Category: Brain and memory

There is ancient precedent for believing that disordered feelings often arise because of prior problems in thinking and behavior. For example, the desert fathers in the tradition of Christian monasticism often taught that the way to address problems in one’s emotional life is to attend to what is happening in the realm of thinking and behavior. Even before them, the 1st century Stoic philosopher Epictetus taught that our interpretations of events have a greater impact on us than the events themselves, so that the way to avoid unnecessary suffering is to engage in correct thinking.

The basic idea is that there was a web of multiple reciprocities between how we think, what we feel and the way we behave.

On one level, this is common sense: it doesn’t take a PhD in psychology to know that because we are whole people, a change in one aspect of the human ecosystem will have an impact in other areas. However, psychology hasn’t always traded in common sense, and for much of the discipline’s history too little attention was given to the notion of changing maladaptive feelings through addressing thoughts and behavior. Continue reading →

Complaining is one of those things we do without even thinking about it. Some researchers have suggested that during an average conversation we complain to each other about once a minute.

From a health perspective, this should be concerning. When we complain, stress hormones are released that harm healthy neural connections in the brain. This also occurs when we aren’t actually complaining ourselves but are exposed to someone else grumbling.

In his book Three Simple Steps: A Map to Success in Business and Life, Trevor G Blake shared some Stanford studies showing that being exposed to 30 minutes of complaining each day physically damages the brain by peeling back neurons from the hippocampus (the part of the brain used for problem solving and higher cognitive functions). Over time this can actually lead to the hippocampus shrinking, resulting in decline in memory and adaptability.

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Constant lack of motivation or distraction could be a sign that boredom-induced stress has taken over your ability to thrive in EPPP test prep. These signs also point to burnout but, when paired with disengagement or frequent avoidance of your EPPP study materials, it could also mean that it’s time to rediscover the joy of learning.

A classic example of how boredom can override the ability to focus is with elementary aged children. Have you noticed the excitement of a child preparing for his or her first year of school? Learning is associated with discovery and newness. Any hesitation to go to that first year of school is often rooted the fear of being separated from parents. At some point in some children, a shift can be made from excitement towards learning to being unmotivated to complete school work.

Perhaps you have similarly felt disengaged with your EPPP test prep materials or constantly find yourself procrastinating what you have set out to do on your study schedule. Continue reading →

Below are the full links to Graham Taylor’s interview with Robin Phillips about brain fitness.

In this conversation, Phillips suggested that the notion of “being smart” often invokes a one-sided paradigm of mental ability that may not be consistent with overall cognitive health. He explained how a proper understanding of brain fitness should also include such things as a well-developed imagination, intellectual curiosity, mental focus and self-control, the ability to think outside the box, the ability to exercise emotional intelligence, the ability to connect knowledge into overarching schemas, the ability to avoid common thinking errors, and many other aspects of a healthy brain that tend to be insufficiently emphasized in our culture.

Brain Fitness Interview (Part 1)

• In this first installment of the conversation, Phillips explained why the category of brain fitness is helpful in emphasizing a holistic approach to cognition, which has implications to how we approach the whole learning process. He highlighted certain under-valued mental assets such as being able to think outside the box as well as the skill of emotional intelligence. He also highlighted how the avoidance of thinking errors is integral to developing a healthy brain.

Brain Fitness Interview (Part 2)

• In this second installment of the conversation, Robin Phillips and Graham Taylor talked about the way the human brain organizes what it learns into a series of schemas. Schemas are networks of associations through which the brain organizing everything into meaningful patterns. These patterns then serve as hooks on which to hang new information. In order for the brain to build up schemas effectively, we need to reflect deeply about life in a slow and undistracted manner and remain open-minded to new models of understanding our world. They discussed some factors in modern life that make it difficult to form schemas and instead orient us towards shallowness and oversimplifications.

Brain Fitness Interview (Part 3)

• In the third part of the interview, Phillips and Taylor looked at some theories of memory and learning. They discussed how a good memory is not a gift but a skill and that we can develop this skill through learning the right techniques. They also talked about the important role that focus plays in the learning process and in career success.

Brain Fitness Interview (Part 4)

•  In the final part of the conversation, Dr. Taylor asked Robin about the role imagination and intellectual curiosity play in having a healthy brain. Phillips shared concern that recent developments in the American school system are diminishing the importance of imagination as learning is reduced to simply a utilitarian tool. Phillips closed by pointing out some areas in which the ancients understood brain fitness better than we do.

 

 

This is the fourth of a 4-part series covering Dr. Taylor’s conversation with Robin Phillips about the brain. To read the other posts in this series, click here.

 

Robin Phillips: Can I just share a few more ingredients that go into a healthy brain?

Graham Taylor: Go ahead.

RP: Another element that should be absolutely front and center of any discussion of brain fitness is intellectual curiosity and imagination. These are really two separate skills but since they are closely related I find it useful to discuss them under the same rubric.

When I used to teach high school history, I often found myself puzzled why some students would diligently take notes about all the different historical figures I discussed in class but then as soon as the final test was over they would throw away a year’s worth of notes. Why was it that some students were genuinely interested in the material while others didn’t care and only learned for the test? We could probably think of lots of different reasons for this, but one important factor seemed to be the total lack of intellectual curiosity in some students. Continue reading →