Your Divided Brain

Iain McGilchrist has prepared and filmed a piece about the two cerebral hemispheres. Approximately eleven minutes long and released in October, it provides an informative and cleverly interesting presentation. Check it out. You just might enjoy it!


http://www.ted.com/talks/iain_mcgilchrist_the_divided_brain.html

The Autistic Brain

Studies at the University of Montreal Centre for Excellence in Pervasive Development Disorders: In the autistic brain, it appears that more brain resources are concentrated in areas associated with visual detection and identification. By comparison, fewer brain resources are concentrated (and regions show less activity) in areas used to plan and control thoughts and actions. Put another way, the autistic brain exhibits more activity in the temporal and occipital regions and less activity in the frontal cortex as compared with non-autistic brains. The stronger engagement of the visual system, whatever the tasks, is believed to be the first physiological confirmation that enhanced perceptual processing is a core feature of neural organization in autistic brains.

http://www.kurzweilai.net/new-research-explains-autistics-exceptional-visual-abilities

Too Busy to Die

People often mention to me that they are afraid of death or are worried about dying. A recent article in the Los Angeles Times by Steve Lopez turned the spotlight on Hedda Bolgar. She recently received an Outstanding Oldest Worker Award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C. In her speech, she talked about how there’s dignity and purpose in work, and grace in aging. At age 102, this Brentwood Therapist is still seeing clients. You may want to check out the article--and her picture. (Oh, yes, greetings from Seoul, S. Korea -- where I am having the great privilage of making several presentations in a variety of venues.)

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-1002-lopez-bolgar-20111002,0,5869414.column

Stress and the Female Brain

Studies by NIMH grantee Rita Valentino PhD: Women are twice as vulnerable as men to many stress-related disorders, such as depression and PTSD. Corticotropin releasing factor (CRF), which acts as both a hormone and a neurotransmitter, appears to be a key player. Researchers used antibodies and an electron microscope to see how the CRF receptor responds in the brains of male versus female rats — both unstressed and after exposure to a stressful swim. In the male brain under stress, many of the hormone's receptors retreated into the cell, making the brain less stress reactive. Even in the absence of any stress, the researchers found the female stress signaling system to be more sensitive from the start.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2010/stress-hormone-receptors-less-adaptive-in-female-brain.shtml?WT.mc_id=twitter&sms_ss=email

Magic as Brain Artistry

It was painters, not scientists, who first figured out the rules of visual perspective and occlusion. Knowing these rules permitted painters to make pigments on a flat canvas appear like a beautiful landscape, rich in depth. Magicians are just a different type of artist. Instead of using color and form, they manipulate the brain’s attention and cognition. Try viewing a magic show from this perspective. Obviously there are magic presentations that your brain will prefer, much as it prefers some types of paintings.

(Macknik, Stephen L. PhD and Susana Martinez-Conde PhD. Sleights of Mind. P 4-6. NY:Henry Holt and Company, 2010.)

The Brain's Imaginary Playmates

Some brains do create them. Mine did. I had one for several years, although I learned quickly it was something I needed to keep private. Little John Deerfoot was the recipient of a great deal of my childhood chatter about life. I was home schooled (alone) for K - Grade Five. No surprise, my imaginary First Nation child was very helpful in that one-person school. One of these days I'll write a book about our "adventures of the mind." Even today as I write this, he is as clear is my mind as if he was standing right in front of me, with his jet black hair, beaded headband, single feather stuck in the back, and buff deer-skin clothing. With lots of fringe! Actually, it's been decades since I thought to call up his memory picture. I did last week when a parent asked me, with obvious concern, how to "make a child stop lying about a pretend friend." I suggested the parent let it go, perhaps making a comment now and then about the difference between seeing and touching a person in real life and accomplishing that in the brain. The reality principle--even knowing the difference between imagining and pretending versus what is tangible and concrete--appears to kick in some time after the age of four. The power of imagination is a mental faculty built into the brain (likely in the right frontal lobe). If it has been developed, imagination can help you to plan, envision, create, innovate, invent, set and achieve goals, and so on. Without it, I believe a brain can be handicapped in thinking ahead and figuring out what something may be like and what the person will need to do or bring with them.

http://www.seattlepi.com/lifestyle/article/Researchers-take-on-imaginary-playmates-for-1161361.php

Brain and Bottom-Up Learning

I was pleased to read this article and notice that someone is at least talking about a different way of helping the brain to learn information. Schools traditionally emphasis top-down education at the expense of bottom-up strategies (or perceptual learning). Now some researchers are saying that if millions of children can develop a trained eye for video combat games and doctored Facebook photos, they can surely do the same for graphs and equations. The concept isn't new in and of itself (e.g., the brain registers subtle patterns subconsciously, well before a person knows he or she is learning) but applying to education certainly is. One can only hope!

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/07/health/07learn.html?_r=1