For the first time, research shows that American creativity is declining. What went wrong—and how we can fix it.
...The potential consequences are sweeping. The necessity of human ingenuity is undisputed.
...One likely culprit is the number of hours kids now spend in front of the TV and playing videogames rather than engaging in creative activities.
Newsweek, July 10, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Poor Memory Improved by One Simple Exercise?
A quick and easy exercise improves poor memory, lack of concentration, clumsiness and emotional instability .
EEG scans show that it synchronises right and left sides of the brain to improve thinking and memory.
* Step One: Stand with your feet about shoulder distance apart, toes pointing forward.
* Step Two: Hold your right ear lobe between your left thumb and finger, with the thumb on the outside of the lobe (we’re not joking).
* Step Three: Hold your left ear lobe between your right thumb and finger, again with you thumb on the outside of the lobe. You should now be holding both earlobes with your arms crossed over your chest, right arm on top (and we’re still not joking).
* Step Four: Look directly ahead and commence doing a body squat by slowly bending your knees and lowering your body toward the floor. Go as low as you comfortably can and then slowly raise yourself back to a standing position. Exhale as you squat and inhale as you stand.
* Step Five: Repeat the squats for 1 to 3 minutes, or 14 – 21 times, while continuing to hold your earlobes.
Results may be immediate or gradual. Concentration should certainly be stronger within 3 weeks. The exercise only needs to be done once a day but if concentration wanes it can be repeated as often as desired.
http://homeopathyplus.com.au/poor-memory-can-be-improved-by-one-simple-exercise
EEG scans show that it synchronises right and left sides of the brain to improve thinking and memory.
* Step One: Stand with your feet about shoulder distance apart, toes pointing forward.
* Step Two: Hold your right ear lobe between your left thumb and finger, with the thumb on the outside of the lobe (we’re not joking).
* Step Three: Hold your left ear lobe between your right thumb and finger, again with you thumb on the outside of the lobe. You should now be holding both earlobes with your arms crossed over your chest, right arm on top (and we’re still not joking).
* Step Four: Look directly ahead and commence doing a body squat by slowly bending your knees and lowering your body toward the floor. Go as low as you comfortably can and then slowly raise yourself back to a standing position. Exhale as you squat and inhale as you stand.
* Step Five: Repeat the squats for 1 to 3 minutes, or 14 – 21 times, while continuing to hold your earlobes.
Results may be immediate or gradual. Concentration should certainly be stronger within 3 weeks. The exercise only needs to be done once a day but if concentration wanes it can be repeated as often as desired.
http://homeopathyplus.com.au/poor-memory-can-be-improved-by-one-simple-exercise
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Digital Overload: Your Brain On Gadgets
The average person today consumes almost three times as much information as what the typical person consumed in 1960, according to research at the University of California, San Diego.
And The New York Times reports that the average computer user checks 40 websites a day and can switch programs 36 times an hour.
"It's an onslaught of information coming in today," says Times technology journalist Matt Richtel.
NPR, August 24, 2010
And The New York Times reports that the average computer user checks 40 websites a day and can switch programs 36 times an hour.
"It's an onslaught of information coming in today," says Times technology journalist Matt Richtel.
NPR, August 24, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Studying Acupuncture, One Needle Prick at a Time
For at least 2,000 years Chinese healers have used acupuncture to treat pain and other ailments. Now Western doctors want proof that it works.
There is little dispute that people feel better after receiving the treatment, in which thin needles are inserted deeply into the skin at specific points on the body. But are they benefiting from acupuncture itself, or just getting a placebo effect?
The debate was fueled last week by a study in the journal Arthritis Care and Research.
New York Times, August 23, 2010
There is little dispute that people feel better after receiving the treatment, in which thin needles are inserted deeply into the skin at specific points on the body. But are they benefiting from acupuncture itself, or just getting a placebo effect?
The debate was fueled last week by a study in the journal Arthritis Care and Research.
New York Times, August 23, 2010
Monday, August 9, 2010
From Primitive Parts, A Highly Evolved Human Brain
From one perspective, the human brain is a masterpiece. From another, it's 3 pounds of inefficient jelly. Both views are accurate, and that's because our remarkable brain has been assembled from some very primitive parts.
"Although the things it can do are very wonderful and impressive, its design is very poor engineering in many respects," says David Linden, a professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, the author of The Accidental Mind.
August 9, 2010, on NPR
"Although the things it can do are very wonderful and impressive, its design is very poor engineering in many respects," says David Linden, a professor of neuroscience at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, the author of The Accidental Mind.
August 9, 2010, on NPR
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
The Case for $320,000 Kindergarten Teachers
How much do your kindergarten teacher and classmates affect the rest of your life?
Economists have generally thought that the answer was not much. Great teachers and early childhood programs can have a big short-term effect. But the impact tends to fade. By junior high and high school, children who had excellent early schooling do little better on tests than similar children who did not...
There has always been one major caveat, however, to the research on the fade-out effect. It was based mainly on test scores, not on a broader set of measures, like a child’s health or eventual earnings. As Raj Chetty, a Harvard economist, says: “We don’t really care about test scores. We care about adult outcomes.”
Early this year, Mr. Chetty and five other researchers set out to fill this void. They examined the life paths of almost 12,000 children who had been part of a well-known education experiment in Tennessee in the 1980s. The children are now about 30, well started on their adult lives.
On Tuesday, Mr. Chetty presented the findings — not yet peer-reviewed — at an academic conference in Cambridge, Mass. They’re fairly explosive.
July 27, 2010 via New York Times
Economists have generally thought that the answer was not much. Great teachers and early childhood programs can have a big short-term effect. But the impact tends to fade. By junior high and high school, children who had excellent early schooling do little better on tests than similar children who did not...
There has always been one major caveat, however, to the research on the fade-out effect. It was based mainly on test scores, not on a broader set of measures, like a child’s health or eventual earnings. As Raj Chetty, a Harvard economist, says: “We don’t really care about test scores. We care about adult outcomes.”
Early this year, Mr. Chetty and five other researchers set out to fill this void. They examined the life paths of almost 12,000 children who had been part of a well-known education experiment in Tennessee in the 1980s. The children are now about 30, well started on their adult lives.
On Tuesday, Mr. Chetty presented the findings — not yet peer-reviewed — at an academic conference in Cambridge, Mass. They’re fairly explosive.
July 27, 2010 via New York Times
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
Is Emotional Pain Necessary?
But for some people, the real issue raised by the bereavement exclusion is philosophical — or maybe the better word is existential. Dr. Allen Frances, the famous psychiatrist and a former editor of the DSM, says that more and more, psychiatry is medicalizing our experiences. That is, it is turning emotions that are perfectly normal into something pathological.
"Over the course of time, we've become looser in applying the term 'mental disorder' to the expectable aches and pains and sufferings of everyday life," Frances says. "And always, we think about a medication treatment for each and every problem."
-August 2, 2010 on NPR
"Over the course of time, we've become looser in applying the term 'mental disorder' to the expectable aches and pains and sufferings of everyday life," Frances says. "And always, we think about a medication treatment for each and every problem."
-August 2, 2010 on NPR
Monday, March 1, 2010
The Aging Brain Is Less Quick, But More Shrewd
or baby-boomers, there is both good news and bad news about the cognitive health of the aging brain.
Brain researcher Gary Small from UCLA conveys the bad news first: "Reaction time is slower," he says. "It takes us longer to learn new information. Sometimes it takes us longer to retrieve information, so we have that tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon — where you almost have that word or that thought. That's typical of the middle-age brain."
As we age, our ability to multi-task diminishes. "We're quick, but we're sloppy when we're in middle-age. We make more errors when we're in middle age," says Small.
March 1, 2010 via NPR
Brain researcher Gary Small from UCLA conveys the bad news first: "Reaction time is slower," he says. "It takes us longer to learn new information. Sometimes it takes us longer to retrieve information, so we have that tip-of-the-tongue phenomenon — where you almost have that word or that thought. That's typical of the middle-age brain."
As we age, our ability to multi-task diminishes. "We're quick, but we're sloppy when we're in middle-age. We make more errors when we're in middle age," says Small.
March 1, 2010 via NPR
The Teen Brain: It's Just Not Grown Up Yet
When adolescence hit Frances Jensen's sons, she often found herself wondering, like all parents of teenagers, "What were you thinking?"
"It's a resounding mantra of parents and teachers," says Jensen, who's a pediatric neurologist at Children's Hospital in Boston. [...]
ensen is a Harvard expert on epilepsy, not adolescent brain development. As she coped with her boys' sour moods and their exasperating assumption that somebody else will pick up their dirty clothes, she decided to investigate what neuroscientists are discovering about teenagers' brains that makes them behave that way.
March 1, 2010 via NPR
"It's a resounding mantra of parents and teachers," says Jensen, who's a pediatric neurologist at Children's Hospital in Boston. [...]
ensen is a Harvard expert on epilepsy, not adolescent brain development. As she coped with her boys' sour moods and their exasperating assumption that somebody else will pick up their dirty clothes, she decided to investigate what neuroscientists are discovering about teenagers' brains that makes them behave that way.
March 1, 2010 via NPR
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Think Twice: How the Gut's "Second Brain" Influences Mood and Well-Being
As Olympians go for the gold in Vancouver, even the steeliest are likely to experience that familiar feeling of "butterflies" in the stomach. Underlying this sensation is an often-overlooked network of neurons lining our guts that is so extensive some scientists have nicknamed it our "second brain".
February 12, 2010 by Adam Hadhazy on Scientific American
February 12, 2010 by Adam Hadhazy on Scientific American
Monday, February 22, 2010
In Future, Science Could Erase Traumatic Memories
Scientists are beginning to understand why fearful memories are so persistent in the brain, and how they can be erased.
The research could help thousands of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, including many veterans, says Kerry Ressler, a psychiatrist at Emory University and investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. [...] So to understand why fearful memories are so persistent, researchers have been studying the amygdala. And a Swiss team seems to have found some clues — at least in rats.
September 4, 2009 via NPR
The research could help thousands of people with post-traumatic stress disorder, including many veterans, says Kerry Ressler, a psychiatrist at Emory University and investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. [...] So to understand why fearful memories are so persistent, researchers have been studying the amygdala. And a Swiss team seems to have found some clues — at least in rats.
September 4, 2009 via NPR
Rational Or Emotional? Your Brain On Food
Willpower plays a role in dieting. But keeping the weight off after you've lost it? This is where our physiology can get in the way. Research suggests that hormone shifts that follow weight loss play a role in changing the way our brain responds to food.
"After you've lost weight, you have an increase in the emotional response to food," says Columbia University Medical Center researcher Michael Rosenbaum, who studies the body's response to weight loss. He says you also see "a decrease in the activity of brain systems that might be more involved in restraint."
February 22, 2010 on NPR.
"After you've lost weight, you have an increase in the emotional response to food," says Columbia University Medical Center researcher Michael Rosenbaum, who studies the body's response to weight loss. He says you also see "a decrease in the activity of brain systems that might be more involved in restraint."
February 22, 2010 on NPR.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Children Labeled 'Bipolar' May Get A New Diagnosis
Since the mid-1990s, the number of children diagnosed with bipolar disorder has increased a staggering 4,000 percent. And that number has caused a lot of controversy in the world of child psychiatry.
In a move that could potentially change mental health practice all over America, the American Psychiatric Association has announced that it intends to include a new diagnosis in its upcoming fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual — and hopes that new label will be used by clinicians instead of the bipolar label. The condition will be called temper dysregulation disorder, and it will be seen as a brain or biological dysfunction, but not as a necessarily lifelong condition like bipolar.
February 10, 2010 via NPR.
In a move that could potentially change mental health practice all over America, the American Psychiatric Association has announced that it intends to include a new diagnosis in its upcoming fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual — and hopes that new label will be used by clinicians instead of the bipolar label. The condition will be called temper dysregulation disorder, and it will be seen as a brain or biological dysfunction, but not as a necessarily lifelong condition like bipolar.
February 10, 2010 via NPR.
Monday, February 1, 2010
Why Does Time Fly By As You Get Older?
Yes, we all get older. But now, getting older has become a video fetish; all kinds of people take pictures of themselves every day for six, seven, eight years and then blend the images together into a ... well, if you've missed the Web craze, Homer Simpson's "Every Day" is a perfect catcher-upper.
Not only can you see Homer switching jobs (cavalryman, Indian, king, infantryman, fisherman, fireman), you watch his body grow, swell, swag. As with all things Simpson, the physical changes are dramatic.
by Robert Krulwich on NPR
Not only can you see Homer switching jobs (cavalryman, Indian, king, infantryman, fisherman, fireman), you watch his body grow, swell, swag. As with all things Simpson, the physical changes are dramatic.
by Robert Krulwich on NPR
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
People with a certain gene variant have a harder time overcoming anxiety
If you have a hard time shaking your phobias--whether they be of spiders or confined spaces--you may have a genetic quirk that alters your brain's fear circuitry. New research that links a small DNA substitution with abnormal brain activity and fear responses represents a small but encouraging step, experts say, toward understanding how genes may contribute to anxiety disorders.
ScienceNOW Daily News; Jan 14 2010
A Frightful Genetic Twist By Greg Miller
ScienceNOW Daily News; Jan 14 2010
A Frightful Genetic Twist By Greg Miller
'Noisiest' Neurons Persist in the Adult Brain
It's The Survival of the Most Energetic.
MIT neuroscientists have discovered that when it comes to new neurons in the adult brain, the squeakiest wheels get the grease.
"Before, scientists believed the cells with the most accurate performance were selected and the others were rejected," said Picower Institute for Learning and Memory researcher Carlos Lois. "Our study shows that it doesn't matter what the cells are doing, as long as they are doing something, even if it is wrong. It's like musicians being chosen in an audition based not on how well they play, but how loudly."
Jan 17, 2010, via ScienceDaily
MIT neuroscientists have discovered that when it comes to new neurons in the adult brain, the squeakiest wheels get the grease.
"Before, scientists believed the cells with the most accurate performance were selected and the others were rejected," said Picower Institute for Learning and Memory researcher Carlos Lois. "Our study shows that it doesn't matter what the cells are doing, as long as they are doing something, even if it is wrong. It's like musicians being chosen in an audition based not on how well they play, but how loudly."
Jan 17, 2010, via ScienceDaily
Nutritional Inroads into Alzheimer's
Recently, scientists at MIT tested a specially-designed nutritional drink to see whether it could improve cognitive function in patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease.
The drink includes three key nutrients: uridine, choline (part of the vitamin B family) and DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid). This approach has the benefit of having few negative side effects, unlike many pharmaceuticals.
Posted Jan 26, 2010. Via positscience.
The drink includes three key nutrients: uridine, choline (part of the vitamin B family) and DHA (an omega-3 fatty acid). This approach has the benefit of having few negative side effects, unlike many pharmaceuticals.
Posted Jan 26, 2010. Via positscience.
New Approaches Could Bring Better Depression Treatments
Research suggests current meds aren't always reaching correct targets in the brain.
On Monday, a report in the Archives of General Psychiatry found that just one in five depressed adults get guideline-recommended treatment, and on Tuesday a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that conventional antidepressants may only really be useful for the severely depressed
Jan 5, 2010. By Amanda Gardner, HealthDay Reporter
On Monday, a report in the Archives of General Psychiatry found that just one in five depressed adults get guideline-recommended treatment, and on Tuesday a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that conventional antidepressants may only really be useful for the severely depressed
Jan 5, 2010. By Amanda Gardner, HealthDay Reporter
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Willpower And The 'Slacker' Brain
This time, you say to yourself, this time I will do 50 chin-ups every day or skip dessert or call my mother every Friday. It's time to do those things that I know, I really, really know I should do.
And then you don't.
According to British psychologist Richard Wiseman, 88 percent of all resolutions end in failure. Those are his findings from a 2007 University of Hertfordshire study of more than 3,000 people.
How come so many attempts at willpower lose both their will and their power?
Willpower And The 'Slacker' Brain
by Robert Krulwich on NPR January 26, 2010
And then you don't.
According to British psychologist Richard Wiseman, 88 percent of all resolutions end in failure. Those are his findings from a 2007 University of Hertfordshire study of more than 3,000 people.
How come so many attempts at willpower lose both their will and their power?
Willpower And The 'Slacker' Brain
by Robert Krulwich on NPR January 26, 2010
How 'The Hidden Brain' Does The Thinking For Us
After making a silly mistake, it's not uncommon for a person to say, "Oops — I was on autopilot." In his new book, The Hidden Brain, science writer Shankar Vedantam explains how there's actually a lot of truth to that.
Our brains have two modes, he tells NPR's Steve Inkseep — conscious and unconscious, pilot and autopilot — and we are constantly switching back and forth between the two.
"The problem arises when we [switch] without our awareness," Vedantam says, "and the autopilot ends up flying the plane, when we should be flying the plane."
The autopilot mode can be useful when we're multitasking, but it can also lead us to make unsupported snap judgments about people in the world around us. Vedantam says that when we interact with people from different backgrounds in high-pressure situations, it's easy to rely — unconsciously — on heuristics.
NPR January 25, 2010 on Morning Edition.
Our brains have two modes, he tells NPR's Steve Inkseep — conscious and unconscious, pilot and autopilot — and we are constantly switching back and forth between the two.
"The problem arises when we [switch] without our awareness," Vedantam says, "and the autopilot ends up flying the plane, when we should be flying the plane."
The autopilot mode can be useful when we're multitasking, but it can also lead us to make unsupported snap judgments about people in the world around us. Vedantam says that when we interact with people from different backgrounds in high-pressure situations, it's easy to rely — unconsciously — on heuristics.
NPR January 25, 2010 on Morning Edition.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Teen Drinking May Cause Irreversible Brain Damage
For teenagers, the effects of a drunken night out may linger long after the hangover wears off.
A recent study led by neuroscientist Susan Tapert of the University of California, San Diego compared the brain scans of teens who drink heavily with the scans of teens who don't.
Tapert's team found damaged nerve tissue in the brains of the teens who drank. The researchers believe this damage negatively affects attention span in boys, and girls' ability to comprehend and interpret visual information.
Morning Edition, NPR, January 25, 2010 by Michelle Trudeau
A recent study led by neuroscientist Susan Tapert of the University of California, San Diego compared the brain scans of teens who drink heavily with the scans of teens who don't.
Tapert's team found damaged nerve tissue in the brains of the teens who drank. The researchers believe this damage negatively affects attention span in boys, and girls' ability to comprehend and interpret visual information.
Morning Edition, NPR, January 25, 2010 by Michelle Trudeau
Friday, January 22, 2010
'How We Decide' And The Paralysis Of Analysis
Jonah Lehrer is pathologically indecisive.
"I found myself spending literally a half an hour, 30 minutes, in the cereal aisle of the supermarket, trying to choose between boxes of Cheerios," he says. "That's when I realized I had a problem."
The struggle over cereal led Lehrer to contemplate much bigger questions — like what was actually happening in his head as he stood in the cereal aisle, and how much of that was rational versus emotional.
On Fresh Air, Jan 22, 2010.
"I found myself spending literally a half an hour, 30 minutes, in the cereal aisle of the supermarket, trying to choose between boxes of Cheerios," he says. "That's when I realized I had a problem."
The struggle over cereal led Lehrer to contemplate much bigger questions — like what was actually happening in his head as he stood in the cereal aisle, and how much of that was rational versus emotional.
On Fresh Air, Jan 22, 2010.
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