The New Brain

By Richard Restak

Presentation by Emily Warren & Holli Leug

Chapter 1- Brain Plasticity: Your Brain Changes Everyday

• Originally believed that the brain became fixed in its structure and function by adolescence.

• Thoughts, feelings, and actions determine the health of our brain.

• The brain can change in short intervals, even daily.

Chapter 1- Continued

• May not necessarily look different (as compared to an infants), but through skillful use of neuroimaging the changes can be seen. Leslie G. Ungerleider of the National Institute

of Health used images and sequences of finger movements over the course of a few weeks to show exactly what areas of the brain were controlling them, and over time the functional areas changed.

Chapter 2- Genius and Superior Performance: Are We All Capable?

• People with extraordinary ability use their brains differently than the rest of us. Chess experts use their frontal and parietal

cortices (long-term memory). Chess novices used their medial temporal lobes

(short-term memory).

• There are no special inherited qualities that distinguish people with special abilities.

Chapter 2- Continued

“For the superior performer the goal isn’t just repeating the same thing again and again but achieving higher levels of control over every aspect of their performance. That’s why they don’t find practice boring. Each practice session they are working on doing something better than they did last time.”

Chapter 2- Continued

• The 10-Year Rule “The highest levels of performance and

achievement appear to require at least around 10 years of intense prior preparation.”

• “Genius is about 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration.” - Thomas Edison

• General intelligence is linked to the amoung of grey matter in the brain.

Chapter 3- Attention Deficit: The Brain Syndrome of Our Era

• The technology around us can play a role in out brain plasticity (for better and worse).

• ADD and ADHD affect many adults, in addition to children. Attention Deficit Disorder Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Chapter 3- Continued

• ADD and ADHD have three main areas for diagnosis: Motor Control Impulsivity Difficulties in organization and focus

• Typically an inherited disorder, however, it is becoming more common to see “culturally” induced ADD and ADHD as a result of increasing demands on our attention and focus.

Chapter 3- Continued

• Society is forcing people to essentially become ADD/ADHD to survive and be successful.

• Largely influenced by technology. Example- The scrolling text on the bottom of

the screen during news broadcasts. Example- Smart phones and their multitasking

abilities.

Chapter 4- More Images: Is It Destabilizing Our Brains?

• Recent research has shown that there are harmful effects produced by images of horror and mayhem. Recent research shows that it can activate

sensitive areas of the brain that change their long-term responses.

These images essentially replay in the mind over and over.

Chapter 4- Continued

• All emotional responses and perceptions can be related to cortical and subcortical neurons. Important in mediating between violence and

aggression (personal space and territory)

• J.L. Downer Study Showed that deprivation of use of the amygdala

causes an individual to lose their ability to interpret and appropriately respond to potential threat.

• Immature brains cannot differentiate between real violence and images.

Chapter 5- The Happy Brain: The Joy and Music in You

• Humor exerts a positive effect on general functioning. Decreases stress Boosts immune defenses Relaxes muscle tension Decreases blood pressure Modulates pain

• Frontal lobe is responsible for processing laughter.

Chapter 5- Continued

• People with damage to their frontal lobe have difficulty laughing spontaneously, appreciating humor, and they tend to smile and laugh less.

• Brain modifications can sometimes take unusual directions or develop in unexpected ways. Non-musicians who were trained to notice subtle

pitch changes required only a small amount of training to respond in ways typically only seen in professional musicians.

Chapter 6- Modern Imaging Techniques: Windows on the Mind

• “In essence, a person can only lie when he knows the correct answer but chooses to pretend that he doesn’t.”

• “You have to know the truth in order to deceive.”

• Brain Fingerprinting Detects changes in the brains electrical activity,

which varies depends on if something is recognized.

Chapter 6- Continued

• Reading Minds Win or lose, the brain displays greatest activity in

the medial frontal cortex. Activity showed the greatest dips after loses. “Losses loom greater than gains.”

• Advances in neuroscience will allow us to clarify the role of emotions in some ethical and moral dilemmas.

Chapter 7- Cosmetic Psychopharmacology

• Became prominent in the 1990’s to treat depression. Prozac Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor’s (SSRI’s)

• “… the neuron associated with depression looks like a tree in winter: the dendrites (the receiving “antennae” of the neuron) are shortened and lacking branches.”

Chapter 7- Continued

• Antidepressants prevent stress-induced changes like: Hippocampal volume Brain metabolism Cell proliferation

• Other behavioral activities that can be treated: Shyness Social Phobia

Chapter 8- Healing the Diseased Brain: New Attempts at Brain Repair

• Neuroscientists once believed brain development ceased during young adulthood, but we now know the brain can rewire its circuitry at almost any age.

• Reconfiguring the brain- After a stroke the brain undergoes a complex

pattern of reorganization

Chapter 8- Continued

• Constraint Induced (CI) Movement Therapy Strong side (arm) is constrained so that only the

weak can be used Goal is to reorganize brain circuits to reinstate

the patient’s lost movements Treatment results in a reversal of a “learned

non-use”

• Finger/Toe Stimulation

Chapter 8- Continued

• Sensory Substitution Brain works on whatever information it has

available, i.e. deprived of sound, it will rely on sight and vice versa

Again, brain has to complete reorganization to accomplish this

Chapter 9- The New Brain

• Many new applications of neuroscience likely to occur in next decade

• Advances will be based on new developments in imaging- ways of looking at or measuring the brain CT Scans (Computed Tomography) PET Scans (Positron Emission Tomography) MEG (Magnetocephalogram) fMRI (functional MRI) MSI (Magnetic Source Imaging)

Chapter 9- Continued

• Mental operations in “real time”, i.e. measurement of what the brain processes during learning, language, emotional experiences, and thinking

• Predicting human behavior Genetics for specific cognitive abilities (intelligence,

attention, and memory)

• Brain changes over a lifetime No two brains are the same, not even twins Brain differs in same person during life’s

developmental stages (infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age)

Chapter 9- Continued

• Will functions by computers equal or beat the human brain capacity? Implantation technologies to enhance brain power A device already used to prevent epileptic seizures and

alleviate depression

• Neuroethics- the moral and ethical issues arising from new brain-related scientific findings

• TECHNOLOGICALLY we can do it, but ETHICALLY should we do it?

Relating it to Business

• So How Does This Relate? Our environment is essentially making us ADD

and increasing our ability to multitask. Leadership needs to take advantage of the

ability to focus on multiple projects at once.