A Whole New Mind Notes: “Right Brain Rising”
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The author, Daniel Pink, gets his brain scanned for a study at the National Institute of Mental
Health.
o View images of brain at rest & work (fMRI)
o Cerebral hemispheres = left & right.
 2 halves look the same but function differently.
o When shown pictures of faces and asked to determine emotion, right hemisphere
active.
o When shown pics of scenes (some frightening) and asked if inside or outside, left
hemisphere active.
“The Right (and Left) Stuff”
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The average brain contains 100 billion cells, create network of one quadrillion connections
o Connections guide how we talk, eat, breathe, move
Until recently, scientists thought left hemisphere was much more important than right.
Neurologists Broca & Wernicke discovered parts of the brain on left side that were crucial in
language.
o Broca’s area = speech
o Wernicke’s area = understand language
Sperry studied “split brain” patients, who had corpus callosum severed.
o He discovered that right brain = as valuable as the left.
o Edwards, author of Drawing on the Right Side of Our Brains popularized notion of right
brain’s value.
“The Wrong Stuff”
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One perspective on right brain considers it a savior, the other considers right brain the saboteur
o Savior perspective: right hemisphere holds key to expanding human thought, surviving
trauma, healing autism
o Saboteur perspective: Left hemisphere uses logic, intelligence, and everything the right
hemisphere does mostly gets in the way of intelligent thinking. Right brain = inferior to
left.
o In reality, neither perspective is accurate. The answer is more nuanced/ complex.
“The Real Stuff”
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Both hemispheres play a part in everything we do.
o One hemisphere may be more active at certain times, but the two are always working
together and no hemisphere is ever “turned off.”
Research leads us to 4 key differences between hemispheres:
o 1. Left hemisphere controls right side of body; right hemisphere controls left side of
body.
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2. Left hemisphere is sequential (uses a linear series); the right hemisphere is
simultaneous (computes/interprets all at once)
3. The left hemisphere specializes in text (e.g. denotation); the right hemisphere
specializes in context (e.g. connotation)
4. The left hemisphere analyzes the details; the right hemisphere synthesizes the big
picture.
“Fear and Loathing in My Amygdalas”
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The human brain has two amygdalas (one in each hemisphere).
o They control emotions, especially fear.
o Which amygdalas is active depends on the task at hand.
 Left amygdala active when sequential reasoning needed (to assess danger of a
situation, for example).
 Also has to do with learned reasoning
 Right amygdala active when simultaneous reasoning needed (to assess the
emotion expressed in a face, for example).
 Also has to do with innate knowledge
“A Whole New Mind”
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Humans seem naturally inclined to see the world in contrasting pairs.
o Emotion & Logic
 Both needed to work together in a fully-functioning human brain
How our hemispheres operate is a metaphor for how some people navigate their lives
o Logical, sequential reasoning = “left-brained”; “L-Directed Thinking”
o Holistic, intuitive, nonlinear reasoning = “right-brained”; “R-Directed Thinking”
 “R-Directed Thinking” is underemphasized in the Information Age.
Everyone needs both approaches “R-Directed Thinking” and “L-Directed Thinking,” to live
fulfilling, productive lives.
o This is changing; “R-Directed Thinking” is gaining emphasis in this new age (Conceptual
Age)