Mata

Differences Between Left and Right Hemisphere

One way of looking at learning styles is to determine your hemispheric dominance. Are you more right brained or left brained?  We know that the cerebral cortex is the part of the brain that houses rational functions. It is divided into two hemispheres connected by a thick band of nerve fibers (the corpus callosum) which sends messages back andforth between the hemispheres. And while brain research confirms that both sides of the brain are involved in nearly every human activity, we do know that the left side of the brain is the seat of language and processes in a logical and sequential order. The right side is more visual and processes intuitively, holistically, and randomly. Most people seem to have a dominant side. A key word is that ourdominance is a preference, not an absolute. When learning is new, difficult, or stressful we PREFER to learn in a certain way. It seems that our brain goes on autopilot to the preferred side. And while nothing is entirely isolated on one side of the brain or the other, the characteristics commonly attributed to each side of the brain serve as an appropriate guide for ways of learning things moreefficiently and ways of reinforcing learning. Just as it was more important for our purposes to determine that memory is stored in many parts of the brain rather than learn the exact lobe for each part, likewise it is not so much that we are biologically right brain or left brain dominant, but that we are more comfortable with the learning strategies characteristics of one over the other. What youare doing is lengthening your list of strategies for learning how to learn and trying to determine what works best for you. You can and must use and develop both sides of the brain. But because the seat of our preferences probably has more neural connections, learning may occur faster. This section will look a t some differences between left and right brain preferences. Be on the look out forpractical strategies that work for you.

Brain Hemispheres

The brain is divided into left and right hemispheres. Each hemisphere controls its own unique set of activities or tasks. The right side of the brain tends to be more dominant in creative activities, while the left side of the brain tends to be more dominant in logical or analytical activities. These hemispheres communicate with eachother through a large bundle of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum, and through several smaller nerve pathways.
The right side of the brain is more visual oriented, involved in activities such as visual imagery and face recognition. The right side of the brain tends to view information as a whole, rather than as individual details. It also tends to process information more intuitively orrandomly. The right side of the brain is involved in spacial abilities, such as judging the position of things in space, and knowing your body position.
The left side of the brain processes information more logically or sequentially. The left side of the brain is dominant in understanding and using language, including listening, reading, speaking and writing. It is involved in the memory for spokenand written messages, and plays a major role in the analysis of information.
The right side of the brain controls muscles on the left side of the body. It also receives sensory information from the left side of the body. The left side of the brain controls muscles on the right side of the body, and receives sensory information from the right side of the body.
The following table summarizes keydifferences between the left and right sides of the brain.
Right Brain | Left Brain |
Holistic, big-picture oriented | Linear, details oriented |
Random processing oriented | Sequential or list oriented |
Concrete processing oriented | Symbolic processing oriented |
Intuitive decision making | Logical decision making |
Non-verbal processing oriented | Verbal processing oriented |...