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Brighter Minds Training Critical Process Analysis
Though the information processing abilities concerning shape, size, position in space, directionality and figure-ground are deemed critical to learning by the Brighter Minds Training program, it must be understood that all 43 processes are considered by the evaluation procedure. Many of these processing skills overlap and work together during the training experience. Each skill, however, is distinct and necessary in and of itself. In its emphasis on the 5 information processing skills, our training program touches on all of the others. Development of each skill is interlinked with the development of others. In this way, all processing systems will show improvement upon completion of the program. Each of the 5 critical processing skills are described and considered individually:
SHAPE
Our brain categorizes things with which we come into contact according to shape. This plays an extremely important role in our individual interpretation of our world. Infants learn to recognize that all objects have a shape. When they attach a name to a particular object, they attach a speech symbol. This process is essential to language development. Our brains apply a perception of shape throughout our entire sensory system. Each sensory area utilizes that perception in determining the meaning of objects in the environment. If a person has difficulty with accurate perception of shape, s/he will often have trouble with language, reading and math because these areas deal with shape as a factor.
For example, in order to read, the brain must discern meaning from symbolic letters on the page. It has to discriminate between the horizontal and vertical makeup of the letters and sort out which letters don’t “fit” until the brain finds the letter that does fit. After the correct letter is recognized, the brains move on to the next letter and so on. This process is automatic and takes only a millisecond for the brain to perform. However, if the brain is not recognizing letters accurately, then the mind has to guess. After awhile, it realizes that the data is not making sense and is forced to go back to the place of the misperception to make another guess. If the next letter is an appropriate fit, then the brain moves on. But if the letter selected is incorrect, then the person must reread repeatedly until the brain fills in some sense that works.
As a result, if the perceptual area is not working accurately the majority of the time, there will be confusion and reprocessing whenever the incorrect data is reviewed. This explains the inconsistency of response to the same information (e.g., the teacher is certain that the student knows the material because s/he reported it accurately before). Unfortunately, the same information the student processed and reported back accurately on a previous occasion may very likely be reprocessed inaccurately on subsequent attempts. The teacher, not understanding the difficulty with the underlying processing skill, may berate the child for “daydreaming” or “not paying attention.” Both teacher and child will be frustrated, but it is the child who suffers further confusion and damage to self-esteem because s/he, in all likelihood, tried just as hard the second time as s/he did on the first attempt.
Misperception of shape will, in the broader sense, cause confusion and inappropriate responses to environment and social situations by distorting the meaning. Actually, this is true regarding misperception in all 5 critical processing categories. The problem is that the brain will accept misinformation if it makes sense at all; therefore the entire meaning of a word or a story may be changed, but the mind will accept it as if it were correct.
SIZE
The perception of size involves all aspects of volume and relates to time. It has to do with where we are in relationship to distant objects. Since objects appear to diminish with distance, a lowered ability to judge size accurately can result in being accident-prone or clumsy.
If a driver, for example, misperceives the size of a parking space, a fender bender may occur. A person who frequently feels “overwhelmed” or, conversely, “never takes anything seriously enough,” may well have a problem with size perception. A task may seem much larger than it is in reality. In this instance, the person may decide that it will take too much effort and/or time to do a task and never start. On the other hand, when a task appears smaller than it really is, the person might put if off until the last minute and have planed inadequate time to complete the task on schedule.
Size perception is used in all of the sensory areas. We make auditory judgments about loudness and softness, smooth and erratic, etc. Kinesthetically, we make decisions about hard, smooth, soft, pressure, pliability, etc. Even taste and smell have size factors as we judge bitterness, sweetness, odor, aroma, etc. With regard to our emotions, a misperception of size may bring about inappropriate social responses. Over, or under, reactions to another person’s approval or disapproval are one example of this. We may label such a person as “wearing her heart on her sleeve” or conversely “insensitive.”
POSITION IN SPACE
When we consider our world, we must always take into account our relationships and where we are in comparison to the things we find around us. This ability to accurately perceive our position in space determines the meaning we attach to a relationship.
For example, we can think of ourselves in relationship to where we sit in a car. If we sit in the driver’s seat, we think of ourselves as the driver. In any other seat in the car, we are a passenger. One obvious result of confusion with position in space is getting lost. This problem is also affected by difficulties in judging direction and other perceptual categories. We may laugh about minor difficulties with finding our way, but serious problems in this area can be very debilitating. It may occur out in the countryside, on well-marked city streets, in a department store or even in a large, unfamiliar house.
Perception of one’s position in space also greatly affects judgments of emotional and even spiritual space. Inaccurate data in this area causes inappropriate social responses and often results in rejection within a person’s social world. A common example is the person who comes too physically close to another person, unwittingly invading the other’s personal space. The person whose space is invaded may not realize why, but he will likely back away with a vague feeling of annoyance or threat. The offender feels the withdrawal but has no idea what he has done and may eventually view himself as intrinsically unacceptable socially. The opposite misperception of his position in space may result in projecting inappropriate emotional distance in relationships, which may result in other social problems.
In language development, misperception in the area of position in space may be manifested by verbal or reading sequencing problems. “Losing one’s place” while reading is an example of this. Also, it may be difficult to tell a story in logical order when a person’s position in space perception is poor. Goal setting to accomplish a given task or even life planning becomes very difficult when someone has problems with position in space because the concept of “Where have I been?, Where am I?, and Where am I going?” will be confusing.
FIGURE GROUND
This critical process involves making distinctions between details and the environment or background in which these details are set. Everything in our world has a detail and a background. Each person needs the ability to deal with what we call the “gestalt problem.” The gestalt is like a stew containing potatoes, carrots and onions, each having a different identity (size, shape, color, taste). When we group them together into a stew, the individual ingredients become something different in appearance. In a similar way, the world is made up of many detailed parts that we must be able to recognize and deal with as a whole, as well as accurately respond to each of the parts when necessary. Being able to perceive the figure and the background is important in reading.
For example, we must respond differently to individual letters than when those letters are combined to form words. Words take on different meaning based on the context of the sentence, paragraph, a setting, and so on. Detail always gives meaning. Sometimes a person will be completely unaware of a detail or respond inappropriately to it because he is not able to perceive correctly how the detail fits into the background.
Conversely, if a person sees only the big picture (skimming), he may not be able to decipher enough of the detail to recreate the whole picture, thought or image. Inability to perceive figure ground accurately can be a source of social problems. For example, when a person is unable to make or understand comments within the context of a social situation. Again, inappropriate responses cause confusion, loss of communication, and discomfort in that situation and can result in rejection. If this perceptual area is severely underdeveloped, the person may even be regarded as mentally retarded because of his socially inappropriate behavior.
DIRECTIONALITY
The ability of the individual to deal with direction as related to his world is the single-most important skill that we will consider when we analyze the ability to process information. If a person has trouble perceiving direction accurately, such things as right/left, front/behind, loud/soft, hot/cold, sweet/sour, etc. may be confusing. This is because we always use directional skills in our approach to gathering information from our environment when we make any form of comparison.
Shape, size, position in space, and figure ground are all considered by the brain in sensory analysis but not always utilized. Directional perception, however, appears to be one of the components utilized in every determination the brain makes. This skill is also used by each of the sensory areas. Therefore, problems with directional skills will have a negative effect on every part of the learning process.
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