Brain Rules

Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School was written by John Medina, a developmental molecular biologist and research consultant.^[1] Brain Rules consists of 12 chapters which try to demonstrate how our brains work.^[2] Each chapter demonstrates things scientists already know about the brain, and things we as people do that can affect how our brain will develop. In this book the reader will also discover amazing facts about the brain — such as the brain's need for physical activity for it to work at its maximum potential.

Chapter Summaries

Chapter 1 - Exercise

Survival of the fittest talks about evolution and how someone becomes fit. Our food supply and our inability to physically adapt to our surroundings has had an impact on how we lived and live today. Living from one area to the next labelled us wanderers. So our cognitive ability as a result is tied in with our physical fitness. Jim wasn’t active and his brain weathered away as Frank stayed sharp and healthy.

Leading onto how one factor can actually predict how well we age mentally or physically. If I tend to sit most of the time instead of keeping an active lifestyle I can expect to have potential risks such as heart attacks or strokes to increase dramatically. Leading to problems with my cognitive abilities in the future for example dementia. After living permanent for so long it may be impossible to switch back to a healthier lifestyle. Although in small segment exercise may help prevent this. Keep in mind that too much exercise can stress and hurt your brain.

According to research in question five of six in chapter one Brain Rules outdoor activity decreases your chance to catch illnesses. Twenty minutes would be life changing as long as you participated twice a week. Dr. Steven Blaire wrote a research paper on fitness and morality, which created a line of research about exercises and released three neurotransmitters to maintain mental health (pg.17). Leading to how physical exercise leads to cognitive activity. If you exercise your body you also exercise your mind and keep it healthy. This works for any persons of all ages. It will help the mind concentrate better and train your brain to use mental resources better. Allowing someone to think for longer periods of time.

Pages nineteen through twenty-one state that sugar is your body’s worse enemy. Allowing your body to actually rip itself apart trying combat the negative reactions as a reaction to the intake of glucose. As when exercise gives your body more access to oxygen leading to a healthier state of physical and cognitive means.

Chapter 2 - Survival

John B Medina is a developmental molecular biologist and is the director of the brain center of applied research at Seattle Pacific University.^[3] The brain is designed to 1). Solve problems 2). Related to surviving 3). In an unstable environment 4) And to do so in a nearly constant motion. These adaptations helped us live long enough to procreate.^[4] Richard Potts says that human brain gave up on stability and adapted to variation itself.^[5] In this way our brains can adapt to changing conditions in our environment. The human brain evolved into 3 basic parts, 1) The lizard brain regulates autonomous functions that supply basic needs 2) The cat brain that supplies basic human needs 3) The cortex is the human part of the brain that provides complex human reasoning skills that humans possess. One of the unique human talents is symbolic reasoning. Allows us to coordinate with in a social group, this allows us to work as teams which make us much more powerful than separate individuals

In the second chapter of the book, Brain Rules, John Medina talks about how our brains have changed over thousands of years, based on survival. The brain was forced to adapt from very early years until now, because of the significant changes in our environment. Medina elaborates on the idea that along with the ever changing environment also came the ever increasing development of the brain. With the body making changes to adapt a new way of movement called bipedalism, our brains also adapted to our circumstances, based on the need to survive. Medina talks about the Variability Selection Theory, which predicts there will be interactions between two powerful features of the brain: a database in which to store a fund of knowledge, and the ability to improvise off that database. “One allows us to know when we’ve made mistakes. The other allows us to learn from them.” This is perhaps the most intriguing part about the human brain, because it is what distinguishes the human brain from any other living thing.

Medina also says that it is these features of the human brain that is the reason the human species has been able to survive for so long through unpredictable and harsh conditions. He even says that it was these unpredictable conditions that actually forced the human brain to become what it is today. Unlike any other species, the “top dog” is not necessarily the one that is stronger physically, but, in fact, is the one who is smarter. Walking on two legs provided a huge shift in the distribution of energy throughout our bodies. Not having to release so much energy to our muscles, the energy surplus became focused on our brains. Our modern-day brains now use twenty percent of the energy we consume.

Our brains bear many similarities to those of other species. However, there is one section of the brain, the cortex, which sets the human brain apart from any other species. This part of our brain helped our ancestors to discover the importance of relationships. By simply working together, we could learn from each other and protect each other. Much of our lives today are based around our relationships with people. It is one of the driving forces in everything we do. Our ability to learn has deep roots in relationships. To learn effectively we must feel comfortable with the one who is teaching us. When we trust the teacher, we are more willing to receive the information and skills they are trying to pass down. To sum up this chapter in one sentence, “We became, we changed, and we’re still changing.” ^[6]

Chapter 3 - Wiring

With over seven billion categories of intelligence, according to neurosurgeons and seven to nine categories of intelligence, according to psychologists, what you learn throughout your life changes what your brain physically looks like. Every input such as an image, a sound, a smell or the feeling of a touch or any combination of those, wires up, or creates new connections between neurons creating memories. Everybody gets their brain wired differently even in the presence of the same event. Since infancy, our brains are wiring and rewiring our nervous system to create the quickest routes as we learn.

Each person’s brain develops at different pace and in different pattern, with no two people having the same brain roadmap. Students learn complex knowledge at different times and different depts. This supports explaining why smaller class sizes work better. Medina suggests customized instruction with the following guideline: Evaluate teachers for advanced Theory of Mind skills, using a test of empathy; Develop adaptive software for a variety of subjects and grade level and, test both ideas in various combinations and also find an optimal teacher-student ratio. The reason is that every student's brain as well as every employee's brain, customer's brain, etc. is wired differently. That's the Brain Rule.

Chapter 4 - Attention

This chapter was about attention, and spoke about how learning is connected to paying attention, in other words if you’re not really paying attention you won’t learn all the material.

The human brain has only one spotlight meaning it can only focus on one thing, so multitasking is a myth. Brains are not meant to multitask with more than one activity that requires attention (natural reflexes such as breathing and pumping blood don’t count). Multitasking requires our brains to switch attention from one item to the next, taking time between each switch, often leaving the person to “lose track” of their work as a side effect of trying to multitask. Trying to multitask takes a person up to 50% longer to complete a single task and can make up to 50% more mistakes. Those who appear to be good at multitasking simply have good memory to restart the tasks where they left off previously.

Our brains get very distracted by motion, which is why no one can do their homework while watching TV, one will keep looking up at the TV because the picture is moving.

Emotions get our attention. Researchers are still trying to figure out how emotions play into memory and attention but it is difficult because emotions can’t be quantified. If we give meaning to the details we can recall the facts better. This is because the brain remembers the emotional components of an experience before other (boring) parts of the experience.

Stressors or things that have a lot of emotion tied to them, one will learn them better because learning is connected with emotions. The brain has a ten-minute time out timer. After we have paid attention to one thing for that certain amount of time, one will space off. If teachers could connect the lesson to emotions they are more likely to keep the students attention for more than just ten minutes. This is where many “good” teachers make mistakes, because they don’t understand that the students’ need to understand the concept to understand and connect the ideas to it, but since many professors get tired and or bored of explaining the basic concepts, they only feed ideas and not how to connect the dots.

Chapter 5 - Short-term Memory

Containing many types of memory systems to encode, store, retrieve and forget our brain is gathering information by fragments. Retrieved at different points of the cortex for storage. For example the faster people talk the more we are able to remember at a time because it is received in chunks rather than one continuous memory. The more we encode a memory the stronger it is. Just like math you must practice something to remember it. Constantly putting the same situation into your brain helps to strengthen the memory.

Encoding test, can be made by answering different questions. One example that the author gave in the book was asking you to read the word football. After reading the word he then asked if that word fit the sentence; “I turned to fight____”? Obviously no it does not make sense to put football in the blank space. We as people are able to recognize that the word football does not make sense in that sentence, by using encoding.

Another example was the electrical slide. The example the author gave about how now she can recognize to move away from a dog who is wet because of her experience of getting soaking wet by a dog. After you have experienced something, and are put in that situation again, your brain remembers the outcome and knows how to handle it. After getting wet by the dog and having it be something that she doesn't want to happen again, her brain was able to let her know next time to move out of the way.

Encoding means to convert data into code, a code that involves translating information from one form into another. It is a manner in which we apprehend, pay attention, and ultimately organize information for storage purposes. The brain is capable of performing several types of encoding. One encoding is automatic and can be illustrated by talking about what you had for dinner. Information is remembered best when it is elaborate, meaningful, and contextual. The more a learner focuses on the meaning of the presented information the more elaborately the encoding is processed. When trying to learn information we need to make sure to understand exactly what the information is. Information is immediately split into fragments to different regions of the cortex for storage. To improve the chances of remembering we need to produce an environmental in we first put out our brain.

Chapter 6 - Long-term Memory

Although very few memories stay with a person throughout their whole life the ones that do stay get stronger every time you bring back the memory. Long-term memories are formed between the hippocampus and the cortex. The hippocampus breaks the connection and the cortex repairs each memory. This process is very lengthy, but is more stable when it comes to having to remember.

Most memories are stored together so having a memory from the past and one from a more recent moment could combine and impose as the same memory. It takes many years to solidify a memory into the brain. During the process of solidifying a memory repetition is key, because when an action is repeated the action is engraved into the brain for a short amount of time. The more times it is repeated the easier it will be to solidify the memory.

Another tool that can be used to help remember something is association, by associating an object or action with a memory that is already engraved into the mind it forms a link that can be used to remember the action or object that is being remembered.

The current model for memory retrieval in the brain is step 1, long term memories occur from the accumulation of synaptic changes in the cortex as a result of multiple reinstatements of the memory. Step 2, these reinstatements are directed by the hippocampus, perhaps for many years. Step 3, eventually the memory becomes independent of the medial temporal lobe, and this newer, more stable memory trace is permanently stored in the cortex. Step 4, retrieval mechanisms may reconstruct the original pattern of neurons initially recruited during the first moments of learning.

Chapter 7 - Sleep

While you sleep there are tensions between cells and chemicals trying to keep you awake. During the time a person is asleep they replay images they have seen or people they have caught glimpses of. Although some people may be able to function off less hours of sleep it is universal to crave an afternoon nap. However staying up longer is at what cost? Decreased logical reasoning, motor dexterity and your mood could be affected by a loss of a couple hours of sleep. Sleeping brains are like soldiers on a battlefield, locked in vicious biological combat. There are two armies in our brain, one army is composed of neurons, hormones, and various other chemicals to keep us awake. This army is called circadian arousal system (C). If this army would had its way, we would be awake all the time. The other army is composed by brain cells, hormones, and other chemicals, these combatants put us to sleep. They are termed the homeostatic sleep and never wake up. It's a strange paradoxical war. The more one army controls the battle, the more likely it is to lose. Each army becomes exhausted from having its way and eventually waves a temporary white flag.

Chapter 8 - Stress

Stressed brains don’t learn the same way. Under chronic stress the adrenaline released during your short-term responses scars a person’s blood vessels that could increase the chance of a heart attack or stroke. Among all types of stress the worst kind is feeling helpless. Stress emotional or physical have an impact on people’s day to day lifestyles. Affecting how they grow and their ability to learn new skills.

Medina talks about how all types of stress are not equal. He describes that some types of stress are actually useful because they boost learning. It’s hard to differentiate whether someone is experiencing stress by their physiological responses. When you are aroused the physiological state resembles both stress and pleasure. So, Jeansok Kim and David Diamond came up with a three part measurement and definition that helps identify if someone is stressed. There must be an aroused physiological response that others can recognize and measure. The second part is that the stressor must be seen as unpleasant. The third part is that the person must feel out of control, when it comes to the stressor. The types of stress that contain these components, are measurable in a lab setting are the type of stress Medina refers to.

Chapter 9 - Sensory Integration

Throughout someone's life, they are constantly learning while using their senses. An important factor in sensory integration is perception. There are three steps on how perception is created. First is sensation, when as individuals, we capture the energies from our environment and push them onto our orifices and rubbing against our skin, forming brain friendly electrical language.^[7] Second is routing, when the sensation is translated into head-speak and sent off to the appropriate regions of the brain for further processing.^[8] Third the perception formed, when the various senses merge and sent to the brain.^[9] However, no scientist is entirely sure how brain perception works. Although Medina did arrive to this conclusion: the sensory information absorbed in an event through our sense translates into electrical signals, dispersing in different parts of the brain, perceiving the event as a whole.^[10] This can be concluded with the majority of scientists. Furthermore, Medina states the brain relies on past experiences to decide how to combine these signals.^[11] Thus two people can perceive the same event in very different ways. Next, all the senses have evolved over time to work together. For example, an individual’s vision influences their hearing-which implies that learning is at its best when stimulated with several senses at once. In addition, Medina explains that the sense of smell has the gift of bringing back memories.^[12] He theorized that the sense of smell bypasses the thalamus and heads straight its destination, which includes the site of emotions known at the amygdala.^[13] Having this in mind, Medina's dream school setting would incorporate multiple senses in a school setting and the specific scents in a work/business setting, thus enhancing your level of learning.^[14]

Chapter 10 - Vision

Unlike smell vision is the most desired trait. Making up half of our brain’s resources although it may at times be inaccurate. If you have ever watched the show brain games they show you some of the ways to exploit your brain through vision. I’m not sure if people are able to learn better through their eyes rather than their other senses, but when it comes to myself I need a verbal teaching combined with example I can see to understand and remember. Most learn best through pictures rather than reading or being lectured.

This chapter is called vision; it is the 10th brain rule. In this chapter John Medina discusses human vision and how it outplays all the other senses. Vision is the most dominant of all the senses, yet it is not 100 percent accurate. Our view of the world is not what the brain tells us, rather it is an estimate. Using previous knowledge and the surrounding view, our brain fills in the gaps in our vision. These gaps or black holes are caused by “a region in the eye where retina neurons, carrying visual information, gather to begin their journey into deep brain tissue” (228). This place is called the optic disc and in this region there are no cells that can recognize sight, thus it is blind here. The brain is so powerful that it can fill in these gaps instantly. The brain has to work very hard in order for us to see, this causes it to use up a lot of its thinking resources. Vision is the most important tool for learning. Visual input of pictures is more likely to be remembered and recalled than visual input of texts; this notion is called the pictorial superiority effect, or PSE. Our early surroundings were of trees and saber-toothed tigers, the threat of danger and the survival of our lives. We had to identify food, shelter, and our predators. This is why our vision is the most important of our senses. It is more work for our brains to remember texts because the brain sees words as many tiny pictures. Texts are a lot like pictures and it takes our brains longer to make sense of them. Even when we read something, we try to visualize what we are reading. The visual and smell senses are battling it out to see which one will dominate, and so far the visual sense is winning. Many of our other senses have been harmed by our vision because what we see alters what is real.

^[15][16]

Chapter 11 - Gender

Throughout or society men and women have faced their own separate challenges for their representation, women having a tougher fight. For example blacks had the ability to vote before women! Now as time counts on, the roles of women and men are more intermixed in society than ever before. People have a different perspective and standards for men then they do towards a women. In this Chapter Medina shares a study how two groups rated two different bosses, one being male boss and the other female. The end results, the male and female were both competent, but the female was seen as less likable. While both sexes go through the same process of being created at birth we don't necessarily take the same DNA. Women are made up of 2 X chromosomes while men are made up of 1 X and 1 Y. Scientist know that X chromosomes carry brain function genes. This is why males are more likely to have down syndrome rather than a female because a female can simply ignore one of the X chromosomes. Women are genetically more complex having a chromosome of both mother and father while the male only has 1 X of 1,500 genes and 1 Y of 100 genes.

Chapter 12 - Exploration

In this chapter John Medina ^[17] explains how humans are born explorers. By using the 1977 work of Andrew Meltzoff,^[18] Medina demonstrates that babies as young as 42 minutes can learn and imitate facial expression of adults. This shows that the human brain is wired at birth to learn, and is not a blank slate. He goes on to describe how babies are the ultimate example of how to learn and discover. They use every sense from sight to taste and they are willing to push the limits to test their hypothesis. Medina then goes to write about how “mirror neurons” fire when a person sees an activity that they are familiar with. Humans are lifelong learners even though as we age we can loss up to 30,000 neurons a day. We can still create 100,000’s of new synaptic connection a day through learning and reinforcing learned knowledge.

Medina focuses on Andrew Metzoff's incredible discovery of babies being able to learn soon after birth. He tried this theory on his own son Noah, within 30 minutes after he was born, the baby was imitating Medina as he stuck his tongue out at him. Continuing to stick his tongue out at Noah for months to come, the seemingly uninformed baby was learning to predict when he would expect to see this. Every time they saw each other, Noah and his father greeted one another with a stuck out tongue. Noah had, when only minutes old, taught himself by observation how to control certain parts of his body to accomplish mirroring. This just re-infers that humans are born ready to learn, they are not a blank state until a certain age but are utilizing neurons from day one.

References

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5. Medina, John B. Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. Seattle: Pear Press, 2008. (pg. 37)
6. Medina, John B. Brain Rules: 12 Principles for Surviving and Thriving at Work, Home, and School. Seattle: Pear Press, 2008.(pg.47)
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11. Medina, John (2008). Brain Rules. Seattle, WA: Pear Press.
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13. Medina, John (2008). Brain Rules. Seattle, WA: Pear Press.
14. Medina, John (2008). Brain Rulesf. Seattle, WA: Pear Press. pp. 199–219.
15. Medina, John (2008). Brain Rules. Seattle, WA: Pear Press. pp. 223–240. ISBN 978-0-9797777-0-7.
16. Medina, John. "Vision". Brain Rules. Pear Press. Retrieved 16 August 2013.
17. Medina, John (2009). Brain rules : 12 principles for surviving and thriving at work, home, and school (1st Pear Press trade pbk. ed.). Seattle, Wash.: Pear Press. pp. 266–274. ISBN 9780979777745.
18. Meltzoff, A.N.; Moore, M.K (1977). "Imitation of Facial and Manual Gestures by Human Neonates". Science 198: 75–78. doi:10.1126/science.897687.