Do you want to be smart and creative? Train your brain

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Here are excerpts from the book of the Potpourri publishing house about the natural features of the main human organ - his brain! After all, our brain is us. And the better we study it, the fuller and more interesting life will be. The book "" contains mental exercises for the development of both logical and lateral thinking. At the end of the article, you will find one of the mysteries given in the book that will stir up your gray matter.

Learning is movement

Learning is a much more multifaceted process than we often assume. It doesn't just happen in the head. The whole organism takes part in it. Neurophysiologist and educator Karla Hannaford has devoted 20 years of her work to teaching. In her book "Movement - the path to knowledge" (Bewegung - das Tor zum Lernen), she discusses the system of mind and body and demonstrates how important movement plays in the learning process.

Without movement, learning turns out to be incomplete and ineffective. We acquire knowledge by interacting with the whole body with the environment, perceiving sensory stimuli with all five senses and the organ of balance. Our vestibular system makes sure that we do not fall when walking and orient ourselves in space. In addition, she is constantly involved in the receipt and processing of information, and all the movements that we consciously or unconsciously make while doing so have an impact on the learning process.

Movement is essential for optimal learning. The infant learns to coordinate his movements, mastering first crawling and then walking. At the same time, the central regions of the brain are constantly stimulated and developed. If they are not activated, brain development will be limited. We get to know the environment best using our entire body and all our senses. That is why children very often react to our words and stories with different movements. Movements are an integral part of the process of receiving and processing information..

In addition to movement, touch is also important. It has already been proven that if babies are deprived of bodily contact, their mental development slows down or stops altogether, they may even die. In later childhood, touch and body contact also play a very important role. Children get to know the world by feeling, sniffing and tasting it.

The process of teaching adults also becomes noticeably more effective if they take an active part in it and imitate the actions of a mentor. For the brain to process information, we must move. While reading, our eyes make continuous movements. While listening, we turn our head in the direction of the sound source. While writing, we make movements not only with our hands, but also with our head, especially if at the same time we are thinking hard about something. But if the body is constantly moving, perceiving information, then you can use various movements and gestures in order to extract it from memory.

Aids for people with different types of assimilation of information

Ability to learn from human visual type increases if he appropriately decorates his workplace, office or desk. It suffers from glare, glare on reflective surfaces, harsh color contrasts, and clutter. Make sure that calm, harmonious colors dominate your field of vision. Position your desk so that you have a view from the window. Mark important names and dates in your notes with small pictures or symbols. It is important for you that any information evokes a visual image.

Human of the auditory type easily pissed off with sounds he doesn't like. Loud music, traffic noise, conversations behind his back make him nervous, deprive him of concentration and spoil his mood. If you work indoors with other employees, you can use miniature headphones. They can be connected to the player and listen to Mozart, or simply used as earplugs. This will help you work more focused and efficiently. If you want to assimilate some material, read it aloud and record it on a voice recorder, and then play it back. Audiobooks seem to be specially invented for such people.

Communicative type cannot be alone. To understand something and check the correctness of his thoughts, he needs an interlocutor. He learns things and their relationships in dialogue. You seem to be specially made to work in a large room with other people. You love discussion and teamwork. This is quite in line with the dictates of today, since nowadays everyone welcomes teamwork.

Motor type man capable of much, but cannot be in a motionless state for a long time. Equip your workspace with a selection of seating furniture, from a swivel office chair to a large inflatable ball. It is also good to have a chair on which you can work on your knees on occasion. To understand and learn something, you must definitely try to do it yourself. You learn the information best through practical work. You only believe in what you can touch with your hands. For better memorization, it is better to accompany the information with appropriate movements, which it is desirable to repeat several times.

Fitness center for neurons

Concentration exercises should be challenging enough to keep you from getting bored and block out other thoughts.

1. Marching in place, raise your knees high, alternately touching the elbows of opposite bent arms. Movements should be done slowly and smoothly. This exercise activates the brain and stimulates its frontal lobes.
2. Stand up straight and bend your knees slightly. Tilt your head to the left and place your ear against your shoulder, and so tightly that you can hold a sheet of paper between them. Extend your right hand forward and describe with your finger the big eight lying on its side (infinity sign), carefully following the hand with your eyes. Then change position: tilt your head to the right and draw a figure eight with your left hand. Repeat 3-4 times in each direction. Exercise not only improves neck mobility, but also increases concentration.
3. Sit comfortably in a stable chair (a chair with casters will not work). Cross your outstretched legs and slowly tilt your torso forward. At the same time, the arms hang freely at the sides. Follow the bend with a slow exhalation. The depth of the slope should be such that it does not cause discomfort to you. While inhaling, return to the starting position. Change the position of your legs and repeat the exercise again. It relieves tension in the pelvic area, improves coordination and a sense of balance.
4. For this exercise you will need a large sheet of paper and two pencils. Take a pencil in each hand and, starting from the center of the sheet, begin to draw eights without lifting the pencil from the paper. First draw three eights with your right hand, then three with your left, and finally three eights with both hands at the same time. In this case, the gaze should be focused on the tip of one of the pencils. Now draw a figure eight with your left hand, but in the opposite direction, which is not the way you did it before. Repeat the same with your right hand in the opposite direction. Finally, draw eights in the opposite direction with both hands at the same time. Alternately changing the direction of movement of the pencil, repeat the exercise several times. It improves communication between the cerebral hemispheres.
5. Take a large piece of paper and a pencil in each hand. Start drawing mirror shapes with both hands. They should be simple at first (like squares and triangles). If you have difficulty, you can aloud tell yourself the direction of the pencil movement (up or down) while drawing to coordinate the actions of your hands. Now start drawing spirals and circles. When you feel a little confident, try writing your name with both hands at the same time: with your right hand as usual, and with your left hand as mirrored. This exercise improves hand-eye coordination.

Problem

One problem was very popular in America in the 1920s. She so conquered the minds that instead of greeting people often asked each other: "So how old is Anna?" The condition of the problem sounds like this.

Mary is 24 years old. She is now twice as old as Anna was when Mary was the same age as Anna is now. How old is Anna now?

Decided? Write your answers in the comments!