Experiment #1
The Key/Case
Experiment by Dr. Roger Sperry published in the journal, American Psychologist.
This experiment reveals that the two hemispheres of the brain have quite different ways of processing incoming information. A subject who has had his two hemispheres surgically separated is seated in front of a rear projected screen and is focusing his eyes on a dot painted on the screen.
In the left visual field the letters KEY are flashed for a very short time. On the right side of the screen the letters CASE are flashed at the same time, as shown in the illustration. These messages are processed by the hemisphere of the brain on the opposite side from the visual field, since the optic nerve connections from each eye cross to the opposite hemisphere.
When asked to tell what the subject saw flashed on the screen, he replies, "I saw the word CASE". In this subject and most adult subjects, this indicates that the left hemisphere is specialized for processing verbal language in a sequential fashion. C-A-S-E: one letter-after-another, one syllable-after-another, one word-after-another, and one sentence-after-another. Linear thought in the left hemisphere, whether in words or numbers, leads like boxcars on a "train of thought" down a sequential line of reasoning.
When the same "split brain" subject was asked to reach with his left hand (connected to the right side of the brain which "saw" the letters KEY) the subject selected from a group of unrelated objects, under an opaque platform, by touch alone, a KEY. This response reveals that the right side of the brain does not put incoming sensory information into a sequential order and therefore cannot articulate in sequential speech what it KNOWS it has seen. The right hemisphere is shown to process information holistically (all at once). It does not parse or break up the input into small pieces.
A further experiment will demonstrate the importance of this holistic way of knowing for artists.
Principles
Basic Knowledge
Experiment #1
Negative Views of Right Hemisphere
Creativity and Synchronization
II. Brain Synchronicity and Creativity
III. Brain Synchronicity and Creativity
Implications for Art Education
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