sparkmygenius.com

Dr. Rohn Kessler

Parents are juggling so many things today that the metaphor of juggling can turn a bit negative. But juggling itself can be a cognitive powerhouse, especially for children. A cognitive powerhouse is an activity like learning to play a musical instrument, that, when practiced enthusiastically over a period of time, improves mental skills like attention, memory, information processing efficiency and spatial reasoning. This is important because in everyday life it can generalize to important skills like better goal setting, planning, map reading and reducing stress.

Learning to juggle is a cool, fun-filled activity for children and can be a terrific aerobic exercise for improving attention, endurance, balance, rhythm, eye-hand coordination and confidence.

Juggling is great for the brain. As little of 7 days of training leads to an increase in the density of the gray matter in the brain and boosts connections between different parts of the brain by tweaking the architecture of the brain’s white matter. The real significance of this finding is not only that juggling boosts brain connections but it suggests that learning a new skill is more important than exercising what you are already good at – the brain wants to be puzzled and learn something new.¹

Children as young as five or six can begin to juggle with scarves. School programs which incorporate juggling into the curriculum report improvements in focus, eye-hand coordination, fine motor skills, reading and behavior. ²

These schools also report that learning to juggle increases both motivation and self-discipline and reduces impulsivity. Juggling can level the playing field because some students who don’t excel or even like athletics can juggle very well.  Students who learn to juggle can also build communication and teamwork skills.

Some teachers even report that juggling helps students improve their ability to listen and follow directions. What parent wouldn’t like more of that at home!

Juggling is one of many creative, brain-enhancing activities encouraged and practiced at the Sparks of Genius Neuroeducation Center in Boca Raton, Florida. www.SparksofGenius.com

Children learn that physical fitness requires strength, speed, stamina, balance and flexibility. These five attributes can be taught with one ball. Whether juggling the 3-ball cascade, juggling 2, 3, and even 4 balls back and forth with another person, students learn that juggling optimizes their own brain by making dendrites bloom.”

My mentor, the noted pediatrician William Grant Crook, taught me how important it is that every child receives a daily dose of “psychological vitamins.” Learning to juggle can do just that for many special needs children, including those with ADHD, Asperger’s, learning disabilities, sensory processing disorders etc.

Groundbreaking research in neuroeducation connecting learning, arts and the brain confirms that when a student passionately engages in an art form for an extended period of time, attention, cognition and fluid intelligence increase. ³ Juggling could be the art form for your child.

When a child uses the Sparks of Genius Method™ and learns to juggle 3 or even 4 balls back and forth with me and then teaches this skill to a parent, it brings joy to my heart. True, most of today’s parents are juggling too many things. But how many parents are too busy to appreciate a Sparks of Genius moment like this with their child?

References

1. Learning to Juggle Grows Brain Networks for Good. New Scientist. Oct. 14, 2009

1. Delisio, E. (2002) Teachers Link Juggling to Improved Academic Skills. Education World.
2. Posner, M. and Patoine (2010). How Arts Training Improves Attention and Cognition. In “Emerging Ideas in Brain Science:” Cerebrum 2010. Dana Press.

Brains and Bodies work together!

By Amy Price PhD

Your brain care how your body lives. Maybe it is time to redecorate from the inside out!

New research on cognition that shows transfer of training and increase in quality of life  can be very successful when individual differences are professionally assessed and programs targeted to individuals.  This is why one size fits all ‘brain training’ shows limited success. The brain requires novelty and positively graded accomplishment to reach full potential. [1-4].  

Brain age related deficits are noticed primarily in the prefrontal and parietal cortical regions  which tend to shrink as individuals age with men exhibiting more extensive shrinkage than women [5]. These areas are crucial for planning and for connecting input from other brain areas. The areas of shrinkage initially demonstrate increased regional activation. This may be a time sensitive window where neuroplasticity growth factors can be leveraged to best advantage. Combining several strands of behavioral and neuro-imaging evidence, the argument can be made that functional plasticity has the capacity to alter the course of cognitive aging. Losses in regional brain integrity may drive functional reorganization through changes in processing strategies and domain specific cognitive training.

These same deficits can be present in brain injured persons but the route to successful training would take a different though just as effective path.

Factors such as cognitive training, regular exercise, nutrition enrichment and  positive relationships can increase Cortical thickness . These findings were first published on animal studies but are also noted in human studies [5-10].  A combination targeted personalized brain and physical training produces specific volume changes in white and grey matter [9]

Physical exercise boosts the brain’s rate of neurogenesis throughout life, while mental exercise increases the rate at which those new brain cells survive and make functional connections into existing neural networks.[7-10] Both physical exercise and the challenge from mental exercise increase the secretion of nerve growth factor, which helps neurons grow and stay healthy.[8-10] This makes sense if we think of how exercise helps to clean out the sludge and provide oxygen so the body can make more effective use of tissues needed for regeneration and repair.  In fact scientists are now finding compounds that can increase our stem cells within the body and even then are finding that targeted solutions are needed for optimum stem cell growth health and production [14]

Nyberg found that although older brains exhibit less plasticity than do young brains overall, the benefits of training—particularly domain-specific training—can be substantial and durable [13]. Studies are showing these gains to be of 5 years + More- over, the training benefits were found to be similar to the amount of decline anticipated over 7–14 years [3, 12, and 13].

References

1.            Posner, M., & Rothbart M. Educating the human brain. Washington, DC US: American Psychological Association.; 2007:189-208. doi:10.1037/11519-009

2.            Jaeggi SM, Buschkuehl M, Jonides J, Perrig WJ. Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2008;105(19):6829-33. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18443283

3.            Willis SL, Tennstedt SL, Marsiske M, et al. Long-term effects of cognitive training on everyday functional outcomes in older adults. JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association. 2006;296(23):2805-14. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17179457

4.            Gordon E, Arns M, Paul RH. Research Report THE INTEGRATE MODEL OF EMOTION, THINKING AND SELF REGULATION: AN APPLICATION TO THE “PARADOX OF AGING”. Thinking. 2008;7(3):367-404.

5.         Greenwood PM. Functional plasticity in cognitive aging: review and hypothesis. Neuropsychology. 2007;21(6):657-73. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17983277

6.            Joseph J, Cole G, Head E, Ingram D. Mark P. Mattson, Sic L. Chan and Wenzhen Duan. Physiological Reviews. 2009:637-672.

7.            Kramer AF, Bherer L, Colcombe SJ, Dong W, Greenough WT. Environmental influences on cognitive and brain plasticity during aging. The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences. 2004;59(9):M940-57.: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15472160.

8.            Kramer, AF; Erickson KI, Colcombe SJ (2006). “Exercise, cognition, and the aging brain”. J Appl Physiol 101 (4): 1237–42. doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00500.2006.

9.             Valenzuela MJ, Sachdev P, Wen W, Chen X, Brodaty H. Lifespan mental activity predicts diminished rate of hippocampal atrophy. PloS one. 2008;3(7):e2598. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18612379.

10.          Ernst C, Olson AK, Pinel JP, Lam RW, Christie BR. Antidepressant effects of exercise: evidence for an adult-neurogenesis hypothesis? Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN. 2006;31(2):84-92. Available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16575423

11.          Ball K, Edwards JD, Ross La. The impact of speed of processing training on cognitive and everyday functions. The journals of gerontology. Series B, Psychological sciences and social sciences. 2007;62 Spec No(I):19-31.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17565162.

12.          Willis, SL; SL Tennstedt, M Marsiske, et al. (2006). “Long-term effects of cognitive training on everyday functional outcomes in older adults”. JAMA 296: 2805–14. doi:10.1001/jama.296.23.2805.

13.          Nyberg, L. (2005). Cognitive training in healthy aging: A cognitive neuroscience perspective. In R. Cabeza, L. Nyberg, & D. Park (Eds.), Cognitive neuroscience of aging: Linking cognitive and cerebral aging. New York: Oxford University Press.

 14.         New Scientist http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn16383-drugs-unlock-the-bodys-own-stem-cell-cabinet.html}

Dr. Rohn Kessler

Children's Art and the Brain

In 2009, the psychologist Mike Posner wrote:

“If there were a surefire way to improve your brain, would you try it? Judging by the abundance of products, programs and pills that claim to offer “cognitive enhancement,” many people are lining up for just such quick brain fixes. Recent research offers a possibility with much better, science-based support: that focused training in any of the arts—such as music, dance or theater—strengthens the brain’s attention system, which in turn can improve cognition more generally.” http://dana.org/news/cerebrum/detail.aspx?id=23206

In 1971 the psychologist Abraham Maslow wrote: “Another conclusion I seem to be impelled toward, even though I am not sure of my facts, is that creative art education, or better said, Education–Through-Art, may be especially important not so much for turning out art or art products, as for turning out better people.”

In 38 years we have moved from intuitive speculation to a science-based vision for customizing and optimizing learning environments for children. What fascinates me is that Posner (neuroeducation) Maslow (humanistic) come from such different directions and perspectives but share a similar conclusion: exposure to an art form that fully engages a child’s attention can be highly rewarding.

Maslow believed in a new kind of education that would encourage a new kind of human being — “the process person, the creative person, the improvising person, the self-trusting, creative person, the autonomous person.” Posner’s research is showing that when we encourage young students to find an art form they love, that if they to pursue it with passion and focused attention, that “training in the arts likely yields cognitive benefits that go beyond “art for art’s sake.”

With parents and teachers complaining about the avalanche of ADHD children, the discovery of ways to train attention and strengthen attention networks is, I believe, of profound importance.

Specifically, Dr. Mike Posner has shown that repeated activation of the brain’s attention networks increases their efficiency. His focus is on the “executive attention network” which helps students control their emotions and choose among conflicting thoughts in order to focus on long-term goals. These executive attention skills are essential for social and academic success throughout childhood. Furthermore, empathy toward others, impulse control and the tendency not to cheat or lie are scientifically linked to aspects of executive attention.

Recall that Maslow, whose focus was on the creative process, believed that Education–Through-Art was important not for turning out art but for turning out what he called “better people.” Posner’s work shows that intensive training in music, art, dance and theatre not only improves the efficiency of the executive attention network and general cognition as measured by IQ but can also improve a child’s ability to empathize, control impulses and resist the temptation to lie or cheat — in other words, to become a better person.

Posner in 2009 sounds like Maslow when he writes:

“…exposure to the “right” art form can fully engage children’s attention and can be highly rewarding for them. They may get so involved in learning the art that they lose track of time or even “lose themselves” while practicing it. I believe that few other school subjects can produce such strong and sustained attention that is at once rewarding and motivating. That is why arts training is particularly appealing as a potential means for improving cognition. Other engaging subjects might be useful as well, but the arts may be unique in that so many children have a strong interest in them.”

These findings give parents and educators one more reason to encourage young children to find an art form they love and to pursue it with passion. Training in the arts yields cognitive benefits that go beyond “art for art’s sake.” The art form that children love and pursue with enthusiasm can lead to improvements in many brain functions and make them grow up to be “better people.”  I’ll be writing more about this in future blogs.

Of course, the challenge is the same today as it was in 1970s, 1950s and in decades and eras past: convincing policy makers, education wonks, politicians and parents about the huge potential value of arts education.

The good news is that some individuals, including brain scientists, are proactively engaged and not waiting and hoping for this to happen. For example, Dr. Evian Gordon has set up the Brain Revolution Project and advocates for BrainArt as one example of how “… to empower children around the world with insight into how their brain works and the means to train their brains with fun and creative games and activities.” http://brainrevolution.org/.

Dr. Rohn Kessler