* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
Download How your Brain Works - Muncy School District
Development of the nervous system wikipedia , lookup
Neuroinformatics wikipedia , lookup
Human brain wikipedia , lookup
Neuroesthetics wikipedia , lookup
Neurophilosophy wikipedia , lookup
Environmental enrichment wikipedia , lookup
Neuroscience and intelligence wikipedia , lookup
Donald O. Hebb wikipedia , lookup
Clinical neurochemistry wikipedia , lookup
Neurolinguistics wikipedia , lookup
Neuroeconomics wikipedia , lookup
Haemodynamic response wikipedia , lookup
Synaptic gating wikipedia , lookup
Selfish brain theory wikipedia , lookup
Aging brain wikipedia , lookup
Brain morphometry wikipedia , lookup
Cognitive neuroscience wikipedia , lookup
Mind uploading wikipedia , lookup
Apical dendrite wikipedia , lookup
Limbic system wikipedia , lookup
History of neuroimaging wikipedia , lookup
Neuroplasticity wikipedia , lookup
Activity-dependent plasticity wikipedia , lookup
Artificial general intelligence wikipedia , lookup
Neuropsychology wikipedia , lookup
Neuropsychopharmacology wikipedia , lookup
Chemical synapse wikipedia , lookup
Metastability in the brain wikipedia , lookup
Nervous system network models wikipedia , lookup
Neuroanatomy wikipedia , lookup
Brain Anatomy and Learning Physiology 100 Billion Neurons You are born with at least 100 billion brain cells, called neurons. As you listen to, talk about, or practice something, fibers called dendrites grow out of your neurons. Learning is built, as your network of dendrites grows higher and higher, with new dendrites sprouting from existing dendrites. In other words, you’re building new knowledge upon the things you already know (like a tree sprouting twigs from existing branches). Growing Strong Dendrites – And Synapses Growing your dendrites takes time and practice. When two dendrites grow close together, chemical or electrical messages can be sent from one neuron to another, through the contact point between the dendrites, called the synapse. Learning a subject or skill involves growing topic-specific dendrites to connect specific neurons at specific synapses. Your neurological network grows more and more massive with each new piece of information learned. You can grow as many as 10,000 connections (synapses) for each of the 100 billion neurons you have! Do the math… it’s “mind-boggling” (if you pardon the expression). Practice Makes Perfect As you practice something, your related dendrites develop a thick fatty coating. Thicker dendrites pass signals over the synapses more quickly. The coating also reduces interference, enabling you to come up with answers more quickly. Your volume of synapses is constantly changing, too, and some are stronger than others. Weak synapses become stronger through practice and learning. No matter how many synapses a neuron has, it still has the potential to grow more. Scientific proof that “practice makes perfect”! The brain is constantly changing and reorganizing itself by forming new neural connections. That’s called brain – or neuro – plasticity. This process takes place throughout our lives, as we learn from and react to sensory inputs of all kinds. This is an extremely important point to understand! Your intelligence level is not fixed; it can grow and change. Your Brain on Stress Neurons adjust their activities in response to new situations and changes in your environment. Scans of people’s brains in times of stress shows that the increased stress (or metabolic state) blocks processing in the brain’s prefrontal cortex (PFC). New learning can only get incorporated into long-term, conceptual memory when the information is processed in the PFC. When stress blocks the PFC, the lower brain’s reactive behaviors take over. The limbic system, located in the lower part of the brain, controls emotions. Depending on the limbic system’s interpretation of the stimuli, it either opens or closes access to the cortical function in the higher parts of the brain. The limbic system operates in “fight or flight” mode. If it senses “danger” certain chemicals flow into the synapses to shut down access to other brain functions. “Danger” means flight: there’s no time to think. You might mistakenly think you have a poor memory, but in reality, your emotions may have sabotaged your memory. Conversely, if the limbic system says, “safe” or “happy,” the brain opens up to knowledge, imagination and creativity. When you feel confident, a different set of chemicals flow into the synapses, enabling them to work quickly and well. This is the “fight” reaction: the belief that “I can handle this.” What Can You Do to Grow Your Brain? Stay positive and optimistic! Remember! Your brain can grow! If something seems hard, you just need to try again! You can get it! You don’t need to be better than anyone else! You just need to be better than you were yesterday! Effort is worth more than intelligence! Remember! Your intelligence can increase!! “I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” – Michael Jordan “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.” - Samuel Beckett “You only fail when you stop trying.” – Unknown “Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” – Unknown