Research: You as Artists (1)
"Creative thinking may mean simply the realization that there’s no particular virtue in doing things the way they always
have been done." – Rudolf Flesch
This article may to some appear to be a simple exercise in drawing a face, but in reality an article devoted to changing your
style of perceiving a task and generating solutions.
Buzan’s underlying idea in this section is the combination of left and right-hemisphere styles of processing resulting in whole-brain thinking.
This idea relates to the concept of plasticity in the brain and that we can change our cognitive problem-solving styles. There is substantial research to support this claim.
It is accepted in scientific literature that the left hemisphere has a dominant role in language in the vast majority of
right-handed people.
Both Broca and Wernicke, in the mid 1800’s, observed that damage to the left hemisphere resulted in aphasia. In
fact, the distinction of left-hemisphere (verbal), right-hemisphere (nonverbal) has, in the past, shown to be the most robust observation
concerning differences between the hemispheres.
In addition to the research with brain-damaged patients, it appears that split-brain patients are, at least initially, unable to speak from the right
hemisphere. However, there currently is a great debate centering on the surgically separated right hemisphere.
You will recall that Roger Sperry initially studied the split-brain patients at the California Institute of Technology. One of
his first findings was the verbal / nonverbal distinction.
Two of his
former students, Michael Gazzaniga and Eran Zaidel, are now studying split-brain patients on the East and West coast, respectively. Much of
their research deals with the language abilities of the right hemisphere.
Briefly, both men have observed that a number of their parents have, following the operation, developed the ability to speak
from the right hemispheres. The nature of the debate centers on the question of whether right hemisphere language is a universally occurring
phenomenon or whether it is an oddity observed in only a minority or split-brain subjects. The nature of the debate is extremely interesting
and the interested reader is referred to Zaidel (1983) and Gazzaniga (1983).
The above findings suggest that the brain does appear to have more flexibility and plasticity than previously thought.
Findings such as these suggest that, the more we research the abilities of the two hemispheres, the more overlap there appears to be. Therefore,
if we call ourselves right-brain or left-brain people, we are limiting our ability to develop new strategies.
One particularly fascinating finding demonstrating plasticity concerns Buzan’s work with Olympic athletes.
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