Albert Einstein's Brain

Have you ever wondered what was different about Albert Einstein’s brain? a new study led by Florida State University evolutionary anthropologist Dean Falk, may have some answers. The study, The Cerebral Cortex of Albert Einstein: A Description and Preliminary Analysis of Unpublished Photographs, (published in the journal Brain), includes some interesting information. For example, photographs of Einstein’s brain, taken shortly after he died, were recently uncovered by the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland. They were part of a donation from the estate of Thomas Harvey, the pathologist who took the photos. According to Falk, "Although the overall size and asymmetrical shape of Einstein's brain were normal, the prefrontal, somatosensory, primary motor, parietal, temporal and occipital cortices were extraordinary.” Einstein’s extraordinary prefrontal cortex may have contributed to some of his remarkable cognitive abilities.

Breathing Meditation and Positive Moods

Do you want your moods to be more positive? Research by Jane Anderson has shown that you can teach your neurons to meditate, which can change your brain. Studies done at the University of Wisconsin have shown that brain activity can be changed in about five weeks with a total of seven hours of training and practice. EEG measurements of the brain’s electrical activity were made before and after the five weeks. Participants were told to close their eyes, relax, and focus on the flow of their breath at the tip of nose. When random thoughts arose, they were just to acknowledge the thoughts and then let them go by gently bringing their attention back to their breathing. Those who had done the meditation training showed a difference in brain activity: a greater proportion of activity in the left frontal region of the brain in response to subsequent meditation attempts, a pattern of brain activity that has been associated in other studies with positive moods.

Music and the Brain

Did you know that playing a musical instrument changes both the anatomy and functions of the brain? Some have wondered, however, whether or not these changes persist after music training stops. Researchers studied this question by measuring auditory brainstem responses in a cohort of healthy young human adults with varying amounts of past musical training. Study results showed that adults who received formal music instruction as children have more robust brainstem responses to sound than peers who never participated in music lessons and that the magnitude of the response correlates with how recently training ceased. This indicated that neural changes accompanying musical training during childhood are retained in adulthood. According to researchers Erika Skoe and Nina Krause, these findings advance the understanding of long-term neuroplasticity and have general implications for the development of effective auditory training programs.

Stress and Working Memory

Did you know that Psychologists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have figured out how stress interferes with one’s ability to pay attention, focus, and create working memory? Working memory is both short-term (seconds) and flexible, allowing the brain to hold a large amount of information close at hand to perform complex tasks. Without it, you would have forgotten the first half of this sentence while reading the second half. They watched neurons functioning in the brain’s prefrontal cortex, part of the brain that is vital to working memory. The neurons communicated on a scale of every thousandth of a second. In addition, they knew what they did one second to one-and-a-half seconds ago. In the presence of a stressor, however, while the neurons became even more active, they were reacting to other things and failed to retain information about what they did a second or so ago. The conclusion was that stress-related impairment of this mechanism is believed to contribute to the cognition-impairing actions of stress.

White and Gray Matter

Have you ever wondered about the difference between gray matter and white matter in the human brain? Dr. Amen, using a computer analogy, put it this way: “White matter is the tissue through which messages pass between different areas of gray matter within the brain. The gray matter can be thought of as the actual computers themselves, whereas the white matter represents the network cables connecting the computers together.” Obviously, both are important to brain function. Using a highway metaphor, think of the brain’s white matter as a pathway that has been paved with myelin, the brain’s asphalt. Paving a road in the literal world makes it easier to navigate safely and typically allows for faster travel. A similar situation occurs in the brain. Estimates are that messages travel across brain pathways at speeds of 200 miles per hour, which breaks down to about 400 feet per second. Pretty amazing!

Duchenne Smiles and Stress

Did you know that genuine smiles not only utilize the muscles of the mouth but also those of the eyes? They are known as Duchenne smiles, in honor of research by a French neurologist: Guillaume-Benjamin-Amand Duchenne (de Boulogne) who lived from 1806 to 1875. Tara L. Kraft and Sarah D. Pressman of the University of Kansas studied whether covertly manipulating positive facial expressions would influence cardiovascular and affective responses to stress. Study participants were asked to complete stressful tasks(e.g., tracing a star using their nondominant hands) while holding chopsticks in their mouths in a manner that produced a Duchenne smile, a standard smile, or a neutral expression. Findings revealed that all smiling participants, regardless of whether they were aware of smiling, had lower heart rates during stress recovery than the neutral group did, with a slight advantage for those with Duchenne smiles. It appears that there are physiological and psychological benefits to be gained from maintaining a positive facial expression during stress.

Holiday Stress

Do you tend to overreact to even simply daily stressors to say nothing of holiday stress? Holiday periods can constitute an increased challenge because individuals often lose sleep, eat less healthfully, drink too much, and associate with people who create stress in the environment. The overreaction to stressors, even minor ones, can lead to high blood pressure, infectious diseases, and the worsening of autoimmune diseases and HIV/AIDS cases. Stressful social interactions can increase the risk for metabolic syndrome (a precursor to type 2 diabetes). Plan your activities with care. Just because you’re in the habit of routinely following holiday tradition, you can often make a healthier choice for you. Choose to avoid some of the more “stressful” social events, or limit the time you spend there. Remember that the problem is not the stressor itself, but the person’s reaction to it. Learn to stop taking anything personally—it’s just another brain’s opinion and may have no relevance to your brain at all. Sometimes all you can do is refuse to take the situation too seriously and just laugh about it. After all, it’s your life and your health.