Can anyone become detail oriented or is it an ingrained trait? Popular science and psychology would have us believe the latter. Despite evidence to the contrary, the notion persists that humans are either “left-brained” creative or “right-brained” analytical. We would expect that the latter would be more sensitive to picking up details. Untrue. The theory—like many that characterize person- ality—is an oversimplification of neural activity: While some functions are localized in a particular hemisphere, studies show activity on both sides of the brain during the execution of most tasks, including those that require attention to detail. It’s a skill, and like most skills, it can be honed or neglected. So we can, in fact, train our senses to notice subtle details.

Memory play...