BRAIN CONNECTION BREEDS INTELLIGENCE AND INNOVATIONS!!!!

Dr.Jemi Sudhakar

发布日期: 2018年1月29日

The relationship between creativity and intelligence. ... In testing circumstances, an Intelligence Quotient (IQ) is gauged by one's ability to utilize information gained historically. Creativity is the ability to come up with new ideas through a mental process of connecting existing concepts. Cognitive strategies are useful tools in assisting students with learning problems. The term " cognitive strategies" in its simplest form is the use of the mind ( cognition) to solve a problem or complete a task.

All about Making Cognitive Connections

The purpose of the Making Cognitive Connections project is to provide training materials for individuals living with brain injuries and other cognitive challenges. Training relates to the use of a smart mobile device (such as an iPhone, iPad, or Android device) as a “helper” with memory and cognitive skills. The training materials include books, videos, and articles designed with the specific needs of those living with cognitive challenges in mind.

The Making Cognitive Connections approach

The MCC approach teaches the basic technical skills necessary to use a smartphone or similar device. At the same time, it points out the cognitive skills that one needs in order to do each step. Focusing on the cognitive skills required to use the device—and then having the users apply those same cognitive skills to their everyday lives—makes this approach practical, concrete, relevant, and transferable.

What does all that mean in practice? For each smart device function, users will:

Learn about what it is and how to do it;
Follow steps to perform that function on the device;
Make the cognitive connections by learning what cognitive skills are being used to perform the task; and
Identify examples from everyday life which require use of the same cognitive skills.

Targeted cognitive skills

So what kinds of cognitive skills are we talking about? Here are several examples, along with examples of how each skill is used with regard to both smart devices and everyday life.

Attention to Detail

Definition

Paying attention to all parts of a task, no matter how small

Smart device examples

Find the GPS button

Put the stylus back into its storage location

Life examples

Check your writing for spelling errors

Find spots on laundry to spray before washing

Put your keys back into their storage location

Memory

Definition

Storing and recalling information, events or procedures

Smart device examples

Remember the steps necessary to record an appointment

Life examples

Remember how to change a vacuum cleaner filter

Remember how to retrieve messages from your answering machine

Presents information in easy-to-follow steps
Focuses on practical, day-to-day activities related to using a smart mobile device for memory compensation
Includes integrated review and reference of cognitive skills throughout the learning process
Bases its design on feedback from individuals living with cognitive challenges

The Growing BrainInside the Brain: Neurons & Neural Circuits

Neurons are the basic working unit of the brain and nervous system. These cells are highly specialized for the function of conducting messages.

A neuron has three basic parts:

Cell body which includes the nucleus, cytoplasm, and cell organelles. The nucleus contains DNA and information that the cell needs for growth, metabolism, and repair. Cytoplasm is the substance that fills a cell, including all the chemicals and parts needed for the cell to work properly including small structures called cell organelles.
Dendrites branch off from the cell body and act as a neuron's point of contact for receiving chemical and electrical signals called impulses from neighboring neurons.
Axon which sends impulses and extends from cell bodies to meet and deliver impulses to another nerve cell. Axons can range in length from a fraction of an inch to several feet.

Each neuron is enclosed by a cell membrane, which separates the inside contents of the cell from its surrounding environment and controls what enters and leaves the cell, and responds to signals from the environment; this all helps the cell maintain its balance with the environment.

Synapses are tiny gaps between neurons, where messages move from one neuron to another as chemical or electrical signals.

The brain begins as a small group of cells in the outer layer of a developing embryo. As the cells grow and differentiate, neurons travel from a central "birthplace" to their final destination. Chemical signals from other cells guide neurons in forming various brain structures. Neighboring neurons make connections with each other and with distant nerve cells (via axons) to form brain circuits. These circuits control specific body functions such as sleep and speech.

The brain continues maturing well into a person's early 20s. Knowing how the brain is wired and how the normal brain's structure develops and matures helps scientists understand what goes wrong in mental illnesses.

Scientists have already begun to chart how the brain develops over time in healthy people and are working to compare that with brain development in people mental disorders. Genes and environmental cues both help to direct this growth.

The Changing Brain—Effects of Genes and the Environment

There are many different types of cells in the body. We say that cells differentiate as the embryo develops, becoming more specialized for specific functions. Skin cells protect, muscle cells contract, and neurons, the most highly specialized cells of all, conduct messages.

Every cell in our bodies contains a complete set of DNA. DNA, the "recipe of life," contains all the information inherited from our parents that helps to define who we are, such as our looks and certain abilities, such as a good singing voice. A gene is a segment of DNA that contains codes to make proteins and other important body chemicals. DNA also includes information to control which genes are expressed and when, in all the cells of the body.

As we grow, we create new cells, each with a copy of our original set of DNA. Sometimes this copying process is imperfect, leading to a gene mutation that causes the gene to code for a slightly different protein. Some mutations are harmless, some can be helpful, and others give rise to disabilities or diseases.

Genes aren't the only determinants of how our bodies function. Throughout our lives, our genes can be affected by the environment. In medicine, the term environment includes not only our physical surroundings but also factors that can affect our bodies, such as sleep, diet, or stress. These factors may act alone or together in complex ways, to change the way a gene is expressed or the way messages are conducted in the body.

Epigenetics is the study of how environmental factors can affect how a given gene operates. But unlike gene mutations, epigenetic changes do not change the code for a gene. Rather, they effect when a gene turns on or off to produce a specific protein. Scientists believe epigenetics play a major role in mental disorders and the effects of medications. Some, but not all mutations and epigenetic changes can be passed on to future generations.

Further understanding of genes and epigenetics may one day lead to genetic testing for people at risk for mental disorders. This could greatly help in early detection, more tailored treatments, and possibly prevention of such illnesses.

The Working Brain

Neurotransmitters

Everything we do relies on neurons communicating with one another. Electrical impulses and chemical signals carrying messages across different parts of the brain and between the brain and the rest of the nervous system. When a neuron is activated a small difference in electrical charge occurs. This unbalanced charge is called an action potential and is caused by the concentration of ions (atoms or molecules with unbalanced charges) across the cell membrane. The action potential travels very quickly along the axon, like when a line of dominoes falls.

When the action potential reaches the end of an axon, most neurons release a chemical message (a neurotransmitter) which crosses the synapse and binds to receptors on the receiving neuron's dendrites and starts the process over again. At the end of the line, a neurotransmitter may stimulate a different kind of cell (like a gland cell), or may trigger a new chain of messages.

Neurotransmitters send chemical messages between neurons. Mental illnesses, such as depression, can occur when this process does not work correctly. Communication between neurons can also be electrical, such as in areas of the brain that control movement. When electrical signals are abnormal, they can cause tremors or symptoms found in Parkinson's disease.

Serotonin—helps control many functions, such as mood, appetite, and sleep. Research shows that people with depression often have lower than normal levels of serotonin. The types of medications most commonly prescribed to treat depression act by blocking the recycling, or reuptake, of serotonin by the sending neuron. As a result, more serotonin stays in the synapse for the receiving neuron to bind onto, leading to more normal mood functioning.
Dopamine—mainly involved in controlling movement and aiding the flow of information to the front of the brain, which is linked to thought and emotion. It is also linked to reward systems in the brain. Problems in producing dopamine can result in Parkinson's disease, a disorder that affects a person's ability to move as they want to, resulting in stiffness, tremors or shaking, and other symptoms. Some studies suggest that having too little dopamine or problems using dopamine in the thinking and feeling regions of the brain may play a role in disorders like schizophrenia or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Glutamate—the most common neurotransmitter, glutamate has many roles throughout the brain and nervous system. Glutamate is an excitatory transmitter: when it is released it increases the chance that the neuron will fire. This enhances the electrical flow among brain cells required for normal function and plays an important role during early brain development. It may also assist in learning and memory. Problems in making or using glutamate have been linked to many mental disorders, including autism, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), schizophrenia, and depression.

Brain Regions

Just as many neurons working together form a circuit, many circuits working together form specialized brain systems. We have many specialized brain systems that work across specific brain regions to help us talk, help us make sense of what we see, and help us to solve a problem. Some of the regions most commonly studied in mental health research are listed below.

Amygdala—The brain's "fear hub," which activates our natural "fight-or-flight" response to confront or escape from a dangerous situation. The amygdala also appears to be involved in learning to fear an event, such as touching a hot stove, and learning not to fear, such as overcoming a fear of spiders. Studying how the amygdala helps create memories of fear and safety may help improve treatments for anxiety disorders like phobias or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Prefrontal cortex (PFC)—Seat of the brain's executive functions, such as judgment, decision making, and problem solving. Different parts of the PFC are involved in using short-term or "working" memory and in retrieving long-term memories. This area of the brain also helps to control the amygdala during stressful events. Some research shows that people who have PTSD or ADHD have reduced activity in their PFCs.
Anterior cingulate cortex (ACC)— the ACC has many different roles, from controlling blood pressure and heart rate to responding when we sense a mistake, helping us feel motivated and stay focused on a task, and managing proper emotional reactions. Reduced ACC activity or damage to this brain area has been linked to disorders such as ADHD, schizophrenia, and depression.
Hippocampus—Helps create and file new memories. When the hippocampus is damaged, a person can't create new memories, but can still remember past events and learned skills, and carry on a conversation, all which rely on different parts of the brain. The hippocampus may be involved in mood disorders through its control of a major mood circuit called the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis.

Brain Basics in Real Life

Brain Basics in Real Life—How Depression affects the Brain

Meet Sarah

Sarah is a middle-aged woman who seemed to have it all. She was happily married and successful in business. Then, after a serious setback at work, she lost interest in her job. She had problems getting to sleep and generally felt tired, listless, and had no appetite most of the time. Weeks later, Sarah realized she was having trouble coping with the stresses in her life. She began to think of suicide because she felt like things weren't going to get better and that there was nothing she could do about it.

Worried at the changes he saw, Sarah's husband took her to the doctor, who ran some tests. After deciding her symptoms were not caused by a stroke, brain tumor, or similar conditions, Sarah's doctor referred her to a psychiatrist, a type of medical doctor who is an expert on mental disorders. Other medical professionals who can diagnose mental disorders are psychologists or clinical social workers.

The psychiatrist asked Sarah and her husband questions about Sarah's symptoms and family medical history. Epigenetic changes from stress or early-life experiences may have made it harder for Sarah to recover normally from her low mood. It's important to remember that everyone gets "the blues" from time to time. In contrast, major depression is a serious disorder that lasts for weeks. Sarah told the doctor that she had experienced long periods of deep sadness throughout her teenage years, but had never seen a doctor about it. She has faced a few bouts since then, but they have never been as bad as her current mood.

The psychiatrist diagnosed Sarah with major depression and gave her a prescription for a type of antidepressant medication called a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). SSRIs are the most common type of medication used to treat depression.

SSRIs boost the amount of serotonin in the brain and help reduce symptoms of depression. Sarah also has several follow-up visits scheduled with the psychiatrist to check how she's responding to the treatment. She also begins regular talk therapy sessions with her psychiatrist. In these sessions, she learns how to change the way she thinks about and reacts to things that may trigger her depression. Several months later, Sarah feels much better. She continues taking SSRIs and has joined an online support group. Sharing her experiences with others also dealing with depression helps Sarah to better cope with her feelings.

Brain Research

Modern research tools and techniques are giving scientists a more detailed understanding of the brain than ever before.

Brain Imaging

Using brain imaging technologies such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which uses magnetic fields to take pictures of the brain's structure, studies show that brain growth in children with autism appears to peak early. And as they grow there are differences in brain development in children who develop bipolar disorder than children who do not. Studies comparing such children to those with normal brain development may help scientists to pinpoint when and where mental disorders begin and perhaps how to slow or stop them from progressing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is another important research tool in understanding how the brain functions.

Another type of brain scan called magnetoencephalography, or MEG, can capture split-second changes in the brain. Using MEG, some scientists have found a specific pattern of brain activity that may help predict who is most likely to respond to fast-acting antidepressant medications. Currently available antidepressants usually take four to six weeks to reach their full effect, which can be a difficult wait for some people struggling with depression. However, recent research points to a possible new class of antidepressants that can relieve symptoms of the illness in just a few hours. Knowing who might respond to such medications could reduce the amount of trial and error and frustration that many people with depression experience when starting treatment.

Gene Studies

Advanced technologies are also making it faster, easier, and more affordable to study genes. Scientists have found many different genes and groups of genes that appear to increase risk or provide protection from various mental disorders. Other genes may change the way a person responds to a certain medication. This information may someday make it possible to predict who will develop a mental disorder and to tailor the treatment for a person's specific conditions.

Such brain research help increase the understanding of how the brain grows and works and the effects of genes and environment on mental health. This knowledge is allowing scientists to make important discoveries that could change the way we think about and treat mental illnesses.

The National Institute of Mental Health supports many studies on mental health and the brain. You can read about some of these studies online at www.nimh.nih.gov.

Glossary

action potential—Transmission of signal from the cell body to the synaptic terminal at the end of the cell's axon. When the action potential reaches the end of the axon the neuron releases chemical (neurotransmitters) or electrical signals.

amygdala—The brain's "fear hub," which helps activate the fight-or-flight response and is also involved in emotions and memory.

anterior cingulate cortex—Is involved in attention, emotional responses, and many other functions.

axon—The long, fiber-like part of a neuron by which the cell sends information to receiving neurons.

cell body—Contains the nucleus and cytoplasm of a cell.

cell membrane—The boundary separating the inside contents of a cell from its surrounding environment.

cytoplasm—The substance filling a cell, containing all the chemicals and parts needed for the cell to work properly.

dendrite—The point of contact for receiving impulses on a neuron, branching off from the cell body.

dopamine—A neurotransmitter mainly involved in controlling movement, managing the release of various hormones, and aiding the flow of information to the front of the brain.

DNA—The "recipe of life," containing inherited genetic information that helps to define physical and some behavioral traits.

epigenetics—The study of how environmental factors like diet, stress and post-natal care can change gene expression (when genes turn on or off)-without altering DNA sequence.

gene—A segment of DNA that codes to make proteins and other important body chemicals.

glutamate—The most common neurotransmitter in a person's body, which increases neuronal activity, is involved in early brain development, and may also assist in learning and memory.

hippocampus—A portion of the brain involved in creating and filing new memories.

hypothalmic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis—A brain-body circuit which plays a critical role in the body's response to stress.

impulse—An electrical communication signal sent between neurons by which neurons communicate with each other.

magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)mdash;An imaging technique that uses magnetic fields to take pictures of the brain's structure.

mutation—A change in the code for a gene, which may be harmless or even helpful, but sometimes give rise to disabilities or diseases.

neural circuit—A network of neurons and their interconnections.

neuron—A nerve cell that is the basic, working unit of the brain and nervous system, which processes and transmits information.

neurotransmitter—A chemical produced by neurons that carries messages to other neurons.

nucleus—A structure within a cell that contains DNA and information the cell needs for growing, staying alive, and making new neurons.

prefrontal cortex—A highly developed area at the front of the brain that, in humans, plays a role in executive functions such as judgment, decision making and problem solving, as well as emotional control and memory.

serotonin—A neurotransmitter that regulates many functions, including mood, appetite, and sleep.

synapse—The tiny gap between neurons, where nerve impulses are sent from one neuron to another.

Mind and Brain

As the popular press has discovered, people have a keen appetite for research information about how the brain works and how thought processes develop (Newsweek, 1996, 1997; Time, 1997a, b). Interest runs particularly high in stories about the neuro-development of babies and children and the effect of early experiences on learning. The fields of neuroscience and cognitive science are helping to satisfy this fundamental curiosity about how people think and learn.

In considering which findings from brain research are relevant to human learning or, by extension, to education, one must be careful to avoid adopting faddish concepts that have not been demonstrated to be of value in classroom practice. Among these is the concept that the left and right hemispheres of the brain should be taught separately to maximize the effectiveness of learning. Another is the notion that the brain grows in holistic “spurts,” within or around which specific educational objectives should be arranged: as discussed in this chapter, there is significant evidence that brain regions develop asynchronously, although any specific educational implications of this remain to be determined. Another widely held misconception is that people use only 20 percent of their brains—with different percentage figures in different incarnations—and should be able to use more of it. This belief appears to have arisen from the early neuroscience finding that much of the cerebral cortex consists of “silent areas” that are not activated by sensory or motor activity. However, it is now known that these silent areas mediate higher cognitive functions that are not directly coupled to sensory or motor activity.

Advances in neuroscience are confirming theoretical positions advanced by developmental psychology for a number of years, such as the importance of early experience in development (Hunt, 1961). What is new, and therefore important for this volume, is the convergence of evidence from a number of scientific fields. As the sciences of developmental psychology, cognitive psychology, and neuroscience, to name but three, have contributed vast numbers of research studies, details about learning and development have converged to form a more complete picture of how intellectual development occurs. Clarification of some of the mechanisms of learning by neuro-

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Suggested Citation:"5 Mind and Brain." National Research Council. 2000. How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Expanded Edition. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/9853.

science has been advanced, in part, by the advent of non-invasive imaging technologies, such as positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI). These technologies have allowed researchers to observe human learning processes directly.

This chapter reviews key findings from neuroscience and cognitive science that are expanding knowledge of the mechanisms of human learning. Three main points guide the discussion in this chapter:

Learning changes the physical structure of the brain.
These structural changes alter the functional organization of the brain; in other words, learning organizes and reorganizes the brain.
Different parts of the brain may be ready to learn at different times.

We first explain some basic concepts of neuroscience and new knowledge about brain development, including the effects of instruction and learning on the brain. We then look at language in learning as an example of the mind-brain connection. Lastly, we examine research on how memory is represented in the brain and its implications for learning.

From a neuroscience perspective, instruction and learning are very important parts of a child’s brain development and psychological development processes. Brain development and psychological development involve continuous interactions between a child and the external environment—or, more accurately, a hierarchy of environments, extending from the level of the individual body cells to the most obvious boundary of the skin. Greater understanding of the nature of this interactive process renders moot such questions as how much depends on genes and how much on environment. As various developmental researchers have suggested, this question is much like asking which contributes most to the area of a rectangle, its height or its width (Eisenberg, 1995)?

THE BRAIN: FOUNDATION FOR LEARNING

Neuroscientists study the anatomy, physiology, chemistry, and molecular biology of the nervous system, with particular interest in how brain activity relates to behavior and learning. Several crucial questions about early learning particularly intrigue neuroscientists. How does the brain develop? Are there stages of brain development? Are there critical periods when certain things must happen for the brain to develop normally? How is information encoded in the developing and the adult nervous systems? And perhaps most important: How does experience affect the brain?

Connect for mental wellbeing

When it comes to our wellbeing, other people matter.

Evidence shows that good relationships – with family, friends and our wider communities – are important for our mental wellbeing.

Mental wellbeing means feeling good – about ourselves and the world around us – and functioning well.

Building stronger, wider social connections can help us feel happier and more secure, and give us a greater sense of purpose.

How relationships help our wellbeing

Human beings are social animals. Relationships build a sense of belonging and self-worth.

Strong relationships with family and friends allow us to share our feelings and know that we are understood. They provide an opportunity to share positive experiences, and can give us emotional support.

They give us a chance to support others – something else that is known to promote mental wellbeing.

There's also evidence that wellbeing can be passed on through relationships. Being around people with strong mental wellbeing can improve your own mental wellbeing.

Build relationships for wellbeing

Building relationships for wellbeing means:

strengthening your relationships with people who are close to you, such as family and friends
broadening your relationships in your community and the wider world

There are lots of ways to build stronger and closer relationships:

If possible, take time each day to be with your family. This could include a fixed "family time" each day.
Arrange a day out with friends you haven't seen for a while.
Switch off the TV and play a game with the children, or just talk (see some tips on talking to children about feelings and talking to teenagers).
Make the effort to phone people sometimes – it's all too easy get into the habit of only ever texting, messaging or emailing people.
Speak to someone new today.
Have lunch with a colleague.
Visit a friend or family member who needs support or company
Volunteer at a local school, hospital or community group.
Make the most of technology – video chat apps like Skype and FaceTime are a great way of staying in touch with friends and family, particularly if you live far apart.

The Secret to Creativity, Intelligence, and Scientific Thinking: Being Able to Make Connections

I want to look at some research that shows intelligence is closely linked with the physical connections in our brains.

Intelligence and connections: why your brain needs to communicate well with itself

Research from the California Institute of Technology showed that intelligence is something found all across the brain, rather than in one specific region:

The researchers found that, rather than residing in a single structure, general intelligence is determined by a network of regions across both sides of the brain.

One of the researchers explained that the study showed the brain working as a distributed system:

“Several brain regions, and the connections between them, were what was most important to general intelligence,” explains Gl?scher.

The study also supported an existing theory about intelligence that says general intelligence is based on the brain’s ability to pull together and integrate various kinds of processing, such as working memory.

At Washington University, a research study found that connectivity with a particular area of the prefrontal cortex has a correlation with a person’s general intelligence.

This study showed that intelligence relied partly on high functioning brain areas, and partly on their ability to communicate with other areas in the brain.

Aside from physical connectivity in the brain, being able to make connections between ideas and knowledge we hold in our memories can help us to think more creatively and produce higher quality work.

Connections fuel creativity: nothing is original

Steve Jobs is an obvious person to reference whenever you’re talking about creativity or innovation, so I wasn’t surprised to find that he has spoken about making connections before. This great quote is from a Wired interview in 1996:

Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something.

Jobs went on to explain that experience (as we saw in the image at the top of this post) is the secret to being able to make connections so readily:

That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.

Maria Popova is arguably one of the best examples (and proponents) of what she calls “combinatorial creativity.” That is, connecting things to create new ideas:

… in order for us to truly create and contribute to the world, we have to be able to connect countless dots, to cross-pollinate ideas from a wealth of disciplines, to combine and recombine these pieces and build new castles.

She’s given a talk on this at a Creative Mornings event before, and made some great points. Being able to read about a wide range of topics is often one of of the most important elements. I really liked how she pointed out the way our egos affect our willingness to build on what others have done before:

… something we all understand on a deep intuitive level, but our creative egos sort of don’t really want to accept: And that is the idea that creativity is combination, that nothing is entirely original, that everything builds on what came before…

My favorite part of this talk is Popova’s LEGO analogy, where she likens the dots of knowledge we have to LEGO building blocks:

The more of these building blocks we have, and the more diverse their shapes and colors, the more interesting our castles will become.

Author Austin Kleon is someone who immediately comes to mind whenever the topic of connections and remixing art comes up. Kleon is the author of Steal Like An Artist, a book about using the work of others to inspire and inform your own.

It starts off like this:

Every artist gets asked the question, “Where do you get your ideas?”

The honest artist answers, “I steal them.”

Kleon is inspiring because he’s so upfront about how the work of other people has become part of his own work. He’s also keen on the phrase I quoted from Maria Popova above, that “nothing is original”:

Every new idea is just a mashup or a remix of one or more previous ideas.

If you’re looking for advice on creating more connections between the knowledge you have (and collecting even more knowledge), Kleon’s book is a great place to start. He offers suggests like:

carry a notebook everywhere
read a lot
keep a scratch file

How scientific thinking is all about making connections

When it comes to the field of science, making connections between those dots of knowledge seems to be just as important. In The Art of Scientific Investigation, Cambridge University professor W. I. B. Beveridge wrote that successful scientists “have often been people with wide interests,” which led to their originality:

Originality often consists in linking up ideas whose connection was not previously suspected.

He also suggested that scientists should expand their reading outside of their own field, in order to add to their knowledge (so they would have more dots when it came time to connect them, later):

Most scientists consider that it is a more serious handicap to investigate a problem in ignorance of what is already known about it.

Lastly, science writer Dorian Sagan agrees that science is about connections:

Nature no more obeys the territorial divisions of scientific academic disciplines than do continents appear from space to be colored to reflect the national divisions of their human inhabitants. For me, the great scientific satori's, epiphanies, eureka's, and aha! moments are characterized by their ability to connect.

Start making connections and getting creative

I’ll leave you with some suggestions for improving your own ability to make connections.

1. Add to your knowledge – the power of brand new experiences

After all, the more knowledge you have, the more connections you can make. Start by reading more, reading more widely, and exploring new opportunities for gathering knowledge (for instance, try some new experiences—travel, go to meetups or take up a new hobby).

As researcher Dr.Duezel explained when it comes to experiencing new things:

“Only completely new things cause strong activity in the mid brain area.”

So trying something new and forcing a gentle brain overload can make a dramatic improvement for your brain activity.

2. Keep track of everything – especially in the shower

As Austin Kleon suggests, take a notebook (or your phone) with you everywhere and take notes. Don’t expect your brain to remember everything—give it a hand by noting down important concepts or ideas you come across. As you do this, you may remember previous notes that relate (hey, you’re making connections already!)—make a note of those as well.

You can do this even when you’re in the shower with something like Acqua Notes. The shower is especially a place that has proven to make us more creative.

3. Review your notes daily – the Benjamin Franklin method

Going over your notes often can help you to more easily recall them when you need to. Read through what you’ve made notes of before, and you might find that in the time that’s passed, you’ve added more knowledge to your repertoire that you can now connect to your old notes!

In fact, this used to be one of Benjamin Franklin’s best kept secrets. Every morning and every evening he would review his day answering 1 simple question:

“What good have I done today?”

Here is his original daily routine from way back:

No doubt you have some great ideas of your own—let us know in the comments what works for you.

Social Connection Makes a Better Brain

Recent trends show that people increasingly value material goods over relationships—but neuroscience and evolution say this goes against our nature.

Matthew Lieberman, a distinguished social psychologist and neuroscientist, basically won the lottery. This past summer, he was offered three million dollars for an academic position—one million in raw income and two to do lab research. That’s a king’s ransom for a psychology professor. On average, psychology professors make less than six figures and rely on a patchwork of modest grants to sustain their research. All Lieberman had to do was spend four months this year and next year in Moscow, a nice enough city, doing some research—which he would have done anyway at home at UCLA.

But there was a catch. He would have to be away from his wife Naomi and seven-year-old son Ian for those eight months. They could not join him in Moscow. He had a basic trade-off problem, one that kept him up for many nights: Should I take the money and give up those eight months with my family or should I stay home and give up the money and research opportunities? In one form or another, we've all faced this dilemma, if on a more modest scale. Do you work late tonight or join your family for dinner? Do you go to the conference or to your friend’s wedding? Do you prioritize your career or your relationships?

The strongest predictor of a species’ brain size is the size of its social group. We have big brains in order to socialize.

Lieberman’s new book Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect hits the shelves this month. It’s a book about relationships and why relationships are a central—though increasingly absent—part of a flourishing life. Lieberman draws on psychology and neuroscience research to confirm what Aristotle asserted long ago in his Politics: “Man is by nature a social animal … Anyone who either cannot lead the common life or is so self-sufficient as not to need to, and therefore does not partake of society, is either a beast or a god.”

Just as human beings have a basic need for food and shelter, we also have a basic need to belong to a group and form relationships. The desire to be in a loving relationship, to fit in at school, to join a fraternity or sorority, to avoid rejection and loss, to see your friends do well and be cared for, to share good news with your family, to cheer on your sports team, and to check in on Facebook—these things motivate an incredibly impressive array of our thoughts, actions, and feelings.

Lieberman sees the brain as the center of the social self. Its primary purpose is social thinking. One of the great mysteries of evolutionary science is how and why the human brain got to be so large. Brain size generally increases with body size across the animal kingdom. Elephants have huge brains while mice have tiny ones. But humans are the great exception to this rule. Given the size of our bodies, our brains should be much smaller—but they are by far the largest in the animal kingdom relative to our body size. The question is why.

Scientists have debated this question for a long time, but the research of anthropologist Robin Dunbar is fairly conclusive on this point. Dunbar has found that the strongest predictor of a species’ brain size—specifically, the size of its neocortex, the outermost layer—is the size of its social group. We have big brains in order to socialize. Scientists think the first hominids with brains as large as ours appeared about 600,000-700,000 years ago in Africa. Known as Homo heidelbergensis, they are believed to be the ancestors of Homo sapiens and the Neanderthals. Revealingly, they appear to be the first hominids to have had division of labor (they worked together to hunt), central campsites, and they may have been the first to bury their dead.

A combination of three separate photographs showing the skull of a Homo heidelbergensis, dated at 400,000 years ago and considered to be among the most complete fossil skulls ever found. (Paul Hanna/Reuters)

One of the most exciting findings to emerge from neuroscience in recent years underlines the brain’s inherently social nature. When neuroscientists monitor what’s going on in someone’s brain, they are typically interested in what happens in it when people are involved in an active task, like doing a math problem or reaching for a ball. But neuroscientists have looked more closely at what the brain does during non-active moments, when we’re chilling out and the brain is at rest. Every time we are not engaged in an active task—like when we take a break between two math problems—the brain falls into a neural configuration called the “default network.” When you have down time, even if it’s just for a second, this brain system comes on automatically.

What’s remarkable about the default network, according to Lieberman’s research, is that it looks almost identical to another brain configuration—the one used for social thinking or “making sense of other people and ourselves,” as he writes: “The default network directs us to think about other people’s minds—their thoughts, feelings, and goals.” Whenever it has a free moment, the human brain has an automatic reflex to go social. Why would the brain, which forms only 2 percent of our body weight but consumes 20 percent of its energy, use its limited resources on social thinking, rather than conserving its energy by relaxing?

“Evolution has made a bet,” Lieberman tells me, “that the best thing for our brain to do in any spare moment is to get ready for what comes next in social terms.”

Evolution only makes bets if there are payoffs—and when it comes to being social, there are many benefits. Having strong social bonds is as good for you as quitting smoking. Connecting with other people, even in the most basic ways, also makes you happier—especially when you know they need your help.

An Atlantic Special Report

One study of adults found that the brain’s reward center, which turns on when people feel pleasure, was more active when people gave 10 to charity than when they received. In another study, comforting someone in distress activated the reward center in a powerful way. Couples were brought into the lab and the girlfriend was placed inside a brain scanner while the boyfriend sat in a chair right next to her. In some cases, the boyfriend would receive a painful electrical shock.

The girlfriend, who knew when her boyfriend was being shocked, was instructed to either hold her boyfriend’s hand or to hold onto a small ball. When the scientists looked at the girlfriend’s brain activity, they found that her reward system was active when she was holding the hand of her boyfriend both when he was being shocked and when he wasn't in pain—but it was most active when she held his hand as he was being shocked. Holding your boyfriend’s hand feels nice, but it’s especially meaningful when you know that he needs your love and affection.

When economists put a price tag on our relationships, we get a concrete sense of just how valuable our social connections are—and how devastating it is when they are broken. If you volunteer at least once a week, the increase to your happiness is like moving from a yearly income of $20,000 to $75,000. If you have a friend that you see on most days, it’s like earning $100,000 more each year. Simply seeing your neighbors on a regular basis gets you $60,000 a year more. On the other hand, when you break a critical social tie—here, in the case of getting divorced—it’s like suffering a $90,000 per year decrease in your income.

You don’t have to be a social scientist to know how badly a breakup hurts. One of Lieberman’s most provocative studies, done in collaboration with his wife Naomi Eisenberger, shows that social loss and rejection are more painful than we might realize. The researchers put people in a brain scanner and then had them play an Internet video game called Cyberball where three people toss a ball around to each other. The research subjects were led to believe that the other people in the game were also part of the study when in fact they were just two pre-programmed avatars.

The point of Cyberball is to make the player (the research subject) feel rejected. At first, all three players toss the ball to each other in turn. But at a certain point, the avatars cut the poor research participant out of the game. They toss the ball just to each other. Even though this is a silly game in a research study and has no bearing on real life, the research subjects were really hurt. They started feeling distress. They felt rejected. When they came out of the scanner, they kept talking to the researchers about how upset they were.

How to Build a Happier Brain

The most interesting part of the study is how their brains processed the social rejection. To the brain, social pain feels a lot like physical pain—a broken heart can feel like a broken leg, as Lieberman puts it in his book. The more rejected the participant said he or she felt, the more activity there was in the part of the brain that processes the distress of physical pain.

In a follow-up study, participants were called into the lab and, like last time, played Cyberball in the brain scanner. But this time, there was a twist. Before they came into the lab, half of them had taken Tylenol every day for three weeks while the other half had taken a placebo. What the researchers found in this study was remarkable: the placebo group felt just as rejected and pained as those in the initial study, but the people in the Tylenol group were totally immune to the social pain of feeling left out.

These studies are no doubt provocative and counter-intuitive. A broken leg and a broken heart seem like very different forms of pain. But there are evolutionary reasons why our brains process social pain the way they process physical pain. Pain is a sign that something is wrong. Social pain signals that we are all alone—that we are vulnerable—and need to either form new connections or rekindle old ones to protect ourselves against the many threats that are out there.

The psychologist Robert Seyfarth has extensively studied female baboons in the field and he finds that they respond to social loss, like the death of a loved one, by making new friends, often through grooming. In humans, too, social pain can be relieved through forming attachments. A baby’s distress cry, for example, calls the mother to reunite with the child and tend to its needs. In studies of rats and their pups, when mothers do not respond to the distress call, the pups often die within two days of birth.

Social connections are as important to our survival and flourishing as the need for food, safety, and shelter. But over the last fifty years, while society has been growing more and more prosperous and individualistic, our social connections have been dissolving. We volunteer less. We entertain guests at our homes less. We are getting married less. We are having fewer children. And we have fewer and fewer close friends with whom we’d share the intimate details of our lives. We are increasingly denying our social nature, and paying a price for it. Over the same period of time that social isolation has increased, our levels of happiness have gone down, while rates of suicide and depression have multiplied.

“To be kept in solitude is to be kept in pain,” writes the sociobiologist E. O. Wilson, “and put on the road to madness. A person’s membership in his group—his tribe—is a large part of his identity.”

"The more individuals endorse materialism as a positive life value, the less happy they are with are with their lives."

Across the board, people are increasingly sacrificing their personal relationships for the pursuit of wealth. The American Freshman survey has been tracking the values of college students since the mid-1960s. The survey is a good barometer of social and cultural change and it shows how far we've come in prioritizing material values over social ones. In 1965, college freshman said that “starting a family” and “helping others” were more important life goals than being “very well off financially.” By the eighties, it was the reverse: “helping others” and “starting a family” were less important to college freshman than making a lot of money. In 2012, freshmen prioritizing being “very well-off financially” peaked at 81 percent, the highest that number has been in the survey’s history.

“My gut says making more money will make me happier,” Lieberman writes in the book, “but my gut is wrong … The more individuals endorse materialism as a positive life value, the less happy they are with are with their lives.”

These facts and more were on Lieberman’s mind as he was struggling over the big decision he had to make. After a gut-wrenching couple of weeks and many sleepless nights, Lieberman finally made up his mind. In the end, he turned the three million dollars down. He did not want to be away from his wife and son. “Those are eight months with them,” he told me on the phone, “that I would never get back.” As tempted as he was by the money, he decided that his relationships were more important.

Connect To Thrive

Social Connection Improves Health, Well-Being & Longevity

We all know the basics of health 101: eat your veggies, go to the gym and get proper rest. But how many of us know that social connection is as important? Social connection improves physical health and psychological well-being. One telling study showed that lack of social connection is a greater detriment to health than obesity, smoking and high blood pressure. On the the flip side, strong social connection leads to a 50% increased chance of longevity. Social connection strengthens our immune system (research by Steve Cole shows that genes impacted by social connection also code for immune function and inflammation), helps us recover from disease faster, and may even lengthen our life. People who feel more connected to others have lower rates of anxiety and depression. Moreover, studies show they also have higher self-esteem, are more empathic to others, more trusting and cooperative and, as a consequence, others are more open to trusting and cooperating with them. Social connectedness therefore generates a positive feedback loop of social, emotional and physical well-being. Unfotunately, the opposite is also true for those who lack social connectedness. Low social connection has been generally associated with declines in physical and psychological health as well as a higher propensity to antisocial behavior that leads to further isolation.

Despite its clear importance for health and survival, sociological research suggests that social connectedness is waning at an alarming rate in the US. A revealing sociological study showed that the modal number of close confidantes (i.e., people with whom one feels comfortable sharing a personal problem) Americans claimed to have in 1985 was only three. In 2004 it dropped to one, with 25% of Americans saying that they have no one to confide in. This survey suggests that one in four people that we meet may have no one they call a close friend! This decline in social connectedness may explain reported increases in loneliness, isolation, and alienation and may be why studies are finding that loneliness represents one of the leading reasons people seek psychological counseling. Those who are not socially connected are more vulnerable to anxiety, depression, antisocial behavior, and even suicidal behaviors which tend to further increase their isolation. Most poignantly, a landmark survey showed that lack of social connectedness predicts vulnerability to disease and death above and beyond traditional risk factors such as smoking, blood pressure, and physical activity! Eat your greens and exercise, yes, but don't forget to connect.

Brene Brown, Professor at the University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work, specializes in social connection. In an interview, she told me: “A deep sense of love and belonging is an irresistible need of all people. We are biologically, cognitively, physically, and spiritually wired to love, to be loved, and to belong. When those needs are not met, we don't function as we were meant to. We break. We fall apart. We numb. We ache. We hurt others. We get sick.” We are profoundly social creatures. We may think we want money, power, fame, beauty, eternal youth or a new car, but at the root of most of these desires is a need to belong, to be accepted, to connect with others, to be loved. We pride ourselves on our independence, on pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps, having a successful career and above all not depending on anyone. But, as psychologists from Maslow to Baumeister have repeatedly stressed, the truth of the matter is that a sense of social connection is one of our fundamental human needs.

For those who doubt, just think of the sting of rejection. A brain imaging study led by Ethan Kross at the University of Michigan suggests that the same parts of the brain are activated during social rejection as during physical pain. Another recent study lead by Shelley Taylor at the University of California Los Angeles suggests that stress due to conflict in relationships leads to increased inflammation levels in the body. Both physically and psychologically, we experience social connection as positive and rejection or loneliness as negative.

Are you shy? Is it hard for you to meet people? Rest your worries. The most interesting fact about connection is that it has nothing to do with the number of friends you have on Facebook or the amount of community groups to which you belong. If you're a loner or an introvert, you can still reap the benefits. How is that possible? A sense of connection is internal: Researchers agree that the benefits of connection are actually linked to your subjective sense of connection. In other words, if you feel connected to others on the inside, you reap the benefits thereof! That is good news. While many of us cannot always control the number of friends we have, one thing we can take responsibility for is the state of our mind. Ever felt lonely in a crowd or a group of your own acquaintances? In the same way, it is possible to feel connected in a group of strangers. We can foster, nurture and build our internal sense of connection. It just takes a little courage and a spirit of adventure. In the next series of posts (updated weekly) I’ll be exploring science-based ways in which we can increase our social connection to others.

Ways to Strengthen Your Brain

Brain Health
March 19, 2015
By BrainMD Life
Home
Brain Health
12 Ways to Strengthen Your Brain

When it comes to keeping your body’s muscles fit, you often hear the expression “use it or lose it.”

Yet most people don’t know that your body’s controlling organ – your brain – is similar to a muscle, too. In fact, keeping your brain “fit” with plenty of mental stimulation is a great way to support your healthy cognition, mental function and memory throughout your life.

Isn’t that exciting?

It’s Brain Awareness Week through March 22. What better way to celebrate your brain than to begin exercising it with the following 12 brain-strengthening ideas from clinical neuroscientist, board-certified psychiatrist and brain imaging expert, Daniel Amen, MD?

It is just as important to exercise your brain, as it is to exercise your body. It can be fun, too!

Dr. Amen’s 12 Ways to Strengthen Your Brain

1. Dedicate yourself to new learning.

Put 15 minutes in your day to learn something new. Einstein said that if anyone spends 15 minutes a day learning something new, in a year he or she will be an expert! Learn by taking a class. Try square-dancing, chess, tai chi, yoga, or sculpture. Parents, work with modeling clay or Playdough with your kids. It helps develop agility and hand-brain coordination!

2. Cross train at work.

Learn someone else’s job. Maybe even switch jobs for several weeks. This benefits the business and employees alike, as both workers will develop new skills and better brain function.

3. Improve your skills at things you already do.

Some repetitive mental stimulation is okay as long as you look to expand your base skills and knowledge. Common activities such as gardening, sewing, playing bridge, reading, painting, and doing crossword puzzles have value, but push yourself to do different gardening techniques, more complex sewing patterns, play bridge against more talented players to increase your skill, read new authors on varied subjects, learn a new painting technique, and work harder crossword puzzles. Pushing your brain to new heights helps to keep it healthy and strong.

4. Limit television for kids and adults.

In a study published in the journal Pediatrics it was reported that for every hour a day children watch TV there is a 10% increased chance of them being diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD). This means if the child watches five hours a day they have a 50% increased chance of being diagnosed with ADD! Watching TV is usually a “no brain” activity. To be fair, most studies did not specifiy if watching programs that teach you something had the same effect as situation comedies, reality shows or sports. I suspect that no-brain TV shows are the primary problem.

5. Limit video games.

Action video games have been studied using brain imaging techniques that look at blood flow and activity patterns. Video games have been found to work in an area of the brain called the basal ganglia, one of the pleasure centers in the brain. In fact, this is the same part of the brain that lights up when researchers inject a person with cocaine! My experience with patients and one of my own children is that they tend to get hooked on the games and play so much that it can deteriorate their school work, work and social time – a bit like a drug. Some children and adults actually do get hooked on them.

6. Join a reading group that keeps you accountable to new learning.

Almost any mental activity you enjoy can be used to protect your brain. The essential requirement is that it activates several different brain areas, one of which should be the hippocampus (in the temporal lobes), which stores new information for retrieval later on. By recalling information (using your hippocampus), you are protecting your brain’s memory centers. In essence, as long as you learn something new and work to recall it later for discussions, you are protecting short-term memory. Reading stimulates a wide variety of brain areas that process, understand, and analyze what you read, and then store it for later recall if you decide it’s worth remembering. The neurons in these activated brain areas are stimulated with specific patterns of information.

7. Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

The brain does not interpret what you feed into it; it simply translates it. When you are learning to play the piano, the brain doesn’t care if you are becoming a great piano player or a terrible piano player. Consequently, if you repeat imperfect fingering, you will become very good at playing imperfectly! Teaching someone to do something well at the start prevents them from developing bad habits, which get solidified in the brain and are subsequently hard to retrain. Effective initial training in the workplace and in school is essential to developing effective, happy employees and students. We do not just train people, we train brains!

8. Break the routine of your life to stimulate new parts of your brain.

Do the opposite of what feels natural to activate the other side of your brain and gain access to both hemispheres. Write with your other hand, shoot basketballs with both hands, hit baseballs left handed (if you are right handed), play table tennis left handed, shoot a rifle sighting with your other eye, use the mouse with your other hand – make your brain feel uncomfortable. In essence, break the patterned routine in your life to challenge your brain to make new neuronal connections. Here are some more ideas:

Make love in a different way.
Try a sport you’ve never tried before.
Take a class in a subject you know nothing about.
Learn new cooking recipes.
Do some volunteer work – see how good you’ll feel when you help others.
Try a different shampoo/soap/shaving cream/ razor/ tooth/ paste/perfume/cologne.
Go to church, or a different church.
Go to an opera or symphony.
Join a self-development group.
Spend time reading the dictionary or a reference book. Learn a new word each day!
Take time out each day to strengthen a special relationship — spouse, lover, child, or friend.
Make a new friend–call up someone and ask him or her to do something with you.
Contact an old friend you haven’t talked to in awhile.
Submit a new idea at work; maybe even one you’ve thought about for awhile but were too embarrassed to mention because you thought no one would be interested in it.
Forgive someone you hold a grudge against…this is a new activity for many people.

9. Compare how similar things work.

Evaluating similar items – how different pitchers throw a curve ball, the many ways painters can paint ocean scenes, the varying spices in meals – gives your brain a sensory workout. Looking at similarities and differences helps the brain’s ability to think abstractly and challenges our frontal lobes. Learning to see, hear, feel or taste subtle changes will enhance your sensory ability and stimulate brain growth.

10. Visit new and different places.

Traveling to new and interesting places helps the brain by exposing it to new experiences, scents, sights, and people. Using maps stimulates the brain in new and different ways and also exercises our parietal lobes responsible for visual-spatial guidance.

11. Cultivate smart friends.

People are contagious. You become like the people with whom you spend time. Work on developing friendships with new, interesting people. You can trade ideas, get new perspectives, and generally stretch your mind if surrounded by fascinating folks. In playing any game, if you want to be better you have to play with people who are better than you, to push you to your limit. Same principle holds true in pushing your brain to new heights. Spend time with people who challenge you!

12. Treat learning problems to help kids and adults stay in school.

Numerous studies show that better-educated people have less risk of Alzheimer’s disease and cognitive decline. Millions of children, teens and adults suffer from ADD and learning problems that cause them to struggle in school or with learning despite having normal or even high intelligence. Recognizing these problems and getting them the help they need is essential to making “lifelong learning” a reality.

Mental exercise is as important as diet and physical exercise for keeping both your body and brain strong.

Here’s to keeping your brain fit!

The Importance of Mental Fitness

Mind-body connection
Benefits
Techniques
Takeaway

Keeping your brain in shape

Physical fitness gets plenty of attention, and for good reason. A healthy body can prevent conditions such as heart disease and diabetes, and help you maintain independence as you age.

Mental fitness is just as important as physical fitness, and shouldn’t be neglected. Including mental dexterity exercises into your daily routine can help you reap the benefits of a sharper mind and a healthier body for years to come.

Mental fitness means keeping your brain and emotional health in tip-top shape. It doesn’t mean training for “brain Olympics” or acing an IQ test. It refers to a series of exercises that help you:

slow down
decompress
boost a flagging memory

Mind-body connection

It’s no surprise that the more you help your body, the more you help your mind. Physical activity increases the flow of oxygen to your brain. It also increases the amount of endorphins, the “feel-good” chemicals, in your brain. For this reason, it’s not surprising that people who are in good physical shape also tend to enjoy a higher level of mental agility.

Engaging in a vigorous physical workout can help you battle depression and gain a more positive outlook on life. It’s also a great way to beat stress, which can harm you mentally and physically.

Mental exercise is just as beneficial. According to a study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, certain memory training exercises can increase “fluid intelligence,” the ability to reason and solve new problems.

While exercise is good for the brain and the body, so is meditation. Meditation, in conjunction with other methods, is an alternative way to treat depression. Calming the mind allows you to problem solve in a more relaxed way.

Benefits

Benefits of mental fitness

When you go to bed after a long day, your body begins to relax. But the mind doesn’t always follow.

Visualization can help. You can often achieve a sense of peacefulness through imagery, the process of picturing a tranquil scene or location. This practice can reduce tension in both your body and your mind by challenging neurons in the less-dominant area of your brain.

The less-dominant side of your brain is the area that controls feelings of self-confidence and optimism. When you think about something other than your daily worries, you increase activity in the neural structures of that area of your brain.

Ultimately, visualization can boost your emotional well-being and calm you down mentally.

Techniques

Become mentally fit

Keeping your mind mentally fit isn’t as difficult as getting ready for a marathon, but it’s a good analogy. You can add mental exercises to the many activities you already perform, such as:

reading
daydreaming
finding humor in life

You might try the following approaches to increase your mental fitness.

Stop multitasking

You may think that multitasking enables you to get more things done at once, but it actually creates more problems than it solves. Focusing on one task at a time will improve your concentration and help you to be more productive.

Be positive with yourself

Positive affirmation is one avenue to increased mental proficiency.

Affirmation, or talking to yourself in a positive way, involves strengthening neural pathways to bring your self-confidence, well-being, and satisfaction to a higher level.

To start, make a list of your good qualities. Remind yourself that you don’t have to be perfect. Set goals for what you want to improve and start small to avoid becoming overwhelmed.

Try something different

New experiences can also set you on the path to mental fitness. You can fit new approaches into your daily life in a variety of ways:

Try new foods.
Try new ways to accomplish routine tasks.
Travel to new places.
Take a new way to work or the grocery store.

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, research shows that keeping your brain active increases its vitality. Doing new things in new ways appears to help retain brain cells and connections. It may even produce new brain cells. In essence, breaking out of your routine can help keep your brain stay healthy.

Play games

Games that test reasoning and other portions of your brain are fun ways to keep your mind sharp. Consider these games:

crossword puzzles
board games
Sudoku

Games are a great way to build up your brain muscle. Even fast-paced action video games may boost your ability to learn new tasks, according to a study in the journal Current Biology. The study found tentative evidence that video games may increase your attention span, reaction time, and task-switching ability. In addition to video games, try any game that employs the use of:

logic
reasoning
trivia

Reading is great for your brain. Even as you’re reading this sentence, your brain is processing each word, recalling the meaning instantly.

Beyond the mechanics, reading helps you visualize the subject matter on the pages before you, and imagine what voices sound like in the written dialogue. This can also be a great relaxation technique.

Reading is a great activity because it can stoke the imagination and ignite so many different parts of the brain. There are endless genres and types of reading material. It’s unlikely that you’ll run out of interesting things to read.

Take the time

Mental fitness doesn’t have to take up a lot of your time. Spending a few minutes on it every day can help you feel better and think more clearly. Remember that relaxation and visualization are just as important in a mental workout as the more energetic activities, such as memory exercises or game-playing. Try adding one or two activities at a time to your mental workout, such as:

relaxing
visualizing
affirming
memory exercises
game-playing

How physical exercise makes your brain work better

The brain is often described as being “like a muscle”. It’s a comparison that props up the brain training industry and keeps school children hunched over desks. We judge literacy and numeracy exercises as more beneficial for your brain than running, playing and learning on the move.

But the brain-as-muscle analogy doesn’t quite work. To build up your biceps you can’t avoid flexing them. When it comes to your brain, an oblique approach can be surprisingly effective. In particular, working your body’s muscles can actually benefit your grey matter.

Brain training: should you believe the hype?

Scientists are showing that the runner’s high and the yogi’s tranquility have profound effects on your brain. Moreover, specific physical activities can markedly alter its structure in precise ways.

A wave of studies exploring the unexpected links between mental and bodily fitness is emerging from labs. This research might give you the impetus to get more active. It can also help you choose the best ways to prepare physically for mental challenges such as exams, interviews and creative projects.

Boost your memory

The part of the brain that responds strongly to aerobic exercise is the hippocampus. Well-controlled experiments in children, adults and the elderly show that this brain structure grows as people get fitter. Since the hippocampus is at the core of the brain’s learning and memory systems, this finding partly explains the memory-boosting effects of improved cardiovascular fitness.

As well as slowly improving your memory hardware, exercise can have a more immediate impact on memory formation. German researchers showed that walking or cycling during, but not before, learning helped new foreign language vocabulary to stick. So exercise while you revise. Don’t push it too hard, though: vigorous workouts can raise your stress levels, which can scupper your memory circuits.

Improve your concentration

Besides making memories stickier, exercise can help you focus and stay on task. The best scientific evidence comes from testing school children, but the same most likely applies to us all. Interspersing lessons with 20-minute bouts of aerobics-style exercise improved the attention spans of Dutch school pupils. Meanwhile, a large randomised controlled trial in the US looked at the effects of daily after-school sports classes over a school year. The children, of course, got fitter. Less predictably, their executive control improved. They became more adept at ignoring distractions, multitasking, and holding and manipulating information in their minds.

And if that all sounds like hard work, you may not have to get out of breath to reap the attention-honing effects of exercise. Just 10 minutes of playful coordination skills, like bouncing two balls at the same time, improved the attention of a large group of German teenagers.

Improve your mental health

Love it or hate it, bouts of physical activity can have potent effects on your mood. The runner’s high – that feeling of elation that follows intense exercise – is real. Even mice get it. It may not be due to an “endorphin rush”, though. Levels of the body’s homemade opiate do rise in the bloodstream, but it’s not clear how much endorphin actually gets into the brain. Instead, recent evidence points to a pleasurable and pain-killing firing of the endocannabinoid system: the psychoactive receptor of cannabis.

How anxiety scrambles your brain and makes it hard to learn

What about yoga? Does it really help with stress? When anxiety levels rise, you tense up, your heart races and your attention narrows to a slit. This shift to “fight or flight” mode is automatic, but that doesn’t mean it’s wholly out of your control. Yoga teaches the deliberate command of movement and breathing, with the aim of turning on the body’s “relaxation response”. Science increasingly backs this claim. For example, a 2010 study put participants through eight weeks of daily yoga and meditation practice. In parallel with self-reported stress-reduction, brain scans showed shrinkage of part of their amygdala, a deep-brain structure strongly implicated in processing stress, fear and anxiety.

Exercise is also emerging as a promising way to overcome depression. A 2013 meta-analysis cautiously reported that exercise – both aerobic and resistance – was “moderately effective” in treating depressive symptoms. Strikingly, exercise seemed as effective as antidepressant drugs and psychological treatments. The study’s authors identified it as an area crying out for more rigorous investigation.

Enhance your creativity

Thoreau, Nietzsche and many other creative types have claimed that walking gives wings to the imagination. Last year, psychologists gave this empirical support. Walking, either on a treadmill or around Stanford’s leafy campus, bolstered divergent thinking: the free-roaming, idea-generating component of creative thought. It didn’t help convergent thinking, though. So if you’re struggling to home in on a single solution, an idle stroll may not be what you need.

Slowing cognitive decline

The evidence that staying physically fit keeps your brain healthy into old age is especially compelling. Most concrete is the link between aerobic fitness and cognitive preservation. Workouts needn’t be extreme either: 30-45 minutes of brisk walking, three times a week, can help fend off the mental wear and tear and delay the onset of dementia. It pays to get used to regular exercise early, though. The protective effects are clearest before the cognitive signs of old age kick in.

Nor is it all about your heart and lungs. Exercises to improve balance, coordination and agility made a clear impact on the brain structure and cognitive function of a large group of German elderly people. Twice weekly sessions of weightlifting can have a visible neurological impact. Dancing may also be restorative for ageing brains. Just an hour of dance a week, for six months, did little for elderly participants’ aerobic capacity, but the physical and social stimulation bolstered their cognitive wellbeing.

Researchers are still teasing out the critical factors that make exercise such a potent brain tonic. Prime suspects include increased blood flow to the brain, surges of growth hormones and expansion of the brain’s network of blood vessels. It’s also possible that exercise stimulates the birth of new neurons. Until recently, few believed this could happen in adult human brains.

Don’t sit still

The cognitive spillover from exercise reminds us that our brains don’t operate in isolation. What you do with your body impinges on your mental faculties. Sitting still all day, every day, is dangerous. So don’t dither about what form of exercise you do. Find something you enjoy, then get up and do it. Right, I’m off for a jog.

Since you’re here …

… we have a small favour to ask. More people are reading the Guardian than ever but advertising revenues across the media are falling fast. And unlike many news organisations, we haven’t put up a paywall – we want to keep our journalism as open as we can. So you can see why we need to ask for your help. The Guardian’s independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our perspective matters – because it might well be your perspective, too.

I appreciate there not being a paywall: it is more democratic for the media to be available for all and not a commodity to be purchased by a few. I’m happy to make a contribution so others with less means still have access to information. Thomasine F-R.

5 Ways to Beef Up Your Brain

Forget where you left your keys this morning? Or maybe you left your umbrella in the office before a rainy evening. Don't worry, it's probably not a sign of Alzheimer's — everyone is a little forgetful now and then.

But the prevalence of Alzheimer's and other types of dementia, which slowly deteriorate the brain's capacity to make new memories, retrieve older ones and perform other mental and physical tasks, is on the rise as the baby boomer generation hits retirement age. A 2007 Alzheimer's Association report estimated that more than 5 million Americans were currently living with the disease and that that total could reach 16 million by 2050.

Scientists are still trying to unravel the many mysteries of the brain — how our brain processes information, how memory works, how the brain ages and how diseases like Alzheimer's develop — so that we better understand our own minds and how to keep them healthy.

But while there is still a lot to learn about our noggins, several studies have worked out a few ways to help keep your thinking organ in shape, now and as you age.

1. Eat Your Brain Food

You are what you eat, or at least your brain is. A diet of junk food can junk up your brain, as things like trans fats and saturated fats, common in heavily processed foods, can negatively affect the brain's synapses. Synapses connect the brains neurons and are important to learning and memory. On the other hand, a balanced diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids — found in salmon, walnuts and kiwi fruit — can give the synapses a boost and help fight against mental disorders from depression to dementia.

2. Hit the Gym

Giving the rest of your body a workout can also improve your memory, make you think more clearly and decrease the risk of developing cognitive diseases, several studies have suggested. Because exercise is a mild stressor to your body, eating up the precious energy needed by the brain, it triggers the release of chemicals called growth factors that make the brain's neurons stronger and healthier. Half an hour every other day will do it, experts say. And don't forget to stretch: Stretching can help reduce stress, which can impact the memory centers of your brain.

3. Mind Benders

Give your brain a workout, too, with brainteasers, crossword puzzles and memory games — studies have shown that using these tools to stay mentally active can reduce the risks of developing dementia by building and maintaining a reserve of stimulation in your brain. Even following the current political campaign can provide a boost to the systems that control attention and learning that are hard-wired into the brain.

4. Memory tricks

Keeping information stored in your memory banks and retaining that memory with age may also be a simple matter of mind control. For example, confidence in your cognitive abilities could actually affect how well your memory functions, particularly for the elderly. Because some older adults tend to blame memory lapses on age, regardless of whether or not that is the cause, they can keep themselves from even really trying to remember. Prediction can also enhance memory: If you have a good idea of the information you'll need to recall later, you're more likely to remember it.

5. Give it a Rest

Sleep gives your brain a chance to replay the memories of the day and consolidate them for long-term storage. One study suggested that the brain can do its reviewing much faster when you're asleep than when you're wide awake — so no more all-nighters, students. A 90-minute mid-afternoon nap can even help solidify long-term memories, such as events or skills you are trying to master. Siesta anyone?

Of course, none of these mind-enhancing tips is fool-proof. Some studies have suggested that developing Alzheimer's and other types of dementia is partly a matter of genetics.

One such study, presented in July at the Alzheimer's Association's International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease, hinted at a connection between mothers who develop Alzheimer's and the chances their children will become afflicted in old age. Another suggests that having a specific pattern of proteins is a risk factor for the debilitating disease.

But for now, no one can predict exactly who will or won't develop dementia. While scientists work on better indicators and cures, doing your own part to keep your body and brain healthy is probably the best you can do.

The most important application of Vygotsky's theory to education is in hisconcept of a zone of proximal development. This concept is important becauseteachers can use it as a guide to a child's development. ... A second important aspect of Vygotsky's theory is the role of play in histheory.

The most important application of Vygotsky's theory to education is in hisconcept of a zone of proximal development. This concept is important becauseteachers can use it as a guide to a child's development. It allows a teacher toknow what a student is able to achieve through the use of a mediator and thusenables the teacher to help the child attain that level by themselves.

A second important aspect of Vygotsky's theory is the role of play in histheory. According to this perspective teachers need to provide children,especially young children, many opportunities to play. Through play, andimagination a child's conceptual abilities are stretched. Vygotsky argued thatplay leads to development. "While imitating their elders in culturallypatterned activities, children generate opportunities for intellectualdevelopment. Initially, their games are recollections and reenactments of realsituations; but through the dynamics of their imagination and recognition ofimplicit rules governing the activities they have reproduced in their games,children achieve an elementary mastery of abstract thought." (Cole, 1978).

Since language holds a central role in Vygotsky's theory, and is essential tothe development of thinking, the school needs to provide many opportunities thatallow children to reach the third stage of speech, which is inner speech, sinceit is this stage which is responsible for all higher levels of functioning.

Define Cognitive Thinking

Cognitive thinking refers to the use of mental activities and skills to perform tasks such as learning, reasoning, understanding, remembering, paying attention, and more.

A Picture of the Cognitive Process

The brain uses a foundational set of skills, called cognitive skills, in order to tackle and accomplish mental tasks. In fact, these are the same skills we use in school, at work, and in life in general to grasp, processes, remember, and apply incoming information.

Because these skills all work together (imagine the cogs in a machine), even one weak skill can hinder the process. In fact, studies show that the majority of learning struggles are caused by one or more weak cognitive skills.Cognitive Skills We Need to Think and Learn Well

Here’s a brief description of each of the cognitive skills, as well as common struggles that can be experienced if that skill is weak:

Attention/Sustained

Sustained attention enables you to stay focused and on task for an extended period of time.

Signs that sustained attention skills may be weak include jumping from project to project, and/or always being surrounded by unfinished projects.

Attention/Selective

Selective attention enables you to ignore distractions and stay focused on what you are doing.

Signs that selective attention skills may be weak include being easily distracted and/or jumping from task to task.

Attention/Divided

Divided attention enables you to remember information while doing two things at once.

Signs that divided attention skills may be weak include not being able to multitask, or making frequent mistakes.

Auditory Processing

Auditory processing enables you to analyze, blend, and segment sounds, and is a critical skill for successful reading.

Signs that auditory processing skills may be weak include having difficulties learning to read, or struggling with reading fluency or comprehension.

Visual Processing

Visual processing enables you to think in visual images.

Signs that visual processing skills may be weak include struggling to understand what you’ve just read, remembering what you’ve read, following directions, reading maps, doing word math problems.

Memory/Working

Working memory enables you to hang on to information while you are in the process of using it.

Signs that working memory skills may be weak include having to read the directions again in the middle of a project, experiencing difficulty following multi-step directions, forgetting what was just said in a conversation.

Memory/Long-Term

Long-term memory enables you to hang on to, and access, stored information that was learned in the past.

Signs that long-term memory skills may be weak include forgetting names, doing poorly on tests, forgetting things you used to know.

Logic & Reasoning

Logic & reasoning enables you to reason, form ideas, and solve problems.

Signs that logic & reasoning skills may be weak include frequently asking “What do I do next?” or saying “I don’t get this,” struggling with math, feeling stuck or overwhelmed.

Processing Speed

Processing speed enables you to perform tasks quickly and accurately

Signs that processing speed is weak include the ongoing feeling that tasks are more difficult for your than for other people, taking a long time to complete tasks for school or work, frequently being the last one in a group to finish something.

Because cognitive skills are so critical for every aspect of thinking, learning, and performing, weak skills should be addressed. If you are seeing signs—in yourself or in someone you love—that one or more cognitive skills may be weak, there’s a way you can know for sure. Cognitive testing measures exactly how each skill is performing, and gives you a detailed look at which skills are strong and which are weak.

If cognitive testing identifies one or more weak skills, cognitive training can target and strengthen those skills.

LearningRx offers a particularly effective form of cognitive training called one-on-one brain training, in which clients of all ages work one-on-one with their own personal trainer, doing fun, challenging mental exercises that target and strengthen specific skills.

Takeaway

The takeaway

Mental fitness is important to maintaining your brain and your body healthy, especially as you age. There are many types of mental dexterity exercises, and you don’t need to go to the gym to do them. They include active ones, such as learning a new song or playing a game, as well as restful ones, such as relaxation and visualization exercises. Schedule a mental fitness break into your calendar right next to your workout schedule. Your mind and your health are worth it.

All about Making Cognitive Connections

The Making Cognitive Connections approach

Targeted cognitive skills

Attention to Detail

Memory

Visual Memory

Sequencing

Categorization

Following Directions

Time Management

Making Cognitive Connections training features

The Working Brain

Brain Basics in Real Life

Brain Basics in Real Life—How Depression affects the Brain

Brain Research

Glossary

Mind and Brain

THE BRAIN: FOUNDATION FOR LEARNING

Connect for mental wellbeing

How relationships help our wellbeing

Build relationships for wellbeing

The Secret to Creativity, Intelligence, and Scientific Thinking: Being Able to Make Connections

Intelligence and connections: why your brain needs to communicate well with itself

Connections fuel creativity: nothing is original

How scientific thinking is all about making connections

Start making connections and getting creative

1. Add to your knowledge – the power of brand new experiences

2. Keep track of everything – especially in the shower

3. Review your notes daily – the Benjamin Franklin method

Social Connection Makes a Better Brain

An Atlantic Special Report

How to Build a Happier Brain

Connect To Thrive

Ways to Strengthen Your Brain

1. Dedicate yourself to new learning.

2. Cross train at work.

3. Improve your skills at things you already do.

4. Limit television for kids and adults.

5. Limit video games.

6. Join a reading group that keeps you accountable to new learning.

7. Practice does not make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect.

8. Break the routine of your life to stimulate new parts of your brain.

9. Compare how similar things work.

10. Visit new and different places.

11. Cultivate smart friends.

12. Treat learning problems to help kids and adults stay in school.

The Importance of Mental Fitness

Keeping your brain in shape

Mind-body connection

Mind-body connection

Benefits

Benefits of mental fitness

Techniques

Become mentally fit

Stop multitasking

Be positive with yourself

Try something different

Play games

Read more

Take the time

How physical exercise makes your brain work better

Brain training: should you believe the hype?

Boost your memory

Improve your concentration

Improve your mental health

How anxiety scrambles your brain and makes it hard to learn

Enhance your creativity

Slowing cognitive decline

Don’t sit still

Since you’re here …

5 Ways to Beef Up Your Brain

Define Cognitive Thinking

A Picture of the Cognitive Process

Because these skills all work together (imagine the cogs in a machine), even one weak skill can hinder the process. In fact, studies show that the majority of learning struggles are caused by one or more weak cognitive skills.Cognitive Skills We Need to Think and Learn Well

Takeaway

The takeaway

"You can control your anger before it controls you, and you are the winner!!!"

2019年3月26日

"If we live in a culture of bullying, we have to be so much more diligent about making sure it doesn’t go down to the classroom.”

2019年3月21日