One of the most common ideas a career counselor refers to is the notion that the brain is divided into two halves. Counselors use this theory to classify their clients and prescribe an appropriate occupation. The leftbrained person is supposed to excel in any job that demands logical, sequential and analytical thinking. The rightbrained person usually does better in a career that uses creativity and intuition.

Most scientists who study the brain will tell you that this theory is bunk. While some people may thrive in science or art, their natural predilections for one does not preclude them from grasping the other.  

On Thursday, Jan. 10, author Jonah Lehrer will speak in Portsmouth about his new book, “Proust Was a Neuroscientist,” which shows how eight artists and writers made significant contributions to scientific discovery through their lifelong study of the human psyche. Lehrer, who lives in Concord, is an editor for Seed Magazine, which covers the intersection of science and culture. He will speak at RiverRun Bookstore on Congress Street at 7 p.m.

Lehrer is versed in both science and art. After earning a degree in neuroscience from Columbia University, he went to the University of Oxford to study 20th century literature and theology on a Rhodes Scholarship. “Religion, science and art are the three grand ways of knowing, and I was interested in their overlap,” Lehrer said in a recent phone interview with The Wire.
It was during his time at Columbia that Lehrer first stumbled across the idea behind his new book. At the time, he was studying under neuroscientist Eric Kandel, who specializes in the biology of memory. During the inevitable downtime of lab work, while processing tests and waiting for results, Lehrer started bringing in novels to pass the time. At one point, he brought in “Swann’s Way” by the French author Marcel Proust, who used literature to explore various aspects of memory.
“I got enthralled with this Proustian soap opera. He had very modern ideas of memory and neuroscience,” Lehrer said. This initial discovery led Lehrer to look closely at eight of his favorite artists and writers to see if they, too, contributed to science in any significant way.

He found that the French painter Paul Cezanne made critical observations about how the brain interprets sight. He also discovered that American poet Walt Whitman had an early understanding of the biological basis of human thoughts. Lehrer also observed how the French chef Auguste Escoffier connected taste and smell in the human brain. (In addition to his many other accomplishments, Lehrer was a line cook at Le Cirque 2000 and Le Bernardin, in New York.) Of course, he also looks at Proust, who dissected the process of remembering by describing his childhood experiences.

As artists interpret sight, taste, touch, sound and smell, their brains process the senses and reproduce them through a certain medium. By doing so, artists get to know how their minds work. The artists in Lehrer’s book paid “exquisite attention to their mind from the inside. It was necessary for artists to write about the brain to know about the brain. Artists have been studying the mind for a long time,” Lehrer said.

As artists studied the mind from within, scientists started looking at the brain from the outside. According to Lehrer, modern science has broken down the brain into its various components.

“Scientists have a very strict definition of truth—the truth of the brain as molecules and genes and that stuff, which is very valid and very important and necessary. But that’s not the only way to describe the brain. You don’t have to break it apart to understand it. You don’t experience neurons in frontal experience,” Lehrer said.

“Proust Was a Neuroscientist” is Lehrer’s attempt to unite two different methods of studying the brain, in order to get a broader understanding of how humans think.

“The aim of the book is to imagine a dialogue between art and science. What would they have to talk about? Right now, there isn’t a dialogue. They aren’t talking to each other, which has led to a detriment of both cultures,” he said. Lehrer talks about a third culture, in which science and art function together. “I try to imagine what this culture would look like if it lived up to its goal of obtaining a richer, more realistic idea of the brain.” 

Most of the artists in Lehrer’s book are from the modernist camp, but he also points to contemporary artists, who are still pushing the envelope of scientific inquiry. The two examples he gave were Ian McEwan, author of “Saturday,” and Richard Powers, author of “Galatea 2.2” and “The Echo Maker.” 

In addition to his work with Seed Magazine, Lehrer’s writing has been in Nature, NPR, NOVA, ScienceNow and the MIT Technology Review. He also writes a blog, known as the Frontal Cortex. At RiverRun, the 26-year-old author will read excerpts from his new book and sign copies for fans. For more information, call the bookstore at 603-431-2100.