Creative Eye Movements

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It is generally accepted that creative thinking is dependent, in large, on the right brain hemisphere. While the right hemisphere is great at coming up with interesting ideas, it is not that good at communicating such ideas logically. It is the left brain hemisphere that is in charge of logical thinking and clear communication. Thus the best creative ideas are those ideas that can be communicated clearly and therefore requires both one’s left and right brain hemispheres to work together.

According to recent research, published in Brain and Cognition, one can actually stimulate left-right hemispherical “cross-talk” by rapidly moving your eyes from left to right for half a minute. When subjects did this before completing a creative task the results were “surpising[ly]” better than that of the control group.

So next time you need to come up with creative ideas, begin with rapidly moving your eyes from side to side.

I can just imagine a chairperson of a meeting asking all attendees to do this exercise before they brainstorm some marketing ideas. Now picture someone, maybe the assistant bringing in the coffee, walking into this scene. What do you imagine the assistant will think?

“O shucks! Someone poisoned them before I could.”

“Quick, call 911! They’re having a group epileptic fit!”

“Another mass demon possession; these people are so unprofessional. Don’t they know not to mix business with séances?!”

“O good! They are downloading the latest report from headquarters. That gives me about five minutes for a quick smoke break.”

Feel free to add some in the comments.