Brain Usage Profile

[handslive]

Auditory : 47%
Visual : 52%
Left : 66%
Right : 33%

Handslive, you are somewhat left-hemisphere dominant with a balanced preference for auditory and visual inputs. Because of your "centrist" tendencies, the distinctions between various types of brain usage are somewhat blurred.

Your tendency to be organized and logical and attend to details is reasonably well-established which should afford you success regardless of your chosen field of endeavor, unless it requires total spontaneity and ability to improvise, your weaker traits. However, you are far from rigid or overcontrolled. You possess a degree of individuality, perceptiveness, and trust in your intuition to function at much more sophisticated levels than most.

Having given sufficient attention to detail, you can readily perceive the larger aspects and implications of a situation or of learning. You are functional and practical, but can blend abstraction and theory into your framework readily.

The equivalence of your auditory and visual learning orientation gives you two equally effective sensory input systems, each with distinctive features. You can process both unidimensionally and multidimensionally with equal facility. When needed, you sequence material while at other times you "intake it all" and store it for processing later.

Your natural ability to use your senses is also synthesized in your way of learning. You can be reflective in your approach, absorbing material in a non-aggressive manner, and at other times voracious in seeking out stimulation and experience.

Overall you tend to be somewhat more critical of yourself than is necessary and avoid enjoying life too much because of a sense of duty. You feel somewhat constrained and tend to sometimes restrict your expressiveness. In any given situation, you will opt for the rational, and learning of almost any type should be easy for you. You might need certain ideas explained to you in order to fit them into your scheme of things, but you're at least open to that!

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The most interesting thing here is the balance between auditory and visual. There was a time, around junior high (like 13-15 years old), when I was very weak in auditory learning. Taking martial arts had a strong influence on my learning style. They haven't included any questions regarding kinesthetic learning, which is different again from auditory or visual and can be a difficult approach to follow if one is unaccustomed to it.

This leads haphazardly into some thinking I've done over the last few years about learning. Many essays on teaching and learning that I've read suggest that the instructor should try to teach in all three modes to ensure reaching the entire class. Some also recommend that the student identify which type they are. I believe that, while people may have a pre-disposition to one approach and will always do better that way, it is possible to learn other ways of learning. This can be frustrating at first but opens up possibilities later. I'm not sure I've really picked up the knack of any of the approaches I'm weak in, but I know I've improved somewhat from when I first started.