significant lateral specialization going on here.
This experiment seems to amplify the fact that if you’re looking
for global, holistic patterns, you need R-mode. If you need to ana-
lyze parts and look into the detail, then you need a more L-mode
approach. For most of us, this level of specialization is how it is.
R-mode sees the forest; L-mode sees the trees.
But for some fortunate few, the hemispheric differences are not as
profound. Math prodigies, in particular, do not show these differ-
ences; their brain parts are much more cooperative.19 When they
see the I characters or the Hs, both hemispheres are more equally
involved.
18. Thanks to June Kim for this one.
19. Interhemispheric Interaction During Global/Local Processing in Mathematically Gifted Adolescents, Average Ability Youth and College Students [SO04].
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If by chance you aren’t a math prodigy, then we need to take a look
at some other way to get the R-mode and L-mode to cooperate: to
better integrate L-mode and R-mode processing. We’ll take a look
at how to do that in the next chapter.
3.6 DIY Brain Surgery and Neuroplasticity
You can physically rewire your brain. Want more capability in some
area? You can wire yourself that way. You can repurpose areas of
the brain to perform different functions. You can dedicate more
neurons and interconnections to specific skills. You can build the
brain you want.
Before you get carried away, put away the Dremel tool and dental
pick; there’s an easier way to do brain surgery. No tools required.
Until recently, it was believed that brain capacity and internal
“wiring” were fixed from birth. That is, certain localized areas of the
brain were specialized to perform certain functions according to a
fixed map. One patch of cortical real estate was devoted to process-
ing visual input, another to taste, and so on. This also meant that
the capacity for whatever abilities and intelligence you were born
with were largely fixed and that no additional training or develop-
ment would get you past some fixed maximum.
Fortunately for us and the rest of the race, it turns out that isn’t
true.
Instead, the human brain is wonderfully plastic—so much so that
researchers have been able to teach a blind man to see with his
tongue.20 They took a video camera chip and wired its output to
the patient’s tongue in a small 16x16-pixel arrangement. His brain
circuits rearranged themselves to perform visual processing based
on the neural input from his tongue, and the patient was able to
see well enough to drive around cones in a parking lot! Also notice
that the input device isn’t particularly high resolution: a mere 256
pixels. But the brain fills in enough details that even this sort of
low-res input is enough.
20. Described in The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science [Doi07].
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HOW DO YOU GET THERE?
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TIP 11
Rewire your brain with belief and constant practice.
Neuroplasticity (the plastic nature of the brain) also means that
the maximum amount you can learn, or the number of skills you
attain, is not fixed. There is no upper limit—as long as you believe
that. According to Stanford University research psychologist Carol
Dweck, author of Mindset: The New Psychology of Success [Dwe08],
students who believed they could not increase their intelligence in
fact couldn’t. Those who believed in the plasticity of their brains
increased their abilities easily.
In either case, what you think about the
brain’s capacities physically affects the Thinking makes it so.
“wiring” of the brain itself. That’s a pretty
profound observation. Just thinking that your brain has more
capacity for learning makes it so.
It’s do-it-yourself brain surgery.
Cortical competition
And it’s not just your beliefs that can rewire your brain; there is
always an ongoing competition for cortical real estate in your brain.
Skills and abilities that you constantly use and constantly practice
will begin to dominate, and more of your brain will become wired
for those purposes.
At the same time, lesser-used skills will lose ground. “Use it or
lose it” is perfectly accurate in this case, because your brain will
dedicate more resources to whatever you are doing the most.
Perhaps this is why musicians practice scales incessantly; it’s sort
of like refreshing dynamic RAM. Want to be a better coder? Practice
coding more. Engage in deliberate, focused practice as described in
the sidebar on page 44. Want to learn a foreign language? Immerse
yourself in it. Speak it all the time. Think in it. Your brain will soon
catch on and adapt itself to better facilitate this new usage.
3.7 How Do You Get There?
In this chapter, we’ve looked at features of your brain, including
the L-mode and R-mode cognitive processes, and at rewiring your
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brain through practice. You should also begin to appreciate the
underutilized power of R-mode.
So if this R-mode thing is so great—or at least so necessary at this
particular point in time—what can you do to experience more R-
mode processing yourself? What can you do to cultivate R-mode
and better integrate L-mode and R-mode?
We’ll look at some specifics of how to achieve better cultivation and
integration in the next chapter.
Next Actions
! Make a short list of your favorite software applications and a
list of the ones you just despise. How much does aesthetics
play a role in your choices?
! Consider what aspects of your work and home life target L-
mode. What aspects of your work and home life target R-
mode? Do you feel they are in balance? If not, what will you
do differently?
! Keep a doodle pad on your desk (and in your car, with your
laptop, by your bed), and use it.
! In addition, keep something on your person for 24×7 note
taking (which may or may not be paper/pen based).
Try This
! Make a conscious effort to learn something new primarily by
synthesis, instead of analysis.
! Try creating your next software design away from your key-
board and monitor (and we’ll talk more about this in detail a
bit later in the book).
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A man should learn to detect and foster that gleam of
light which flashes across his mind from within far
more than the lustre of the whole firmament without.
Yet he dismisses without notice his peculiar thought
because it is peculiar.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Chapter 4
Get in Your Right Mind
In this chapter, we’ll look at a whole bunch of techniques to help
bring more mental processing power online for you. Some may be
familiar to you, and others will definitely be more exotic; don’t shy
away from the “odd” ones. If you are repelled and don’t want to try
something, that’s probably exactly what you should try first.
Emerson points out in the opening epigraph that we tend to dis-
miss unusual or uncomfortable thoughts—and that’s a bad thing.
You might miss out on that million-dollar idea of a lifetime. Instead,
you need to pay attention to all that your mind has to offer. Sure,
some of what you find will be the intellectual equivalent of a Gilli-
gan’s Island rerun, but you may also find that one idea that makes
all the difference in the world. So, we’re going to look at it all, be it
good, bad, or ugly.
You probably know what L-mode processing feels like; it’s that lit-
tle voice in your head that makes L-mode very noticeable. But what
does R-mode feel like? You’ll do an exercise that will let you expe-
rience a cognitive shift to R-mode, and we’ll see different ways to
help engage more R-mode processing.
We’ll also look at ways of integrating L-mode and R-mode more
effectively, and I’ll show you a variety of techniques to help harvest
the fruits of your R-mode’s hidden labor.
4.1 Turn Up the Sensory Input
The simplest thing you can do to begin to involve more of your
brain in problem solving and creativity is to activate more neural
pathways than usual.
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That means expanding sensory involvement—using different
senses than usual. It’s not a small effect; one study showed a 500
percent improvement for students using multisensory techniques.1
Even surprisingly simple things can help.
For instance, try fiddling with a paper clip or some sort of tactile
puzzle while stuck on a tedious conference call or while pondering
a tricky problem.
TIP 12
Add sensory experience to engage more of your brain.
I’ve seen development teams have good success using tactile
enhancement. Instead of trying to create and document a design
or architecture directly in a commercial tool (using UML or some-
thing similar), use building blocks. Toy blocks. In assorted colors.
Or Lego bricks.
Object-oriented design with Lego bricks is quite effective with a
group of people: everyone can participate without fighting for the
keyboard or the whiteboard marker; you can animate the actions
and behaviors easily, and it encourages multisensory involvement.
It helps you visualize—and generate imagery of—the proposed
workings of the system. CRC cards2 also have good cross-sensory,
tactile properties.
The next step is to emphasize cross-
Use cross-sensory
sensory feedback. Involving one extra
feedback.
sense is a good first step; now involve sev-
eral other senses and allow them to inter-
act. Suppose you take the design and do a couple of things to it:
• Write it down in your usual form.
• Draw a picture (not UML or an official diagram; just a picture).
What visual metaphor is appropriate?
• Describe it verbally.
• Engage in open discussion with your teammates; respond to
questions and criticisms, and so on.
1.
Improving Vocabulary Acquisition with Multisensory Instruction [DSZ07].
2.
Invented by Kent Beck and Ward Cunningham, each index card describes a
class, its responsibility, and any collaborators. CRC cards are a good start at looking at the dynamic properties of a system, not the static (as in a UML class diagram).
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• Act out the roles involved. (Any physical metaphors come to
mind? We’ll talk a lot about metaphors shortly.)
That last idea is quite powerful (and we’ll see it again a bit later);
see the sidebar on page 89 for a real-life example.
Notice that these activities begin to involve additional senses and
styles of interaction. When you involve an additional input mode,
you are activating more areas of the brain—you’re bringing more
processing power online, as it were.
Primary school educators have known for a long time that cross-
sensory feedback is a very effective way of increasing understand-
ing and retention. It’s a pretty well-established pedagogical tech-
nique. That’s probably why you were forced to create that dreaded
diorama of ancient Rome or the papier-mâché model of Pompeii in
grade school.
Your brain is always hungry for this kind
of additional, novel stimulus. It’s built to Feed your brain.
constantly adapt to a changing environ-
ment. So, change your environment regularly, and feed your brain.
Any sort of extrasensory involvement is probably helpful, whether
it’s a long walk though crunchy leaves with your dog, opening your
window and listening to the day’s weather (and actually smelling
some fresh air!), or just walking to the break room or down to the
gym (the air there is less fresh, but exercise is also very helpful for
better brain function).
4.2 Draw on the Right Side
I’ve claimed a number of times that we’re not using our R-mode
facilities as well as we might. Well, we’re going to do a little experi-
ment now to prove that and see how to deliberately get into a pure
R-mode cognitive state.
I’ve given many talks across the United States and Europe based
on the material that became this book. One of my favorite bits from
the talks is a simple survey question I ask the audience: tell me
how well you can draw. The results are always the same.
In a crowd of 100 technical types (programmers, testers, and man-
agers), maybe one or two folks claim to be able to draw very well.
Maybe another five to eight or so claim somewhat competent draw-
ing skills but nothing suitable for framing. The vast majority in
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every case agrees with my own self-assessment: we suck at draw-
ing. Just plain stink. There’s a reason for that.
Drawing is an R-mode activity. Actually,
“Drawing” is really
let me back up a moment and describe
about seeing.
what I mean by drawing. Drawing really
isn’t about making marks on paper. Any-
one with normal physical abilities can put the appropriate marks
on paper as required for drawing and sketching. The hard part isn’t
the drawing end; it’s the seeing. And this sort of visual perception
is very much an R-mode task.
The essence of the problem is that shared bus I showed you a while
back (in Chapter 3, This Is Your Brain, on page 57). The L-mode
is sitting there chatting away, actively blocking the R-mode from
doing its job. And interestingly enough, many popular leisure-time
activities can engage an R-mode flow that shuts down the chat-
ter of the L-mode: listening to music, drawing, meditation, jogging,
needlework, rock climbing, and so on.
To access the perceptual R-mode of the brain, it’s necessary to
present the brain with a job that the verbal, analytic L-mode
will turn down. Or as Jerre Levy (prominent Cal Tech student of
Sperry) says, you want to look at “setting up conditions that cause
you to make a mental shift to a different mode of information
processing—the slightly altered state of consciousness—that
enables you to see well.”
In the late 1970s, art teacher Dr. Betty
Limit cognitive
Edwards wrote the seminal work Drawing
interference.
on the Right Side of the Brain. It quickly
became a very popular technique to teach
drawing and sketching to those of us who weren’t quite getting it.
Expanding on the work of Sperry, Edwards realized that the rea-
son many people have difficulty drawing is because of the cognitive
interference from the dominant L-mode.
The L-mode is a symbolic machine; it rushes in quickly to provide
a symbolic representation for some sensory input. That’s great for
symbolic activities such as reading and writing but is not appro-
priate for other activities.
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Role-Playing
Johanna Rothman describes her experience using roles to
work through some design issues:
“The team was working on the project to save the com-
Pragmatic Thinking and Learning Page 10
