TID BITS: DID YOU KNOW?

1. Movement not only enhances attention, it wires the brain to lay the framework for reading in young people. It facilitates the planting of a new memory by releasing brain chemicals that “open” memory circuits and makes later recall of memory easier, by including more regions of the brain in the memory circuit.

2. Flow sports, such as soccer and basketball, build higher level thinking skills in humans. With constant bombardment of sensory input which the brain must sort quickly to see patterns and react with predictions as to what will spell success, the brain involved in flow sports wires for problem-solving.

3. Written language comprehension and text processing improves through use of expository passages in learning tasks rather than narrative and procedural passages (text genre matters), explicit/implicit statement (rather than contradictory and elaborated statements), and repeated reading. All this comes from work done by Joyce L. Harris, Wendy A. Rogers, and Constance D. Qualls as reported in the Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research June 1998.

4. Although “what” you say matters, how you say it is even more important. The regions of the brain that process voice tone also process and effect emotions. So the voice tone of a speaker directly links to the emotional center of the listener’s brain, and has a huge impact on their interpretation of your meaning – and their reaction to you.

5. When you “hit a wall” mid afternoon, the best energy boost does not come from a sugared drink, or even some advertised energy drinks. Any drink that is high in sugar but moderate in caffeine levels, for example 12 mg per 100 mL, is inefficient in providing a physical and mental boost. Such a solution only gives a temporary boost compared to drinking a high-caffeine beverage and taking a 20-30 minute nap until the caffeine kicks in. The testing, reported in Human Psychopharmacology, July 2006, 80 minutes into testing the two approaches the high-sugar/low caffeine group began to experience lapses of attention, slower reaction time, and greater sleepiness. Although sugar provides a brief physical boost, there is little evidence of benefit for the brain.

6. Music strengthens the brain. Fran Rauscher, author of the Mozart Effect, concludes that very young children who take music lessons excel at some academic tasks, perhaps permanently. Children given 4 months of singing and keyboard lessons/practice scored 43% higher on spatial intelligence tests. Spatial intelligence relates to mathematic success. Music enhances reasoning ability, as well. Complex music, such as some types of classical music, may stimulate the brain.

7. The Washington University in St. Louis reports that research done by Brenda Kirchhoff and Randy L. Buckner found that strategies used in memorizing new information (explicit memory, such as facts and detail) impacts the success in planting the memory. Two strategies were yielded the greatest success – and even more when used in conjunction with each other: 1) visual inspection, where participants studying the visual appearance of objects, and 2) verbal elaboration, when individuals construct sentences about the object to remember them. The other two common strategies of learners, mental imagery (participants formed interactive mental images of the objects) and memory retrieval (pondering the meaning of objects and personal memories associated) worked less well. Interestingly, each strategy activated a different portion of the brain, as evidenced by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

8. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, in its Research News (Nature journal) June 22, 2006 notes that research indicates that neurons grow new connections when the brain is adjusting to new experiences. These new connections alter brain circuits, changing communication patterns between neurons. Learning! Novel sensory experience, according to Karen Svoboda, can create new connections that, with repeated new experience, can become stabilized enough to actually form new and persistent circuits. “Such experience-dependent, persistent-type dendritic spine growth” may aid in our understanding of implicit, procedural (behavior or training based skills) learning. This might include playing an instrument or riding a bicycle. (Unlike implicit memory, explicit memory is fact related)