We were talking this morning about the human brain and more specifically the folds in the human brain.
These large grooves are called fissures - the smaller ones being called sulci, and the bigger outward folds being called gyri. This brain shape phenomena developed as the size and complexity of the human brain grew and evolved but the size of the human skull remained relatively unchanged.
The brain matter ‘sausaged’ itself into folds so that more of it could fit in the skull so we could have more and more complex thoughts without heads so large and heavy that our necks would break and human evolution cease altogether.
Much of our brain activity takes place on the outer layer of cells on the brain’s surface- so it makes sense to pack the brain into the skull in a way that allows for greater overall surface volume. On top of this our brains generate a vast amount of heat that a greater surface area allows us to release more efficiently - the science behind the winter wisdom of the bobble hat and the Victorian night cap.
So these are the benefits. Lots of short wave brain connections in the outer layers of brain cells and more efficient heat emissions. But there’s a way in which the very brilliance of the human brain’s design may indeed be limiting our own human brilliance.
The thing is – connections can’t jump across folds. So for all the connections we can and do make on a daily basis – there are some that remain separated, perhaps forever.
Think about the brain like Hampton Court maze. You go into the maze and try to find your way around it. You get lost down one of the many neural hedgeways when suddenly you bump into someone. You ask them if they know the way out but they don’t have anything to offer other than to join hands and continue a trial and error approach. That was the sum of possible connection in this branch of the brain maze. You have no idea who else is in the maze, if indeed anyone is. And if there is someone over the other side of the maze with additional information that might help you solve your dilemma, you’ll probably never find them.
Now imagine those folds and folds of hedge suddenly open up into a huge open perimeter and you can see everyone who was in the maze. Suddenly an open, loud, dialogue can take place between all of you on how to find the exit in the hedge in the best possible way. Or one of them might have a better idea like cracking open their champagne hamper and not bothering with an exit at all. Suddenly a whole range of possibilities open up in this smooth, open maze.
This condition of a fold-less brain in humans is known as Lessencephaly (or ‘Smooth Brain’) syndrome and often results in the sufferer developing an unusually small head. The gene-linked condition can lead to various physical and psycho-motor retardations. But even if the brain could somehow be stretched out in this way but retain its full volume and capacity, the size of such a fold-less, smooth brain on top of our current skeletal frame would kill us.
But what if we were even able to open up a small section of the maze. If just a bit of our brain didn’t have the standard fissures and barrier to brand new connections?
Could this small gift of cerebral open innovation turn us into some kind of Einstein?
Well, yes, that’s exactly what it could do. And indeed, what it did, for none other than Einstein himself.
Research published in the Canadian Lancet of Einstein’s preserved brain suggest that his intelligence may actually have been related in part to the absence of a fissure in a brain area involved in mathematical thinking, the inferior parietal lobe. So the connections he was able to make in order to come up with the theory of relativity, understand light and conceive of the idea that led to the creation of the atomic bomb – were due in part to the fact that no gyri or sulci brain fold barriers stood in the way of him making those connections in that part of his brain.
For now, however, our maze brains are the best evolution has to offer the human race.
But what if we applied our new Maze-Brain theory to organisations? What if all those folds and barriers broke down and suddenly every possible connection between every person, system and process in the organisation could be made? Look what Einstein came up with by the reduction of only one barrier. Imagine what ideas and innovations could arise with total open maze thinking within an organisation.
It could be…a-maze-ing.
Philippa
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