Posted by Davy on June 16th, 2008 in Misc.
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Brain, that is.

Over the weeken, the Wall Street Journal published the story of Charles Wolf, who has been battling brain cancer for several years and in that time, also beating the market. What’s interesting about his case is that the cancer is on the left side of his brain.

I’ve always been very good at skills traditionally associated with the left side of the brain: math, analytical skills, etc. and I’ve attributed whatever non-luck success I’ve had in the markets so far to my left brain attributes. Halfway through college (10 years ago or so), I decided that I didn’t want to be the nerdy Asian kid anymore and started learning an instrument and playing music. Eventually, I gave up my computer programming career, took a low-responsibility job and focused on creating music for a few years. Hopefully, this allowed me to develop the right side of the brain which is traditionally associated with creativity, spatial and other non-quantitative attributes.

I bring this all up because according to the article, it’s possible that Mr. Wolf’s brain cancer on the left side may be helping him beat the market:

An almost obsessive focus is characteristic of people with left-brain damage who are using their right brains more, Dr. Miller says. Research suggests that the left brain ordinarily serves as a traffic cop, imposing order on the vast information available from the right brain. Researchers believe left-brain damage may allow people to bypass preconceived ideas.

“A person with a left-brain lesion might be much more attendant to the actual details involved with a stock, oblivious to its history and its fashion,” says Prof. Allan Snyder, director of the Centre for the Mind at the University of Sydney in Australia.

“Emotional intelligence and gut feelings are much more on the right side of the brain,” says Orrin Devinsky, professor of neurology at New York University. “By looking at 12 pieces of information from the right hemisphere,” Dr. Devinsky says, an investor may enhance his analytical abilities.

While I’ve always thought that combining the right-brain traits like imagination and intuition with the left-associated logic and analytical tendencies would be a superior combination, it is surprising to see the implications in this article as it relates to investing. Definitely worthy of further study and for those inclined to explore their artistic sides, I heartily recommend Betty Edwards’ The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain.