Friday, December 16, 2011

Zen for Western Men and Women

Today, interesting findings from UT-Dallas and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign reveal cultural difference in how our brains are organized and the way they function.  The differences fall in the prefrontal cortex and perceptual areas of the brain.  In Western thinkers, the prefrontal cortex is thicker, and in Eastern brains the perceptual centers are larger.  This means that when people of different cultures look at this:


They notice and remember different things.  Western viewers may look at the fish (called coy), and Eastern viewers may notice the water ripples, the light spectacle, and only modestly pay attention to smaller, individual elements in the scene.  It is unclear if these differences are purely cultural or biological in a more pure measure (dietary, genetic, environmental) or a mixture of both.  Additionally, this holds some value to those designing for media that reaches globally, for example, media on the internet.

As a side note:  How can we use this kind of thought processing to our advantage in society?
Well, another study showed zen meditation helped people from suffering too much from pain. It is because exercising the brain tends to thicken areas of the brain responsible for those tasks.  In the case of zen, researchers guess, the awkward sitting position and the activity of focusing on something else in zen meditation builds pain tolerance.  So, going on a business trip to the Orient and you need to fit in?  Take five minutes a day to look at photographs and attempt to see the image holistically.  Having trouble being a detail oriented person in fast paced Western society?  Take a moment with single minded focus on a candle flame, or a rose, or other object.  Sit and just take it in, notice the details.  Try to relax, and after five minutes of this exercise a day for a few weeks you should be a better student, worker, and pain bearer than you were before.  Western or Eastern, meditation sits here to stay.

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