The Brain
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Hi All,
All that Creative and/versus Critical thinking discussion made me want to see if there are physical differences in the brain when processing these (allegedly) two types of thinking.
From what I see, the answer seems to be no:
(wanted to insert an image here but guess Drupal doesn't allow for that sort of creativity in comments).
So check out this site:
http://www.braintumor.org/TourBrain/index.html
You can mouse over different parts of the brain to see their different functions -- best I can tell, the frontal lobe seems to take care of both types of thinking.
Hi Ruth,
Here's another cool link on this -- Prof. Leroy Little Bear on 'western' vs. 'aboriginal' ways of 'listening' (in the field of [Blackfoot] physics): http://www.appropriate-entertainment.com/My_Homepage_Files/Download/List...
What I found cool was the stuff about the different ways language is used.
Eg. noun-based vs. verb-based languages -- try describing a chair without using a noun.
Noun-based languages (English) objectify and rationalize (a chair is something [for me] to sit on) -- verb-based languages animate and so equalize (a chair is sitting strong).
Commodity versus community...in a way.
Can I argue that heart-brain, gut-brain, head-brain symphony is more likely if you're in an environment ('on land') previously inhabited by generations of your ancestors?
Think I may have found an analog for my noun-based/verb-based proposal in the Mann-Gulch article:
"This may seem like a great deal of fretting about one single word in Maclean's question, 'structure'. What I have tried to show is that when we transform this word from a static image [a noun] into a process [a verb], we spot what looks like a potential for collapse in any process of social sensemaking that is tied together by constitutive relations." (p. 17)
Asif I had some thoughts about the significance of hands being connected to the brain, but then I began to remember some research...
The brain in our gut partly determines our mental state...(surprise)
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=gut-second-brain
I'm thinking about the how this 'second brain' connects the feeling aspect of thinking and creativity. For example when you're in sync and in flow, then in my experience the creative process and thinking too are aligned. The same for the opposite emotion.
And so too the same with neurocardiology-our heart brain? How might the electromagnetic signals of the heart and gut brains interact? Certainly some of the time I'm identified with living in my head and at other times I'm living inside my heart or gut. I wonder how much the alignment of these 3 brains contributes to 'flow' and optimal states of creativity, play and insight? I dont know of any other sources for this information to confirm it beyond the Heartmath Institute themselves. That makes me wonder if we were aligned and balanced beings would we experience any divisions (either/ors) in our thinking processes at all?
http://www.heartmath.org/research/research-our-heart-brain.html
Hi Ruth,
Wow --
Head brain / Gut brain / Heart brain
-- for the last one, I really liked the images at the Heartmath site, and the research is respectably backed up here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2270154/
And we started with --
Creative thinking / Critical thinking
-- trend(?): multiple levels of fragmentation and recombination.
Your description of the alignment of the 3 brains -- "'flow' and optimal states of creativity, play and insight" -- reminds me of a basketball player 'in the zone' -- physiology and psychology (also creativity and critical-ity) in concert on the court.
"That makes me wonder if we were aligned and balanced beings would we experience any divisions (either/ors) in our thinking processes at all?" -- Great question:
To me this alignment would be a constant coming to homeostasis as a result of info-transfer between the 3 processes.
So the key factor in successful alignment would be efficiency of info-transfer.
So then my question as an educator becomes: How do optimize the connections between the 3 brains, or between creative and critical processes?
All fascinating 'food for thought' -- and much appreciated.
Asif
I find current research on brain connectivity fascinating. This article (Exploring the Brain's Role in Creativity ) I particularly like in how they link divergent thinking to the creation of neural networks and show how the brain can "become creative". I would think this same rationale would lead us to becoming more critical as well.
Thanks that's a beaut visual cue towards a holistic view of humans as naturally symphonic in thought. It's useful to temporarily define particular aspects but only on the way to explaining and integrating the whole. It is evident to me that hemisphere synthesis is desirable for human evolution and human potential lest we swing into polarity once again based on market forces.
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Hi Asif and Ben thanks for confirmation, both links and personal I've been hanging out with some of David Gelerter's thinking.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niAi7YfcH5E&feature=related
Both David and his wife Jane recognise that it's normal to integrate science and arts, that it's historically precedented by previous generations, it is only contemporary (western?) culture that separates the two.
Which would in my mind confirm the symphonic and multi sensory brain.