SOLAT – PSYCHOLOGY TEST ADMINISTRATION

SOLAT – PSYCHOLOGY TEST ADMINISTRATION

ALPHONS JOSEPH

Ousephparambil(H); Kodumpidy (P.O)

Kottayam- 686651

Alphonsjoseph94@gmail.com

Ph: 8281709254

ABSTRACT

The brain is divided into left and right hemispheres. Each hemisphere controls its own unique set of activities or tasks. The right side of the brain tends to be more dominant in creative activities, while the left side of the brain tends to be more dominant in logical or analytical activities. These hemispheres communicate with each other through a large bundle of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum, and through several smaller nerve pathways.

ARTICLE

Can you imagine what your brain looks like? Close your eyes for a few seconds and visualize it positioned in the space inside your head; then, open your eyes again. What did you see? Actually, your brain looks like an English walnut with the shell removed. It has a deeply wrinkled surface with a clearly marked fold that divides it into a left and a right half. Another way to visualize what your brain looks like is by doing the following demonstration. Make a fist with both hands and put them together in front of you, about chest high and knuckles up. Look down at your fists. This will give you an idea of the physical appearance of your brain. From this view, you can clearly see the separation between the left and right halves. Why is the brain divided into a left and right side? For hundreds of years, scientists believed that the two sides were mirror images of each other. Since nature equips us with two eyes, ears, legs, and kidneys that perform the same function, why not both sides of the brain? Only within the last forty years has science shown that the left and right-brain hemispheres have unique and specific functions. Before this breakthrough, brain function was a mystery. More than ninety percent of all science known about the brain is directly or indirectly related to left-brain/right-brain research, which scientists also refer to as split brain or hemisphere specialization research.

The Style of Learning and Thinking (SOLAT) is an inventory for determining a student's brain hemisphere preference (left, right, or integrative) and associated learning style in problem solving. Its purpose, although not stated, is probably to help educators assist students in identifying their brain hemisphere/learning style profile and in planning solutions for strengthening their Profile. There are two SOLAT forms:

1.      The Elementary Form intended for first through fifth grade students,

2.      The Youth Form intended for students in grades 6 through 12.

Split Brain Research

In the 1950s and early 1960s, neurosurgeons who were treating patients with uncontrollable epileptic seizures decided to perform a radical type of brain surgery. They completely separated the two halves of the brain, creating a split brain, by cutting through the corpus callosum, the bundle of fibers that connects these halves. To the doctors’ surprise and pleasure, these patients suffered no change in intelligence, personality, or daily function, and their seizures stopped. However, split-brain patients did report oddities and curiosities (such as, one patient had difficulty learning to associate names with faces, many patients had subtle memory difficulties, and most patients complained that they no longer dreamed). These reports initiated a tremendous interest in research, thus creating a rapid buildup of knowledge about the brain. Research in sleep labs proved that split-brain patients do indeed dream, indicated by a special brain wave pattern and rapid eye movement below the closed eyelid. These patients could not remember their dreams because one side of the brain is responsible for dream activity and the other side records the dream into words. Because the doctors had disconnected the two sides, the brain could not share this information between the two hemispheres.

Brain Hemisphericity

The brain is divided into left and right hemispheres. Each hemisphere controls its own unique set of activities or tasks. The right side of the brain tends to be more dominant in creative activities, while the left side of the brain tends to be more dominant in logical or analytical activities. These hemispheres communicate with each other through a large bundle of nerve fibers called the corpus callosum, and through several smaller nerve pathways.

The right side of the brain is more visual oriented, involved in activities such as visual imagery and face recognition. The right side of the brain tends to view information as a whole, rather than as individual details. It also tends to process information more intuitively or randomly. The right side of the brain is involved in spacial abilities, such as judging the position of things in space, and knowing your body position. The left side of the brain processes information more logically or sequentially. The left side of the brain is dominant in understanding and using language, including listening, reading, speaking and writing. It is involved in the memory for spoken and written messages, and plays a major role in the analysis of information. The right side of the brain controls muscles on the left side of the body. It also receives sensory information from the left side of the body. The left side of the brain controls muscles on the right side of the body, and receives sensory information from the right side of the body.

The following table summarizes key differences between the left and right sides of the brain.

Right Brain	Left Brain
Holistic, big-picture oriented	Linear, details oriented
Random processing oriented	Sequential or list oriented
Concrete processing oriented	Symbolic processing oriented
Intuitive decision making	Logical decision making
Non-verbal processing oriented	Verbal processing oriented
Fantasy-oriented	Reality-oriented

DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Since each student was provided with three options to be selected in the given SOLAT Assessment tool, each option was provided with specific marks for the easiness and accuracy of analysis and study of the collected data. The marks allotted to each option were as follows:

a)      “Option A ” - 5 marks

b)      “Option B” – 3 marks

c)      “Option C” – 1 mark 

Each student was to select the option that he/she thought was appropriate for them. Based on their selection marks were calculated using the above given scoring guideline. The following table represents the marks thus scored by each student according to the data provided by them. The maximum possible score was determined as 250 and the least possible score was 50. 

Table Representing Marks Scored By Each Student

Sl. No	Name of Student	Marks Obtained
1	Abhirami Baiju	225
2	Anitta Jommon	220
3	Anjali	190
4	Archana Chandhran	210
5	Archana Prasadh	222
6	Beneesa Thomas	47
7	Ganga Santhosh	186
8	Jesnamol Joseph	194
9	Keerthi Raju	156
10	Neena Mathew	168
11	Nikhitha Emmanuel	170
12	Rosmin Saji	159
13	Shilpa Saju	172
14	Siyamol Sabu	49
15	Sneha S.	50
16	Varsha Joshy	132
17	Veena Rose Mathew	223
18	Abhijith Augustine	148
19	Adolf Jaison	176
20	Ajith Rajan	123
21	Akhil Reji	47
22	Akhil Sunny	149
23	Akshay Saji	147
24	Alan Shaji	138
25	Alan Thomas	232
26	Albin Benny	233
27	Albin Biju	223
28	Albin Saji	213
29	Albin Sibi	240
30	Albin Sunny	249
31	Albin Sunny	218
32	Aromal Shivadhas	210
33	Ashaml Paulson	208
34	Ashwin K. Sanoj	198
35	Ashwin Santhosh	179
36	Binomon Babu	186
37	Dominic Salaz	148
38	Govindh	176
39	Jayasankar S.	123
40	Jessan	47
41	Jilumon Joseph	149
42	Jithin Roy	147
43	Josin Jose	138
44	Kesin Raju	147
45	Marshal V.S	133
46	Mathew George	135
47	Roney manoj	124
48	Roshin George	128
49	Sreekanth Vishwanathan	122
50	Sreekuttan K.M	129
51	Suraj O.S	111
52	Tom Sagar	208

We then divided the score into various classes/groups so as to find who was leading. The classes/groups are as follows:-

a)      Those who selected Option A (Right Brain Hemesphericity)

b)      Those who selected Option B (Left Brain Hemesphericity)

c)      Those who selected both Options A & B (Integrative Brain Hemesphericity).

Based on this idea we divide the responses into four class intervals: -

a)      0-50 comprising the students who were having Integrative Brain Hemesphericity

b)      50-150 comprising the students who were having Left Brain Hemesphericity

c)      150-250 comprising the students who were having Right Brain Hemesphericity

Tabular Representation of Data Collected

CLASS INTERVAL	FRREQUENCY	MID - POINT	fx	CUMULATIVE FEQUENCY
0-50	5	25	125	5
50-150	19	100	1900	24
150-250	28	200	5600	52
TOTAL			7625

In general the left and right hemispheres of the brain process information in different ways. We tend to process information using our dominant side. However, the learning process is enhanced when all of our senses are used. This includes using your less dominate hemisphere. Listed below are information processing styles that are characteristically used by your right or left brain. Read the information below to help you understand how your brain processes information. Pay attention to your less dominant style so that you can learn how to improve it. If you want to jump through the list, click on the choice that you wish to examine.

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