Guided by the scientific identification of hemisphere skills, I speculate that, when engaging with the spoken and written word, my participants appear to function most comfortably when working from right hemisphere resources, displaying a predilection for visuospatial processing and physical action, whilst struggling with the left hemisphere specialisations of analysing, decoding and articulating aspects of language. There is research that seems to corroborate this supposition and some of the theories underpinning this are considered below.
Scientist Dr Zvia Breznitz explains that, in order to read, the brain has to synchronize information coming from distinct areas, processed in different ways and time speeds. Reading involves moving information from the back of the brain to the front, and from one side of the brain to the other, transferred through the corpus callosum (Breznitz 2008: 12). By using Electromagnetic Tomography, Breznitz identified that for non-dyslexics, written information arrives in the left side of the brain first and then is transferred into the right side of the brain within a certain time measure. Her Asynchrony Theory of Dyslexia (2008) is based on her findings that in dyslexics, when reading text, the
information goes into the right side of the brain first, is then transferred into the left side of the brain before going back into the right hand side, therefore taking longer than the non-dyslexic in the speed of processing. Because the information arrives in the right side of the brain first, (which Breznitz describes as the ‘wrong side’), this slows down the inter-hemisphere transfer. According to Breznitz, this impairment travels through the sequence of brain processing and synchronization, leading to reading dysfluency.
Psychologists Paulesu et al, and their Disconnection Syndrome theory also foregrounds a disadvantage within the left hemisphere (Carter 1998: 253).
Using Positron EmissionTomography scans that measured the activity in the
brain of dyslexics when reading complex information, Paulesu et al have proposed that the insula cortex, (the bridge connecting Wernicke’s and Broca’s area) is disconnected in dyslexics. This means that dyslexics will have difficulty in reading, comprehending and articulating a word quickly.
An emphasis on increased brain activity in the right hemisphere in those with dyslexia is reported by Professor of Neurology, Alberto Galaburda (1993:239). In his anatomical studies of the brains of some dyslexics, Galaburda discovered an atypical symmetry of the right side of the brain with the left. In non-dyslexics the left side is usually larger than the right (DFES 2004: 81-82). Galaburda proposes that a physiological difference in those with dyslexia affects their cognitive processing. He describes a study that suggests that dyslexic brains treat linguistic material as non- linguistic stimuli (1993: 230). Morgan and Klein have labelled perceived right brain dominance in those with dyslexia as The Difference Model. They give examples of several individuals with dyslexia using graphic drawings instead of writing, and a preference for visual representations (2000:10 - 19, 170).
Psychologists Alison Bacon and Simon Handley (2010) have investigated the primary use of visual strategies in dyslexics. In their tests, they presented several syllogisms to a group of dyslexics and non-dyslexics. During the range of reasoning tasks, they found that those without dyslexia could analyse abstractedly in their heads, communicating their reasoning verbally. However,
most of those with dyslexia adopted visuospatial strategies to work out their answers, using:
Vivid pictorial representations of the specific properties described by the problems. Even the less imagable properties, …presented little problem, being creatively illustrated by depictions such as pound signs, halos/horns, smiley/sad/angry faces or stars and dunce hats…the majority of dyslexic participants, (75%), used this type of visual-spatial strategy. The association between strategy choice and dyslexic status was highly significant.
(Bacon & Handley 2010:33) Bacon & Handley’s description of the use of illustrative symbols as a system
and marker of thoughts in those with dyslexia, exactly replicates the work of my participants’ delineations of Shakespeare’s text.
This generation of picto / ideographs correlates with Paivio and Sadoski’s Conceptual Peg Hypothesis, wherein the forming of a concrete image acts as a mental peg on which to hook the information into memory. Psychologist Allan Paivio and Mark Sadoski (research scholar in language, education, arts and human development) have written frequently about the Dual Code theory of reading and writing (2009), wherein it is proposed that there are two pathways of cognition; that of the verbal and non- verbal (such as mental imagery). This theory correlates with Baddeley’s model of memory and the phonological loop and the visuospatial sketch pad (Baddeley 2007:86). Sadoski and Paivio purport that a concrete verbal phrase that can be easily imaged acts as a mnemonic aid, to be remembered more easily than an abstract phrase. The image peg then acts as a trigger to retrieve a large
amount of stored information (2001: 63, 110). Images that are attached to emotional states are also better recalled (Paivio 1983:15).
Figure 4. 11 Model of the Dual Code Theory, re - drawn from Sadoski & Paivio (2009:53)
4.6 Conclusion
Unlike Sher’s art work, which serves to illuminate the physical appearance and psychological ‘feel’ of his characters (Sher 1989) my participants’ drawings function primarily as a purveyor and decoder of the meaning and phonological sounds of the words within the text.
When receiving the words aurally, the verbal system is evoked and then anchored through the creation of overt images. These denotations act as
VERBAL STIMULI NON-VERBAL STIMULI
(I )
CONNECTIONS
VERBAL RESPONSES NON-VERBAL RESPONSES