Transcript Secrets of the Teenage Brain

Learning About Learning – Metacognition!
Frank Allan
How do you learn best? What type of
lessons do you enjoy the most? What
activities characterize your age group?
1. How is brain research
carried out?
fMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) measures
oxygen levels in the brain. Area of greater activity usually
require more oxygen, an essential fuel for neurons. A computer
generated image usually shows oxygen use as red, orange and
white. Areas of least oxygen use are typically blue or green.
What are the most important things to
understand about your brain and how it
functions with respect to your learning?
2. The Brain’s Structure
Yellow – motor
cortex needed for
movement.
Red-sensory
cortex monitors
skin receptors.
The “wrinkles” of the cerebral cortex if laid out, would be about the
size of an unfolded newspaper.
Corpus Callosum –bundle of nerve tissue
connecting left and right hemispheres
Basil Ganglia
a
-motor
functions
Thalamus –sorts sensory data
Hypothalamus
-controls primitive
emotions, regulates
body functions.
Amygdala –responsible for our more
sophisticated emotions
The brain weighs about 1.4 kg.
78% water, 10% fat, 8% protein.
Hippocampus - creates new long term memories
Cerebellum
-linked to movement but
contains over 50% of all
Hind Brain
-functions basic to the brain’s neurons.
survival.
Brain Stem (RAS) –sorts
important from
unimportant.
Spinal Cord
Amygdala vs. Frontal
Lobe
• The amygdala is
responsible for
pleasure, anger, fear
• Teenagers rely more on
their amygdala than
adults, who rely more on
their frontal lobes
• The amygdala triggers
anger,
misunderstanding,
sexual interest,
aggression,
disorganization,
emotional language
Emotions, the Amygdala and
the Teenage Brain
• Any information received by the brain
travels first to the amygdala
• The amygdala holds emotional memory - it
tells you how you feel about things
• In the teenage brain, the amygdala is
developing faster than the frontal lobes
• So teenagers tend to be reactive not
reflective
3. Maintaining a Healthy
Brain
•
•
•
•
•
Feed it
Water it
Oxygenate it
Challenge it
If food, oxygen or knowledge is cut
off it dies. The brain is designed to
process knowledge and information
just as the digestive system is
designed to process food.
• The brain uses about 20% of the
body’s energy.
• The energy is transferred to the brain
by blood which arrives at the brain at
the rate of 24 litres each hour.
• Water provides the electrolytic
balance and the brain requires 812 glasses of water a day for
optimal functioning.
• Dehydration, a common problem that
is linked to poor learning.,
• The brain uses about 20% of the
bodies oxygen.
• Higher levels of attention, mental
functioning, and healing are linked to
better quality air.
• Many of the “smart drugs” that boost
alertness, cognitive functioning, and
memory enhance oxygen flow to the
brain.
• Brain food - leafy green vegetables,
salmon, nuts, lean meats, and fresh
fruits.
• Vitamin and mineral supplements
can boost learning, memory and
intelligence.
• Calpain has been found to act as a
“cleaner” for synapses, dissolving
protein buildup. The source of
calpain is dairy products (yogurt and
milk) and leafy green vegetables
(spinach and kale are excellent).
4. Where Learning Begins –
connecting brain cells!
• There are two main kind of brain cells
neurons (means “nerve cell”) and glia
(means “glue”). 90% are glia but the
neurons are much better understood.
Adults have about 100 billions neurons.
Brain cells are lost every day through
decay and disuse but even if you lost .5
million neurons per day it would take
centuries to lose your mind. However we
do make some new ones every day too!
• You have about 1000 billion glial cells.
They have no cell body.
• The role of the glial cells may include
formation of the blood brain barrier,
transportation of nutrients, regulation of
the immune system and play a role in
cognition.
• Glial cells are nurturing cells for the
neurons. They feed and do the
housekeeping for the neurons, almost
attaching themselves to the neurons to
keep them nourished.
Neurons constantly
chatter in the brain,
almost like an engine
idling. By themselves
they are not very smart
but when connected
miracles happen.
Axon
Soma – cell body
Dendrites
Glial cells (interneurons) were only thought to serve as support to
neurons, providing food, myelin, and “trash pickup” services
Now we know they can act very much like neurons, getting
involved in the actual signaling process.
Brain Cells and Connections
• The human brain has more than
one billion neurons.
• These cells are capable of
forming more than one trillion
connections.
• These networks of connections
are created and maintained by
learning.
Neurons that fire together,
wire together
• Learning is a matter of making
connections
How Neurons Make Connections
How Learning Takes Place
5. Neurotransmitters
• They either speed up or slow
down the speed in which one
neuron communicates with
another.
• If it speeds up communication it
is in the group called agonists
• If it slows down communication
it is in the group called
antagonists
• An antagonist prevents the firing of
another neuron. It generally does this by
blocking receptor sites. Receptor sites are
the places on a nerve cell where the
neurotransmitters can attach. If you are
having a good day you probably have
surplus of one of the agonists. If you are
feeling down you probably have too many
antagonists. To be emotionally stable you
want to have a reasonable balance
between these two.
• If you are not happy with your
neurotransmitter levels you may use
chemical mimics to make adjustments.
• One of the most common of these
mimics is caffeine – acts like a
agonist.
• However, here is the problem –
homeostasis (sameness) results in
our body to stop making the
neurotransmitter that caffeine
mimics. “Why should we bother
making this stuff since in a few
minutes we will get some coffee in
here and we will be off and running!”
We now have a physical addiction.
• If you go “cold turkey” you should be
ok in a couple of weeks.
• We also have mimics that slow
down communication. One of
these antagonists is alcohol.
Alcohol goes into the space
between the neurons and slows
down the transmission of
information. In fact if you drink
enough alcohol you can drop a
hammer on your toe all day and
you probably won’t care.
• This is an example of a Nerveblocker eg. Morphine,
novocaine, aspirin ….
6. Substance Use and
Abuse in the Lower Brain
• If you take the neurotransmitter
dopamine and inject it into your
amygdala you will feel really good. –
go ahead do it – go to your favourite
place. Amazingly you can change
the neurochemistry in your brain by
a simple cognitive exercise. There
are artificial stimulants that can do
this too. The two biggest ones that
work this way are alcohol and crack
cocaine.
• Alcohol has many effects on the
body but the action that is
associated with the pleasure
experience of that drug is that it
secretes large amounts of dopamine
into the amygdala. Homeostasis
then kicks in. The brain starts
reducing its own dopamine
production. This is stage one of
addiction. In stage two the brain
reduces and removes dopamine
receptor sites. If there are no
receptor sites the dopamine cannot
attach and cannot trigger a response
from the amygdala.
• This process will continue until all,
or nearly all of the receptor sites are
removed or shut down. You now
have a crippled brain. How can
people quit alcohol and cocaine use
when this has happened? They can
only come close to feeling normal
through huge amounts of drugs. The
speed at which the brain adjusts
tends to be the part of addiction that
is genetic.
• Adolescent brains, in general do not
tolerate alcohol use. Because one of
the key areas that alcohol affects is
the pre-frontal cortex, adolescents
are advised to refrain from its use
until the age of 21 or 22.
• Alcohol is very damaging to the prefrontal cortex. The adult brain tends
to be able to tolerate moderate
amounts. The adolescent brain
cannot.
• Ecstasy affects not only dopamine
levels but serotonin levels as well.
• If you have low levels of serotonin in
certain parts of your brain, then you
have depression. Women tend to
have lower amounts than men.
• When depression is treated by
serotonin it works for a while and
then the brain cuts back on its own
production.
• A re-uptake mechanism was found
that shuts down the vacuum cleaner
like operation at the synapse. This is
called a serotonin re-uptake
inhibitor.
• This allows the person’s body to
make its own natural amount of
serotonin but shuts off the re-uptake
so it stays out in the synapse for a
longer period of time and gives the
impression of additional serotonin
levels. - Prozac, Paxil, and Zoloft
work in this way.
• Ritalin is a dopamine re-uptake
inhibitor used to treat ADD. It works
by slowing down the re-uptake
mechanisms for dopamine.
7. Myelination
• Myelin is a fatty substance that
coats the axons of neurons. The
coating acts like insulation and
allows messages to travel
quickly without any loss of
transmission.
• The frontal lobes are the last to
be myelinated.
Myelination Stages
• Development Stages
• Myelin Release
• Birth to 2 years
•
Motor control area,
visual processing area
and primary sensory
area
•
Speaking and language
comprehension
•
Memory, integrating
sensory data and
movement
•
Frontal Lobe - decision
making, goal setting,
reasoning.
•
2 to 7
•
7 to 12
•
Adolescence
8. Sleep
• Adolescents
require more sleep
than children or
adults but often are
getting less sleep.
• Sleep is crucial for
physical health repair and healing,
growth
• Sleep is highly
associated with
mental health and
with learning and
memory
consolidation.
Problems of sleep
deprivation
• Miss out on REM sleep, crucial
for learning and memory
• Increased anxiety, depression,
poor judgment.
• Slow reaction time, decreased
immunity and increased
accidents.
The emotional systems of the teenage brain
are much more developed than the logical
systems. However, as teenagers you can still
choose whether your emotions control you
or you control your emotions.
The brain
experiences a
massive
growth spurt
right as you
enter high
school. Talk
about perfect
timing!!!
You become good at what
you do, and you suck at
what you don’t. Think
about what you want to
be good at as an adult,
and make sure you
practice the skills
required now.
Imagine walking across a field once.
Return in an hour, a week, a year.
Will you see a path? Now imagine
walking across a field ten times every
day for a year. Will you now see your
path? Practice does the same thing in
your brain by creating pathways that
are easy to find and follow.
Once you complete a new learning experience, it is
important to let what you’ve learned settle. Take some time
to sit quietly, or to go for a walk. This is how you save your
new file.
Then review what you’ve learned later that night. This tells
your brain that what you’ve learned is important and should
be stored carefully in an easy to access folder.
Now, sleep on what you’ve learned. Your brain will
reinforce and connect what you’ve learned if you enter your
deep sleep cycles. Try to get at least eight hours a night.
This creates the desktop shortcut to what you’ve learned.
Subtle differences in facial expressions are more
easily misinterpreted by a teenager than by an
adult. Reading people’s faces is a skill that
improves with age.
Temperature affects
your ability to
concentrate. Cool
temperatures are best for
learning, particularly
from text. Put on a
sweater, turn the
thermostat down a notch,
and you’ll remember
more of what you read.
The human brain …
… tricks us whenever it can!
The phenomenal power of the human mind
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was
rdanieg
The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid! Aoccdrnig to a
rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer inwaht
oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht
the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a
taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is
bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef,
but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh? Yaeh, and I awlyas
thought slpeling was ipmorantt.
NOTE: I read this somewhere and I just had to pass it around. I
do not know the origins of the text
If something‘s rotating – go home, you need a
break! *g*
Optical Illusions and Visual Phenomena
Want to confuse your eyes and brain a bit?
Yes? Then you might want to have a look at the following
pics ..
It ...
… doesn‘t move!
... parallel or not?
Coil or circle?
Concentrate on the cross in the middle, after a while you
will notice that this moving purple dot will turn green!
Look at the cross a bit
longer and you‘ll notice that
all dots except the green
one will disappear.
*
Follow the instruction below.
*
1) Stare at the 4 little dots on the middle of the picture for 30 seconds
*
*
*
*
2)
3)
4)
5)
then look at a wall near you
a bright spot will appear
twinkle a few times and you‘ll see a figure
What do you see? Or even WHO do you see?
Best things last ...