Posts that have to do with the brain or neuroscience, such as exercise and the brain, mind matters, or meditation.
Cognitive blind spots. Everyone has them. Cognitive blind spots are often manifested as repeated patterns of ineffective behavior or resolutions to change that seem to fall short of the goal. The nature of blind spots is that one is…
The Executive Brain written by Elkhonon Goldberg, is a book that examines the role of the frontal/prefrontal cortex (frontal lobes, frontal cortex and prefrontal cortex will all be used interchangeably in this article) in the overall functioning of the human…
In June 2009, I completed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction program offered by the University of Minnesota. This program is a certified version of the one pioneered by Jon-Kabit Zinn at the University of Massachusetts. The 8-week program consisted of reading…
The Minnesota Brain Injury Association 2010 Walk for Thought occurred on September 25, 2010 at Como Park in St. Paul. The theme for this year's walk was "Sports Concussions." Sports concussions are not merely "getting your bell rung" as was…
"We must educate young athletes, coaches and parents to recognize the warning signs of brain injures and ultimately to find ways to prevent them. I want to educate young athletes to learn to play hard- but play smart. We all…
Mindfulness, meditation, and breath awareness. Is this all a big fad or can you actually gain a cognitive edge from sitting for 15-20 minutes each day focusing on the breath? A recent study published in Science Daily states even after…
Many people who take the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator will ask whether or not their psychological type can change. According to type theory, basic type preferences for perception or judgment are inborn and do not change. However, it is also known…
Last week, I attended the conference, The Mind That Changes the Brain featuring Norman Doidge and Daniel Siegel two of the current authorities on how mental experience and mindfulness can change the structure of the brain. The Breath Awareness Exercise,…
A family friend was interested in learning about neurological rehabilitation. What do you do with someone who suffers a head injury? Even minor head injuries can result in increased irritability, memory problems, difficulty with judgment, impulse control... Of course, the…
March is Brain Awareness Month so the bookstore was overflowing with intriguing selections for me to take on vacation. I have a lifelong passion for brains. How do they work? What happens when they are broken? How do you get the most out of your brain? For instance, I am intrigued by the notion that many of the behavioral observations that have been made about the brain, behavior, cognition, and personality over the course of thousands of years can now be confirmed through imaging techniques such as the fMRI or the PET scan. Indeed, there is no better time than now to learn about the brain, appreciate individual differences, and to be wowed by it’s wonders.
The first book I read was The Edison Gene/ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child by Thon Hartmann (By clicking the link, you can also read the American Psychiatric Institute’s review of the book). There is ongoing controversy as to whether ADHD is a real disorder or if it is the gift of creativity and adaptability in it’s highest form. Thomas Edison, left school after only 3 months of formal education and was labeled, “a problem child, stupid and difficult” by his teachers. He set his father’s barn on fire to see what would happen. He laid on goose eggs to see if he could hatch them. His mother had to move his laboratory into the basement for fear that he would blow up the house. Of course, without Thomas Edison, there would be no light bulbs, no phonographs, and no motion pictures among other critical inventions. The author makes the case that medicating or trying to “break” the highly creative types like Edison, our society would not move forward. As I read the book, I imagined the Thomas Edison types to be intuitive- thinking-perceiving types ( ENTP and the INTP) using the Myers-Briggs terminology. Another parallel terms would be right brain thinking (holistic, random, intuitive and a “could be” focus) versus left brain thinking (linear, sequential, concrete,and a “what is” focus).
I agree with the author’s assertion that people are wired differently and are therefore more adept at various tasks. Some individuals tend to remain open to changes in incoming data and adapt accordingly while others prefer structure, organization and consistency. Neither style of thinking is superior to the other.