just about all the thoughtware we knew
is flawed.
it is still often heard in popular culture that the left brain is rational/logical and the right brain is emotional/creative. this is despite the fact that this view was proven to be flawed three decades ago. so embarrassing was this failed view that it was no longer “respectable” to hypothesise about differences in the two halves of the brain.
but the issue remains…there is no denying that brain hemispheres are different. the right hemisphere contains much more white matter than the left (in essence, insulation for the nerves). it is connected more broadly within itself and externally than is the left hemisphere and uses different neurotransmitters. so these differences are not insignificant.
fast forward several decades and it appears that the long-ignored differences in brain shape, structure and composition are important to function after all. these functional differences, whilst subtler than the old emotional/rational view, are no less significant.
the following will illustrate how STP applies neuroscience to solve business problems.
truths.
what’s actually happening and why?
truths, half-truths and hemispheres. how are our brains constructed?
how does each hemisphere work, and how different are these operations?
of greatest significance, how can organisation’s senior personnel, whether from a marketing or hr perspective, use insights into brain hemispheres to achieve successful communications?
it would appear that what really differentiates the two hemispheres is the type of attention that they bring to the world. for very good evolutionary reasons, the left brain brings a very detailed, sequential and abstracted view to matters that we already know are important, such as food, whilst ignoring the unfamiliar. the right brain, in stark contrast, brings a much broader, uncommitted, holistic perspective which focuses on the new, the different and the incongruous.
these two types of focus are both vital. they are so important that the corpus callosum [the bridge between the two hemispheres] functions to inhibit one or the other of the hemispheres thereby allowing the hemisphere to focus on the matter at hand whilst the other is pushed to the background.
birds and other mammals have the same right/left hemisphere distinction too, and so they are clearly of significant evolutionary importance. for example, whilst the left brain is bringing its very detailed focus to bear, on say food that has been scavenged, in the background the right brain is vigilant for prospective threats, such as being eaten by the discovered source of food. so effective is the right brain in performing this function that people have often commenced evasive action before we are consciously aware of the threat.
rational instincts.
your instincts are more rational
than you may think….
this kind of unconscious yet highly intelligent processing appears to be the basis of intuition.
the right brain, noticing the what, processes the situation in a single leap, processes potential solutions, picks one and acts upon it often without anything surfacing to the conscious mind.
outside of survival situations, this type of activity also results in the “ah ha” moment that is so familiar to many. after working on an idea or problem we are suddenly, after having left it for a while, presented with a fully formed answer.
if the right-hand side of the brain needs very detailed information on a specific aspect of what it is processing, it is the left brain’s job to gather that and report it back for synthesis by the right hemisphere. if a detailed description of the solution/idea or whatever needs to be communicated, then again that is the left brain’s role.
if, however the situation changes and a new solution is required that comes back under the remit of the broad and flexible right.
more mental divisions.
the right brain, noticing the what, processes the situation in a single leap, processes potential solutions, picks one and acts upon it often without anything surfacing to the conscious mind.
outside of survival situation, this type of activity also results in those “ah ha” moments that are so familiar to us all. after working on an idea or problem we are suddenly, after having not considered it for a while, presented with a fully developed answer.
if the right-hand side of the brain needs very detailed information on a specific aspect of what it is processing, it is the left brain’s job to gather that and report it back for synthesis by the right hemisphere. if a detailed description of the solution/idea or whatever needs to be communicated, then again, the it is the left brain’s role.
if, however the situation changes and a new solution is required that comes back under the remit of the broad and flexible right brain hemisphere.
and so?
findings, such as these really provide insights into how human beings notice, process, decide and act upon stimuli in the environment.
it is therefore vital that we take them into account in business when planning any type of organisational communication.
learn more about STP’s science based approaches to communications: