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Breadth and flexibility vs focus and grasp
McGilchrist starts by discussing the fundamental importance of attention for his thesis.
As explained in Chapter 1 in relation to birds, which have to attend to feeding at the same time as being alert to prey, the right hemisphere’s attention is open, global, and flexible, whereas the left hemisphere’s attention is selective, local and narrowly focussed.
Alertness, vigilance and sustained attention are all reliant on the right hemisphere. Focussed attention is reliant on the left hemisphere. These different types of attention bring different aspects of the world into being.
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The new vs the known
New information, new skills and new experiences engage the right hemisphere more than the left hemisphere, but once these have become familiar (known) they become the concern of the left hemisphere. The left hemisphere prefers what it knows. Its process is predictive.
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Possibility vs predictability
The right hemisphere is more capable of a frame shift, more flexible, more open to an array of possibilities and possible solutions to problems. It can play devil’s advocate. The left hemisphere suppresses what it doesn’t know and denies discrepancies. We need both these approaches, but they pull in opposite directions.
Integration vs division
The left hemisphere is more focally organised, and more closely interconnected with itself. It deals with what it already knows. The right has a more profuse and diffusely organised structure. It recognises broad or complex patterns and sees the bigger picture.
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Continue to: Hemisphere Differences (2) The hierarchy of attention;The whole vs the part; Context vs abstraction; Individuals vs categories; The differences in sameness
Links
Link to: Chapter 2 Commentary
Link to: Image Credits
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