Greetings, Friendlies. :)
In The Master and His Emissary Iain McGilchrist says that one explanation of why hemisphere lateralization arose is the evolutionary advantage to a single organism having two types of attention. One attention is focused, capable of discerning objects from their background, breaking things into parts. This attention dwells in the left hemisphere. There is also a broader attention, capable of seeing holistically, more attentive to relationship than to object. This attention dwells in the right hemisphere. [1]
“There is a need to focus attention narrowly and with precision, as a bird, for example, needs to focus on a grain of corn that it must eat, in order to pick it out from, say, the pieces of grit on which it lies. At the same time there is a need for open attention, as wide as possible, to guard against a possible predator.”
“If we pull back a bit from this same distinction between focussed attention and open attention, we could see it as part of a broader conflict, expressed as a difference in context, in what world we are inhabiting. On the one hand, there is the context, the world, of ‘me’ – just me and my needs, as an individual competing with other individuals, my ability to peck that seed, pursue that rabbit, or grab that fruit. I need to use, or to manipulate, the world for my ends, and for that I need narrow-focus attention.” (Left Hemisphere.) [Emphasis added.]
“On the other hand, I need to see myself in the broader context of the world at large, and in relation to others … I have a need to take account of myself as a member of my social group, to see potential allies, and beyond that to see potential mates and potential enemies. Here I may feel myself to be part of something much bigger than myself, and even existing in and through that ‘something’ that is bigger than myself – [my flock or pack as an example] … This requires less of a wilfully directed, narrowly focussed attention, and more of an open, receptive, widely diffused alertness to whatever exists, with allegiances outside of the self.” (Right Hemisphere.)
Sound familiar? A spotlight (Left Hemisphere) and floodlight (Right Hemisphere) attention, that seems to be coupled with a stronger identification of an individuated self (Left Hemisphere) versus an understanding of embeddedness in a larger whole (Right Hemisphere). [2]
With friendliness!
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[1] In CH 1 of M&HE McGilchrist discusses at least 26 studies across the vertebrate pantheon indicating that focussed attention resides in the Left Hemisphere, open attention in the Right Hemisphere.
[2] Am only through CH1 of M&HE. I am guessing you will hear much (much) more about this individuated-self-business in future.
Dharma PhD 