Unit 2: Aspects of Personal Development

LESSON 6

The Powers of the Mind

Objectives:
At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:
1. Discuss that understanding the left and right brain functions
may help in improving one’s learning;
2. Explore mind-mapping techniques suited to right brain- or left
brain-dominant thinking styles; and
3. Make a plan to improve learning using both left and right
brain development.

How do we develop the powers of our mind?

Brain Power: Complex Organ Control your Every

Thought and Move

How did you get here?

No, no, no! It's not a question about your conception or birth.

How did you get here? On this page. Reading this story.

The answer is a lot more complex than, "My teacher told me to read it" or "I clicked on it by
accident, "recalling how to use a browser or a search engine and word recognition such as
"Brainpower" and an understanding of its meaning.

The answer involves thought, as in "I want to get on the Internet"; movement — pressing the
computer's power button and grasping a mouse; memory—like.

In short, the answer involves a wrinkled, pinkish-gray, three-pound organ that is primarily
composed of fat and water and goes by the name of brain.

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You got to this article because that jelly-like mass topping off your spinal cord fired electrical
signals to your hand telling it how to move. You got to this article because your brain stored information
about using a computer and the definition of words that you learned years ago. You got to this article
because your brain is working.

Keep reading to find out how it functions, if it repairs itself and if the effects of drug use are
permanent.

The Power to Act

The brain has three major parts -- the cerebrum, the cerebellum and the brain stem.

The brain stem connects the spinal cord and the brain. It controls functions that keep people
alive such as breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and food digestion. Those activities occur without
any thought. You aren't telling yourself, "Inhale. Exhale. Inhale." You're just breathing.

Things are different in the cerebellum. That region controls voluntary movement. When you
want to lift your fork, wave your hand, brush your hair or wink at a cutie, you form the thought and
then an area in the cerebellum translates your will into action. It happens so quickly. Think about how
little time passes between your desire to continue reading this sentence and the time it takes your eyes
to move to this word or this one. It seems automatic, but it isn't.

Neurons, the basic functional units of the nervous

system, are three-part units and are key to brain function.
They are comprised of a nerve cell body, axon and dendrite,
and they power the rapid-fire process that turns thought into
movement.

The thought moves as an electrical signal from the

nerve cell down the axon to a dendrite, which looks like
Neurons are information branches at the end of nerve cells. The signal jumps from the
messengers. They use electrical end of the dendrite on one cell across the space, called a synapse, to
impulses and chemical signals
to transmit information the dendrite of another cell with the help of chemicals called
between different areas of the
neurotransmitters. That signal continues jumping from cell to cell until
brain, and between the brain
and the rest of the nervous it reaches the muscle you need to wave, wink or walk.
system.

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Synapses refer to the points of

contact between neurons where
information is passed from one
neuron to the next.

The cerebrum is the largest of the three

brain sections, accounts for about 85 percent of the
brain's weight, and has four lobes. The lobes-frontal,
parietal, temporal and occipital -- each has different
functions. They get their names from the sections of
the skull that are next to them.

The parietal lobe helps people understand

what they see and feel, while the frontal lobe
determines personality and emotions. Vision
functions are located in the occipital lobe, and
hearing and word recognition abilities are in the
temporal lobe.

A Critical Age

Because the brain's healthy functioning is essential to living and determines quality of life,
doctors emphasize protecting the organ from injury and chemical abuse.

There is a consensus among researchers that brain cells regenerate throughout life, said Doug
Postels, a pediatric neurosurgeon in New Orleans, but that new growth happens very slowly after a
certain age.

"The size of the brain doesn't increase much after 3," Postels explains. During the first three
years of life, the brain experiences most of its growth and develops most of its potential for learning.

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That's the time frame in which synaptogenesis, or the creation of pathways for brain cells to
communicate, occurs.

Doctors generally accept that cut-off point for two reasons, Postels said. First, in situations
where doctors removed parts of the brains of patients younger than 3 to correct disorders, the
remaining brain sections developed to assume the role of the portions those doctors removed. But
when physicians performed the same surgery on older patients, that adaptability function did not
occur.

Second, "We know from experiments that if you deprive people of intellectual stimulation and
put them in a dark room, that it produces permanent changes in the brain," Postels said. "That occurs
most dramatically before age 3. After that age, it's impossible to ethically do a study."

Drug Damage

Because so little recovery occurs to brains damaged after age 3, the effects of drugs and alcohol
on the brain might be lasting.

Doctors know what inhalants, steroids, marijuana, cocaine and alcohol do to the brain when
people use them. "The question scientists can't answer now is if the damage is permanent," said Sue
Rusche, co-author of "False Messengers," a book on how addictive drugs change the brain.

Inhalants, such as glue, paint, gasoline and aerosols, destroy the outer lining of nerve cells and
make them unable to communicate with one another. In 1993, more than 60 young people died from
sniffing inhalants, according to National Families in Action, a drug education center based in Atlanta.

Studies have found that marijuana use hinders memory, learning, judgment and reaction times,
while steroids cause aggression and violent mood swings.

Ecstasy use is rising among young people, Rusche said, and scientists have found that drug
destroys neurons that make serotonin, a chemical crucial in controlling sleep, violence, mood swings
and sexual urges.

Source: Christy Oglesby, CNNfyi Senior Writer, December 5, 2000 from

http://edition.cnn.com/fyi/interactive/news/brain/structure.function.htm

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To find out which brain is dominant in you, answer Activity 14: Brain Dominance.

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The Dominant Side of the Brain

Researchers believed that brain dominance determines a person’s preferences, problem-

solving style, personality characteristics, and even career choices.

For example, a right-brain individual will quickly get a feeling for a situation, while a left-brain
person will usually ask a lot of questions first. The following chart reflects additional difference between
left and right-brain dominance.

PERSONAL PREFERENCE
LEFT DOMINANCE RIGHT DOMINANCE
Classical Music Popular Music
Being on Time A good times
Careful planning To visualize the outcome
To consider alternative To go with the first idea
Being thoughtful Being active
Monopoly, scrabble, or chess Athletic, art, or music

There is nothing good or bad about either preference. Both orientations can be equally
successful in accomplishing a single task; however, one may be more appropriate over the other
depending on the situation.

Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is a powerful thinking tool. It is a graphical technique that mirrors the way the
brain works, and was invented by Tony Buzan. Mind mapping helps to make thinking visible. Most
people make notes using lined paper and blue or black ink. Making notes more attractive to the brain
by adding color and rhythm can aid the learning process, and can help to make learning fun.

The subject being studied is crystallized in a central image and the main theme radiates out
from the central image on branches. Each branch holds a key image or a key word. Details are then
added to the main branches and radiate further out.

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Mind maps have a wide variety of uses, for example, note taking, revision planning, planning
for writing and problem solving can all be successfully carried out using the technique. The colors and
the graphics used will help you to organize your ideas and thoughts. They can be very simple or quite
detailed depending upon your age and the complexity of the subject. Because creating the mind map
involves the use of the left and right brain, remembering the information becomes easier!

Below is an example of a simple mind map linked to the information above.

How to draw a mind map:

1. Turn the page on its side (landscape). Use plain paper.
2. Draw the central image using different colors. The central image should encapsulate the
subject of the map.
3. Add the branches representing the subject’s main topics or themes using key words or
images.
4. Add detail with more key words and images. Use color.
5. Print the words clearly.
6. Use arrows to connect linked ideas.

To practice this powerful thinking tool, answer Activity 15: Mind Mapping.

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You can Grow your Intelligence

New Research Shows the Brain Can Be Developed Like a Muscle

Many people think of the brain as a mystery. They don’t know much about intelligence and how
it works. When they do think about what intelligence is, many people believe that a person is born
either smart, average, or dumb—and stays that way for life. But new research shows that the brain is
more like a muscle—it changes and gets stronger when you use it.

Inside the cortex of the brain are billions of tiny nerve cells, called neurons. The nerve cells have
branches connecting them to other cells in a complicated network. Communication between these
brain cells is what allows us to think and solve problems.

When you learn new things, these tiny connections in the brain actually multiply and get
stronger. The more that you challenge your mind to learn, the more your brain cells are.

The Brain Can Grow Stronger

Scientists started thinking that the human brain could develop and change when they studied
animals’ brains. They found out that animals who lived in a challenging environment, with other
animals and toys to play with, were different from animals who lived alone in bare cages. While the
animals who lived alone just ate and slept all the time, the ones who lived with different toys and other
animals were always active. They spent a lot of time figuring out how to use the toys and how to get
along with the other animals.

These animals had more connections between the nerve cells in their brains. The connections
were bigger and stronger, too. In fact, their whole brains were about 10% heavier than the brains of
the animals who lived alone without toys. The animals who were exercising their brains by playing with
toys and each other were also “smarter”—they were better at solving problems and learning new
things.

The Key to Growing the Brain: Practice!

From the first day they are born, babies are hearing people around them talk—all day, every
day, to the baby and to each other. They have to try to make sense of these strange sounds and figure
out what they mean. In a way, babies are exercising their brains by listening hard. Later, when they
need to tell their parents what they want, they start practicing talking themselves. At first, they just
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make goo-goo sounds. Then, words start coming. And by the time they are three years old, most can
say whole sentences almost perfectly. Once children learn a language, they don’t forget it. The child’s
brain has changed—it has actually gotten smarter. This can happen because learning causes permanent
changes in the brain. The babies’ brain cells get larger and grow new connections between them. These
new, stronger connections make the child’s brain stronger and smarter, just like a weightlifter’s big
muscles make them strong.

The Real Truth about

“Smart” and “Dumb”

No one thinks babies are stupid because

they can’t talk. They just haven’t learned yet how
to. But some people will call a person dumb if they
can’t solve math problems, or spell a word right, or
read fast—even though all these things are learned
with practice. At first, no one can read or solve equations. But with practice, they can learn to do it.
And the more a person learns, the easier it gets to learn new things—because their brain “muscles”
have gotten stronger! The students everyone thinks as the “smartest” may not have been born any
different from anyone else. But before they started school, they may have started to practice reading.
They had already started to build up their “reading muscles.” Then, in the classroom, everyone said,
“That’s the smartest student in the class.” They don’t realize that any of the other students could learn
to do as well if they exercised and practiced reading as much. Remember, all of those other students
learned to speak at least one whole language already—something that grownups find very hard to do.
They just need to build up their “reading muscles” too.

What Can You Do to Get Smarter?

By practicing, you make your brain stronger. You also learn skills that let you use your brain in
a smarter way—just like a basketball player learns new moves. But many people miss out on the chance
to grow a stronger brain because they think they can’t do it, or that it’s too hard. It does take work, just
like becoming stronger physically or becoming a better ball player does. Sometimes it even hurts! But
when you feel yourself get better and stronger, all the work is worth it!

Source: http://schools.nyc.gov/NR/rdonlyres/C7BD7406-040C-42FA-B44C-
2FCF72EB819C/0/GrowYourIntelligenceArticleandActivity.pdf © 2010 Mindset Works

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