Canny Minds Blog

The creative side of the brain

Posted on 12. Aug, 2009 by Jenny in Articles, Brain Training, General

The term creativity refers to mental processes that lead to solutions, ideas, concepts, artistic forms, theories or products that are unique or novel. As a result of work carried out in the 1960s by the American Nobel Prize winner Roger Wolcott Sperry it became apparent that the creative functions of human beings are controlled by the right-hand hemisphere of the human brain. This is the side of the brain which is under-used by the majority of people, as opposed to the thought processes of the left-hand hemisphere, which is characterized by order, sequence and logic; and is responsible for such functions as numerical and verbal skills.  

Throughout history it has been accepted that human beings are all different in their own way with our own physical make-up, fingerprints, DNA, facial features, character and personality. It was not until the mid 20th century that it was realised that each one of us has two sides to our brain, each of which has quite different functions and characteristics.  

The cerebral cortex has two halves, called hemispheres, which are almost identical. These two brain hemispheres are connected by a bridge of millions of nerve fibres called the corpus callosum which allows them to communicate with each other. The left side of the brain connects to the right side of the body, while the right side of the brain connects to the left side. 

The left side of the brain is analytical and functions in a sequential and logical fashion and is the side which controls language, academic studies and rationality. The right side is creative and intuitive and leads, for example, to the birth of ideas for works of art and music. The contrasting right and left hemisphere functions can be summarised as follows:  

Left-hemisphere
Parsing, logic, conscious thought, outer awareness, methods, rules, written language, number skills, reasoning, scientific skills, aggression, sequential, verbal intelligence, intellectual, analytical.

Right-hemisphere
Holistic, intuition, subconscious thought, inner awareness, creativity, insight, three-dimensional forms, imagination, music, art, passive, simultaneous, practical intelligence, sensuous, synthetic.

While some individuals may be heavily weighted towards a particular hemisphere, this does not mean they are predominant in every one of that particular hemisphere’s skills, since no-one is entirely left or right-brained. The importance to each of us of accessing both hemispheres of the brain is considerable. 

Before the subconscious of the right-hand hemisphere can function, it needs the fuel, or data, that has been fed into, collated and processed by the left-hand hemisphere. 

One danger is the overburdening of the left-hand hemisphere with too much data with the result that the creative side of the brain cannot function to its full potential. Conversely if there is a lack of data being fed into the left-hand hemisphere the creative side or right-hand hemisphere can dry up. 

It is, therefore, desirable to strike the right balance between right and left hemispheres in order for the brain to work to its full potential.

Because it is under-used, much creative talent in many people remains untapped throughout life. Until we try, most of us never know what we can actually achieve. We all have a creative side to our brain; therefore, we should all have the potential to be creative. However many of us never have the time or opportunity, or indeed are given the encouragement, to explore our latent talents, even though most of us have sufficient ammunition to realize this potential in the form of data which has been fed into, collated and processed by the brain during our lifetime. 

Like many other tasks, or pleasures, we never know what we can achieve until we try. By cultivating new leisure activities and pursuing new pastimes it is possible for each of us to explore the potential and often vastly under-used parts of the human brain.

Adapted from The Complete Book of Intelligence Tests by Philip J. Carter; published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd in 2005 as part of The IQ Workout Series

Photo courtesy of brain_blogger

Tags: 19-29, brain, IQ Tests, Learn Something New, male and female, music and art