When taking an intro psychology class most people learn some nonsense about how the brain is segregated into the right and left hemisphere, one which does everything logical and other everything creative. When taking an intro neuroscience class one learns, and quickly, the brain is a cohesive organ that is much more complex than the simply division psychology books sometimes make it out to be. However, the brain is divided and a video by Iain McGilchrist explains this beautifully.
The video starts off with brief introduction where misconceptions between the right and the left side of the brain are demystified. The human brain is then introduced as being the organ that works to slow things down so we can step back from the world. The corpus callosum is labeled by the video as the layer of cells most responsible for the retardation of these communications from the outside to our cognition.
McGilchrist goes on to explains the right side of the brain is not so much creative as it is broad spectrum side of our minds. The right side scans for discrepancies in our environment, that is the things we do not expect. The right side perceives the the body and other parts of the world as separate pieces removing the biases we approach things with. The right side of the brain is the child like approach to the world that is often talked of a gone missing, our Hubble telescope, exploring the deep unknowns of our daily lives.
The left side is more focused, it works on making what we see concrete. McGilchrist describes it as the lifeless organ that works towards perfection to the point of emptiness. He explains how the left allows us to put things into categories, manipulate our environment, and think ahead of the other party. He describes the left as not so much our logical side but the side that is capable of logic amongst related tasks that involve focus.
The video incorporates an evolutionary perspective, cartoon drawings along the way that keep the video funny and interesting, and is filled with neat facts but rotates slowly enough to where concepts can be taken home easily. On the down side it has the feeling of a conspiracy theory or self help video to it, even though it is informative it makes one uneasy at the thought of who this video was marketed towards (am I silly for liking it? please feel free to comment back). All and all, I would recommend watching it, at the very least it is an entertaining 12 minutes.