Christopher Pouncy's List: BRAIN DEVELOPMENT

• “The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”
• people find genuine satisfaction during a state of consciousness called Flow.
• During this “optimal experience” they feel “strong, alert, in effortless control, unselfconscious, and at the peak of their abilities.”
• Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi is one of the pioneers of the scientific study of happiness.
• like many of his contemporaries, he was touched by the Second World War in ways that deeply affected his life and later work.

  • I LIKEN THIS TO WHILE I WAS IN PRISON (THE WORLD WAR II COMPARISON) AN AWFUL TIME.
• The main thesis of Csikszentmihalyi’s most popular book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1990), is that happiness is not a fixed state but can be developed as we learn to achieve flow in our lives.
• “If you are pained by external things it is not they that disturb you, but your own judgment of them. And it is in your power to wipe out that power now.”

  • MARCUS AURELIUS
• Cziksentmihalyi defines flow as “a state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter;
• there are people who have developed their flow to such an extent that they are able to translate every potential threat into an enjoyable challenge, and thereby maintain an inner tranquility as a continuous state of mind. He calls such a person an “autotelic self,” someone who “is never bored, seldom anxious, involved with what goes on and in flow most of the time.”

  • autotelic self: loves what they do no matter what. FLOWS unconsciously.
• while in flow, nearly all of the brain’s available inputs are devoted to one activity
• the ultimate goal of Yoga is to achieve a state called moksha, a liberation from the self, described as combining three main qualities: sat-chit-ananda, or being, consciousness, and bliss. Using the flow model to describe spiritual practices such as yoga may help to explain why people who engage in such practices seem to be so happy and peaceful.

  • IT WON'T HURT TO GIVE IT A TRY SOMEDAY - yoga
• 1) the “Id” which represents instinctual drives or our “nature;”
• 2) the “Superego” which represents values or expectations imposed on us by society, our “nurture,”
• 3) the “Ego,” which is the part of consciousness we are aware of and which can take control over the other parts
• Entropy is the normal state of consciousness
• a distinction between pleasures and gratifications. While pleasures are states that have clear sensory and emotional components, gratifications are marked by energies that demand your strengths and allow you to lose self-consciousness.
• If flow and pleasure make up half of that 40%, we could conclude that flow accounts for 20% of our overall happiness.

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• The most efficient model for understanding the brain in terms of its evolutionary  history is the famous triune brain theory developed by Paul MacLean
• The neocortex first  assumed importance in primates and culminated in the human  brain with its two large cerebral hemispheres that play such  a dominant role. These hemispheres have been responsible for  the development of human language, abstract thought, imagination,  and consciousness. The neocortex is flexible and has almost  infinite learning  abilities. The neocortex is also what has enabled human cultures to  develop.
• The limbic brain  emerged in the first mammals. It can record memories of behaviours  that produced agreeable and disagreeable experiences, so it  is responsible for what are called emotions in human beings.  The main structures of the limbic brain are the hippocampus,  the amygdala, and the hypothalamus. The limbic brain is the  seat of the value judgments that we make, often unconsciously,  that exert such a strong influence on our behaviour.
• The reptilian brain,  the oldest of the three, controls the body's vital functions  such as heart rate, breathing, body temperature and balance.  Our reptilian brain includes the main structures found in a  reptile's brain: the brainstem and the cerebellum. The reptilian  brain is reliable but tends to be somewhat rigid and compulsive.
• These three parts of the brain do not operate independently of  one another. They have established numerous interconnections through  which they influence one another.

  • CAN'T OPERATE INDEPENDENTLY!!

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• anatomical

  change might be the

  ability of existing synapses (i.e
• However,

  we know that infants come into

  contact with faces as soon as they

  are born.
• neurochemical

  change might be reflected in the

  ability of an existing synapse to

  modify its activity by increasing

  synthesis and release of chemicals

  that transmit nerve impulses (i
• Neural plasticity can best be

  thought of as the subtle but orches-

  trated dance that occurs between

  the brain and the environment;

  specifically
• inally, an ex-

  ample of a

  metabolic

  change might

  be the fluctuations in metabolic ac-

  tivity

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• Play opportunities improve memory and stimulate the growth of the cerebral cortex
• brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)
• Kids pay more attention to academic tasks when they are given frequent, brief opportunities for free play

  • WOULD BE GREAT USED WHEN RAISING THE KIDS!
• Several experimental studies show that school kids pay more attention to academics after they’ve had recess

  • I'VE EXPERIMENT THIS ON MYSELF. WORKS!!!
• physical education classes don't deliver the same benefits as recess. Researchers suspect that's because PE classes are too structured and rely too much on adult-imposed rules. To reap all the benefits of play, a play break must be truly playful.

  • FREE TO DO WHATEVER AT RECESS INSTEAD OF ADULT-AID STRUCTURED PLAY.
• recesses are most effective when they last between 10 and 30 minutes.
• One small study of 4-5 year olds, researchers found that recesses of 10 or 20 minutes enhanced classroom attention.
• A convergent problem has a single correct solution or answer
• A divergent problem yields itself to multiple solutions.

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• “Authentic Happiness.”

  • MARTIN SELIGMAN'S BEST SELLING BOOK
• couples go on having children even though the data clearly showed that parents are less happy than childless couples
• “Well-being is a combination of feeling good as well as actually having meaning, good relationships and accomplishment.”

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