I’m frequently sent unsolicited emails from chancers and PR companies asking me to guest post this or publicise that. Some even go to the trouble of addressing their requests to me personally rather than some generic pleas for attention. My normal practice is to ignore this unwanted correspondence unless it seems to come from an actual human being who has actually engaged with the content of the blog, in which case they get a polite refusal. Never have I been moved to actually post any of the guff I’ve been sent.

Until now.

Today this dropped into my inbox:

Stuart Morris - Left and Right brain infographic

Frankly, I feel incensed to be sent such obvious and unmitigated garbage. It’s so bad and so wrong that I just had to share it with the world. Honestly, I really thought we’d moved on, but apparently people still believe in this nonsense.

Like all good myths it’s based on a kernel of truth – our brains are divided and the left hemisphere is concerned with language and reason whilst the right is concerned with creativity and emotion, but the idea that anyone is predominantly either right or left brained is just untrue: we need both hemispheres to do anything and everything. There is no such thing as a right-brain or left-brain learner.

If you’re interested in finding out exactly why it’s such pernicious, unhelpful dross, take a look at some of these links:

I could go on. And on. And on. If you want more please feel free to google it for yourself.

For a much more subtle discussion about the divided brain, I can heartily recommend this talk by Iain McGilchrist which Chris Parson shared with me in the comments below:

Anyway, the moral of this story is, do have a bit of think before asking me to share your fascinating infographics with my readers.