Friday, March 28, 2008

Sylar's favorite place

Via Tracey, the Right Brain/Left Brain Test.

Did I take it? Well, why not? I have no idea what's going on up there. As far as I know, this is the current breakdown:

62% pedantry
15% daydreaming
9% insufferable know-it-allity
8% pure Bravo Sierra
4% hockey
4% marriage
3% blogging
2% faith
-2.8633727% math

That's clearly inadequate, so away we go... 54 questions, multiple choice, not too long...
*ping!*

I am 40% left-brained and 60% right-brained (and 82% lame-brained). They then break down six individual categories for each half of the brain. My top two were both right-brained:

55% Concrete (Your most dominant characteristic)
48% Fantasy-oriented

Concrete Processing
Concrete processing is a method associated with the right hemisphere that is used for processing things that can be seen or touched. It processes much of the information you receive from real objects. For example, a right-brained person is not just satisfied that a mathematical formula may work, but will want to know why it works. A strongly concrete person often finds it easier to solve a mathematical problem by "drawing it out" because it allows them to visualize it. The more a concrete person can visualize something the easier it is for them to understand it.


Your Concrete Analysis
You are strong in concrete processing. When you process information about things that can be seen or touched you show great comfort. But when contemplating something without concrete form, you may have difficulty, and attempt to understand what is trying to be processed in visual terms. For example, if solving a math problem, it would help you to "draw out" the problem and visualize it. Only after visualization, would you feel comfortable solving it.


Sounds about right.

Fantasy-oriented Processing
Fantasy-oriented processing is used by the right hemisphere as a method for processing information with creativity. It focuses much less on rules and regulations than the processing method of a left-brained person. Due to the fantasy-oriented processing mechanism of a right-brained person, they do not adjust well to change. Instead of adapting to the change in the environment, a right-brained person attempts to change it back to the way they liked it. But fantasy-oriented processing also provides the advantage of creativity to right-brained individuals, and since emotion is integral of the right side of the brain, anything a fantasy-oriented person becomes involved in emotionally will aid their ability to learn.


Your Fantasy-oriented Analysis
You have the ability to use both creativity and reality to process the information you receive. This is a unique gift that allows you to both focus on rules and regulations but to also act with creativity. You are able to adjusting to change, even though you might not like it, and you can become emotionally involved in your work if it interests you.


In other words, this doesn't just mean that I wish I lived in colonial times as Dr. Action, the patriot son of exiled Jedi Knights.

My strong suits on the left:

35% Sequential (Your most dominant characteristic)
34% Verbal

Incidentally, they say that a scale of 30-50 is healthy, and that lower or higher is an indication that I have to pay more attention to different approaches to thinking, lest I topple over like Oliver Wendel Jones in the old Bloom County strip.

Sequential Processing
Sequential processing is a method used by the left hemisphere for processing information. The information that is received is processed in order from first to last. Information is processed in a systematic, logical manner. Through sequential processing, you can interpret and produce symbolic information such as language, mathematics, abstraction, and reasoning. This process is used to store memory in a language format. Activities that require sequential processing include spelling, making a "to-do" list, and many aspects of organization.


Your Sequential Analysis
You show moderate ability to organize information sequentially. You are capable of processing information you receive in a systematic, logical order from first to last. However, at times you will process information you receive quite randomly, or may give it only a semblance of order. You are probably an average mathematician and speller, and may or may not enjoy tasks such as making "to-do" lists.


Funny thing is, I am an excellent speller, and very good at basic math, so long as I don't have to handle anything more complicated than a quadratic equation. (All the engineering types just started laughing at me, but it's true.)

Verbal Processing
Verbal processing is a method used by the left hemisphere to process our thoughts and ideas with words. For example, through verbal processing, a left-brained person giving directions may say, "From this point continue east for two miles and turn north onto Bellevue Road. Continue north on Bellevue Road for seven miles and turn west on Main Street". With verbal processing, exact, logical directions are given in a very sequential manner compared to a right-brained person who, in giving the same directions, would use more visual landmarks.


Your Verbal Analysis
You have a moderate verbal ability. Using this method you process your thoughts and ideas with words. You tend to combine technical details with illustrations, depending on whatever strikes you. For instance, if giving directions, you might say, "Continue two miles east on Court Street and take a left at the McDonalds," combining the exact details of street names and mileage with prominent landmarks.


For someone who is so verbal, I actually misunderstood the applicable questions. I thought that they meant "verbal" specifically as spoken words, so I answered those questions differently, and only realized my error when reading the results. I am not nearly as strong with memorizing things I hear vs. things I read. Perhaps that just proves the point, but I would have probably scored higher had I understood clearly.

In the interests of complete disclosure, my two utter weaknesses were 15% Intuitive (right brain) and 14% Reality-based (left brain). Me not reality-based? Just for that, you're not invited to my lifetime Awesomeness at Everything Ceremony on Starbase 11. Zapp Brannigan was going to be there, too.

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