The Latest Podcast from Robb Wolf

Episode 239 – Gary Wilson


Your Brain on Porn

With the Advancement of Neurophysiology, Radical Egalitarianism Falls

Independent: The Hardwired Difference Between Male and Female Brains Could Explain Why Men Are Better at Map Reading (Vox)

A good reminder that the accepted distinction between right and left brain could be erroneous:

Part of the problem here is that too many of the science media, and too many people commenting here, are assuming that the initial findings of Roger Sperry remain correct: that the left cerebral hemisphere deals with verbal phenomena, while the right deals with non-verbal phenomena. A good layman's presentation of this material can be found in Iain McGilchrist's The Master and His Emissary

A more accurate view, or at least one which is closer to current findings, is that the left hemisphere addresses close-focus processes (e.g., attention to detail, semantics, melody, etc.), while the right hemisphere deals with broad-attention processes (e.g. observation of background, syntactics, background sounds, etc.). As verbal behavior is a complex of integrated right and left brained functions, it should not be surprising from the recent study now cited that women would be better at verbalizing than men.

On the other hand, I think that several conclusions can be drawn from the recent study:

1. It would appear that men tend to work with two parallel tracks: close attention and far attention, simultaneously. This would make them better hunters and warriors.

2. This dual processing system in men would appear to integrate more in the way of executive, motor, and pan-sensory functions. This, by the bye, would explain why men are more quickly able to exercise their common sense or sensus communis than women. (I suggest that argumentative readers go through the wikipedia article on 'common sense' before beginning their disputations on this point).

3. This dual process involving a deeper integration of pan-cerebral functions could explain the reason why the creative process in men (as related by Koestler) involves intense study of a problem, prolonged contemplation, and then sudden insight: that process of cogitation has gone from the left to the right hemisphere, and then back again. It would also explain why the overwhelming majority of scientific, artistic, and literary creative breakthroughs have been (and will continue to be) accomplished by men.

4. The study would also explain why verbal instruction in childhood education works better with girls than with boys. Further, if McGilchrist is correct, a sole focus on semantic and close attention processes would tend to make worse the tendency for left brain activity to suppress right brain activity in males. A more pan-sensory and pan-motor activity approach (i.e. games and sports) would therefore be needed for boys, if people were actually interested in educating them.

I can think of more consequences from the underlying study, but this would appear to be enough to start with.

The Master and His Emissary