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12 Things We Know About How the Brain Works

Source: http://theweek.com/article/index/248669/12-things-we-know-about-how-the-brain-works

Here are 12 things we know about how the brain works from Brain Rules.

1. Exercise boots brain power

Wondering whether there is a relationship between exercise and mental alertness? The answer is

yes. Just about every mental test possible elevation in was tried. No matter how it was measured, the answer

was consistently yes: A lifetime of exercise can result in a sometimes astonishing

cognitive performance, compared with those who are sedentary. Exercisers outperform couch

potatoes in tests that measure long-term memory, reasoning, attention, problem-solving, even socalled

fluid-intelligence tasks. These tasks test the ability to reason quickly and think abstractly,

improvising off previously learned material in order to solve a new problem. Essentially, exercise

improves a whole host of abilities prized in the classroom and at work.

2. Your brain is a survival organ

The human brain evolved, too. The brain is a survival organ. It is designed to solve problems

related to surviving in an unstable outdoor environment and to do so in nearly constant motion (to

keep you alive long enough to pass your genes on). We were not the strongest on the planet but

we developed the strongest brains, the key to our survival. The strongest brains survive, not the

strongest bodies. Our ability to understand each other is our chief survival tool. Relationships

helped us survive in the jungle and are critical to surviving at work and school today. … If

someone does not feel safe with a teacher or boss, he or she may not perform as well. … There is

no greater anti-brain environment than the classroom and cubicle.

3. Every brain is wired differently

What you do and learn in life physically changes what your brain looks like — it literally rewires

it. Regions of the brain develop at different rates in different people. The brains...