The Unthinking Brain

I am sure there are many people much like myself that have all-time favourite books (I mean real books with pages that smell like paper), to which they refer because the contents resonate so well with so many things that are important and of interest to them; content that makes you really think and perhaps even change direction.

Revisiting those pages never fails to make the experience deeper, richer and more meaningful as other happenings and encounters in life prompt you to do so.

Quite a number of years ago I had the good fortune to do a course of study with Dr Melodie de Jager and invested in her book “Mind Moves: removing barriers to learning” (2006).

A super easy to read and understand book, the contents of which still hold good. Perhaps that is the reason why I love it so much. 

I would like to share with you,  a ‘slice’ of treasure from the pages of this book! (Chapter 4)

The thinking brain (also referred to as the neocortex) is the largest part of the brain.

When all the parts are working together like a fine-tuned engine, it is the ultimate seat of intelligent thinking – rational, objective, logical, empathetic, flexible, creative, innovative, responsible and all those other wonderful adjectives we like to see in ourselves and those we care about.

Sadly, life is not always as perfectly balanced as we want it to be and because the brain is divided into two hemispheres or halves, the one may sometimes dominate the other, resulting in an unintegrated and not-so-effective, finely-tuned thinking brain.

 “The functions and characteristics of these hemispheres are complimentary when they work together as a team . . . when (they) do not . . . the brain is more like a horse-drawn cart which is being pulled by two horses running in different directions – it becomes unsettled and this creates barriers to learning”.(pg 30)

A brain doesn’t generate its own information. It relies on the senses to provide that.

It then processes what it receives from the senses and, job done, then sends it to the motor system to respond.

Ah ha! And therein lies the problem for so many of us! What if the information coming in is not exactly what it should be?

Think, for example, of the game Chinese Whispers or as some call it, Broken-down Telephone. How many times does the message get thru as it was initially said?

Getting back to those two hemispheres . . . one doesn’t work without the other even though sometimes (as on a tandem bicycle) one is doing more of the peddling, however, it is not as simple as labelling someone as being more right-brained or more left-brained.

That would be too easy! The flow of information is more complex than you would think.

Besides the fact that the learning process is about the flow of information from the senses, via the brain then to the motor system to produce output, each step is represented by a dominant near sense(your muscles and joints telling you how you how they are moving in relation to each other, and your body position) and a dominant far sense (vision, taste, hearing, smell and touch), dominant brain hemisphere, dominant hand and dominant foot.

Getting complicated? You bet!

Both the near and far senses are involved in thinking and learning, but it is the eyes, ears and hands that are needed most in the classroom and it’s all a question of timing and involvement!

The Eyes

The right eye is controlled by the left brain hemisphere.

If this is your dominant eye, it is generally an eye that is accurate at spelling and reading, and can spot mistakes easily.

It pays attention to detail and loves facts and figures. It doesn’t like sloppy work and applies rules consistently. It tracks from left to right which is a bonus if you are reading English.

The left eye is controlled by the right brain hemisphere.

It is a creative and artistic eye that sees potential. It doesn’t enjoy reading factual information for long periods of time but prefers summaries, graphs, mind maps or pictures rather than words. It tracks from right to left which is fine if you are reading Arabic, but not English!

So, it is very possible that early learners may have an initial struggle with letter, word and number reversals and will need more practice than “righties’ to sort things out.

The Ears

The right ear is controlled by the left brain hemisphere.

It listens to facts and details and remembers exactly what was said. It is analytical, logical, doesn’t need repetition and detests vagueness.

It takes information literally and can sometimes miss sarcasm or humour. If a teacher gave an instruction to take out a specific book and turn to page 76 then read from the second paragraph, that person would do so.

The left ear is controlled by the right brain hemisphere.

It is an emotional ear that focuses more on how things are said rather than what is said. It can ‘switch off’ if the volume or tone of voice is unacceptable and may need instructions repeated.

It is also a musical ear, good at catching humour and often over-sensitive to criticism.

If a teacher gave an instruction to take out a specific book and turn to page 76 then read from the second paragraph, that person might only hear the name of the book needed before thinking about the beautiful horse that was in the story and how they would love to ride it. 

Lost in a daydream, that person would completely forget the instruction and would need it repeated, possibly in steps.

The Hands

The right hand is controlled by the left brain hemisphere and when it learns through touching, the textures and experiences need to be analysed and identified by name.

The left hand is controlled by the right brain hemisphere. And learning through touch is more of an intuitive experience. The experience is linked back to other similar experiences drawn from memory. 

Finally . . .

According to research done by Grinder, M. 1989 “Righting the educational conveyor belt”, nobody learns in equal measure through all of their dominant senses; rather each learner has a ‘sensory modality’.

Some learn best when they see something (Visual learners), others when they hear it (Auditory learners), and others when they can physically touch something (Kinaesthetic learners).

When someone says “I see what you mean” or “I hear what you say” or “I can relate to how you feel”, very often it’s a good indicator of their learning modality!

If you would like to source Melodie’s book, click on this link https://g.co/kgs/ERoYYC .