Dual core processing

I'm reading one of the best books EVER right now (and I do mean EVER), called 'Pragmatic thinking and learning' by Andy Hunt. The reason I like it so much is because it links my interest in IT and in psychology/biology (I did one year of Psychology at the KUL but failed).

Andy talks about the brain as a dual core processor, where CPU1 is the L-mode (lineair or also called left mode, but this is less correct) of the brain and CPU2 is the R-mode (rich mode or right mode). There also is a contention at the message bus level that allows communication between the two, which implies that only 1 mode can dominate your brain at a certain moment in time. In this context he explains why in eXtreme Programming 'pairing' is so important. If you 'drive' you brain uses the L-mode to deal with the words, correct syntax. High level patterns and relations are made by the R-mode however. This is why sometimes your navigator says 'and if you refactor this bit here out, we can re-use it in that other place'. He also explains that this is the reason that when you're not pairing and you face a difficult problem it's important to step away from your desk, giving your R-mode a chance to kick in. I used to experience this in the past when I still smoked. Often the solution to a problem came during my sigarette break!

Fa-sci-na-ting stuff. To be continued no doubt...I'm off buying an Andy poster.