Right Brain versus Left Brain

[Macbow]

OK forgive me if this is a gross generalisation but it seems to ring true in my archery circles.
Most of the trad shooters I know could be broadly described as arty/creative types - sculptors, painters, musicians etc often with interests in nature, eastern philosophy including martial arts and yoga. What has been described as Right Brain dominant.
The compound guys I know, and once again this is just my experience, are aircraft technicians, engineers, mechanics, computer techs with interests in cars, motorbikes etc.
I have a theory that if you are right brain dominant you naturally gravitate towards the trad side and left brain archers are more comfortable with high tech, precision stuff; that if you are left brain dominant but shooting a longbow you might feel somehow more at home with a compound. The opposite applies.
Me, I play the guitar and didgeridoo, and have deep interests in photography, tai chi, many outdoor pursuits and I make as much of my traditional archery stuff as possible. I love the whole arrowmaking process and by next season i hope to be shooting my own bows.
Does anyone else have a creative/arty side and what kind of bow do you shoot?

[robtattoo]

I shoot recurve & use both sides of my brain!

Actually, this puts me in a bit of a quandry (or maybe it reveals me to be an all round trend-bucker) but, I'm an engineer with a love of custom bikes & cars, yet I prefer shooting my traditional, bare recurve to my target bow. Nowhere near as accurate on target, but I just love the feel of shooting instinctively, with traditional kit! (Can't wait for that Pronghorn to arrive!!)

[Thunk]

I'm an astrophysicist with interests in photography, sailing, birdwatching and Buddhism - and I shoot target recurve.

It's a no-brainer!

[Max]

I am an engineer (light engineering), done everything from clockmaking to watercolour painting - love recurve, but currently shooting compound - however, left handed. Go figure! Not sure which bit of my brain controls what, but when I find it, I am going to give it a good kicking!

[Raedwald]

Me, I've worked in the computer industry for nigh on 30 years, starting as a mainframe op, moving through programming, systems analysis and design, software evaluation, server and desktop build (hardware and software). My home PC's (of which there are 5 around me) mostly run Linux, and I'm in the process of teaching myself the basics of PERL.

I can't draw a straight line even with the aid of a ruler! There's some musical tendencies (guitar/voice/bohdran), and as for philosophy, I suppose the best definition is Conservative Evangelical Christian! So no Eastern (or should that be Easton?? ) thought there!

I'm a member of a field club, shoot wooden arrows from a one piece hunter recurve. The only thing that keeps me from going to longbow is I couldn't afford the expensive firewood! (one of our more experienced longbowmen managed to snap 2 towards the end of last year!)

I love being an awkward so-&-so! Brings on a whole new meaning to "Non Conformist!"

[wingate_52]

I am and have been a teecher for the last 33 years. trained as a handicraft teeecher at Shoredith College, Egham ,Surrey just outside Windsor park.I now teech Design Teknolgy from 11 to 19 year old pupils (having teeched some of their parents and grandparents also). I build electric and acoutic guitars and basses as a non paying hobby.Building a headless electric travel guitar at this moment in time. I am good with computers and cad/cam and graphics programs as well as all disciplines of skool tecknoly including advanced paper-folding and form filling. I was really into the idea of the compund bow having shot one for 3 hours at Archery World oop north. But my club said the recurve was the way to go at least until I was ded good. Being ded good, I am committed to the recurve (and shoot a longbow secretly until I am ded good with that an all) for the foreseeable future.
I used to shoot my own crossbow once upon a time. The club won't let me shoot that either.

[Mick]

!!!!! .... Is it me?

[provins]

No Mick,
I think someone is definitely taking the rise........r

[Macbow]

Originally Posted by Mick

!!!!! .... Is it me?

I'll try again. It is becoming more accepted that one half of the brain dominates when we process information. This theory is being explored in education as it affects how students learn. In simplistic terms engineers, mechanics and linear thinkers are Left Brain Dominant. RBD thinkers prefer to break a process down into separate stages in order to execute it. They are methodical, organised, logical and can follow complex verbal instructions.
RBD thinkers need to see the whole before they can understand the parts that make it up. They think intuitively and emotionally, are usually more creative and artistic and are happier to bend the rules to suit themselves. They need to write things down in order to remember them.
Brain dominance has implications for the jobs and recreational pursuits that we follow and our ultimate sense of happiness.
So in order to be a more complete & rounded thinker there are studies being done to devise techniques for students to involve both hemispheres in information processing.
Most classroom/lecture situations are based on LBD principles and probably most archery classes. Understanding how people think can affect how they are taught.
My original question was about whether traditional "instinctive" archers were more artistically creative (and therefore RB dominant). Perhaps one reason I am a trad archer is the "proper" archery process of executing the shot did my head in. All I wanted to do was put an arrow where I was looking. Rather than feel inferior struggling with techniques I could not grasp I moved to trad where I feel fulfilled and happy.
Knowing which half of your brain is dominant may affect how you feel about archery and what you get out of it. For trad archers struggling to be competitively good it might be worth looking at some of the studies to get the Left Brain more involved. For recurve/compound archers thinking about packing it all in because you just can't reach a certain score maybe it's not your fault because you are RB dominant.
It was just a thought - a complicated one - but I'm Right Brain dominant and find it hard to explain stuff! Actually I've bored myself so I'll give up now

[Cakemeister]

There are peopel who shoot both disciplines. I guess I'm somewhere between a teacher & IT consultant & business manager, play guitar, write stuff & shoot recurve. This may mean my brain is fighting amongst itself.

No surprises there then.