Right Brain, Left Brain Theory - An Artist's View

The purpose of this paper is to present to the reader, a general introduction and description of the right brain/left brain theory. A discussion of how the theory applies to art in general and more specifically to drawing, will be given. Then this author, an artist, will discuss her own experiences of applying the right brain/left brain theory to the creation of her own artwork.

The theory itself has been called by several names and is a progressive theory with more information added as more research and studies are done. Right brain/left brain, right brain/leftthinking, and split-brain, are some of the terms used to describe the theory that each of the two hemispheres of the brain carry out separate functions. The theory has progressed from it's introduction in 1836 to the present time.

In 1836, Marc Dax presented a short paper describing his observations, as a country doctor, to a medical society meeting in Montpellier, France (Springer, 1989). Dax had noticed that patients with aphasia (loss of speech caused by damage to the brain) had all sustained damage to the left hemisphere. He couldn't find any patients with aphasia who had damage to only the right hemisphere. His observations suggested that the left side of the brain must control speech.
Virtually none of the medical community paid any attention to his paper and it was soon forgotten. He died a year later without ever knowing what an impact his observations would later have on the fields of medicine, psychology, art, and others.

Over the last 50 years, much interest has been generated and research dedicated to the intricacies and applications of split-brain theory. The research of Roger Sperry, and his associates is probably the best known and most widely accepted. In 1981, Sperry was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his work with split-brain patients (Springer, 1989). Sperry suggested that the two halves of the brain actually house two separate realms of consciousness.