Section 2-2: Hemispheric Dominance Surveys
You've heard about people being "right-brained" or "left-brained," right? Let's take a look at what that means and how it can affect your study strategies.
Scientists tell us that the left side of the brain is actually where we do most of our thinking with language. This side of the brain likes things to be orderly and logical, too. A person who is "left-brained" tends to learn best in steps and to process things in words.
The right side of your brain works a bit differently. It tends to see things more as a whole and make intuitive leaps. If you are right-brained, the theory says that you work best with big ideas and then learn about the smaller parts.
Now this is not to say that the two sides of your brain are totally separate or that one side works better than the other. That's not true at all. It's just that part of your learning style is whether you prefer to learn the big picture first and then looking at the pieces or whether you do better putting the pieces together one by one to reach a big idea.
You probably have a preference for one style or the other, just like you had a preference for visual, auditory or kinesthetic learning. Understand your natural preference, and you can choose study strategies to match, or you can pay special attention when the activity isn't such a close match to what you'd like.
It's a lot like which hand you use. If you are right-handed, you generally use that hand, but you can use your left when you need to. You can pick things up with it, you can turn pages, you can do most tasks that you often do with your right hand.
Try This!
Get a piece of paper and a pencil. Write your name as you usually do. Try it in
cursive and in manuscript or printing. Now, change hands. Try writing your name with your nondominant hand.
What do you notice? Most people find that when they write with their nondominant hand, they make letters more slowly, the lines are shaky and less accurate, and it's more difficult to get them to sit on the lines of the paper. BUT, the version of your name written with the wrong hand is generally legible. Someone else could read it.
You may prefer to write with one hand, but you can write with the other if you needed to. You're just far more efficient with your dominant hand. Now, try another experiment.
Get a new piece of paper. Use your nondominant hand. PRACTICE writing your name for at least twenty tries. Compare your first attempt with your last attempt. Notice any difference?
One of two things probably happened. Either your writing got steadier and less shaky, or it got faster. Which one happened to you? Why do you think that was so?
Care to take a guess about your dominant hemisphere? Do you think you are right-brained (whole picture, intuitive, less organized) or left-brained (parts go together to make wholes, logical, language oriented)? Write your guess down now.
Now try the inventory below. You might need to click on the link on the left side that says "Hemispheric Dominance Test." It will give you information about which side of your brain might be dominant.
So what do you think? Do the traits listed sound a bit like you? If you were stronger on the left-brained side, the science says that you probably
- tend to think in a straight-line, logical manner
- work from first to last
- use symbolic tools, like letters and numbers, instead of pictures
- examine information bit by bit
- put information into words and sentences
- are strongly driven to follow rules and regulations
If you were more right-brained, then you probably
- see the whole picture first then learn about the details
- do things without regard to order
- prefer concrete, hands-on learning situations
- get hunches or "just know" when something is right
- think in pictures and graphics
- consider rules to be less important than the 'big picture.'
(c) 2010 Sandy Fleming