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Right Brain, Left Brain, Whole Brain

The notion that the throne of creativity lies in the right hemisphere of the brain is entrenched in our cultural vernacular. A Google search on “right brain and creativity” yielded over four million hits.  Flaherty (2011) challenges this standard.

In the right brain model of creativity the left analytic, rule-based brain is cast as an “anti-creative” force.  Cognitive exercises that suppress left brain activity are said to leave the artistic right side free of constraints, thus boosting creative output.  The experience of epileptic patients who undergo callostomy surgery refutes this assumption (Flaherty, 2011).  The surgery severs the corpus callosum, a bundle of nerve fibers connecting the right and left hemispheres.  Some patients with severe epilepsy find symptom relief when this bridge is cut leaving two independent sides that no longer communicate with one another.  The right brain creativity model predicts that these patients should experience increased creative ability, but the opposite is true. Callostomy patients show decreased creativity.

Right brain dominance also does not explain the hemispheric effects of artistic training.  According to Flaherty (2011), untrained musicians and painters do process what they see and hear via the right hemisphere, which tunes into novel stimuli.  However, trained musicians and painters, who no longer experience elements such as pitch, tempo, color, and line as new, process visual and auditory elements via the left hemisphere.

Finally, Flaherty (2011) posits that the right brain creativity model is out of synch with recent research on motivation and the brain.  Although the right brain perks up in response to unfamiliar events, it also prompts us to withdraw just in case the event is dangerous.  In contrast, the inquisitive left frontal cortex encourages us to approach and investigate.

Flaherty’s (2011) brief review of this literature highlights that creativity is really a whole brain process.

 

Flaherty, A. W. (2011).  Brain illness and creativity: mechanisms and treatment risks.  The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 56, 132-142.

 

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