Jill Bolte Taylor and Her "Stroke of Insight."

What is the function of the right brain? What are the critical differences between our left and right brains? How can we use our right brains to connect to the more important things in this world? Jill Bolte Taylor, a brain scientist, had to unfortunately suffer a stroke on the left side of her brain to find the answers.

Why do we give standardized tests to "right brained" people?

Question: if "right brain people" demonstrate their intelligence by thinking abstractly, by creating new combinations of things or by possibly communicating concepts through music or art – how can it be fair to give them a left brained test (traditional IQ test) as an objective measure of their intelligence!! Furthermore, how can you objectively compare their scores to the "left brained" population when the test will likely favor left-brained people?!

In other words, is it fair to give right brain people left-brain oriented IQ tests and college entrance exams like the SAT?

Thus, the new study shows that basic differences in brain activity between creative and methodical problem solvers exist and are evident even when these individuals are not working on a problem. According to Kounios, “Problem solving, whether creative or methodical, doesn’t begin from scratch when a person starts to work on a problem. His or her pre-existing brain-state biases a person to use a creative or a methodical strategy.”

Take a look at this last line. One way to interpret this is that a right brain person taking a standardized test will naturally try to be creative in answering a question. The only problem is that on many of these problems, it’s not necessary and will probably slow you down!

Solution: begin work on creating a whole brain standardized test or consider giving different types of tests to people who classify themselves as “right brained.”

Source: posted by Rebecca Sato on The Daily Galaxy (link is on the title of this post).

Study: Kounios, J., Fleck, J.I., Green, D.L., Payne, L., Stevenson, J.L., Bowden, M., & Jung- Beeman, M. (2008). The origins of insight in resting-state brain activity. Neuropsychologia, 46, 281-291.

Will Wright Talks About Games and Education

Will Wright, inventor of Sim City and the Sims, makes a good point about the value of games; it's more about motivation than content. That said, if we can weave the two together, haven't we solved a major problem in education?

It's Time to be Inventive

If it's true that artists do some of their best work when they are at a low point, wouldn't the same be true for a nation? While Tom Friedman doesn't say this exactly, he does strongly suggest that now is a good time to be inventive.

"Therefore, the country that uses this crisis to make its population smarter and more innovative — and endows its people with more tools and basic research to invent new goods and services — is the one that will not just survive but thrive down the road."


Read more here.

Thanks to Lincoln Rolls for the link.

The type of wood is really important

“I wanted generally to apologize to every one of you all for letting you down,” Mr. Sanford told the gathering of his cabinet secretaries in a mahogany conference room in the ornate state Capitol complex. (New York Times, 6/26/09)

I once apologized to a group of people, but was standing next to a stainless steel counter top.


Other options:

1. Showing gratitude next to a cedar desk...
2. Feeling shameful in a tile kitchen...
3. Expressing remorse near a laminated board room table...
4. Displaying sympathy next to an outside stucco surface...

The Struggles of a "Knowledge Worker"

How does an intellectual come to terms with the world of work? Easy... he becomes a motorcycle mechanic.

Matthew Crawford on the Colbert Report

Response to "Intelligence Augmentation"

The following was submitted by Sue at SBW Design.

If "making you smarter" can be twisted to "preventing you from becoming dumb," check this out:

Then go Indian for lunch!

Speaking of Medications

There was an interesting discussion about medications (for ADHD, etc.) on Thom Hartmann's program yesterday. Hartmann has written extensively on the topics of ADD and ADHD. Regardless of your political affiliation (he is a progressive radio talk show host) you should find this interesting.

Word of the Day

We've all heard of a grocery store. It's where we go to buy groceries. Someone who owns or operates the store is called a "grocer" - which sounds pretty weird in and of itself. But, what if you wanted to buy just one item? Would you be buying a "grocery?" It seems to me if you're going grocery shopping, you ought to be able to buy a grocery.

I'd ask the people over at Safeway, but that's a "super market."

"Intelligence Augmentation"

After reading the article in The Atlantic on "getting smarter," I’m now interested or curious to know if any readers out there have information on interesting combinations of technology, software, social networking and pharmacology that are used – not necessarily to enhance intelligence – but to combat symptoms of ADHD, depression, OCD, etc. If you have any thoughts or ideas on this topic, please put these in the comment section. If you write a really thought provoking or informative post I can create a separate posting for your response.

Additionally, I’ve now seen two articles (in The Atlantic) on whether Google makes us smarter or dumber, but I’m curious to know if there are any good articles out there on whether Google can also make us more creative. Any thoughts?

Thanks.