Insight To The Ear / Brain Relationship
Did you Know that in Firearms Training you can Accelerate your Student’s Ability to Shoot with Precision Accuracy and Achieve a Higher Level of Retention of Information Based on Which Ear You Talk Into?
Most people prefer to be addressed in their right ear and are more likely to perform a task when they receive the request in their right ear rather than their left ear. In a series of studies, regarding ear preference and communication between people, Dr. Luca Tommasi and Daniele Marzoli from the University “Gabriele d’Annunzio” in Chieti, Italy, show that most people have a natural preference as to which ear information is conveyed, depending on their hemispheric asymmetry within the brain. In Firearms Training this bias can influence our student’s behavior and their ability to shoot with precision accuracy.
UCLA and University of Arizona scientists have demonstrated that our right and left ears process information differently. It has also been found that these differences for the auditory processing of sound start at the ear. “The ear is structured to distinguish between various types of sounds and to send them to the optimal side in the brain for processing,” explained Yvonne Sininger, Ph.D., visiting professor of head and neck surgery at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.”
Scientists have known that the auditory regions of the two halves of the brain sort out sound and communication differently. The left side of the student’s brain dominates in deciphering language and instructions given by the instructor. The right side of the brain leads in processing tonal qualities, rhythm and cadence. Because of how the brain’s neural network is organized, the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and the right side of the brain controls the left side if the body. The right ear is more directly connected to the left side of the brain and the left ear is more directly connected to the right side of the brain.
The cross over connections of the brain / ear relationship gives us insight how to more effectively teach and communicate to our students. On the range, most instructors teach to the left side of a right handed student. Scientific studies demonstrate that we can accelerate the learning process and communicate more effectively if we teach to the ear required for optimal processing.
At Insight Firearms Training we talk the student through the sighting process of marksmanship from their right side when we are on the range. The right ear is connected to the left brain; therefore they are more likely to follow our instructions. According to Dr. Jill Taylor author of the book, ‘My Stroke of Insight’, it is the left hemisphere of the brain that is responsible for proper sequencing and judging spatial relationships. If you talk into the right ear of the student when teaching the initial phases of marksmanship you will be more likely to have the student follow your instructions in the proper syntax (order) and achieve better accuracy. This will connect your instructions directly with the hemisphere responsible for performing those tasks. The first 2 shots will almost always produce 1-hole to 1 inch groups as they learn the visual skills for sight picture, sight alignment, how to make a pursuit movement of the eye to the front sight and how to create the neuro pathway required for compressing the trigger.
When talking into the right ear our instructions are very digitalized in a step by step fashion to facilitate a tempo that matches the way the left brain learns best. When we match the hemispheres style of processing information, and we can induce a trance like phenomena and program the information directly to the unconscious.
We reinforce and condition the process with the next 3 shots by switching over to the left side of the shooter and talking into their left ear. The right hemisphere is responsible for a flow state and the right side of the body which is being used in compressing the trigger. The tempo of the communication is very smooth and flowing. This appeals to the way the right hemisphere functions. We lead and directly pace the compression on the trigger with our tempo and tonality.
This is one of the approaches we use to get our students shooting 1-hole groups with their very first shots. It guides the ear/hemisphere relationship required for optimal verbal communication to the two halves of the brain effectively sculpting the student’s behavior. When you communicate to the appropriate ear that appeals to the different brain’s hemispheres you will effectively utilize a neuro-psychological approach to firearms training that will positively influence the effectiveness of your teaching techniques.
To learn more about neuro-psychological teaching strategies and how to communicate to your student’s so they can shoot 1-hole groups “instantly” join our 2-Day Neuro Psychology to “Instant” Precision Accuracy Course.
Respectfully,
Matt Seibert & Sherrie Seibert
Insight Firearms Training Development
PO Box 12293, Prescott, AZ 86304-2293
(928) 708-9208 Fax (928) 776-4668
seibert@insightfirearmstraining.com
www.insightfirearmstraining.com