Category Archives: Latest brain research

Why should teachers know something about the physiology of the brain?

Posted on by
1

What should teachers know about the brain?

If you are using learning principles based on neurological research to guide the way you teach then you must believe in a learning theory known as brain-based learning. 

        

Brain-Based Learning

I find brain-based learning a somewhat confusing term. Surely the brain is the processor of all learning?

 

Indeed, but brain-based learning looks at how our brain functions, and what set of conditions, activities and experiences can lead to the most effective learning. For teachers, this means considering how teaching can be made more effective by providing lessons that are ‘Brain compatible’. It is all about teaching with the brain in mind.

 

But this is not a new concept in education! The idea of using knowledge of the way the brain works to guide educational practice was put forward some twenty years ago. Back then there were many critics that argued it was futile to try and use neurological research to guide educational practices.

 

So why has ‘brain-based’ education suddenly been resurrected? The short answer is that recent developments in technology have allowed neuroscientists to come a lot closer to understanding the way our brains work; we are nearer to knowing how we learn.

While there is still a lot of uncertainty, scepticism and outright rejection of brain-based learning, we as teachers cannot ignore those principles that have developed out of brain-based learning and have since been applied, and proven by some educators to make learning more effective.  We must take a new look at teaching and recognise that some of our teaching methods may be out-dated and could even be hindering some of our students rather than assisting them with their learning. All things evolve and as teachers we cannot afford to remain stationary, we should always be looking for a better way of doing things. Brain-based research provides increasing insight into how our brains work. It should not be ignored. It may have many and great implications for the way we should be teaching.

 

Yes but what should teachers know about the actual brain?

Knowing about the brain takes us a step closer to understanding the nature of intelligence. This kind of knowledge of the brain requires an understanding of the physiological, social, emotional, constructive, reflective and dispositional dimensions of the brain.

 

So, as a teacher do I really need to know about the physiological dimensions of the brain?

This is a question that I have wrestled with for a while now. As if life isn’t busy enough, now my school wants me to know the names and functions of different parts of the brain. Do I really need to know about the occipital lobe, parietal lobe, frontal lobe and temporal lobe?

Looking for the answers to my dilemma has been somewhat frustrating. Nearly everything that I read about brain-based learning strongly recommends that teachers acquire some anatomical terms along with an understanding of the processes that take place in the brain. The reasons commonly given state that having such knowledge about the brain is useful but they usually fall short of explaining why?

The following remark was taken from a blog (http://www.insidehighered.com) discussing brain based learning and was in response to teachers raising concerns that they didn’t know much about how the brain functions.

“….You don’t need to know that attention is modulated by the superior colliculus to know that students need to pay attention to learn something. You don’t need to know how the amygdala regulates emotion, or how our dopaminergic system is critical to how we learn systems of rewards and punishment to know that you need to make a classroom experience emotionally engaging and rewarding for students to learn.

You don’t need to know what a hippocampus is to start to understand how to leverage what we do know about our memory systems can be applied to educational contexts.

This is not to say that all cognitive neuroscience is irrelevant, just that often the relevant dimensions to education are not based on Brodmann’s areas or neurotransmitter levels, but rather on abstract constructs that influence behavior. This is cognitive and social psychology, and while often informed by neuroscience, it is not always dependent on it…..”

The above quote fuelled my desire to get an answer to the question: why do I need to know about the physiology of the brain?

I believe the following:

1.

 

Given that we have made the choice to incorporate brain-based learning into our lessons it is only reasonable to assume that we can explain why we have done this. Brain learning principles derived from neurological research  go a long way in explaining how brain-based learning works but we can add to our understanding  by knowing more about the brain and how it functions.

 2.

            

Our faith in the effectiveness of brain-based learning will be given further strength with a greater knowledge of the brain and how it functions; we can be confident that using brain-based teaching methods is the right thing to do.

3.

   

Knowing about how the brain works can help in our understanding of what it means to be human; in studying the brain we learn more about ourselves and why we are the way we are. A close look at the brain can help oneself to realise what their brain is indeed capable of, creating an overall good feeling that ‘anything is possible’. Being able to visualize the brain in all its glory gives a sense of validity to the idea of ”a brain with great neuroplasticity’. By accepting the notion of Neuroplasticity one feels empowered by the sense that they in fact possess the ability to shape their own way of thinking, and indeed their own habits for life.  The realisation that you are the owner of this truly remarkable organ can generate a desire to put it to good use.  Equally by studying the brain one becomes aware of its vulnerability and fragility leading to the desire to take care of it.

 4.

   

We can pass on our knowledge of the brain to our students allowing them to reap the benefits as stated in point 3.

 5.

       

Recent research on the physiology of the brain suggests that, as well as the period up to the age of two, the brain undergoes a growth spurt during adolescents. Knowing this gives us some understanding of the often astounding changes in the behaviour shown by our students. Equally, if the brain is changing so much, we have a responsibility to consider appropriate experiences for a brain that is under construction.

Déjà vu: an inherited warning system.

Posted on by
1

deja_vu

I have lived away from my parents for some 29 years, the past 15 years in a different country. When my wife and I visit my parents, despite the distance between my parents and I, one of the first things my wife always comments on, is how closely I resemble my father. Not just in physical appearance but in mannerisms and personality. Skeptics will argue that I have so much of my father’s personality because I lived with him for the first 17 years of my life. My father was 41 when I left home. I am now 46. Did I somehow absorb all of his traits in the first 17 years of my life, even the one’s he acquired later in life when I was no longer living at home?

My mother says that I remind her of one of my great uncles, a man that died before I was born. Is it possible that I have inherited some of his personality?

We do inherit many of our parents’ physical characteristics through our DNA. Is it not plausible that we inherit some of their neural pathways; some part of their mind? It is known that thoughts are made from an electrical and chemical process and that, for example, a person who is mostly happy will produce a lot more happy chemicals in the brain than a person who is always anxious. Studies have shown that anxiousness  can be passed from a mother’s DNA to a  child’s DNA. I do believe that I have inherited a combination of my mother and father’s personality. I am one of three children and I can see where each of us has inherited different personality traits from our parents. I do believe that I have inherited pre-wired neurons from my parents and that this has greatly influenced the person I am today. That is not to say that I am only a product of my parents thinking. Learning and experience also shapes who we are. Therefore, I am who I am because of the ways of thinking that I have inherited from my parents  and the experiences and learning throughout my life that have helped shape my mind.

Here is where my idea gets a little freaky. What if déjà vu occurs from being in a situation that causes a particular inherited neural pathway to fire? That is, something that our mind and senses pick up which causes a previously unattended memory to ignite. I hear you asking, how can we have a memory that we didn’t create in the first place? What if that memory was passed on to us through our DNA?

The kind of  déjà vu  that I experience often feels like a warning. A feeling that I have been in a particular situation before. That I acted a certain way and something went bad. Now with déjà vu I am being warned to carefully consider how I react to my present set of circumstances. Why can’t I remember what is now giving me this ‘been there, done that feeling’? Perhaps the reason is, it was not I that made the memory, but rather my father. Lets imagine that before I was born an event happened in my father’s life that was so significant it altered his mental state. So significant that nature felt it should be encoded in his DNA and passed on to his siblings. Is it too far fetched to think that nature would work in such a way to try to protect future generations. Is that not the aim of evolution?

Too many what if’s and why’s,  but it sure is an  interesting exercise to consider the possible origins of  déjà vu. Perhaps science will one day reveal the truth about déjà vu.

An attitude of gratitude: How one man used his mind to overcome cancer.

Posted on by
1

gratitudeThe following is a speech that my friend Steve Radojevic gave to a meeting of the cancer foundation. I placed this on my blog because it is such a powerful account of how a man  used his mind to beat a hideous disease.  This is not just an incredibly uplifting story, it is also a practical guide  to what we can all start doing to take control of our lives. It confirms a lot of what I have been reading regarding the power of the mind. I asked Steve if I could post some parts of his speech on my blog, and he responded something like this:

‘Wade, you can post the whole thing as it is.  If it can help someone out there that would be fantastic’.

I am grateful that my friend passed this on. I will keep it on my blog where I can read it from time to time.It will serve to remind me of  the way I should be living, and the kind of man that I want to be. I will borrow and try to live by Steve’s catch cry: ‘An attitude of Gratitude’.

Steve’s speech to an assembly of cancer sufferers:

G’day, I’m Steve Radojevic and I’m here to tell you about my wrestle with prostate cancer.

Just a few words about myself, I’m married to Heather, my gorgeous wife of 25 years, we have two beautiful daughters Jade is 19 and Lauren is 16, I have a wonderful Mum, Tania who is only 67 and she thinks I’m pretty good – well most of the time anyway and my loving sister Anita who has always thought I’m a pain in the arse and still does.  Apart from my immediate family I am also blessed with fabulous extended family and friends, I have led a charmed existence.

In May 2005 I had just turned 44, I was feeling unusually tired and looked unusually pale. I went to my GP and I asked him to run some blood tests, he asked me whether he should run one for prostate whilst he was at it and I said yes, I used to get up at night to go to the toilet and when it was cold it seemed like I was going more than all the other guys at work during the day.

A week later I got a call from the doctor asking me to come in and see him, so I did, he told me the news could be very bad, my PSA was 8.1 and for someone my age the upper limit should be 2.5.  I was sent off to see a urologist, this led to a biopsy and subsequently finding out 7 of the 10 hits were cancerous.

Over the following weeks I rang the anti cancer council to find out exactly what my chances of survival were. They told me statistically I had no chance of beating the cancer, under the age of 50 cancer wins virtually every time.

In my head was, I am going to die, also that I would go through the process of whatever was recommended and that at least no one could say that I gave up. Also in my head I have this thing that I do that whenever something happens I always think that things could be worse and keep things in perspective, believe me it makes a huge difference, we can all do it, we can train our brain to think the way we want it to.

After meeting with the Urologist  and then a number of trips to Peter Macullum it was decided that a radical would be the best bet. The operation was unsuccessful. So five months later I was sent in for 7 weeks of radiation. The radiologist hit me with the cold hard facts before we started. He essentially said, “this is your last chance”.

In June 2006 I went to World Cup in Germany, Australia had qualified and just 2 months after completing radiation I went on a 5 week end of season or end of life trip, or so  I thought at the time.

My Father in law is an avid ABC watcher and has a British background, when I first came on the scene courting his daughter he used to correct my English on many occasions. In any case I get a phone call the day I land in Germany and it is the ABC executive producer who tells me that I am down to the last 5 to be ABC’s roving reporter at the World Cup, I say no thanks, because I don’t want the hassle of being rung pre or after games, I tell him about how I’m over there in a motor home with 3 long term mates of mine, I coached Joey Didulica who I predicated would be huge talent when he was a skinny 17 year old, I was ridiculed for my call. Joey was in the Croatian squad playing at the World Cup, he is now a multi millionaire, caught up with Josip Skoko just weeks before at a bucks night and the footy at the MCG, whilst I’m telling him this I’m trying to get away from the speakers on this big boat we are on, a wine cruise we were on the top deck sitting out in the sun and out of the speakers we would be listening to information like” the castle we  are approaching on the left hand side was built 1574 by the von trap family, whatever,  I couldn’t hear and my friend took off his t-shirt and covered the speaker, this group of old ladies were laughing so much, they then pointed at the other speaker, so my friend Rod pretended he was taking his pants off, more hysterical laughter. The ABC producer says to me you have the job, I say I don’t want the job, in the end I agree on the proviso if I answer the phone great if not then no comebacks. I end up doing a couple of gigs with BBC World Sport as well, it was pretty bizarre really.  A classic before the Brazil game was in Munich where the interview with BBC world sport the voice came across asking Steve last night  “the Australians in the streets of Munich were extremely confident against Brazil the shortest priced favourites in the history of the World Cup – what do you put this confidence down to? I said it was all the beer the Aussies drank the night before, we are not feeling so confident now that the beer had worn off.

The point of this story is I get great pleasure in life in doing what people say you can’t do, Joey made it to the World Cup, I was working as a foreign correspondent for the ABC, my next aim was concentrate on getting an untraceable psa.

8  Months after I finished the radiation I was told that was it, that the radiation was unsuccessful. I spoke with my GP friend about timing for making  DVD’s for my daughters, 21st birthdays, weddings etc he said it was a good idea to get them done, you never know how quickly you can go, given that the younger you are when diagnosed with prostate cancer the more aggressive the cancer is. I was told hormone therapy may help – come back in 6 months to see where your score has got to. That was 4 years ago.

Five years before I found out I had cancer my dad was diagnosed with cancer and he found out he was going to die from it, he was devastated and I remember telling him to be grateful for all the wonderful things that had happened in his life and how lucky his life had been compared to so many others, he said it was easy for me because I wasn’t the one dying, well now it was my turn to walk the talk.  I truly feel I have had had a wonderful life and if it was shorter than some others so be it, getting old has it downside as well. I often joked that I was getting bored with life, time to move on.

Up to this stage, My GP, Urologist, Radiologist and Oncologist all dismissed my ideas of changing my diet or any form of complementary healing. In fact on Thursday I was still arguing with my GP about this, seriously he is a GP he has never investigated the number of success stories for all sorts of cancers through the application of alternative therapies that are commonly used. In Europe, most cancer specialists recommend a visit to a naturopath, meditation and work on positive emotions as a minimum to boost your immune system to help fight cancer.

When I was first diagnosed Mark Kennedy a friend and local GP encouraged me to explore other options to complement conventional medical practices, he is a man I have lot of respect for and now I had some added motivation to give integrative or alternative healing concepts a serious go. Lets face it my health was charting south at a rapid rate so if I didn’t change something I knew where I was heading,

I was also hounded by family and friends to try everything so I thought why not and decided to give it my best shot to stay alive as long as possible. I read a book called “how to fight prostate cancer and win”. I also read another book written by Ian Gawler who had beaten cancer by using his mind and changing his diet. I was introduced to meditation, reiki, naturopaths and array of alternative healing methods that I would have laughed at previously.

A lot of the books I read were consistent In that their evidence substantiated that clear, positive, hopeful, optimistic thoughts, even when there is no basis for these thoughts are a powerful medicine in healing. What we feel, think, say and do has a profound influence on our mental, physical and spiritual health.

Everyone knows about the placebo effect, a study at the University of Tennessee for Health Science ran a study that gave people suffering from chronic pain a pill that would make them feel better. It was in fact just a sugar pill. 44% felt better, their thoughts made them feel better.

I made up my mind I was going to keep enjoying and concentrating on living life . An attitude of gratitude, was my catch cry, whilst I’m here I want to appreciate the wonderful people and opportunities surrounding me. It also meant taking responsibility and ownership for my own recovery and have a fighting spirit.

It was also at this time that I asked God for help, I asked him to help me stay around for awhile to help bring up my family. I asked for all the prayers and kind thoughts that were out there for me to give me strength to let me to continue to help others and be the sort of person I want to be. I have always said a prayer before falling asleep my whole life, 99% it was a prayer of thanks for the wonderful people in my life or I would pray for other people who are sick or have died. I felt that I was so lucky that I shouldn’t ask God for anything, it would be greedy, but now I was asking.

Well go figure, the next time I had to go back to the urologist – six months later, my psa was untraceable. He said he couldn’t explain it. I said that there was merit in all the things I had done, he asked me to explain what I had been doing and now he actually can see merit in some of the things I do.  It is 4 years down the track and my psa is still untraceable. I have the attitude if the cancer comes back and statistically it should, then at least I have had an extension on life already.

I’d like to share with you the things I did/ changed that may have helped me achieve a turnaround in results.

Naturopath: They aim to identify how your enzymes are performing. They  will make you do a Liver function test that determines which nutrients are lacking in your body then they  recommend vitamins and specific food to get you back into a healthy balance again.  Make sure that you get your immune system right! The aim is to eliminate toxins from your body, then nourish it with food that is natural and healthy.

Tomato paste: In the little leggo tubs is full of antioxidants. Prostate cancer is less prevalent in countries that eat a diet rich in tomato paste. The paste is much better for you than real tomatoes, because it is a concentrate. The secret ingredient is called lycopene.

Pumpkin seeds: A small handful a day are excellent for your plumbing health.

Blueberries: Full of anti oxidants.

Filtered water: Nikken PiMag Water System

Healthy Stuff: My top recommendations that keep coming up through all the success stories are as follows:

1.    Selenium- mineral found in soils in countries where there is the lowest rates of cancer, Australian soil has little or no selenium, so this is well worth taking for minimising or keeping cancer away. Brazil nuts are a great source of selenium if you want to get your nutrients through food. Just have 3 or 4 brazil nuts a day.

2.    Zinc, helps for healing. Also available through eating oysters, and pumpkin seeds.

3.    Coenzyme Q10 – tablet – spark plug nutrient for regenerating healthy cells.

4.    Vitamin D3 for vitamin D deficiency. There is very strong evidence suggesting there is a relationship between people with prostate cancer and vitamin D deficiency. During winter I take a tablet a day.

China White tea: strongest tea for fighting cancer from Leaf Tea shop 124 Ryrie Street – Geelong. The benefits of antioxidants in supporting our immune system are real.

Cholesterol –  I read that there may be evidence that higher cholesterol is a factor for PC, I have made an effort to lower mine.

Things to cut out: Artificial sweeteners – carcinogenic, Suger,Red meat as much as possible, alcohol, dairy.

Food and nutrition does make a difference, no question. A study found that the incidence of PC in Japanese men  skyrocketed after moving to America due to a change in diet. %of of Pc in Japan – very low, of Japanese people in USA – significantly more.

Alright now I’m going to touch on an unusual area and I think most people find this a little personally challenging and confronting. It is all a little jumbled but I’m sure you will get the gist of what I’m trying to say. Psycho immunology is going to get bigger over time it proposes that psychological well being is very important, your well being is tied into you having positive emotions.

Illness may come from unresolved issues, guilt, anger or fear of the future, we need to get our mind in a good place. Learn to forgive as quickly as possible. No question unreleased or stuck emotions can create physical blockages that manifest themselves through illness., Stress causes restriction to blood flow and energy and this will only feed cancer. I believe that stress, emotional blockages along with an inadequate diet were major factors in me getting cancer.

Do not underestimate the relationship between the mind and the body. The body behaves in the way the mind thinks so it is important to think healthy,so say to yourself “today my health is getting better”, “Today I am doing everything I can to make myself healthy again”, “today every cell in my body responds positively to my positive mental images”.  Doing this daily for a minute or two, this helps to align your brain into thinking yourself healthy. No question, Positive thinking reduces stress and aids our immune system.

I needed professional help with this – story with lie detector test, changed my thinking patterns.

Visualisation: Visualise yourself being healthy. I use a common technique of imagining a white healing light coming into my body with my breath and clearing away the mutant cancer cells leaving behind a healthy body. Again remember this is important “What we feel, think, say and do has a profound influence on our mental, physical and spiritual health”.

Meditation is very good way to slow the mind down, it takes practice, you will always feel better after a session.

Reiki: Hands on healing.  Very alternative, I have found it be very effective and relaxing, The power of touch is not to be underestimated. Now being used in hospitals.

Sense of purpose – reason for living – critical in healing, albeit our families, a trip to the next world cup – maybe we organise a bus, whatever it is.

Read a Book: How to fight prostate cancer and win by Ron Gellatley – Best seller

I love the following quote:

“Our lives are not determined by what happens to us, but by how we react to what happens. Not by what life brings to us but by the attitude we bring to life”

Here is a question for you, Do you really want to fight prostate cancer? think about it quickly.

I have changed, I eat a lot healthier- I have selenium, zinc, coenzyme Q10,fish oil, vitamin E,  White tea, pumpkin seeds most days, my diet is not perfect, although I have cut back on red meat and eliminated artificial sweeteners, I still have a drink, not as much as I used to.  I know my immune system is supported by the nutritional food I put into my body to nourish it, I still stress, nowhere near as much as I did before, I meditate from time to time, I use healthy visualisation, I have reiki done on me, been to a homeopath, been to a naturopath, worked on my cholesterol, I have resolved issues that have been with me since I was I was kid, feelings of anger and resentment that were festering way, they are now occasional fleeting thoughts that don’t take up brain space that is in short supply. I feel great most of the time and when I don’t it is because I’m not getting enough rest or I am eating rubbish, I am back on track very quickly most of the time. I am also able to fool around again without the use of ……….. pretty miraculous really given the double whammy of the radical and radiation.

I haven’t done everything that is out there, oxygen therapy, enemas, dental purification – see bad teeth, I haven’t gone for a super strict diet. I have made changes,  there is nothing really too sophisticated about what I do and I urge you to give it a go, I’m sure it has helped me in getting the great results I have been getting. Ask yourself have you made changes? Have you taken ownership of this battle? Are you using some form of complementary medicine to support what is being recommended to you by your GP / Urologist / Radiologist / Oncologist? – In my opinion you should be.

I also think it is important to be mindful not get absorbed by cancer, I don’t want to be known as Steve Radojevic, the guy with cancer, it is important that we don’t bore people and that we are mindful of the feelings of others so we don’t lose friends because we obsess about our health. For me I’d like my friends to see me and think great we are in the spring carnival – a day out at the races with Steve, reviewing the weekends sports results together, bagging some wine I recommended, reminding of the time I did some thing silly, whatever it is as long as it is inclusive of my family and friends and exclusive of talking about my health, because it is boring compared to all the interesting things there is to talk about.

Just as an aside I want to go on record as saying that getting Cancer isn’t the worst thing that could happen to you. We could have died from a heart attack and never had the chance to be told how much we are loved or to tell those we love how we feel about them. The sunsets are more beautiful. Friends are kinder, it has also given me the opportunity for tremendous personal growth, I have become better at saying no and focusing my time on what is important to me. It could all change for me at my next blood test, you know what if it does, then I think to myself, It is not the length of life but the depth of life that matters, I’ve had wonderful experiences along the way that are worth 300 years of living and I intend to have a few more before I go.

I have already made up my mind, I am never going to complain. I try to cultivate positive thinking in all aspects of my life not just to enhance the quality of my life but also the lives of others – so we can have a positive effect on every receptionist, nurse, doctor, patient, carer, person we come into contact with and hopefully that will give them strength to pass it on in treating others with kindness and compassion.

I’d like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to share my story, I extend best wishes to you and your families for today and the future.  Are there any questions?

Neuroplasticity: becoming the man I want to be.

Posted on by
3

DitkoChangingMan375

New technology is helping scientists to unravel some of the great mysteries of the brain, and at the same time, busting some pretty old myths. Functional magnetic resonance imaging or functional MRI (fMRI) for example, allows scientists to create an image of the brain in action by tracking oxygen in the blood that flows from firing neurons. It is now possible to see what part of the brain functions during particular tasks. This is different to the use of electrodes and prodding techniques that scientists used in the past to establish which area of the brain controlled various parts of the body. What fMRIs show us, is where different kinds of thinking takes place.

One of the biggest revelations to be recently revealed, is the notion that the brain is a lot less rigid than most scientists had previously thought. The key term here is neuro-plasticity. It is time to throw out the saying, ‘You can’t teach an old dog new tricks’,  and pay homage to the view that, ‘You are never to old to learn something new’.

As a man in my mid forties I find myself at a stage in my life where I am searching for the answers to some pretty big questions. Who am I? Why am I the way I am? What purpose does my life have? What purpose do I want my life to have? Who do I want to be? How can I change?

Who do I wish to be?
I want to be that guy who jumps out of bed in the morning full of gratitude for having been granted another day of life. A person free of all forms of prejudice. Someone that can view the world without casting shallow judgments. I want that level of awareness that will allow me to see the wonders of the world in the simplest of things. To be a man of compassion who lives an honest life. I’ll stop it there because the further I go, the closer I seem to be getting to describing a revered Buddhist monk. To be so holy a man is not my desire; to be a better person, definitely. The more that I read about the brain, the greater faith I have in the idea that I can make the necessary changes to my frames of mind that will allow me to be the person that I desire to be. This I believe will move me towards discovering a greater use for this life of mine.

So why am I the way I am?
Humans are born with trillions of pre-patterned and encoded synaptic connections. We have a certain amount of thinking that has been pre-wired. Evolution takes care of all living creatures by making sure that from the first day of their existence they have an inbuilt intelligence that will help their chances of survival. As humans, we are all programed to respond to distress, whether it be from hunger, thirst or other excessive heat or cold. It is a fact that the human brain has come a long way since prehistoric times. The wrinkles of the neocortex suggest that in order for our skulls to accommodate our new larger brains that the new growth has had to fold in on itself. The pre-wiring thoughts of the human brain extend to emotions, language development and higher cognition. In ‘Evolve Your Brain’ the author, Joe Dispenza, puts forward the view that our brains come pre-wired, not only from human genetic traits but also from our individual heredity lineage. In other words, we have paths of thought that we inherit from our parents. This last point is very interesting and certainly worthy of some self reflection.

I have lived away from my parents for some 29 years, the past 15 years in a different country. Despite the distance between us, when my wife and I visit my parents, one of the first things my wife always comments on, is how closely I resemble my father. Not just in physical appearance but in mannerisms and personality. Skeptics will argue that I have so many of my fathers traits because I lived with him for the first 17 years of my life. My father was 41 when I left home. I am now 46. Did I pick up all of his traits in the first 17 years of my life and they have been slowly revealing themselves throughout my lifetime? My mother says that I remind her of one of my great uncles, a man that died before I was born. Is it possible that I have inherited some of his personality.

We do inherit many physical characteristics of our parents through their DNA. Is it not plausible that we also inherit some of their neural pathways; some part of their mind. It is known that thoughts are made from an electrical and chemical process, hence, for example, a person who is mostly happy will produce a different chemical in the brain to a person who is always anxious. Studies show that anxiousness can be passed from a mother’s DNA to a child’s DNA. I do believe that I have inherited a combination of my mother and father’s personality. I am one of three children and I can see where each of us has inherited different personality traits from our parents. Inheriting pre-wired neurons from my parents has greatly influenced the person I am today. That is not to say that I am only a product of my parents thinking. Learning and experience also shapes who we are. Therefore, I am who I am because of the ways of thinking that I have inherited from my parents and the experiences and learning throughout my life that have helped shape my mind.

As I previously stated, the good news is that our brains are a lot more neuroplastic than previously thought. We are beginning to understand how, by having new experiences and by modifying our behaviour, we can remold and shape the brain. I know the man that I want to be. I know why I am the way I am. I know that I can change.

How can I change?
Learning and experiencing, shapes who we are, and because of this, I am a different person in my 40’s to who I was in my 20’s. I am pleased that I have changed, nevertheless I am accutely aware of the times in my life when I made little mental progress. These were times when I felt stuck in a rut, doing the same type of thing day after day. Given that it is our thoughts that change who we are, if we go on thinking the same way then we do little to change the brain.

“What we repetitively do, how we do it, what we learn, how we think, and what we experience all create and modify the neural nets that make up who we are.” Evolve Your Mind, p 177.

“When we fire the same genetically inherited circuits over and over again, then we wire ourselves to live out only our predetermined genetic destiny.” Hebb’s model cited in Evolve Your Mind p189.

If I am going to be the person that I want to be, then I will have to focus on the kind of thoughts that I want this new me to have. I will need to give more consideration to the day to day activities that have become all so routine . To continue to develop my mind I must keep on learning new knowledge and engaging in novel experiences. Wisdom is what I am seeking, and to get wisdom you must have knowledge with experience. It may be time to put down the books for a while and hit the meditation retreat.

Coming Soon: a new me…..

Getting my head around neurons

Posted on by
Reply

 

The following is my attempt to explain the working of the brain by looking at the different sections of the brain and then by looking more closely at a microscopic level of the brain. I have kept scientific terms to a minimum; choosing instead to use analogies wherever I can to describe both appearance and function. Where I feel it is useful I have chosen terms about the brain that have been embedded in our common language, rather than the more technical names assigned by the science that is neurology. I use only single words to name individual parts of the brain despite many of these having more than one name. Hence, I use ‘brain cell’ instead of ‘nerve cell’ or ‘neuron’ and ‘hind brain’ instead of the ‘archipallium’ or ‘reptillian brain’. I have written the following simplified description to help in establishing my own understanding of the brain. I have no idea how useful this will be to others that read it. I would suggest that, for those of you that wish to truly understand more about the brain, you do your own reading about the brain, found in texts that take up the topic in great detail.

Here it is, as simple as I can make it. The brain has 4 main parts to it. The hind brain located at the back of the head, the mid brain, located where its name sake suggests, the crown which is the cover of the brain that gives it its walnut appearance, and the bridge connecting the two halves of the crown.The hind brain is the most active area of the brain and is responsible for our balance, coordination and controlled movements. “Hardwired attitudes, emotional reactions, repeated actions, habits, conditioned behaviours, unconscious reflexes, and skills that we have mastered are all connected to and memorized in the hind brain.” – (Dispenza, J. (2007) Evolve Your Brain. Health Communications Inc, p110.

hind_and_midbrain

The midbrain is about the size of an apricot. It controls our body temperature, blood sugar levels, blood pressure, digestion, hormone levels etc. All signals that the body receives come through the midbrain which connects it to the correct part in the crown. The midbrain produces the chemicals necessary to monitor the body as well as the chemicals that make us feel the way we think. In dangerous situations it gets us ready by preparing our bodies to run or fight. It holds our internal clock and chemically controls our patterns of sleep. The mid brain stores the kind of long term memories that come from associative learning. It also stores the strong emotions of aggression, joy, sadness and fear.

The crown is where our thinking, learning and most of our remembering take place. It comes in two layers. The outer wrinkled layer is 3 to 5 mm thick and is often referred to as our grey matter. The crown is divided into a left and right side which is connected by the bridge which gives the crown the ability to observe the world from two different points of view. Each side of the crown is divided into 4 lobes (areas). Each lobe processes different sensory information, motor abilities, and mental functions and is assigned to perform different tasks. The front lobe is where we focus our attention and coordinate nearly all functions of the rest of the brain. This is the area of the brain where we focus on our desires, create ideas and make conscious decisions. It is what gives us our free will. No wonder I am always clutching it with my hand.

Brain_diagram_fr

The lobe back from the frontal lobe is the parietal lobe which processes our sensations related to touch as well as co-ordinating some language functions. The temporal lobes are located on the left and right side of the brain and are largely concerned with processing sounds, perception, learning, language, smell and memory. Finally, the occidental lobe is located at the back of the brain and deals with processing data from the outside world in order for us to see.

We all have a similar image of the brain in our brains, if you know what I mean. That picture of a large wall nut that has been moulded to fit inside the shape of our skull. A piece of human anatomy that can be held in the hands, sliced and diced. This visual image that we hold along with my description of the different sections of the brain helps create an overall picture of a solid structure organised into clear sections, with each section solely responsible for performing certain tasks. Unfortunately, this kind of image misrepresents how the brain actually operates. It is far better to think of the brain as an electrically charged bowl of billions of microscopic pieces of cotton; each piece of cotton resembling a leafless oak tree. These billions of oak trees with their web of branches and roots never actually touching each other but separated by the smallest of gaps. These cotton oak trees represent brain cells; their roots are capable of receiving chemical shots that jump from the ends of the branches of other oak trees. These chemical shots can either fire up an electrical impulse in the receiving tree which may then shoot up the tree until it reaches the end of a branch causing another chemical reaction and a repeat of the cycle, or they can help to put an immediate end to the process.
Our brain cells are organised in a way that facilitates the setting up of  paths that actually give us our individual uniqueness. The chemicals that are produced in brain cells by our very thoughts is what determines how we feel. It is our nervous system that connects the environment to the body, the body to the brain, and the brain to the body.

electric_brain1

neurons

This oversimplification of the how the brain works doesn’t offer much to a teacher looking for ways to improve his lessons, but it hopefully sets up a picture of the brain that will help when we begin to consider how the brain actually learns. My guess is that it is the process of trying to simplify the way the brain works that is far more useful than the end result of this article. I found it a valuable exercise and would encourage other brain novices to do the same.