The Back of the Napkin Part 13

THE OLD PATHWAY.

The brain stem is also known as the reptilian brain, so called because it is the ancient core of our brain that we have in common with reptiles; it's the part of our brain responsible for our basic "fight or flight" survival skills. The relatively small number of visual signals captured here in the superior colliculus get pa.s.sed on to the pulvinar nucleus for rapid initial processing, and then on to the parietal lobes for final processing. This series of stops is called the old pathway, or the original where pathway, because the signals processed here tell us only one thing: where stuff is.

Our looking system includes our eyes and many parts of our brain. The older superior colliculus (SC) sits atop the brain stem; the newer lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) sits astride the neocortex.

Remember when we walked into the bowling alley and our minds instantly "read the room," establis.h.i.+ng the coordinates, orientation, and position of we ourselves and the objects around us? That's the job of this old where pathway. It doesn't provide any information about what we're seeing, or even identify anything by name-all this where pathway does is tell us if we're upright or not and whether something is zooming toward us. It doesn't even matter what that something is. If it's approaching, we're going to take action, simple as that.

No wonder reptiles don't seem too smart. The only vision system they have is limited to where information; they have no ability to learn to visually recognize and "name" the things they see. Try this: Throw a Nerf ball at a (human) friend's head. The first few times he'll duck, but once he realizes it won't hurt him, he'll have no problem standing still as it clobbers him. Now try it with an alligator. Although alligators have been on this planet for three hundred million years longer than people, they'll never figure out that they don't need to dodge Nerf b.a.l.l.s. They'll flinch no matter how many times you toss the Nerf ball at them. In fact, they'll try to eat you no matter what you throw at them.

The different response to Nerf b.a.l.l.s accounts for part of what happens with the other 90 percent of the visual signals that enter the human eye.

Ninety percent of incoming visual data flow from our eyes to our visual cortex via the LGN; 10 percent take a different path via the SC (a fact that has interesting implications).

THE NEW PATHWAYS.

The remaining 90 percent of the visual signals pa.s.s through a newer pathway along the lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN), our central "visual triage station" that sits across the front of the right and left lobes of the neocortex, the lumpy topside of the brain. The neocortex is the newest part of the human brain, originally appearing in mammals tens of millions of years ago and growing rapidly in humans only over the last million years or so. The neocortex is the part of our brain responsible for conscious thought, a.n.a.lytic decision making, naming, high-level processing-pretty much everything except basic survival (handled by the brain stem) and emotions (handled by the limbic brain, the layer between the reptilian brain and the neocortex).

After initial categorization in the LGN, the visual signals pa.s.s through our optic radiation wiring channels to the primary visual cortex located at the back of the brain. There the impulses go through a more rigorous collating procedure where they are broken apart into two other pathways: the what pathway to the temporal lobes, where objects get recognized and identified, and the new where pathway to the parietal lobes, where more detailed information on position, location, and orientation of objects is processed.

Interestingly, this newer where pathway has been shown to serve as the visual guide for our motor system, which allows us to position ourselves, know where objects are in relation to us, and reach out and grab them. Because of this dual duty-telling us where objects are and guiding us as we spatially interact with them-this second pathway is also referred to as the how pathway.

From the what and where/how pathways, the visual signals are then pa.s.sed on to any of thirty regions in the visual cortex where the really detailed processing takes place. From there... well, from there it's anybody's guess. So far, n.o.body really knows exactly what happens next. But from a visual thinking perspective-and this is what intrigues me-what we do know is that when we look at a scene, our vision system immediately breaks things down into distinct where and what information streams, each of which is initially processed independently. Then later, once the signals move into the higher processing centers of the brain, we can process the how much, the when, the how, and ultimately the why.

The point is this: It appears there may be a valid neurological reason why visually breaking a problem down into separate who/what, how much, where, and when components presents a powerful way of helping ourselves and others determine the hows and whys. It may simply be because that's one of the fundamental ways that our brains work.

How We See, Part 2: Right Brain Versus Left Brain In chapter 6 when I introduced the SQVID, I pointed out that by asking the five questions we force "both sides" of our brain into action. By now most people are familiar with the concept that the two hemispheres of our brains process information differently: The left hemisphere is a.n.a.lytic, piecing together small bits of data into linear, rational thoughts. This left side contains the brain centers responsible for both written and verbal language and most mathematical calculation. The right hemisphere, on the other hand, is synthetic, processing large and less well-defined blocks of information through imagery, pattern, and spatial orientation. This right side has a higher propensity for addressing complexity and ambiguity and appears to contain the centers of creativity.

These distinctions first came to light in the early 1970s through the research of psycho-biologist Roger W. Sperry and the "split-brain" operations performed by neurosurgeon Joseph Bogen. They reached popular culture mainly through the work of two women, one a writer and one an artist. Using Bogen's research as a starting point, Dr. Gabriele Rico wrote the landmark book Writing the Natural Way, which described how to take advantage of the creative tendencies of the right brain to a.s.sist the writing abilities of the left brain. Meanwhile, Dr. Betty Edwards wrote the cla.s.sic Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, which took a similar path and proposed that the act of drawing was a valid way for a.n.a.lytically inclined people to develop their creative abilities.

Both books quickly entered the public consciousness, and soon right-brain/left-brain a.n.a.logies were applied to everything from understanding the arts to the actions of the stock market. To this day, the distinctions provide a powerful model for dividing problem solving into two main schools: businesspeople who look at the world according to a rational, quant.i.tative perspective, and creative people who see the world in an emotional, qualitative way.

What I find most intriguing here is that vision processing appears to take place equally on both sides of the brain, possibly indicating that practicing visual thinking as I describe it here (active looking, seeing the 6 W's, using the SQVID, taking advantage of the <6><6> rule, etc.) activates both our a.n.a.lytic and creative capabilities in a way that neither speaking and writing nor drawing and doodling alone can match.

How We See, Part 3: The Things We Don't Know By rights, this should be the longest section in this appendix. Reviewing textbooks on vision science and speaking with professors of neurology always lead to the same point: We have only begun to scratch the surface on understanding how vision works. That said, between the ongoing work of neuroscientists, physicians, cognitive psychologists, computer-vision researchers, artificial intelligence engineers, and specialists in countless other fields related to vision, our understanding is growing at an exponential rate.

In a way, the acid test of knowing whether we really "get" how we see will be when we can create machines that see as we do. In laboratories, research centers, universities, business parks, and garages everywhere, some of the smartest people in the world are working on such machines right now. I suspect that within just a few years we will have computers that can look at a scene and immediately see the whos, whats, how muchs, wheres, and whens, then be able to draw their own conclusions about the hows and whys of the world as they "see" it. When that happens, I also suspect that the drawings they will make will look a lot like napkin sketches.

APPENDIX C.

RESOURCES FOR VISUAL THINKERS.

Software I've made it a point throughout this book to emphasize the problem-solving power of a pen in hand. Notebooks, napkins, and whiteboards should be the tools of choice for those looking to improve their innate visual thinking skills. That said, the unbeatable processing, storage, editing, and communication benefits of computers ensure that most of us work almost exclusively on them today.

Fortunately, in the two years since I originally wrote this appendix, two of the essential components of digital drawing have evolved enough to be useful for the on- the- road visual thinker. First, tablet PCs (those laptops which have screens we can draw on) have reached a maturity in hardware, software, and usability allowing spontaneous on-screen sketching that is (relatively) easy and (mostly) painless. (For a step- by- step walk-through of how to create and present "live" drawings using a tablet PC and Microsoft PowerPoint, please refer to my book Unfolding the Napkin: The Hands- On Method for Solving Complex Problems with Simple Pictures.) Second, online conferencing software (WebEx, GoToMeeting, etc.) is now reliable and fast enough to support live drawing effectively during virtual meetings. That means we can now draw our ideas out while colleagues in offices around the corner or around the world watch and comment. This ability to create, distribute, and record our drawings digitally is a game- changer.

Make no mistake, though: Even with the new technologies available to us, the best drawing tool is still a pen and a piece of paper or a whiteboard. The fact that we don't have to plug in a pen or boot up a whiteboard is part of what makes a low- tech approach so appealing. And since we're not dealing with software whose limitations inhibit our drawing, we're infinitely more spontaneous and thoughtful in our thinking. To record and distribute our real napkin (or paper or whiteboard) sketches, all we need is a cell phone with a camera: Shoot a picture of what we've drawn and e- mail it to anyone interested.

For those who must create the kinds of pictures described in this book using only software (and there are frequently compelling reasons to do so, especially when creating quant.i.tative, data-heavy, or multilayered pictures), I suggest the following (in each case, arranged from the lowest learning curve for the average businessperson to the highest): Portraits: Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, Adobe Ill.u.s.trator Charts: Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, Adobe Ill.u.s.trator Maps: Mindjet, Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, Microsoft Visio, Adobe Ill.u.s.trator Timelines: Microsoft PowerPoint, Microsoft Project, Graphus Flowcharts: Mindjet, Microsoft Visio Multiple-variable plots: Microsoft PowerPoint, Apple Keynote, Adobe Ill.u.s.trator Books The following list of books serves as both a bibliography and a resource for those wis.h.i.+ng to further explore visual thinking at the bookstore or library. These are all books that I found particularly inspiring and insightful while I was developing the ideas in this book.

CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVING.

Buzan, Tony. The Mind Map Book: How to Use Radiant Thinking to Maximize Your Brain's Untapped Potential. New York: Plume, 1996.

Degani, Asaf. Taming HAL: Designing Interfaces Beyond 2001. New York: Palgrave, 2004.

Gelb, Michael J. How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci: Seven Steps to Genius Every Day. New York: Delacorte, 1998.

Grandin, Temple. Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism. New York: Vintage, 2006.

Kelley, Tom. The Art of Innovation. New York: Doubleday, 2000.

Root-Bernstein, Robert and Michele. Sparks of Genius: The 13 Thinking Tools of the World's Most Creative People. New York: Mariner Books, 1999.

Sawyer, R. Keith. Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006.

Stafford, Tom, and Matt Webb. Mind Hacks: Tips & Tools for Using Your Brain. Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly, 2005.

Thorpe, Scott. How to Think Like Einstein: Simple Ways to Break the Rules and Discover Your Hidden Genius. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks, 2000.

Von Oech, Roger. A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative. New York: Warner Books, 1983.

Neurobiology and Vision Science Chalupa, Leo M., and John S. Werner. The Visual Neurosciences. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004.

Hawkins, Jeff, with Sandra Blakeslee. On Intelligence. New York: Times Books, 2004.

Palmer, Stephen E. Vision Science: Photons to Phenomenology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1999.

Ramachandran, V. S., and Sandra Blakeslee. Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind. New York: Harper Perennial, 1999.

VISUAL EXERCISES AND INSIGHTS FOR NONARTISTS (AND ARTISTS, TOO, OF COURSE!).

Arnheim, Rudolf. Visual Thinking. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1969.

DiSpezio, Michael A. Visual Thinking Puzzles. New York: Sterling, 1998.

Edwards, Betty. The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain. New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher, 1979.

Few, Stephen. Show Me the Numbers: Designing Tables and Graphs to Enlighten. Oakland, CA: a.n.a.lytics Press, 2004.

Tufte, Edward R . The Visual Display of Quant.i.tative Information. Ches.h.i.+re, CT: Graphics Press, 1983.

Wainer, Howard. Graphic Discovery: A Trout in the Milk and Other Visual Adventures. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2004.

Zelazny, Gene. Say It with Charts: The Executive's Guide to Visual Communication. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001.

OTHER NOTES ON SOURCES.

The story on Orit Gadiesh and the origin of the Bain & Co. logo was inspired by the article "Orit Gadiesh, Consulting in the Right Direction," which appeared in The Economist, October 20, 2005.

The story on Herb Kelleher, Rollin King, and the Southwest Airlines napkin was inspired by information found on the Southwest Web site at http://www.southwest.com/about_swa.

To attend one of Dan Roam's "back of the napkin" workshops, please register at www.thebackofthenapkin.com.

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