Difference between Left and Right Brain Functions/difference table

Left and Right Brain Functioning

As the child’s brain matures, various functions become lateralized to the left or right hemisphere. The left hemisphere is associated with logical, analytical thought, with mathematical and linear processing of infor­mation. The right hemisphere perceives and remembers visual, tactile, and auditory images; it is more efficient in processing holistic, integrative, and emotional information. Torrance (1980) lists several characteristics of left and right-brain dominance. Left and Right Brain Functioning difference

While we can cite many differences between left- and right-brain characteristics, it is important to remember that the left and right hemispheres operate together as a “team.” Through the corpus collosum, messages are sent back and forth so that both hemispheres are involved in most of the neurological activity of the human brain. Most problem solving involves the capacities of both hemispheres, and often the best solutions to problems are those in which each hemisphere has participated optimally.We must also remember Scovel’s warning that left-and right- brain differences tend to draw more attention than the research warrants at the present time. Left and Right Brain Functioning difference

Nevertheless, the left-/right-brain construct helps to define another useful learning style continuum, with implications for second language learning and teaching. Danesi (1988), for example, used “neurological bimodality” to analyze the way in which various language teaching methods have failed: by appealing too strongly to left-brain processes, past methods were inadequately stimulating important right-brain processes in the language classroom. Krashen, Seliger, and Hartnett (1974) found support for the hypothesis that left-brain-dominant second language learners preferred a deductive style of teaching, while right-brain-dominant learners appeared to be more successful in an inductive classroom environment. Stevick (1982) concluded that left-brain-dominant second language learners are better at producing separate words, gathering the specifics of language, carrying out sequences of operations, and dealing with abstraction, classification, labeling, and reorganization. Right-brain-dominant learners, on the other hand, appear to deal better with whole images (not with reshuffling parts), with generalizations, with metaphors, and with emotional reactions and artistic expressions. This may suggest a greater need to perceive whole meanings in those early stages, and to ana­lyze and monitor oneself more in the later stages. Left and Right Brain Functioning difference

Difference between Left and Right Brain Functioning