May 2001

Browsing through the various chapters of a "Japan As It Is" handbook I came across an interesting article. It was written about a Dr. Tsunoda Tadanobu of the Tokyo Medical + Dental University and how he observed how the left hemisphere of brains of Japanese seem to be responsible for carrying out processes that allow logical deduction as well as emotional interpretation of stimuli. According to Tadanobu, this is different from how western brains seem to function where logic and emotion are hemispherically isolated in the left and right respectively. Tsunoda claims these observations of functional differentiation could distinguish between Westerners and Japanese in how they behave at concerts to how they confront nature. The article ends by saying that this theory has "become extremely popular as a scientific explanation for Japan's distinctive patterns of culture and logic".

The brief article of course doesn't go into methodologlcal detail but says that the brains "reacted to a variety of sounds differently". These sounds are non-verbal emotional or natural (non-human). I assume that Japanese and Western subjects were being scanned to measure brain activity while hearing these sounds.

For the theory to hold it must assume that all brains are pre-programmed from conception onwards to develop into a specified culture-producing organ. A "we are who we are because our brains were built to function a certain way ever since we were bouncing little zygotes" stance. But it is well known and proven that properties of the brain are greatly influenced by one's environmental surroundings. Therefore, differing brain functions can then be attributed to growing up in a variety of cultural environments (as well as other types of surroundings). That would mean that culture would contribute to the shaping of brain function and thus mean that differing brain function would be a symptom rather than a cause of cultural differences. This is another story completely from that proposed by Tsunoda! Other possibilities are also worthy of being considered but I don't have time or space to mention them.

Lately human kind has made huge strides in understanding brain function and foreign cultures. Connections made between them though is a whole other matter that is complicated to say the least and is not at the stage where even speculation goes beyond... well... speculation. Though progress in knowledge of the brain has sky-rocketed in the past 20 years, it's still only relative to our previous ignorance. The brain is an intriguing... thing... that can be connected to anything and everything we do. The recent strides in brain discovery have made it tempting for anyone to make an intellectually stimulating if not satisfying explanation of human behavior patterns. But, from a scientific view point, a red flag alerting of speculation can easily be raised when "could be" assertions are just as easily rebutted with "but could not be" assertions. I'm afraid the theory I consider now is such a "could be" assertion (please note that doesn't imply that it is wrong), it's a shame and a relief. It's a shame that such a premature notion seems to have become almost common knowledge (or a common notion); a kind of knowledge that could give excuse to cultural narrow-mindedness and to cultural misunderstandings left as a neuronal stale mate to discourage people from constantly pushing towards a broader view of one another. But it is, of course, a relief as well; otherwise I could have ended up having uncontrollable Viking tendencies expressed by going out and pillaging my town in a drunken rage every Friday and Saturday night. In that respect, I wonder what I would have missed out on if later I find out that Tsunoda was right after all. In other respects, I am sure I would have missed out on too much.

Peter Sergo

Posted on May 2001 in the following categories: Opinions, Stories and Information | TrackBack(11)