yet to arrive at Base Camp 1 and, so far, it’s impossible to see how high the mountain is.”4

So although we have made great progress in our understanding of the brain, many mysteries yet remain.

Many of today's myths were yesterday's facts. That’s what makes this whole topic so interesting – the science behind it is continually evolving.

What does it teach us? Alexander Pope in his “Essay on Criticism” in 1711 wrote that “A little learning is a dangerous thing.” Shallow or incomplete learning can lead to neuromyths thriving and becoming taken-for-granted facts.

What can we do about that? We can be curious. Look for both proofs and critiques of models, theories, concepts. Be aware of confirmation bias, the tendency to search for, interpret, favour, and recall information in a way that confirms or supports our prior beliefs or values. We shouldn’t expect to find ‘magic bullets’. And if we do find them, it probably means more checks are needed.

On the other hand, there are valuable, evidence-based theories that can shape ‘coaching with neuroscience’, so we shouldn’t eradicate them and dismiss everything we hear as neuro-hype. We can learn to recognise good science, identify validated research and remain interested in our brains because there is still so much more to learn.

Magda / www.magdavoigt.com

I would like to hear from you. Your observations are immensely valuable. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. Please click "Follow" if you would like to hear more from me in the future.

#brain #neuroscience #performance #workplace #business #leadership #change

References:

1. Consciousness, Personal Identity and the Divided Brain, Roger Sperry, Neuropsychologia 22 (1984): 661–73.
2. Great Myths of the Brain by Christian Jarrett
3. Ibid.
4. Brain Science Ascends an Intellectual Mount Everest... but has yet to reach Base Camp 1, Gary Stix, Scientific American, June 6, 2018