In 1976, Julian Jaynes coined the term “bicameral mind” in his eponymous book The Origin of Consciousness in
the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind. According to this
model, the brain is divided into two rooms—“bi” meaning ‘two,’ and “camera”
meaning ‘room.’ (We call our cameras “cameras”
because the first camera was a large room, much reduced now to the thin room
which is an iPhone connected to the doorless room which is the digital ether.) According
to this early research, the left brain was in charge of language and the right
of imagery. In his landmark, 2009 book, The
Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Wester World, author
Ian McGilchrist offers a much refined theory, informed by extensive research
since 1976, to show that both sides of the brain coordinate in the creation of
experience. With that proviso, we can
consider how the predominant aspects of our divided brains function in the learning
process.
In general, someone who functions predominantly from the
left brain, as illustrated above, tends to construct experience as
Linear—one
thing following the other in order
Analytical and Mental
Product oriented
Closed
Staid
Closed
Staid
Digital—favoring
polar binary opposites, as, for example right or wrong, good or bad.
Numerical—clear,
quantifiable order, favoring monetary and business systems
Conventional—according
to tradition and popularly accepted values
Rule-bound
and Prescriptive
Proscriptive—experience
and action outside the parameter of accepted rules prohibited
Limiting—at
best, the left brain can work four things in consciousness at a time
Rigid
and strict
Dividing
and Selective
External
Exclusive
“No”
Denotative—words
mean discretely, without nuance
Ego
and Superego—a will to power
Conscious
Prose
Boxed in
Guarantees
Fear based and inspired
Fear based and inspired
We cannot live socially or in civilized cultures
without these functions. Some of the
benefits of the Left Brain include a sense of security and constancy;
organization and focus; and social and familial foundations. The Left Brain identifies goals and marshals
them to completion. Language, itself, functions because of Left Brain
tendencies.
The problem comes when it presumes to take control of
all the brains functions. McGilchrist
argues that, historically, the Left Brain was the emissary from the larger, the
contrasting functions of the Right Brain, whose qualities include these:
Global
Contextual
Intuitive and epiphanic
Body and image based
Process oriented
Open
Fluid
Open
Fluid
Analog—favoring paradox and interweaving
Experimental and creative
Evolutionary and revolutionary
Descriptive
Expansive
Patient and flexible
Coordinating
Internal
Inclusive
“Yes”
Connotative
Id
Subconscious incubation
Dreams
Poetry
Out of the box
Possibility
Love based and inspired
Love based and inspired
The Right
Brain is the repository of all of our history as a species—spatially and
temporally. It connects us in what sometimes
feels magical ways. It offers us insight, joy, warning, possibility.
Here’s an example of the difference
between Left-Braining and Right-Braining.
I am an international folkdancer.
Every Wednesday night and on long vacations devoted to this art, we get
together—women and men ranging in age from 20 to 100, and sometimes with
children, to join hands and enjoy the dances from countries around the world
and through time, to music that can be soft and prayerlike, or bawdy and
rollicking. After almost 40 years, I
know most of the old dances and need only to hear the first few notes and my body
knows the rest. But there is always a
leader, whom the rest of us watch. If I
were to put on the music at home, I would know neither the name of the dance
nor which step comes next. That’s
because I have mostly Right-Brained these dances. And, although I am known for being a “good
dancer,” expressive, joyful, knowing how to style—and seem to know all the steps—I
don’t.
On the other hand, I have learned
dances to teach others, and these I analyze into their component parts,
memorize them, practice them, make and correct my mistakes while replaying
videos. I, in other words, take a
Left-Brain approach, to “get it right,” correct others. We have some master teachers in our folkdance
group, who always know the steps, and whom the rest of us use as guides. Too often, though, they devolve into a
Left-Brainy make-wrong mode—conventionalizing, criticizing, scolding. What makes
my teaching different from that of most other folkdance teachers, is that I
also incorporate images in my teaching: “make believe you’re the Statue of Liberty,
raising one hand and tucking in the other”; “make believe you are moving
through water.” This helps others to be
expressive, joyful, stylized. And I don’t
scold.
For me, when I’m at my best, this is
an example of optimal coordination between the Left and Right brain. Unfortunately, as Gilchrist argues so cogently
in his book, the Left Brain functions have usurped control to assert the will
to power.
In politics, Left Brain leaders manipulate the voting
public and constituencies with fear and rigid values. The traditional classroom,
too, favors a Left Brain model. The posts on this blog serve as reminders that
we are far larger and have greater capacities than the Left Brain would allow,
by itself. We invite the Right Brain
into the mix, and favor
Imagery over plot
Experimentation over right/wrong
Community over leaders
Creativity over tests
Original over linear thinking
Learning over grades
Rainbow over black/white
Shapes over straight lines
Possibility over boredom
Spilling over the edges, like the picture above
Poetry over all
And more…
How are your learning experiences structured? Is
there a generative balance of Left Brain/Right Brain in your classroom and in
your learning process?
Works Cited:
Cover Art: Left Brain/ Right Brain Image
Text:
Jaynes, Julian. The Origin of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the Bicameral Mind.
Boston: Mariner Books, 2000.
McGilchrist, Ian.The Master and His Emissary: The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western
World, New Haven: Yale UP, 2009.
