brain – Page 2

How to improve your memory

Draw it to remember it. Good trick to know.

Here’s the Memory Trick That Science Says Works — You draw it

Jeffrey Kluger | April 22, 2016

If the brain could brag that’s pretty much all it would do. It’s easily the most complicated organ in your body, and, more than that, the nimblest computer that has ever existed. But the brain has a bug and everyone knows is: memory. No matter how powerful its operating system becomes, its storage system stinks.

Even in childhood, when the brain is as clear and uncluttered as it will ever be, memory is still imperfect, given to random failures, depending on how rested we are, how attentive we’re being and a range of other things. Now, a new paper published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology suggests an unusual strategy for improving it: drawing.

As long ago as 1973, investigators were studying the memory-boosting advantage of so-called dual-coding—the way that a combination of both thinking about an object or activity and drawing a picture of it can make us remember it better. Research did show that the strategy worked, but the studies were both sparse and flawed, failing to account for the mere fact that it takes longer to draw a picture than, say, write a word, and whether writing the word in a more time-consuming way—using elaborate calligraphy, for example—would thus boost recall too.

In order to tease out those and other variables, a group led by psychologist Jeffrey D. Wammes recruited sample groups of students and ran seven different trials of essentially the same experiment on them. In all of the trials, the scientists started with a list of 80 simple words—all nouns and all easy to draw, such as balloon, fork, kite, pear, peanut and shoe. A random series of 30 of those words were flashed on a screen along with instructions either to draw the object or write down its name. After the 30 words, they would perform a filler task—listening to a series of tones and identifying whether each was low-, high-, or medium-pitched. That task had nothing to do with the study, except to get the subjects’ minds off of what they had just done, so that the memories could either consolidate or, just as often, vanish. Finally, they would write down a list of as many of the objects from the first test as they could.

In most of the trials, the subjects got 40 seconds to draw their picture, but in one they got just four seconds. In another variation, they would draw the object or write the word or, as a third option, list its descriptive characteristics. In another, the third option would be to visualize the object. In yet another, they would write the word as elaborately and decoratively as possible.

But no matter how many variations of the test the researchers ran, one result was consistent: Drawing the object beat every other option, every single time.

We observed a significant recall advantage for words that were drawn as compared to those that were written. Participants often recalled more than twice as many drawn words.

said Wammes in a prepared statement.

Just why this is so is not clear. One past theory had been that drawing requires what the researchers call a deeper LoP—or level of processing. But the trial in which the subjects were required to list the characteristics of an object went pretty deep too, and it didn’t make a difference. Another theory had been that drawing simply takes longer, but the four-second trial appeared to debunk that.

For now, Wammes and his group are speaking only generally, concluding that drawing encourages

a seamless integration of semantic, visual and motor aspects of a memory trace,

as they wrote in their paper. It will take more work to put flesh on those theoretical bones. For now, however, they only know that the technique works—providing a long-awaited software patch for the computer inside your head.

https://pragmasynesi.wordpress.com/2016/04/26/draw-it-to-remember-it/

Training the Brain’s Motivation Center

It will change your life! Read it carefully! Now you can achieve anything you want! Limitlessly! How? Just simply training regularly the brain centre responsible for motivation!

Work hard! Play hard! Dream even harder!!!!

Courtesy of https://rennickeassociates.wordpress.com/2016/04/25/training-the-brains-motivation-center/

ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)

Matthew A. Scult

Matthew Scult is a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. More about his research and writing can be found at http://www.matthewscult.com or follow him on Twitter @NeuroMatt1

My heart pounds as I sprint to the finish line. Thousands of spectators cheer as a sense of elation washes over me. I savor the feeling. But then, the image slowly fades away and my true surroundings come into focus. I am lying in a dark room with my head held firmly in place, inside an MRI scanner. While this might typically be unpleasant, I am a willing research study participant and am eagerly anticipating what comes next. I hold my breath as I stare at the bar on the computer screen representing my brain activity. Then the bar jumps. My fantasy of winning a race had caused the “motivation center” of my brain to surge with activity.

I am participating in a study about neurofeedback, a diverse and fascinating area of research that combines neuroscience and technology to monitor and modulate brain activity in real time. My colleagues, Katie Dickerson and Jeff MacInnes, in the Adcock Lab at Duke University, are studying whether people can train themselves to increase brain activity in a tiny region of the brain called the VTA. Notably, the VTA is thought to be involved in motivation—the desire to get something that you want. For example, if I told you that by buying a lottery ticket you would be guaranteed to win $1,000,000, you would probably be very motivated to buy the ticket and would have a spike in brain activity in this region of your brain. But while studies have shown that motivation for external rewards (like money) activate the VTA, until now, we didn’t know whether people could internally generate a motivational state that would activate this brain region.

(But we definitely will not hurt ourselves trying. I, for instance, always practice 5-10 min of watching (do not read as it is my main activity during a day and it is useful to switch for something else) visual stimuli related to my dream achievements every 2-4 hours while work. It always gives me energy to carry on. Always! It just works. End of story! That’s why I can easily work 12-15 hours a day being inspired and motivated – (OMP editor’s comment)

To see if people can self-activate the VTA, my colleagues are using neurofeedback, which falls under the broader umbrella of biofeedback. Biofeedback uses technology to give people information about the functioning of their bodies so that they can try to change their physiology. Studies on using the technique to control heart rate, breathing rate, muscle tension, and skin temperature have been around since the 1960s, and these types of biofeedback are often used to help people reduce anxiety, chronic pain, or psychological disorders, with varying degrees of efficacy.

The latest iteration of biofeedback is neurofeedback, which provides a person with information on their brain activity milliseconds to seconds after it happens. Neurofeedback can use either an EEG machine, which records the electrical activity of the brain and is very fast, but not very specific, or it can use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which records changes in blood flow in the brain and can better target specific brain regions, but is slower. The fMRI version of the technology has been around since as early as 1995 and its potential is slowly being realized. Studies on rtfMRI (the rt stands for “real-time”), have found that giving people feedback on their brain activity might be able to help them to control that activity. These studies both help us to better understand the functioning of the brain and can be used for clinical purposes. Perhaps the most common use to date has been for chronic pain, where people learn to decrease activation in regions of the brain that process pain perception. [For more information about neurofeedback see “How Real-Time Brain Scanning Could Alleviate Pain,” by Heather Chapin and Sean Mackey; Scientific American Mind, March 1, 2013.]

The study I’m participating in is about using the technology to better understand the functioning of the VTA and its relationship with internally generated motivation, with potential for clinical applications down the road. In animal models, artificially affecting functioning of the VTA can affect how much an animal eats or drinks, and can even affect its emotional responses. If people could learn to activate their VTAs deliberately, it could have important applications to anything from helping someone stick to a diet to helping with psychological disorders.

Back in the fMRI, I lie on the uncomfortable scanner bed, looking up at the giant machine that reminds me of something I might encounter on a spaceship. Katie Dickerson’s voice comes over the intercom and gives me suggestions of ways to try and activate my VTA. She says I could try to think of phrases, like “you can do it!” or “increase that signal!” and says that it might help to think of the task as a fun game. So I think “I can do this!” but to my dismay the bar remains pretty flat. I think about winning $1,000,000, but don’t get much of a jump for that either. Then I picture myself running with a cheering crowd and music playing, and the bar goes through the roof.

For the study, participants were placed in one of four groups. All four groups started out by getting in the scanner and trying to activate their brains using motivation strategies, but first without receiving any feedback. After doing this for several minutes, people in the first group (like me) would try again, but this time would see a thermometer on the computer screen in front of them. When activity in the VTA went up, the bar on the thermometer would rise. When activity in the VTA went down, the thermometer would drop. The other groups either got feedback from a different brain region, got fake feedback, or were shown a visual distraction. These groups were used as comparisons to ensure that it really was the signal from the VTA that was being registered in the neurofeedback group. Afterward, all four groups tried one more time without the feedback (real or fake). At the end of the study, all participants were debriefed about their group assignment and the purpose of the study.

The results were published recently in the journal Neuron. It turns out that the strategies people tried initially did not activate their VTAs very much—the same experience I had. In other words, what people thought of as motivating did not match up with activity in what we consider to be the “motivation center” of the brain. How could that be? One possible explanation is that it can be difficult to get a sense of just how motivated we are to do something. Consider times when you might have thought you were highly motivated (“I know I am going to stick to my diet/exercise regimen this year”), and didn’t follow through. Another interpretation is that while we might have some sense of how motivated we are in a given moment, our subjective perceptions might not translate to VTA activation. There might not even be a clear feeling associated with the activation at all, explains MacInnes. That’s where the feedback came in.

The study found that, like me, people were better able to activate their VTAs, on average, once they got neurofeedback compared to people who got false feedback or no feedback. And the learning stuck—once people knew the strategies that worked for them, they were effective even once the feedback was taken away. Overall, different strategies worked for different people and some people in the control groups were still able to activate their VTAs even without the neurofeedback. The take-home message is that there is still a lot to learn.

Perhaps the biggest unanswered question is what could result from an ability to better activate one’s VTA. One possibility is that internally generated VTA activation could allow people to have the extra oomph to better meet their goals. So maybe when I need to do errands, but am really not in the mood, I can think about winning a race and it will give me the drive to go to the grocery store. For others, enhanced VTA activation might be able to help with studying. After all, studies have found VTA activation associated with better memory performance. And given other studies showing VTA signaling being related to eating and mood, it’s possible that it could help people with eating disorders or depression. Time will tell whether this method will be useful clinically, but for now I can say for certain that it can be a lot of fun getting to know your brain—and for me at least, it seems that having fun is one of the keys to activating my VTA.

What is the connection between Music and the Brain?

Music is a powerful tool for the brain. Classical music has been studied for many years for its influence in the brain. Scientists have come to a conclusion that music is a valuable therapy for many diseases.

Norman Doidge has talked about Mozart music therapy in his book. He says it is a very useful therapy for Autism. Other studies have proven that music therapy is helpful in stress reduction and improvement of literacy skills in children.

Music has a harmony and frequency. These two attributes are important for the brain. The brain likes to hear certain frequencies at certain moments. When we are happy we can hear loud music and enjoy it. When we are angry we only accept to hear certain frequencies. Experiments show that in angry moments we like to hear classical music as it calms the brain down. It is very interesting to see the brain scans before and after listening to music, and the way they change. In a brain scan the red areas are the ones with a higher blood circulation, that show more stress. When a person listens to music these areas are reduced.

In his book Norman Doidge says that Mozart music can improve the symptoms of Autistic children. He mentions a physician who uses Mozart music as a therapy for healing Autistic children. He changes the frequency of the music a bit to make it more approachable to his goal. The therapy lasts and in certain days children listen to a certain frequency.

The frequency that the brain likes to hear the most is 90Hz to 110Hz. Norman Doidge thinks this therapy can be used for many brain illnesses as anxiety or depression.

The music therapy helps to make the myelin cover in n axon thicker, which helps to improve the firing of neurons faster, and releasing all toxins. After the therapy the scans of the brain showed that there was small amount of stress and anxiety and the person’s brain was healthier.

In conclusion music is a therapy for the brain. It helps the brain be more efficient. It helps the literacy and auditory skills in children if they are exposed to music in early years of their life.

https://myscience94.wordpress.com/2016/04/25/what-is-the-connection-between-music-and-the-brain/

How Neuroscientists Explain the Mind-Clearing Magic of Running

It is something of a cliché among runners, how the activity never fails to clear your head. Does some creative block have you feeling stuck? Go for a run. Are you deliberating between one of two potentially life-altering decisions? Go for a run. Are you feeling mildly mad, sad, or even just vaguely meh? Go for a run, go for a run, go for a run.

The author Joyce Carol Oates once wrote in a column for the New York Times that

in running the mind flees with the body … in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms.

Filmmaker Casey Neistat told Runner’s World last fall that running is sometimes the only thing that gives him clarity of mind.

“Every major decision I’ve made in the last eight years has been prefaced by a run,”

he told the magazine. But I maybe like the way a runner named Monte Davis phrased it best, as quoted in the 1976 book The Joy of Running:

“It’s hard to run and feel sorry for yourself at the same time. Also, there are those hours of clear-headedness that follow a long run.”

A good run can sometimes make you feel like a brand-new person. And, in a way, that feeling may be literally true. About three decades of research in neuroscience have identified a robust link between aerobic exercise and subsequent cognitive clarity, and to many in this field the most exciting recent finding in this area is that of neurogenesis. Not so many years ago, the brightest minds in neuroscience thought that our brains got a set amount of neurons, and that by adulthood, no new neurons would be birthed. But this turned out not to be true. Studies in animal models have shown that new neurons are produced in the brain throughout the lifespan, and, so far, only one activity is known to trigger the birth of those new neurons: vigorous aerobic exercise, said Karen Postal, president of the American Academy of Clinical Neuropsychology. “That’s it,” she said. “That’s the only trigger that we know about.”

The other fascinating thing here is where these new cells pop up: in the hippocampus, a region of the brain associated with learning and memory. So this could help explain, at least partially, why so many studies have identified a link between aerobic exercise and improvement in memory.

If you are exercising so that you sweat — about 30 to 40 minutes — new brain cells are being born,

added Postal, who herself is a runner. “And it just happens to be in that memory area.”
Other post-run changes have been recorded in the brain’s frontal lobe, with increased activity seen in this region after people adopt a long-term habit of physical activity. This area of the brain — sometimes called the frontal executive network system — is located, obviously enough, at the very front: It’s right behind your forehead. After about 30 to 40 minutes of a vigorous aerobic workout – enough to make you sweat – studies have recorded increased blood flow to this region, which, incidentally, is associated with many of the attributes we associate with “clear thinking”: planning ahead, focus and concentration, goal-setting, time management.

But it’s this area that’s also been linked to emotion regulation, which may help explain the results of one recent study conducted by Harvard psychology professor Emily E. Bernstein. Like Postal, Bernstein is also a runner, and was curious about a pattern she saw in her own mind after a run.

I notice in myself that I just feel better when I’m active.

She started to become really interested in the intervention studies that have popped up in recent years that suggest if you can get people who are having trouble with mood or anxiety to exercise, it helps. “But why?” she wanted to know. “What is exercise actually doing?”

To find out, she did a version of a classic experiment among researchers who study emotion: She and her colleague — Richard J. McNally, also of Harvard — played a reliable tearjerker of a clip: the final scene of the 1979 film The Champ.

Before watching the film clip, some of the 80 participants were made to jog for 30 minutes; others just stretched for the same amount of time. Afterward, all of them filled out surveys to indicate how bummed out the film had made them. Bernstein kept them busy for about 15 minutes after that, and surveyed them again about how they were feeling. Those who’d done the 30-minute run were more likely to have recovered from the emotional gut-punch than those who’d just stretched — and, her results showed, the people who’d initially felt worse seemed to especially benefit from the run. Bernstein is currently doing a few follow-up research projects to determine exactly why this works the way it does.

But there’s another big mental benefit to gain from running, one that scientists haven’t quiet yet managed to pin down to poke at and study: the wonderful way your mind drifts here and there as the miles go by. Mindfulness, or being here now, is a wonderful thing, and there is a seemingly ever-growing stack of scientific evidence showing the good it can bring to your life. And yet mindlessness — daydreaming, or getting lost in your own weird thoughts — is important, too. Consider, for example, this argument, taken from a 2013 article by a trio of psychologists in the journal Frontiers in Psychology:

“We mind wander, by choice or by accident, because it produces tangible reward when measured against goals and aspirations that are personally meaningful. Having to reread a line of text three times because our attention has drifted away matters very little if that attention shift has allowed us to access a key insight, a precious memory or make sense of a troubling event. Pausing to reflect in the middle of telling a story is inconsequential if that pause allows us to retrieve a distant memory that makes the story more evocative and compelling. Losing a couple of minutes because we drove past our off ramp is a minor inconvenience if the attention lapse allowed us to finally understand why the boss was so upset by something we said in last week’s meeting. Arriving home from the store without the eggs that necessitated the trip is a mere annoyance when weighed against coming to a decision to ask for a raise, leave a job, or go back to school.

Just because the benefits of losing yourself in your own thoughts are not easily measured doesn’t mean they’re not of value, and there are few ways I know of that induce this state of mind more reliably than a long run. A handful of recent studies have tried to answer what every runner, whether pro or hobbyist, has no doubt been asked by friends and family: What on earth do you think about while you’re out there for so many miles? This, as the writer Haruki Murakami noted in his What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, is almost beside the point. Sometimes he thinks while on the run; sometimes, he doesn’t. It doesn’t really matter.

I just run. I run in void. Or maybe I should put it the other way: I run in order to acquire a void.

April 21, 2016 12:51 p.m.

By Melissa Dahl

https://madridjournal.wordpress.com/2016/04/25/how-neuroscientists-explain-the-mind-clearing-magic-of-running/

What believing in God does to your brain

Humans suppress areas of the brain used for analytical thinking and engage the parts responsible for empathy in order to believe in god, research suggests.

They do the opposite when thinking about the physical world, according to the study.

“When there’s a question of faith, from the analytic point of view, it may seem absurd,” said Professor Tony Jack, who led the research.

“But, from what we understand about the brain, the leap of faith to belief in the supernatural amounts to pushing aside the critical/analytical way of thinking to help us achieve greater social and emotional insight.

The countries in the world with the most “convinced atheists.” Countries in grey were not surveyed.

In an analysis of eight experiments, published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers also found people with faith were more empathetic than those without.
The researchers examined the relationship between the belief in god and measures of analytic thinking and moral concern in eight experiments, each using between 159 and 527 adult participants.
Although both spiritual belief and empathic concern were positively associated with frequency of prayer or meditation, neither were predicted by social contact – such as church dinners – associated with religious affilation.
In earlier research, Professor Jack’s Brain, Mind & Consciousness laboratory used an fMRI machine to show the brain has an analytical network of neurons that enables humans think critically and a social network to empathise.

“Because of the tension between networks, pushing aside a naturalistic world view enables you to delve deeper into the social/emotional side,”

Professor Jack explained.

“And that may be the key to why beliefs in the supernatural exist throughout the history of cultures. It appeals to an essentially nonmaterial way of understanding the world and our place in it.”

The researchers said the human brain explores the world using both networks. When presented with a physics problem or ethical dilemma, a healthy brain activates the appropriate network while suppressing the other.

Such suppression may lead to the conflict between science and religion, the researchers added.
“Because the networks suppress each other, they may create two extremes,” said Richard Boyatzis, professor of organisational behavior at Case Western Reserve University.

“Recognising that this is how the brain operates, maybe we can create more reason and balance in the national conversations involving science and religion.”

Source: Independent

https://scitechafrica.wordpress.com/2016/03/25/what-believing-in-god-does-to-your-brain/

Why you can not Get a Good Sleep in Someone Else’s Bed

Half of your brain may be staying awake to keep watch when you sleep in someone else’s bed…

Whether you’re staying in a hotel or having a sleepover, you never sleep quite as well on a bed that’s not your own.
That’s an observable fact. When scientists have people sleep in a lab for an experiment, they often toss out the first night of data because people sleep so poorly. But before now, they haven’t known why.
In a small new study published in Current Biology, researchers from Brown University found out what goes on in the brain when a person sleeps in an unfamiliar place. They measured brain activity during the deep sleep of 35 young, healthy people.

The researchers found evidence that something unique indeed goes on in the brain during the first night: one hemisphere of the brain, the left, shows wakefulness while the other shows sleep.

This alertness during sleep in half of the brain has been observed in other animals—including whales, dolphins and birds—and is thought to act as a kind of night watch.

“The environment is so new to us, we might need a surveillance system so we can monitor the surroundings and we can detect anything unusual,”

says Masako Tamaki, one of the authors of the study and research associate at the Laboratory for Cognitive and Perceptual Learning at Brown University.

We’re most vulnerable when we’re asleep, in other words, and by staying partially awake, our brains might be trying to protect us.

Our brain remain active when we sleep. researchers also found that when they outfitted the people in the study with earphones, the left side showed a larger brain response to high-pitched sounds than the right—suggesting more vigilance in that hemisphere.

The study raises a lot of unanswered questions; researchers don’t yet know why they saw this effect in the left hemisphere and not the right. But interestingly, both of these asymmetries only occurred on the first night—something to keep in mind the next time you can’t fall asleep in a strange place.

Source: Time

https://scitechafrica.wordpress.com/2016/04/24/reason-you-cannot-get-a-good-sleep-in-someone-elses-bed/

Exploring the Myth of the Scientific vs. ArtisticMind

From Lifehacker Read the full article here-> http://ift.tt/1NE5ZB3

Exploring the myth of the Scientific vs. Artistic Mind
It’s a stereotype, but many of us have made the assumption that scientists are a bit rigid and less artistic than others. Artists, on the other hand, are often seen as being less rational than the rest of us. Sometimes described as the left side of the brain versus the right side–or simply logical thinking versus artistic creativity–the two are often seen as polar opposites.

Neuroscience has already shown that everyone uses both sides of the brain when performing any task. And while certain patterns of brain activity have sometimes been linked to artistic or logical thinking, it doesn’t really explain who is good at what–and why. That’s because the exact interplay of nature and nurture is notoriously difficult to tease out. But if we put the brain aside for a while and just focus on documented ability, is there any evidence to support the logic versus art stereotype?
Psychological research has approached this question by distinguishing between two styles of thinking: convergent and divergent. The emphasis in convergent thinking is on analytical and deductive reasoning, such as that measured in IQ tests. Divergent thinking, however, is more spontaneous and free-flowing. It focuses on novelty and is measured by tasks requiring us to generate multiple solutions for a problem. An example may be thinking of new, innovative uses for familiar objects.

Studies conducted during the 1960s suggested that convergent thinkers were more likely to be good at science subjects at school. Divergent thinking was shown to be more common in the arts and humanities.
However, we are increasingly learning that convergent and divergent thinking styles need not be mutually exclusive. In 2011, researchers assessed 116 final-year UK arts and science undergraduates on measures of convergent and divergent thinking and creative problem solving. The study found no difference in ability between the arts and science groups on any of these measures. Another study reported no significant difference in measures of divergent thinking between arts, natural science and social science undergraduates. Both arts and natural sciences students, however, rated themselves as being more creative than social sciences students did.

Going With the Flow

Studies have actually revealed considerable overlap in the cognitive processes supporting both scientific and artistic creativity. The psychological concept of “flow”, pioneered by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi in the 1990s, describes a state of consciousness where one is completely absorbed and energized while performing an activity. Flow experience has been strongly linked to peak performance in many artistic and creative domains.

There is also substantial overlap in the use of visualization and mental imagery during scientific and artistic thinking. Great scientists such as Albert Einstein, Michael Faraday and Nikola Tesla all reported that they used mental imagery when describing their thought processes. Studies have also found that mental imagery plays a central role during the construction and evaluation of many scientific “thought experiments”, in which a scientist mentally assesses the implications of a particular hypothesis.

Perhaps more obviously, such mental imagery also features strongly in musical composition, painting and architectural design.
The Power of Stereotyping

Convergent and divergent thinking abilities aren’t necessarily innate. A recent study on creative stereotypes asked individuals to complete a divergent thinking task while adopting the perspective of either an “eccentric poet” or a “rigid librarian”.

Those who imagined being an “eccentric poet” performed significantly better on the creative task than those who imagined being a “rigid librarian”, suggesting that the activation of stereotypical views on creative thinking can enhance or inhibit individuals’ performance.

Despite such preconceptions of the ways in which logical and unstructured thinking styles are related to creativity, it is not difficult to find examples of individuals who do not fit the stereotype. Albert Einstein was a keen musician who enjoyed playing the piano and violin while Nobel Prize-winner Richard Feynman worked as an artist using the pseudonym “Ofey”. Musicians Brian May, Brian Cox and Greg Graffin all completed science PhDs.

Case studies of scientists engaging in art and vice versa are often presented as being unusual. However, psychologists recently conducted a comprehensive review of the extent to which Nobel Prize winners in the sciences, members of the Royal Society and US National Academy of Sciences, and members of the US public reported engaging in arts and crafts-based pursuits. They found that members of the Royal Society and National Academy of Sciences were almost twice as likely to report engaging in arts and crafts pursuits as the general public. Eminent Nobel laureate scientists were almost three times more likely to report such activities.

These findings clearly show that the stereotypical view that scientists and other logical thinkers are less likely to be artistic or creative fall wide of the mark. As Einstein himself noted: “The greatest scientists are artists as well.”

Exploding the Myth of Scientific vs. Artistic Minds | The Conversation
David Pearson is Reader of Cognitive Psychology, Anglia Ruskin University, having previously worked at the University of Aberdeen and the University of the Saarland in Germany. He is a Chartered Psychologist and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society, and a member of the Experimental Psychology Society. Image by Doggygraph (Shutterstock).
https://michellehunterart.wordpress.com/2016/04/22/brain-article-of-interest-exploring-the-myth-of-the-scientific-vs-artisticmind/

How to cope with information overload

According to Forbes Magazine, the average worker receives about 200 emails a week. In the last five years we have embraced a bewildering variety of messaging apps and social media platforms. To stay on top of our lives, we’re obliged to read official communications, go through bills and bank statements, and work our way through piles of dreary virtual paperwork. We’re bombarded with data on hourly basis, from rolling news channels, online newsfeeds, automatic notifications and many other sources. The more ambitious and curious of us also have personal reading lists, with hundreds of unread books crammed onto our Kindle or I-pad. The volume of information we have to process is unparalleled in human history and our brain often struggles to deal with it, slipping into a “zombie” mode…

“Information overload” is a widely recognised contemporary social phenomenon, which was identified as far back as the 1960’s in books such as The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan and graphic designer Quentin Fiore. The speed of information acquisition increases rapidly in conjunction with technological development. According to Daniel Levitin, McGill University psychology professor and author of the best-seller The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload,

“we produced more information in the last decade than in all of human history before that”.

We have to run at least twice as hard to ‘stay in the race’, and juggle the conflicting demands of being well-informed, productive and time-efficient. The mental effort that this entails often results in damage to our private life and personal wellbeing, effectively turning us into automatons.

I’m regularly asked how I’m able to run a few start-up companies, manage an on-lime magazine (OpenMindPortal), train twice a day, serve my private clients, read around 80 books a year, travel and keep my personal life on point. The following are a few of my thoughts on the subject:

The personal experience I gained whilst working for and with giant multinational companies such as Moscow Stock Exchange, Jaguar & Land Rover, GSK and so on was extremely useful. The stress and pace of life necessitated leading an organised, disciplined life;
I have been helped in this by dozens of books written by productivity gurus (you can find few of them in reference list below);
Ideas that I picked up during my MBA at Imperial College helped too;
Articles from popular magazines (Harvard Business review, Forbes, etc.) and blogs that I read at least few times a week aid in keeping my perception of productivity fresh.

This is the first article in a series devoted to productivity. I would like to open the series by offering ten useful tips that will help you to deal with information noise, and keep you focused, proactive and creative, able to overcome procrastination, and to get more done in less time.

The second article will be devoted to mind decluttering techniques. The third will be about the seven types of brain activity humans have, and how we can improve all of them. The fourth will suggest a range of useful tools to apply when dealing with emails and other message forms effectively and rationally. The fifth one will shed light on how to lead effective meetings, avoid wasting precious time on human drama and effectively achieve your goals. Finally, in the sixth article, I will share how to maintain a positive attitude and transmit good vibes to other people.

Declutter your mind

David Allen, the famous productivity coach, recommends regularly “clearing the mind”. I could not agree more. When your mind is in order, your life, relationships, business and lifestyle will be in order too. But we are only human, and all of us to some extent are prone to involuntary compulsive thoughts that can turn life into a nightmare.

However, there are plenty of methods which can help to cleanse the mind. I, for instance, always carry a little notebook in which I can jot down various thoughts. These can be creative ideas, plans, little tasks I have to accomplish or just annoying emotions I want to get rid of. David Allen also recommends putting thoughts on paper in order to keep the mind fresh and pure: “Writing thoughts down gets them out of your head, clearing your brain of things that are interfering with being able to focus on what you want to focus on”. Such simple strategies can help to eliminate negativity at its initial point, giving you the peace of mind to concentrate on what you want to keep done.

Read: Simple techniques to declutter your mind.

Classify, prioritize and break down

Once thoughts are down on paper – sort them out. My technique is to initially split them into two main categories: emotions and actions. Once classified, thoughts that have preoccupied you all day do not look quite so scary and overwhelming any more.

I want to focus on actions, which in turn can be split into sub-categories. Allen suggests splitting them into the following: DO, DELEGATE, DEFER, and DROP. I usually do not use “defer”, as all postponed actions bear little relation to the present moment, and could be easily dropped, delegated or done immediately.

Sometimes some of the actions on your list can seem quite daunting. For instance, ‘write a dissertation’ or ‘lose 10 lbs’. It may even sound scary, but don’t stress! What you have to do is to split them into smaller steps and to schedule all of them.

By sticking to your plan 80% of the time, and executing tasks from the ‘do’ category every day, you can be extremely productive without being overloaded with worries, and plagued by negative feelings.

Do not multitask

The human brain is designed to do only one conscious thing at a time. Multitasking not only burns a tremendous amount of energy, but also negatively impacts on performance, and leads to mistakes. And it is only the tip of the iceberg. Stress bubbles under the surface, a consequence of emotional burn, cortisol spikes and even subsequent muscle catabolism and fat gain. Moreover, multitasking saves no time at all. It has been scientifically established that switching between two activities takes the same, or even more, time than it does to carry them out sequentially. If you have two equally urgent and important tasks, do one first and then the other one.

Keep in mind that any exercise in multitasking is in fact a cluster of small decisions you have to take. According to Daniel Livitin, decision making ‘spends’ oxygenated glucose, the essential fuel you need to retain your focus, and to keep doing things. Constant prolonged jumping between tasks will cause physical and mental exhaustion, anxiety and disorientation. On the other hand,

“once we engage the central executive mode, staying in that state uses less energy than multitasking and actually reduces the brain’s need for glucose. This allows us to get more done and finish up with more energy,” writes Levitin.

As a qualified nutritionist I would add that avoiding multitasking is very beneficial for keeping fit. Doing one thing at a time in a calm, focused mode decreases the need to top your glucose levels up by consuming sugar and simple carbs, and as a result reduces the risks of gaining fat associated with sedentary office work.

First thing’s first

At the beginning of the day we are fresh and full of energy. Every decision we take and every movement we make uses fuel from the same tank. However, we have a limited supply. According to Livitin,

“important decisions should be made at the beginning of the day, when gumption and glucose is highest”.

He adds:

“If you eat a frog first thing in the morning, the rest of the day goes better”!

Clearly not a statement to be taken literally, but his point about making crucial decisions in the morning is relevant.

Schedule 1-3 hours at the beginning of each day to accomplish 1 to 3 of your most important tasks. Turn notifications on your phone off and focus on your ‘first things’ fully and consciously. I always do cardio at morning. However, my body needs some time from my first glass of water with a shot of espresso until I’m ready to go out for a run. I use this time for planning editorials or writing. I love these productive 1-1.5 hours, as I can usually do 30% of my daily ‘must do’ activities. Then I can refresh my mind and dive into the details of a new article or a project while jogging two to three laps of the park. You can create your own way to ‘eat the frog in the morning.

Eliminate distractions

There are various distractions around us, and they are always ready to capture our attention. It could be scrolling through social media (very often meaningless), idle banter or gossip, checking messages and emails, tidying up the workplace and other forms of banal procrastination.

“We need to be really clear about the most important things. As a rule of thumb, you can remember three ideas relatively well,” says David Rock.

Exactly for that reason, it is useful to limit your goals for the year, for the week, for the day to a maximum of three. With a larger number it becomes almost impossible to control their execution. Eliminating meaningless objectives, ego driven goals (to get one more trophy just for sake of it), and empty conversations, can enable you to focus on your real aims.

Group together tasks and do simple things quickly

Doing similar quick tasks at once is another way to lightening your ‘do’ list. Do not confuse this with multitasking. For example, paying a few bills, making a few phone calls or answering a bunch of emails in one, defined, time-slot is a great solution to keep on track. Allocate 15-30 minutes (no more) to execute similar, simple and quick tasks, eliminating them from the list and thus being able to switch your attention to more exciting things.

Be conscious when doing on-line tasks. It is always very tempting to start surfing the Net. Reserve a special time for that activity too – allocating 30 minutes after your evening workout in the gym or after lunch, when your brain activity is at its lowest. Alternatively you could split your reading time before bed into two parts: 30 minutes for browsing your favourite on-line sources, and devoting the other 30 minutes to a book from your reading list. When you set a specific time to do certain things it is far easier to avoid distractions and to stay fully focused.

Schedule wellbeing

Coaching people, I very often hear the same story: “I have no time for dates” or “I have no time for the gym/ another degree/ reading books/ grocery shopping/ eating healthily”. However, all of those ‘little things’ determine our quality of life. 14 years ago I made conscious decision to stop watching TV. It was one of the only types of affordable entertainment in the small town where I was born. I made an invaulable gift to myself, splitting the few free hours I had into training and reading.

When I moved to Moscow and started my career in PR and marketing I reconsidered my life habits again. I decided to stop being judgmental and reduced amount of unnecessary meetings and phone calls that I spend before with my female friends discussing gossips and mutual acquaintances. I’ve got few more hours and I start learning English and read English books.

Now I spend two hours doing fitness each day, and a further two hours reading and learning new things. And these are just four of the 24 hours available to me! The value of the time you are putting to more productive use when applying similar techniques is incalculable in life.

A short while ago I stopped competing in fitness shows that were taking up a significant amount of my time (stage rehearsals, posing practice, bikini making). I realized that gaining one more award did not improve my life. I’ve always been very much a people person, and helping others has always made my life more fulfilled. Now I spend two to three hours a day doing research and writing articles for OpenMindPortal and other media, to help people along their life journey.

The time you can save by refraining from obsessing about other people, associating with damaging or negative individuals and their accompanying worries, and ego-driven behaviour, could well be enough to free up hours and hours in which to do really valuable things. Start planning your wellbeing and self-development. Just consciously check what makes you happy and how you spend your time, and act accordingly.

Rest

Eight hours of quality sleep each night should be a rule of thumb. It has been proven that the human brain cannot be efficiently active and retain its focus for more than 1 to 2 hours in a row. We have to rest during the day as well.

“People who take a 15-minute break every couple of hours are much more efficient in the long run,” believes Levitin.

It is not only generally refreshing: Short relaxation activates some parts of the brain responsible for feelings of happiness. Apart from that, little breaks help us to keep our consciousness and energy levels high. “So taking a break, taking a nap, taking a walk around the block, listening to music — these activities, although most bosses would think that they’re a waste of time, in fact, they’re a big adjunct to productivity and creativity.” Levitin also claims that a “15-minute nap can increase your effective IQ by 10 points”.

The human brain works in two main modes: “one is when you’re directing your thoughts, and the other is when the thoughts take over and run themselves,” says Levitin. I call them proactive and insightful modes. The first one allows us to get things done.

In the insightful mode, according to Levitin, “one thought melds into another and they’re not particularly related.” Such a mode is a neural reset process that replenishes some of the glucose, and is also beneficial for boosting creativity. “The thoughts meander from one to another, creating links between things we might not have seen as linked before, and from that may come the solutions to problems,” writes Levitin.

So take regular breaks. I like doing fitness, meditate or simply do something completely different (graphic design is one of my favourite things to relax my mind during those periods), while my brain switches to a more insightful mode.

Don’t underestimate time

We always tend to underestimate simple tasks. Very often in my past I allocated fewer hours for a task than it really takes. I learnt through experience that being realistic about the length of time that tasks will take is beneficial, and to allocate extra time accordingly.

Don’t overestimate importance

This is the final, but also a crucial, point. Very often we become fully immersed in achieving our goals, and can easily lose a sense of reality. If everything goes right – that’s fine. In a worst-case scenario we could endure some unnecessary sacrifices, or experience physical and mental exhaustion. When something goes wrong, stress level increases rapidly, turning us into over-reactive zombies. However, in the majority of cases this is not calamitous, and nothing will really happen if we put everything and everyone aside for a moment, and take a reflective step back. Conscious control, required rest, mental flexibility and the ability to adjust, reconsider or even surrender some goals are also key to personal success.

Tatiana Dmitrieve

Reference list

Daniel Kahneman. Thinking fast and slow. 2004

Daniel Livitin. Organized mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload. 2012

David Allen. Getting things done. The art of stress free productivity. 2001

David Allen. Making It All Work: Winning at the game of work and the business of life, 2008

David Allen. Ready for anything. 2003

David Rock. Your brain at work. 2009

Echart Tolle. The new Earth. 2013

Echart Tolle. The power of now.1997

Ivy-Marie Blackburn. Cognitive therapy in actioin. 1996

Ray Kurxweil. How to create a mind.2015

Vibrations determine being

When you wake up with a smile on your face it is good indication that you are doing something right. Our simple emotions are like litmus paper – the best indicator of what is going on in our lives. But what if you wake-up drained, apathetic, scared about your future? There are five crucial fields you should check daily.

image1 (13) — Love, be open, be grateful, respect yourself and others…

The body reacts first

The body is born to serve our basic needs and act as a box for the soul (our essence or spirit). Ayurveda practitioners believe that the body is “older” than the mind. Indeed, when one is born he/she is not able to analyse things, because cognitive skills are as yet undeveloped. This is the probably the best period of our existence, as we are still free from that constant, irritating and uncontrollable churn of thoughts that plague us later in life.

The body is the only real means a new-born has of indicating his or her feelings. Being adults we always put rationality first, not paying enough attention to our body’s signals. This is a huge mistake, as the body never lies! All the signals it sends us should be accepted, acknowledged, and taken into account. So, if you suffer a lack of energy, poor focus, or constant fatigue – it is time to change your routine.

Human magnetic field — Human energy field

Sufficient Sleep + Healthy Eating + Physical Activities + Fresh Air + Sex = Body Wellbeing.

It’s a pretty simple equation, but at the same time, one which is surprisingly difficult for most of us to put into effect.

However, this apparent complexity is just an abstract construction of our mind. If you walk instead of taking the train, car or bus, you have already met two fundamental needs at the same time (activity and fresh air).

Sex is the most well-known source of both endorphins and serotonin (happiness hormones). Of course, not all of us have the possibility to have regular sex – but this isn’t a problem. I don’t believe it was an issue when you were 15 (at least for most of us!). There are so many other ways of getting your daily dose of happiness: Weight training, yoga and deep relaxation, 5 HTP (naturally occurring amino acid acting as a precursor of serotonin), deep tissue massage, and proliferations of other methods, to name a few. You should aim to a rule of thumb to get two separate happiness experiences a day, topping up your levels of endorphins and serotonin.

Healthy Eating is also fundamental. Doing nutrition consulting over years I realized that 99% of people have difficulty in telling apart basic carbs, fat and protein sources. Very frequently we suffer from minor and major food intolerances: Major intolerances can inflict a great degree of pain, and so we are usually aware of them. Minor intolerances are not so obvious, but could nevertheless cause serious health problems. The best way to tackle the problem is to conduct an allergens and food intolerance test to identify the core problems, and then hire a qualified practitioner to design a well-balanced flexible diet to meet your needs. Even if you have a perfect body and don’t plan on losing or gaining weight, a balanced bespoke flexible diet could help you to maximize performance, boost your energy and immune system, and even extend your youth.

So, keep your body in good order and always listen to its signals: It will definitely pay off!

Monster in your head

Have you ever caught yourself thinking almost obsessively about something very unpleasant? I bet your answer is yes.

You are not alone. Obtrusive thinking is a major “defect” of the human brain.

Eckhart Tolle, the author of bestseller “The Power of Now”, and “The New Earth” compares this trait of human cognitive processes with the concept of original sin. In other words, all of us suffer from obtrusive negative thinking. It could be snippets past conversations, fighting with invisible “enemies”, or simply anxieties about possible future events that, most likely, will never happen.

It has been scientifically proven that obtrusive thinking is very energy-consuming. I compare it to a hungry vampire, sucking out your energy, draining you of life. You should remember that this ugly, greedy vampire only exists in your own head.

To many of us it seems like a trap from which we can’t escape, but wait: There are some people who are able to beat the Monster, for a while, at least. How? By focusing exclusively on the present moment. All your negative feelings, fears, anxieties and regrets dwell in the past (which you can’t change) or in the future (that you can’t control). So the present moment is the only safe place you have. Next time when the Monster attacks, do something that immediately requires your full, undivided attention. According to Zen principles and cognitive behavioural therapy practitioners, humans are not really able to successfully multitask, as we tend to believe. It’s an illusion. We are really able to do one thing at any one time, and this is a potent weapon in battling our Monster.

My personal method of combatting my inner, negative voice was to start lifting heavy weights, for instance, and counting reps. Doing this slowly, by flexing my muscles for 10 seconds during every rep, didn’t allow me to pay much attention to the Monster. Try this technique, or your own, and send me feedback.

Through controlling your emotions and managing that inner Monster, you will be able to save your energy for far more exciting and inspiring moments in life.

Just do it

When living each moment, try to extract maximum value from the present. Try to accomplish more, try to get new experiences, learn something relevant and useful to your life, visit new places; do something that you’ve never done before.

You’re probably thinking that you could be disappointed, that the experience may not live up to expectations. You might also worry about being put down by negative people, or failing in some way. Those possibilities exist, certainly, but why don’t we simply accept them, move on, and focus on the positives instead? There will always be experiences in life that disappoint us, which may be unpleasant or cause us to be upset. Your Monster is waiting for these feelings to surface, never sleeping, always ready to thrive on negative emotions. So be smarter than your Monster, and collect only beautiful pictures for your life album. Would you keep an ugly picture next to your bed? I don’t think so. Why are we so selective for our physical environment and not as selective for our inner peace?

Don’t be afraid, and open yourself to new and exciting experiences:

A life filled with wonder is a wonderful life.

Vampires feed your Monster

Celestine Chua, the author of the bestselling book Personal Excellence, states that your level of consciousness and energy levels are an average of the 5-10 people you interact most often.

Keep in mind that having negative, greedy, jealous, judgemental, aggressive or constantly moaning people in your circle is not good for you for three key reasons:

They drag down your level of consciousness. Remember, misery loves company. If you see that someone is suffering from personal problems, and you are in a position to help, don’t hesitate. But in majority of cases such people don’t need your help at all. It is ultimately their life choice to struggle. Try to help, but don’t get stuck in fighting a futile battle – if after a month or two you’re making no progress, walk away. They are simply draining your energy, benefitting neither of you.

Such people feed the Monster in your own head, multiplying anxieties, fears, jealousy and complexes. Have you ever noticed they are always keen to give you so much negative ‘food for thought’?

If you interact with negative people too often, you may also start to perceive other people negatively. If your close ‘friend’ is never grateful, doesn’t appreciate what you do, always tries to diminish your achievements – run away. Otherwise, very quickly, you will start seeing the world as a place full of people like them.

The Power of Words

Words have an incredible power to form our reality. Even the Bible begins with the sentence:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.

Nowadays all of us are drowned in information. We read countless meaningless articles, snippets of news here and there, newspapers, magazines and text messages. We absorb all of this noise, again providing sustenance for the Monster.

On the other hand, books are the best teachers. Reading meaningful texts from positive and reliable sources could help you to acquire new useful knowledge and deeper insights. So, read, read, read, but be selective at the same time. Try to minimize your exposure to negative and meaningless information, or things written by negative people. Take care of your health, energy and purity, and spread positive vibes around to make our world a better place.

Tatiana Dmitrieva