1. Left Brain vs. Right Brain
One way of looking at learning styles is to
determine your hemispheric dominance. Are Let's begin with a few basics. First, no one is
you more right brained or left brained? totally left-brained or totally right-brained. Just
as you have a dominant hand, dominant eye,
We know that the cerebral cortex is the part of and even a dominant foot, you probably have
the brain that houses rational functions. It is a dominant side of the brain. Second, you can
divided into two hemispheres connected by a and must develop both sides of your brain.
thick band of nerve fibers (the corpus
callosum) which sends messages back and
In general, the left and right hemispheres of
forth between the hemispheres. your brain process information in different
ways. We tend to process information using
And while brain research confirms that both
our dominant side.
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 However, the learning process is enhanced
processes in a logical and sequential order. when all of our senses are used. This includes
The right side is more visual and processes using your less dominate hemisphere.
intuitively, holistically, and randomly.
Listed below are information processing styles
Most people seem to have a dominant side. A that are characteristically used by your right or
key word is that our dominance is a left brain.
preference, not an absolute.
Read the information below to help you
When learning something new, difficult, or understand how your brain processes
stressful we prefer to learn in a certain way. It information. Pay attention to your less
seems that our brain goes on autopilot to the dominant style so that you can learn how to
preferred side. improve it.
And while nothing is entirely isolated on one
side of the brain or the other, the Linear vs. Holistic Processing
characteristics commonly attributed to each
side of the brain serve as an appropriate guide
for ways of learning things more efficiently and The left side of the brain processes information
ways of reinforcing learning. in a linear manner. It process from part to
whole. It takes pieces, lines them up, and
Just as it was more important for our purposes arranges them in a logical order; then it draws
to determine that memory is stored in many conclusions.
parts of the brain rather than learn the exact
lobe for each part, likewise it is not so much The right brain, however, processes from
that we are biologically right brain or left brain whole to part, holistically. It starts with the
dominant, but that we are more comfortable answer. It sees the big picture first, not the
with the learning strategies characteristics of details. If you are right-brained, you may have
one over the other. difficulty following a discussion or concept
unless you are given the big picture first.
What you are doing is lengthening your list of
strategies for learning how to learn and trying Do you now see why it is absolutely necessary
to determine what works best for you. You can for a right-brained person to read an executive
and must use and develop both sides of the summary before an important meeting or to
brain. map out the options?
But because the seat of our preferences You're the people who needs to know why you
probably has more neural connections, are doing something. Left-brained people
learning may occur faster. This section will would do well to exercise their right-brain in
look at some differences between left and right such a manner.
brain preferences. Be on the lookout for
practical strategies that work for you.

2. Sequential vs. Random Symbolic vs. Concrete
Processing Processing
In addition to thinking in a linear manner, the The left brain has no trouble processing
left brain processes in sequence -- in order. symbols. Many academic pursuits deal with
The left-brained person is a list maker. If you symbols such as letters, words, and
are left-brained, you would enjoy making a mathematical notations. The left-brained
master schedule and doing daily planning. You person tends to be comfortable with linguistic
complete tasks in order and take pleasure in and mathematical endeavours. Left-brained
checking them off when they are people will probably just memorise vocabulary
accomplished. words or math formulas. The right brain, on the
other hand, wants things to be concrete.
Likewise, learning things in sequence is
relatively easy for you. For example, spelling The right-brained person wants to see, feel, or
involves sequencing; if you are left-brained, touch the real object. Right-brained people
you are probably a good speller. The left brain may have had trouble learning to read using
is also at work in the linear and sequential phonics. They prefer to see words in context
processing of math and in following directions. and to see how the formula works. To use your
right brain, create opportunities for hands-on
By contrast, the approach of the right-brained activities. Use something real whenever
people is random. If you are right-brained, you possible. You may also want to draw out a
may flit from one task to another. You will get maths problem or illustrate your notes.
just as much done but perhaps without having
addressed priorities. A project may be late or
incomplete, not because you weren't working, Logical vs. Intuitive Processing
but because you were working on something
else. You may be ready to rebel when asked The left brain processes in a linear, sequential,
to make hit a deadline. But because of the logical manner. When you process on the left
random nature of your dominant side, you side, you use information piece by piece to
must make lists, and you must make solve a maths problem or work out a complex
schedules. spreadsheet. When you read and listen, you
look for the pieces so that you can draw logical
You may need to make a special effort to read conclusions. Your decisions are made on logic
directions. Spelling may be ‘creative’ and and sound rational evidence.
phonetic rather than precise. Because the right
side of the brain is colour sensitive, you might If you process primarily on the right side of the
try using colours to learn sequence, making brain, you use intuition. You may know the
the first step green, the second blue, the last right answer to a maths problem but not be
red. sure how you got it. You may have to start with
the answer and work backwards. On a quiz,
Or you may want to "walk" a sequence, either you have a gut feeling as to which answers are
by physically going from place to place or by correct, and you are usually right. In writing, it
imagining it. For the first step of the sequence, is the left brain that pays attention to
you might walk to the front door; for the mechanics such as spelling, agreement, and
second, to the kitchen; for the third, to the den, punctuation.
etc. Or make Step One a certain place or thing
in your dorm room or study place and Step But the right side pays attention to coherence
Two another. and meaning; that is, your right brain tells you
it "feels" right. Your decisions will be based on
If you consistently use the same sequence, feelings.
you will find that this strategy is transferable to
many tasks involving sequence.

3. Verbal vs. Non-verbal date to ask if you can extend the delivery date.
Processing While this fantasy orientation may seem a
disadvantage, in some cases it is an
Left-brained people have little trouble advantage.
expressing themselves in words.
The right-brained people is creative. In order to
Right-brained people may know what they create a new job profile for a candidate, you
mean but often have trouble finding the right may decide to follow the role in the client
words. The best illustration of this is to listen to organisation for a whole day – just to picture
people give directions. The left-brained person the environment! And since emotion is
will say something like "From here, go west processed on the right side of the brain, you
three blocks and turn north on Vine Street. Go will probably remember well anything you
three or four miles and then turn east onto become emotionally involved in.
Broad Street."
These are just some of the differences that
The right-brained person will sound something
exist between the left and right hemispheres,
like this: "Turn right (pointing right) by the
but you can see a pattern.
church over there (pointing again). Then you
will pass a McDonalds and a Walmart. At the
next light, turn right toward the BP station." Because left-brained strategies are the ones
used most often in measureable, concrete
So how is this relevant to planning work and work activities (planning, analysis and so on),
project strategies? Right-brained people need right-brained people sometimes feel
to back up everything visually. If it's not written inadequate.
down, they probably won't remember it. And it
would be even better for right-brained people However, you now know that you can be
to illustrate it. They need to get into the habit of flexible and adapt material to the right side of
making a mental video of things as they hear your brain.
or read them.
Likewise, those of you who are predominantly
Right-brained people need to know that it may left-brained know that it would be wise to use
take them longer to write a proposal or project both sides of the brain and employ some right-
plan, and the proposal may need more brained strategies to increase the number of
revision before it says what they want it to say. options to choose to improve the decisions you
This means allowing extra time when a writing make.
piece is required by a deadline.
Reality-Based vs. Fantasy-
Oriented Processing
The left side of the brain deals with things the
way they are - with reality. When left-brained
people are affected by the environment, they
usually adjust to it.
Not so with right-brained people; they try to
change the environment!
Left-brained people want to know the rules and
follow them. In fact, if there are no rules for
situations, they will probably make up rules to
follow! Left-brained people know the
consequences of not turning in projects on
time, but right-brained people are sometimes
not aware that there is anything wrong.
So, if you are right-brained, make sure you
constantly ask for feedback and reality checks.
It's too late the day before the deadline or due