Multi-disciplinary research Part 3, LEFT & RIGHT BRAIN CORRELATIONS
AIP1 Session 5, Part 3/3
This multi-disciplinary research is a means to make sense and support the creative process of Session 1-4, which includes, among others, drip painting, action painting, motoric drawing, and ink exploration.
This probably targets Session 4 more than the overall journey, but it's so interesting I can't help but wanting to include this. We are all familiar with the left brain (analytical) vs. right brain (creative) ideology, but is it really true?
According to Michael Corballis, PhD., a psychologist at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, having the hemispheres manage different tasks might increase the brain's efficiency. Localising a function to one brain hemisphere makes processing quicker than having the thought jump from one hemisphere to another. This is why a strongly symmetrical brain (common in ambidextrous people) leaves people more open to mental dysfunction. However, ambidextrous people rate higher on the "magical ideation" scale. Magical ideation is knowing something without the presence of rational feedback/proof, such as thinking that the newscaster on TV is delivering news to you personally.
However, Dr. Jeff Anderson, a neuroscientist at the University of Utah, claims that this analytical vs. creative myth is just that---a myth. Although brain functions do occur in one or the other side of the brain, this doesn't mean that one hemisphere is more evolved than the other. He conducted an experiment in which he scanned the brains of 1,011 people (ranging from 7 years old to 29) and found no connection, renderring the myth false. Thus, linking this to Session 4, we can say that the asymmetry has less to do with left vs. right brain but more to do with inexperience of using the left hand.
Even though the right hand can draw sharper, more accurate lines and the left hand does sloppier, curvier ones, this is most likely caused by lack of control of the left hand, leading to clumsier stops and wider bends. As seen in the table on the right, the left and right brain hemispheres play equal parts in daily left. While the left hemisphere is responsible for observation, the right hemisphere is responsible for interpreting those observations.