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Brain Myths
Posted by Clayton Shold in Other "Stuff"
An interesting article appeared in today’s paper titled “7 Brain Myths” compiled by Alanna Mitchell a Toronto-based writer and journalist who specialize in global science issues.
I found this fascinating and admit that it cleared up a number of misconceptions I had on how the old gray matter works, hope you find it as interesting.
Myth 1. The human brain is fixed by the age of 3
It is true babies’ brains make connections (synapses) at a furious pace until about 10 months, the brain actually grows and changes throughout life. Even my mother’s 80-year old brain is still growing new synaptic connections.
Myth 2. The more you enrich a baby’s environment, the smarter the baby.
This got way off track from the “enriched rats” experiment, which I won’t get into. Bottom line, over-stimulating babies has the opposite effect; the children shut down and don’t listen. The message for parents is expose your babies to normal life – talk with the, let them play with other children and encourage them to explore on their own.
Myth 3. We only use 10% of our brain.
I love this one and have heard this for years. Not true! MRI imagery shows 100% of the brain is active even when you are asleep or even anesthetized.
Myth 4. Boys’ brains and girls’ brains are different.
Nope. Apart from average size which follows the proportions of the body size – this isn’t true. The way boys and girls create synaptic pathways – and therefore learn – is the same.
Myth 5. You are either a left-brain person or right-brain person.
This myth is based on experiments going back to the 1800’s. Left brain thinkers are supposed to be more logical, analytical and rational while the right-brain thinker was more creative, emotional and intuitive. It’s bunk. The two hemispheres of the brain are joined by a wide band of nervous tissue called the corpus callosum, the brain is in fact an exquisitely integrated organ. For a few tasks, a single side may dominate, but both sides must work together for any important tasks.
Myth 6. If we could eliminate emotions, we’d make better decisions.
Turns out emotion is an integrated, critical pat of each decision and of learning.
Myth 7. An adult’s brain is bigger than a baby’s because it has more nerve cells.
Turns out a newborn’s brain has roughly the same number of neurons, as an adult’s – about 100 billion. That number remains roughly constant through life. The size difference is mainly the synaptic connections that grow between neurons and the fatty insulating material that wraps around them called myelin.
The article didn’t address losing brain cells from excessive alcohol consumption so maybe that is a myth as well … let’s hope!
So there you have it, myth-busting about the brain – do you feel smarter?
Clayton Shold
Salesopedia
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