Inferred Hemispheric Style and Problem-Solving Performance

Abstract

To examine the relationship between an inferred hemispheric style and problem-solving performance, 78 undergraduate students were classified as having preference of Left-, Integrated-, or Right-hemispheric style by scores on Your Style of Learning and Thinking. The Tower of Hanoi was used as a measure of problem solving. Number of moves, total time, and number of illegal moves to solve the Tower of Hanoi task were the dependent measures of problem-solving performance. Analysis of variance showed significant differences among the three inferred hemispheric-style groups on two of the three measures of problem solving. Further comparison indicated that students who scored as showing Left-hemispheric style reported more moves and a longer mean time to solve the task than did students scoring as Right-hemispheric style. No differences were observed among the three groups on the number of illegal moves.

A Threefold Model of Intellectual Styles

“…Research from the past 20 years suggests that the two hemispheres are more dynamic than static and that they are more interactive than they were once believed to be. Thus, the terms "brain dominance" and "hemispheric specificity" have been gradually replaced by the terms "hemispheric style" and "hemispheric thinking style" (e.g., Albaili, 1993Albaili, , 1996Hassan and Abed, 1999). More recently, Zhang (2002e,f) cast the term "brain dominance" in yet another different light-that of mode of thinking.…”

Circadian typology and style of thinking differences

“…On the other hand, leftthinkers are sensing, thinking and judging-oriented people, developing cognitive and meta-cognitive learning strategies, inclined toward cultural collectivism and with a low tolerance of ambiguity (Zhang, 2004b). Administering a typical problem-solving task, like the Tower of Hanoi (Albaili, 1996), left-style participants made more moves and took a longer mean time to carry out the tasks than right-thinkers did. Finally, applied science majors were attended mainly by left-thinking students whereas social science majors were attended mainly by right-thinking students (Saleh, 1998).…”

“…Hemisphericity is defined as the tendency of a person to rely on the processes associated with one rather than the other cerebral hemisphere in information processing (Albaili, 1993(Albaili, , 1996. The left hemisphere is mainly involved in information processing logically and sequentially and in dealing with verbal, analytic, temporal, and digital materials.…”

Predicting cognitive development, intellectual styles, and personaltiy traits from self-rated abilities

“…Thus, the terms bbrain dominanceQ or bhemispheric specificityQ no long seem to be appropriate. Indeed, more recent research adopting the SOLAT has been using the term bhemispheric styleQ or bhemispheric thinking styleQ (e.g., Albaili, 1993Albaili, , 1996Hassan & Abed, 1999). The study described in this paper casts the SOLAT in yet a different light, that is, in the light of modes of thinking which, I believe, is more accurate in depicting what the inventory really measures.…”