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My Notes on “Brain Rules” by John Medinaby: Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power Our brains were built for walking 20km a day To improve your thinking skills, move Exercise gets blood to your brain, brining it glucose for energy and oxygen to soak up the toxic electrons that are left over. It also stimulates Continue reading 'Brain Rules by John Medina'. Brain rules are twelve rules proposed by John Medina to help us understand how our brains work and how to use them as effectively as possible. Bringing together research by many brain scientists.
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Most of us have no idea what’s really going on inside our heads. Yet brain scientists have uncovered details every business leader, parent, and teacher should know—like the need for physical activity to get your brain working its best.
How do we learn? What exactly do sleep and stress do to our brains? Why is multi-tasking a myth? Why is it so easy to forget—and so importan..more
How do we learn? What exactly do sleep and stress do to our brains? Why is multi-tasking a myth? Why is it so easy to forget—and so importan..more
Published February 26th 2008 by Pear Press
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Rating details
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I think I would give this book 3.5 stars if I could.
The book discusses '12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school.' The real focus seems feels like how we can use this to improve schools.
The 12 rules are:
EXERCISE | Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.
SURVIVAL | Rule #2: The human brain evolved, too.
WIRING | Rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.
ATTENTION | Rule #4: We don't pay attention to boring things.
SHORT-TERM MEMORY | Rule #5: Repeat to remember.
LONG-TERM MEM..more
Oct 28, 2015Otis Chandler rated it really liked it · review of another editionThe book discusses '12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school.' The real focus seems feels like how we can use this to improve schools.
The 12 rules are:
EXERCISE | Rule #1: Exercise boosts brain power.
SURVIVAL | Rule #2: The human brain evolved, too.
WIRING | Rule #3: Every brain is wired differently.
ATTENTION | Rule #4: We don't pay attention to boring things.
SHORT-TERM MEMORY | Rule #5: Repeat to remember.
LONG-TERM MEM..more
Recommended to Otis by: Mike Walker, head of SF Day School
Shelves: science, business, nonfiction, self-improvement
I kind of loved this book because it give a lot of the 'why' - the science - behind a lot of best practices. This is the kind of thing that helps me change my behavior - when I know how it works under the hood.
The book is broken into a series of 'brain rules' on different subjects. I'll list main takeaways:
Exercise
We all know it's good for us and it feels good and we should do it. The best quote here was 'Physical activity is cognitive candy.' - also 'A lifetime of exercise results in a sometime..more
The book is broken into a series of 'brain rules' on different subjects. I'll list main takeaways:
Exercise
We all know it's good for us and it feels good and we should do it. The best quote here was 'Physical activity is cognitive candy.' - also 'A lifetime of exercise results in a sometime..more
Mar 21, 2009Sarah Hanawald rated it really liked it
Brain rules is really well organized. It's a very un-boring synthesis of current neuroscience research into very comprehensible terms. I only give it four stars because the author (openly) says that the educational implications of the findings are not clear.
Some major take-aways, along with my questions and ruminations:
Attention:
Emotional arousal helps the brain learn. Number of minutes a person can pay attention to presentation style information (a lecture) is the same as their age, up to 10...more
Some major take-aways, along with my questions and ruminations:
Attention:
Emotional arousal helps the brain learn. Number of minutes a person can pay attention to presentation style information (a lecture) is the same as their age, up to 10...more
Aug 08, 2008Natalie rated it it was ok
The content, when you can get to it, is interesting. But I find his writing style incredibly annoying -- full of anecdotes that don't really have a very tight connection to the content of the chapter. Then, midway thru the book, you learn that he finds that 10-minute chunks interspersed with anecdotes helps students pay attention in lecture. I totally accept that for an oral presentation. But in a written text, it's really annoying. I'm used to reading nonfiction that doesn't seem to be talking..more
Jan 13, 2015Crystal Starr Light rated it really liked it
Bullet Review:
This was a fun little book that talked about the various 'oddities' of your brain and have some ideas for helping to use your brain the way it was built. I have found I really enjoy learning about the brain, as it is a strange and kinda mysterious organ - this book was no disappointment in that regard (although several topics I had read in different books).
Full Review:
(NOTE: I wasn't going to do one..and then Amazon asked me to review, and since I did buy on Kindle, I felt, oh, we..more
This was a fun little book that talked about the various 'oddities' of your brain and have some ideas for helping to use your brain the way it was built. I have found I really enjoy learning about the brain, as it is a strange and kinda mysterious organ - this book was no disappointment in that regard (although several topics I had read in different books).
Full Review:
(NOTE: I wasn't going to do one..and then Amazon asked me to review, and since I did buy on Kindle, I felt, oh, we..more
We participated in a research study led by this author last year, so I was curious to read this book. John Medina was an engaging and thought-provoking speaker, and this is an engaging and thought-provoking. It took a while to read because I had to stop and think after each section. It was relevant to teaching in many ways, but also to life in general.
This is a fabulous book I wish had been written before I started baby-making 30 years ago! It does confirm for me that I did a lot of things right as a parent, but I would have benefited as a mom from knowing things now clearly related by John Medina on when an infant is learning what much more precisely than I knew from observation and experience alone.
the information in this book is priceless for any parent and any person who intends to live life healthily, influence people positively and mak..more
the information in this book is priceless for any parent and any person who intends to live life healthily, influence people positively and mak..more
Aug 09, 2011John rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Finally finished “Brain Rules” by John Medina. Fascinating how simple habits can boost our brain power. Seemingly passive and low impact activities like exercise and sleeping enhance our thinking ability (we’ve all heard this before, but the author provides compelling explanations as to why this is the case).
There’s also an interesting discussion on multitasking (apparently it’s true you can do two things at once, just not as well as if you weren’t trying to multitask).
A well written and engagin..more
There’s also an interesting discussion on multitasking (apparently it’s true you can do two things at once, just not as well as if you weren’t trying to multitask).
A well written and engagin..more
Sep 12, 2013Ensiform rated it liked it
The author, a lecturer, researcher, and molecular biologist, lists twelve major principles that help explain how the brain works: though processes are improved by physical exercise, we pay attention to evolutionarily important things like sex and danger, we need sleep to cogitate properly, repetition is crucial to long-term memory, we learn more through a variety of sensory inputs, gender influences how our brain process certain interactions, and so on. In most of the chapters, he goes on to adv..more
As always, I need to declare my preference for fiction. That said, let me recommend this book. Author and molecular biologist, John Medina, does a great job capturing the reader with brain research, of all things. Clearly a subject that could lull the layperson into a comatose state, Medina follows his own advice in this text. Chapters are not overly long; each reading objective is clearly stated, and he reviews the salient items at the end of each chapter, with three or four bulleted items. To..more
My sister and I both work with kids and have our own little book club where we read works that are related to learning, the brain, and child development. While she liked 'Brain Rules,' she critiqued for being 'pop.' I get that, but I really liked the book.
We read it after seeing Medina give an enthusiastic and inspiring presentation at the Learning and the Brain Conference several months ago in San Francisco. He's definitely a salesman type with his own shtick, but for me, it works.
I was readi..more
We read it after seeing Medina give an enthusiastic and inspiring presentation at the Learning and the Brain Conference several months ago in San Francisco. He's definitely a salesman type with his own shtick, but for me, it works.
I was readi..more
Jun 01, 2008John rated it liked it
A very straightforward read on the latest advance in the understanding of how the brain works. A lot of the chapters draw from some of the accessible trade books on cognitive development. Stories from Deborah Tannen, Oliver Sachs, Howard Gardner, Steven Jay Gould, etc. add stories and examples to Medina's main structure of the book. The book is organized around 12 principles that Medina feels are necessary to a healthy brain (due to what Medina sees as evolutionary factors).
The first principle..more
Mar 11, 2008Nathan rated it really liked itThe first principle..more
Shelves: brain-cogsci-behavioural-economics, science-fact
A solid attempt at making a practical (useful) book on how the brain works, aimed at everyday people. He focuses on memory and efficiency, and writes in an engaging style. As a long-time researcher in the field he has the science cred, and he explains it well. There's a website (brainrules.net I think) that goes with the book, and when the book is released for real (I got a galley) it'll come with a DVD.
My only complaint is that he's insufficiently scientific in the book. I wanted more hard numb..more
My only complaint is that he's insufficiently scientific in the book. I wanted more hard numb..more
Jul 01, 2010Jenny (Reading Envy) rated it liked it
I read this for a cognitive learning group at work, kind of a self-help meets neuroscience attempt. Some of it was interesting, some of it was stuff most people 'know' but the scientific explanations solidified it, and some seemed a little bit of a stretch.
Jun 04, 2016Clint rated it it was amazing
This subject matter is fast-becoming my favorite for non-fiction books. All this new neuroscience that has jumped up in the last twenty years has been overall pretty uplifting. The malleability of the brain, its connection with the body, and its amazing powers of regeneration and lifelong ability to change are overall pretty good news for a world that has kind of let itself slide into a damaging passivity and learned helplessness.
This book isn't a business or education book, it's a pop science..more
This book isn't a business or education book, it's a pop science..more
Aug 12, 2012Lisa rated it liked it
3.5
John Medina explains 12 principles that involve the brain or thoughts that can help you in life. The copy I checked out from the library contained a dvd that gave an overview of the book that explained all of Medina's main points.
This book is worth reading and its ideas are worth incorporating into your life.
Watch this video to see if you might be interested in reading this book:
Brain Rules
From the book:
“If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the..more
John Medina explains 12 principles that involve the brain or thoughts that can help you in life. The copy I checked out from the library contained a dvd that gave an overview of the book that explained all of Medina's main points.
This book is worth reading and its ideas are worth incorporating into your life.
Watch this video to see if you might be interested in reading this book:
Brain Rules
From the book:
“If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the..more
The book lays out the core aspects of cognitive science in layman terms and is a fluid and entertaining read. The author keeps it clear from time to time what is established and what is experimental or state of the art in terms of our understanding of cognition. The chapters are very well organized, each focusing on a particular aspect of personal development and life choices. I learned a lot although I already had good understanding of chapters around memory but John's style of writing leads a..more
Brain Rules Book Review
Mar 26, 2018Zahraa El-Kabengi rated it really liked it
Quite enjoyed this book :)
I found the book relaxing and fun to read. Some research results was quite interesting especially the last 3 chapters about music, gender and the adventurous nature of humans, otherwise some stuff was repeated for me but definitely was a fun recap.
I found the book relaxing and fun to read. Some research results was quite interesting especially the last 3 chapters about music, gender and the adventurous nature of humans, otherwise some stuff was repeated for me but definitely was a fun recap.
This was a pretty interesting book. Thanks to the spouse for letting me regurgitate it back to him every night. It's the kind of book you must talk about with others. And often! You lucky people! A lot of reference to the study of injured brains were found in it, so my main take away was this - wear a bike helmet. Every single time.
This book was recommended to my partner while on a training course. It's an easy read and takes you through 12 areas of your brain and you will come out the other end, better equipped to use your brain more effectively. In work, we could all do with an update on how to make ourselves a little better and use our brain power more efficiently and this book certainly goes some way to 'upgrade' our thinking.
Oct 12, 2017Rob Thompson rated it liked it Shelves: sirchutney, 2017-challenge, blinkist, non-fiction, reviewed
About the book: Brain Rules gives you insight into how our brains function and explains how you can take advantage of such knowledge to push your brain to work better. From gaining more productivity at work to absorbing more at school, mastering the “brain rules” will help make learning with all your senses become second nature.
About the author: John Medina is a professor, research consultant and expert in molecular biology. He founded the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research and the Talar..more
About the author: John Medina is a professor, research consultant and expert in molecular biology. He founded the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research and the Talar..more
There were parts of this book I loved and parts I hated, so it was really difficult for me to figure out how to rate it. I loved the first chapter so much -- about how exercise makes your thinking sharper -- that I devoted a podcast episode to it. Other chapters were fascinating too, in particular the sleep chapter.
However, there was a description of the making of foie gras on page 88 that was a dealbreaker for me. And because it came during the chapter on 'Attention,' I presume it was a techniq..more
However, there was a description of the making of foie gras on page 88 that was a dealbreaker for me. And because it came during the chapter on 'Attention,' I presume it was a techniq..more
This book is an extremely informative book. I wanted to read a book that would help me discover how and why our brains learn different ways. I didn’t want to read a book that was packed with scientific details that were hard to understand. John Medina combined the scientific details with common experiences and stories to create a revealing book that was enjoyable to read.
Each chapter began with a different brain rule. Most of the brain rules that were highlighted in the book were common knowled..more
Each chapter began with a different brain rule. Most of the brain rules that were highlighted in the book were common knowled..more
May 09, 2012Ted Witt rated it really liked it · review of another edition
We expect that findings from scientific research will be quickly translated into everyday practice when it comes to medicine, technology, engineering and marketing. However, when it comes to schools and education, research finds it difficult to cut through the bonds of tradition.
In his bestselling book Brain Rules, molecular biologist John Medina suggests that the typical five-period day in high school might be radically restructured if we were to consider how the brain actually works.
Medina wri..more
In his bestselling book Brain Rules, molecular biologist John Medina suggests that the typical five-period day in high school might be radically restructured if we were to consider how the brain actually works.
Medina wri..more
Thanks to author John Medina for taking up such a risk to research and explain the complex thing, according to human brains, of 'how brain works' to the level that human brain can understand easily. The author, in his book explains 12 things about how our brains functions. This book contains of working science about brains, exemplary of experiment about the brain's function and questions.
Here are the 12 things that the author says how the brain functions and fascinating ideas about them...
1) S..more
Here are the 12 things that the author says how the brain functions and fascinating ideas about them...
1) S..more
Oct 25, 2011Jessica Snell rated it really liked it
This one was fascinating. I finally found out why it's possible to faint from shock! Your brain is so glucose-hungry that you can only use a very small percentage of it at a time, for the simple reason that you don't have enough glucose (or enough oxygen to break the glucose down, or the ability to get rid of the by-products of oxygen break-down fast enough) to fuel more than a small percentage. So if you see/learn something shocking, your brain tries to process too much at once, using too large..more
Good Book. Helped to understand how human brain functions and how it get affected by the activities we do in our daily lives., such as sufficient amount of sleep and exercise helps healthy brain functioning, where as excessive stress affects the brain functionality in a negative way. I felt interested while getting to know about brain's memory system which has four stages of processing, viz., Encoding, Storing, Retrieving and Forgetting. To make something to be in long-term memory, we need to me..more
I'll be honest, this book was a challenge for me to get through. My biggest takeaway was what Dr. Medina had to say about teaching and learning. The brain can really only hold an attention span of about 10 minutes before it starts to wander, so as a teacher you must be aware of this and structure your lessons to keep students engaged. An example would be switching from lecturing for 10 minutes to telling a story or anecdote that relates to the lesson, then going back to the lesson. There is a lo..more
A wonderful, quick read about how and why the brain is the way it is and what to do about it. As a teacher, his text will change the way I work in the classroom and is direct enough that I can share parts of the book with my students.
Hands down one of the most intriguing and informative books I’ve read in quite some time. Highly recommend to anyone.
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DR. JOHN J. MEDINA, a developmental molecular biologist, has a lifelong fascination with how the mind reacts to and organizes information. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller 'Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School' -- a provocative book that takes on the way our schools and work environments are designed. His latest book is a must-read for pa..more
“If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom. If you wanted to create a business environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a cubicle. And if you wanted to change things, you might have to tear down both and start over.” — 21 likes
“The problem in today’s economy is that people are typically starting a family at the very time they are also supposed to be doing their best work. They are trying to be productive at some of the most stressful times of their lives. What if companies took this unhappy collision of life events seriously? They could offer Gottman’s intervention as a benefit for every newly married, or newly pregnant, employee.” — 9 likes
More quotes…Brain Rules Exercise Machine
This book does a tremendous job of distilling scientific research on how the brain works and presenting it in a neat, organized manner. While there is obviously a common unifying theme that runs through the boo, each chapter is self-contained in that it covers a single topic and the research around it.In almost all cases findings are presented backed by scientific, peer-reviewed research ('supporting research for each of my points must first be published in a peer-reviewed journal and then successfully replicated. Many of the studies have been replicated dozens of times.' (p. 6)), except in those cases where there is not sufficient research, which the author points that out himself. This book is also an attempt to disabuse people against what are mostly urban myths and plausible-sounding theories of brain development, peddled by marketers with noble and not-so noble intentions.
'
It is an attempt to vaccinate against mythologies such as the 'Mozart Effect,' left brain/right brain personalities, and getting your babies into Harvard by making them listen to language tapes while they are still in the womb.
Each chapter in the book is organized around a single theme, or 'rule', that describes an attribute of the brain.
'
For the sake of context, here are the rules:
1. Exercise - get the butt off the couch; it may help you think straight and live longer
2. Survival - our brains evolved to help us survive in the Savannah, to avoid becoming food. The rest is detail.
3. Wiring
4. Attention - we cannot pay attention for more than 15 minutes at a time..
5. Short-term memory - remember the magic number seven, plus or minus two.
6. Long-term memory - it can take years, even decades for some memories to truly become embedded in our brains.
7. Sleep - the less sleep you get, the dumber you can get. Really. A short nap in the afternoon can do wonders for our concentration and productivity. A siesta is really not a bad idea. Workplaces refer to these as post-lunch meetings.
8. Stress - it's not good for your heart, it's not good for your brain.
9. Sensory integration
10. Vision - our eyes can deceive us. Our eyes have evolved to help us survive, first. Ogling came much later.
11. Gender - yes, there are some differences that can be explained by gender. But do not believe the ancients, like Aristotle who remarked, '.. the female is an impotent male..' [location 3308]
12. Exploration
It does then make for interesting and engrossing reading as you go through each of these twelve rules. Some chapters you will naturally be more interested in, while others are informational without being too entertaining, so to say. For me, the most interesting chapters were the ones on memory (both short-term and long-term), stress, and sleep.
Minor Quibble
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A quibble, minor if you don't particularly care about references in books. The author states that to keep the book 'reader-friendly' extensive references are available at [..]. I actually found this detracting from the utility of the book. I am used to flipping to the end of the book where the references are noted, and then back to the page I was reading. Reading an ebook on the Kindle makes this job of navigating to a reference at the end of the book easier (though Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains may disagree). Having to go to a web site is a distraction - the author should know that.
Secondly, the website itself is not very well organized if all you are interested in are the references. You have to click to go to a different page for each chapter (rule) in the book, and from that page click on a link at the right that reads, 'References for this rule [PDF]'. Each chapter's references are in a PDF file ([..] for instance). These could so easily have been included in the book itself. Keep the online references too by all means - they can serve as a place where these references are updated and new ones added. Thirdly, the book itself does not contain any numbering of the references within the text, so it is doubly difficult to figure out where in the PDF of references for a chapter to look for as a reference to something you have read in the book.
This is certainly one experiment that has failed.
On to the rest of the book now..
Ever wonder why the sages in ancient India developed the science of yoga? Even though these sages were supposed to sit and meditate on the meaning of life? And in which case what was the use for doing artistic aerobics? Well, yoga is exercise that is nectar for the body as well as the brain. What held true for the sages thousands of years ago is relevant even today.
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A lifetime of exercise can result in a sometimes astonishing elevation in cognitive performance, compared with those who are sedentary. Exercisers outperform couch potatoes in tests that measure long-term memory, reasoning, attention, problem-solving, even so-called fluid-intelligence tasks.
Most important, these data, strong as they were, showed only an association, not a cause.In the laboratory, the gold standard appears to be aerobic exercise, 30 minutes at a clip, two or three times a week. Add a strengthening regimen and you get even more cognitive benefit.
Exercise improves children. Physically fit children identify visual stimuli much faster than sedentary ones. They appear to concentrate better.
'
Whereas the great Greek philosophers thought the brain was basically a dead piece of meat encased in a skull ('The Greeks didn't think the brain did much of anything. It just sat there like an inert pile of clay' (p. 200)), modern science has revealed the brain to be the, heart, so to say in a manner of speaking, of our human existence. The fact that the brain can consume massive amounts of energy also helps explain why we get tired even when we are sitting in a chair, but thinking furiously about some problem. The brain is at work, and it sucks in energy in huge gulps.
'
The brain represents only about 2 percent of most people's body weight, yet it accounts for about 20 percent of the body's total energy usage--about 10 times more than would be expected. When the brain is fully working, it uses more energy per unit of tissue weight than a fully exercising quadricep. In fact, the human brain cannot simultaneously activate more than 2 percent of its neurons at any one time. More than this, and the glucose supply becomes so quickly exhausted that you will faint.
'
Did you get that? The oft-repeated truism that we use only 2 percent of our brains is only partially true. The fact, as it turns out, is that we cannot physically make use of more than 2 percent, at ANY given point in time. It does NOT mean that we use only the SAME two percent of our brain. This little, but significant, distinction is often lost in repetition.
Here is a conundrum.
When we are distracted or accused of being distracted, it usually means we are focusing on more than one thing at a time, and paying less attention to the task at hand. When it comes to the brain however, the reverse is true in some contexts, especially when the brain is tasked with remembering things.
Whether you are a waiter or a brain scientist, if you want to get the particulars correct, don't start with details. Start with the key ideas and, in a hierarchical fashion, form the details around these larger notions.
'
Studies show that a person who is interrupted takes 50 percent longer to accomplish a task. Not only that, he or she makes up to 50 percent more errors.
'
Ever ponder as to why we forget almost everything we learn in class? Of course it is because the teacher was boring, the subject was boring, you were tired, you were distracted, the room was too hot, there was a cricket match going on, and of course because there was this new movie you had to catch at the theater after school, and of course the cute girl in class looked at you and smiled for a second, which was enough for you to forget what happened in class during the next hour. Well, partly true. The part about the cute girl looking in your direction would be an ECS. An' emotionally charged event (usually called an ECS, short for emotionally competent stimulus) is the best-processed kind of external stimulus ever measured.' (p. 80). But seriously, you don't have cute girls eyeing you in every class? So why do we forget what we learn, and that too so fast?
'
Hermann Ebbinghaus was born in 1850. As a young man, he looked like a cross between Santa Claus and John Lennon, with his bushy brown beard and round glasses. He is most famous for uncovering one of the most depressing facts in all of education: People usually forget 90 percent of what they learn in a class within 30 days. He further showed that the majority of this forgetting occurs within the first few hours after class. This has been robustly confirmed in modern times. [page 100, location 1352]
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The things we learn are also usually associated with a mood. Recall the event and you usually recall the mood also. Which is why it is better to be happier when learning than sad. Or, look at it this way; if you are sad when learning mathematics, because you are having to learn about differential calculus and finite integration, then you will be sad when you have to remember calculus, and before you know it you will have associated math with sad feelings.
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Learn something while you are sad and you will be able to recall it better if, at retrieval, you are somehow suddenly made sad. The condition is called context-dependent or state-dependent learning.
the passage of time inexorably leads to a weakening of events and facts that were once clear and chock-full of specifics. In an attempt to fill in missing gaps, the brain is forced to rely on partial fragments, inferences, outright guesswork, and often (most disturbingly) other memories not related to the actual event. It is truly reconstructive in nature,
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Another nugget about memory, both short-term and long-term is that the key to remembering is repetition and associating facts and events with other facts and events. Look at it as a highly sophisticated form of indexing and cross-referencing (relational joins, if you will). To help remember something effectively, make the association vivid. Why do people usually associate the actress Zeenat Aman most with the movie Satyam Shivam Sundaram? It's the vividness of the imagery sir.
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Why do examples work? They appear to take advantage of the brain's natural predilection for pattern matching. Information is more readily processed if it can be immediately associated with information already present in the learner's brain.
At relatively early periods post-learning (say minutes to hours to days), retrieval systems allow us to reproduce a fairly specific and detailed account of a given memory.
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the relationship between repetition and memory is clear. Deliberately re-expose yourself to the information if you want to retrieve it later. Deliberately re-expose yourself to the information more elaborately if you want the retrieval to be of higher quality. Deliberately re-expose yourself to the information more elaborately, and in fixed, spaced intervals, if you want the retrieval to be the most vivid it can be.
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In the chapter on sleep, a couple of nuggets stand out in their illustration on how sleep deprivation affects the brain.
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When people become sleep-deprived, for example, their ability to utilize the food they are consuming falls by about one-third. The ability to make insulin and to extract energy from the brain's favorite dessert, glucose, begins to fail miserably.
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For example, if healthy 30-year-olds are sleep-deprived for six days (averaging, in this study, about four hours of sleep per night), parts of their body chemistry soon revert to that of a 60-year-old. And if they are allowed to recover, it will take them almost a week to get back to their 30-year-old systems.
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While 'emotionally competent stimuli' can help us remember things more effectively, and such events 'persist much longer in our memories', it is important to distinguish such ECS from outright stress. When you subject the brain to stress, it collapses into a primal, survival state. So forget about learning.
Stressed brains do not learn the same way as non-stressed brains. My grief at least had an end-point. Imagine growing up in an emotionally unstable home, where the stress seems never-ending. Given that stress can powerfully affect learning, one might predict that children living in high-anxiety households would not perform as well academically as kids living in more nurturing households.
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One of the greatest predictors of performance in school turns out to be the emotional stability of the home.
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And here is more, a lot more on stress. Now, don't get stressed reading about what stress can do to you and your brain.
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.. brain's hypothalamus, that pea-size organ sitting almost in the middle of your head. When your sensory systems detect stress, the hypothalamus reacts by sending a signal to your adrenal glands, lying far away on the roof of your kidneys. The glands immediately dump bucketloads of adrenaline into your bloodstream. The overall effect is called the fight or flight response. [page 174]
Consequently, our stress responses were shaped to solve problems that lasted not for years, but for seconds. They were primarily designed to get our muscles moving us as quickly as possible, usually out of harm's way.
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Over the long term, however, too much adrenaline stops regulating surges in your blood pressure. These unregulated surges create sandpaper-like rough spots on the insides of your blood vessels. The spots turn into scars, which allow sticky substances in the blood to build up there, clogging your arteries. [page 176]
Over the long term, stress ravages parts of the immune system involved in producing antibodies. Together, these can cripple your ability to fight infection.
the hippocampus is deeply involved in many aspects of human learning. Stress hormones can make cells in the hippocampus more vulnerable to other stresses. Stress hormones can disconnect neural networks, the webbing of brain cells that act like a safety deposit vault, storing your most precious memories. They can stop the hippocampus from giving birth to brand-new baby neurons. Under extreme conditions, stress hormones can even kill hippocampal cells. [page 179]
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In summary, with the exception of the misstep over references, this is an excellent book. Highly recommended.