Source:
World-Science.net
Playing
with your young children
is the best way to make
them into smart adults,
researchers say—beating
trendy toys, classes or
music as a brain-building
strategy for preschoolers.
Children’s foremost
need is a secure relationship
with an adult who loves
them, said Eric Knudsen
of the Stanford University
School of Medicine in Stanford,
Calif. “It’s all
about playing with your
child,” he added.
A
paper appearing in the June
27 advance online issue
of the research journal
Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences details
the findings, by Knudsen
and three other members
of the U.S. National Scientific
Council on the Developing
Child.
The
council, based at Brandeis
University in Waltham, Mass.,
is a group of 12 scientists
from across the United States
in the field of early childhood
development.
The
paper draws on past research
in economics, neurobiology,
developmental psychology
and public policy. The authors
said that working independently,
they concluded that the
earliest years of life forever
shape an adult’s ability
to learn.
The
capacity for change in the
foundations of skill development
and brain circuitry “is
highest earlier in life
and decreases over time,”
the authors wrote. A child’s
eventual ability to learn
calculus or a second language,
Knudsen said, starts with
brain cells shaped by positive
interactions with nurturing
adults, well before school
begins.
Jack
P. Shonkoff of Brandeis,
chairman of the council
and a co-author of the paper,
said lawmakers should take
heed, as skilled jobs are
moving from the United States
overseas and a growing percentage
of its workforce is raised
in disadvantaged environments.
“With
all the attention currently
focused on K-12 education
reform and job training
for adults with limited
skills, this paper said
that the biggest bang for
the buck will come from
investing in the earliest
years of life,” he
said. “It’s not
about the toys, it’s
about the human connection.”
Memory
Upgrade Chips Coming to a
Brain Near You
By
Lakshmi Sandhana
Source:
Wired
News
In
this era of high-tech memory
management, next in line
to get that memory upgrade
isn't your computer, it's
you.
Professor
Theodore W. Berger, director
of the Center for Neural
Engineering at the University
of Southern California,
is creating a silicon chip
implant that mimics the
hippocampus, an area of
the brain known for creating
memories.
If
successful, the artificial
brain prosthesis could replace
its biological counterpart,
enabling people who suffer
from memory disorders to
regain the ability to store
new memories.
And
it's no longer a question
of "if" but "when."
The six teams involved in
the multi-laboratory effort,
including USC, the University
of Kentucky and Wake Forest
University, have been working
together on different components
of the neural prosthetic
for nearly a decade. They
will present the results
of their efforts at the
Society for Neuroscience's
annual meeting in San Diego,
which begins Saturday.
While
they haven't tested the
microchip in live rats yet,
their research using slices
of rat brain indicates the
chip functions with 95 percent
accuracy. It's a result
that's got the scientific
community excited.
Read
the full story here...
http://www.mindpowernews.com/MemoryChip.htm
Two
Basic Ways
to Strengthen
Your Brain
By
Steve Gillman
Author of A
Book of Secrets
There
are many techniques you
can use to temporarily increase
your brainpower. These include
problem solving techniques,
exercises in imagination,
and stimulants like deep
breathing or caffeine. Some
argue that these don’t
actually increase IQ, but
only temporarily improve
performance. But since you
can choose to use them all
the time, including during
IQ tests, the improvement
can be permanent.
Of
course, to do anything consistently
and repeatedly over time
is a difficult goal. What
if you want to make real
and permanent improvements?
Can you increase brainpower
permanently, or at least
as permanently as things
can be for mortals?
Yes,
you can change the physical
structure of your brain,
in order to improve its
function. There are two
basic ways to do it. The
first is to physically build
and strengthen your brain
with mental exercises. The
second is to strengthen
it by doing certain physical
exercises.
Mental
Exercises To Increase Brainpower
Mental
exercises do not just create
temporary changes in your
thinking. Exercising the
brain has been shown in
many studies to actually
generate new neuronal growth.
It has even been shown to
halt the decline of mental
function that often comes
with age.
What
mental exercises should
you do? Ideally ones that
you enjoy, because you will
get more involved and be
more likely to keep doing
them. There have been many
activities used to test
neuronal growth that results
from exercising the brain.
No specific ones have been
singled out as more effective
yet, so we are left using
our common sense.
Watching
TV, for example, is not
mental exercise, because
it is too passive. Doing
crossword puzzles certainly
is good mental exercise,
as is playing word games,
arguing philosophy, or doing
mental math while driving.
Other possibilities include
learning and using memory
techniques, habitually redesigning
things in your imagination,
and inventing lyrics as
you sing a song.
Physical
Exercises To Increase Brainpower
Physical
exercise has been shown
to improve brain function
indirectly. This is easy
to understand. A better
cardiovascular system means
better blood flow, and it
is blood that carries that
much-needed oxygen to the
brain. Of course, this better
oxygen supply to the brain
will persist only as long
as you stay in shape. Are
there physical exercises
or activities that will
make more permanent changes
in the brain?
Yes.
Activities which involve
timing and coordination
cause dendrite growth in
the brain, resulting in
more possible connections
in your brain. Having more
connections means learning
and thinking can be more
flexible and efficient.
Physical exercise, then,
can increase brainpower
- if it is the right type.
Athletic
activities likely to help
include tennis, basketball,
soccer, and tossing around
a frisbee. Less athletic
activities that require
a lot of coordination and
timing will also accomplish
the same thing. These include
playing musical instruments,
especially those that require
precise timing, like piano
playing. You can also try
activities which involve
hand-eye coordination, like
painting or drawing.
Meditation,
which is part physical and
part mental activity, also
changes the structure of
the brain. Recent research
shows that it increases
the thickness of the cortex
in those areas that are
involved in sensory processing
and attention - the prefrontal
cortex and the right anterior
insula. Other studies show
that highly skilled musicians
and linguists also have
thickening in the relevant
areas of the cortex.
Bottom
line? Areas of the brain
that you exercise grow bigger,
from new neurons, and from
bigger blood vessels and
supporting structures like
glia and astrocytes, and
from increased branching
and connections. It is clear
that you can increase your
brainpower by physically
improving your brain.
Steve
Gillman is the author of
A
Book of Secrets
A
Book of Secrets
How
To Read Minds, Save Money,
Boost Brainpower, Get Lucky,
See The Real News, Find
Treasure, Subliminally Persuade
People,
Buy Real Estate With No
Money Down - And That's
Just The Beginning!
Learn
more here...
Aerobics
for the Brain
