Something that grabbed my attention was how reading from left to right has promoted a left-brain dominant society. I question then the cultures who read the opposite way- does that mean that their societies are more right-brain friendly or not? What about Asian languages that are pictoral, and until recently, that also read from right to left? (I haven't gotten into the second chapter yet, but I know there's something about Asia in there.) Since pictoral symbols can't be "decoded" the way phonetic words can, does that mean that Asian brains tend to be wired differently?

Seeing how American schools (and probably many others) have been largely directed towards left-brain thinkers, it makes me wonder how many awesome right-brain dominant people had their learning spirit crushed in the past. My husband is clearly right-brain dominant, and he is so resentful of his educational experience because he now knows that he wasn't stupid, as he was often told, but that he was wired differently. . .

The online test reveals that I use the left side of my brain more often. But I could have answered "It depends. . . " to most of those questions! Even so, I guess the results are generally accurate. I try to be more logical/ linear/ sequential than emotional/ random when making decisions or approaching tasks. Working with words/ spelling comes relatively easily, although I enjoy artistic endeavors and struggled with math from middle school through high school. When it comes to giving directions though, I'm more right-brained, needing visual cues.

That Stroop test was interesting. I think I more than doubled my time in the end for the real test!

Bertina Hsu-Miller, Oak Ridge/ Lower Salford Gifted Support for this year (but usually Vernfield, 3rd grade)