Saturday, April 30, 2016

Education and the Brain: What Happens When Children Learn?

Frontal lobe. Credit: BodyParts3D/Anatomography

Have you lost your house keys recently? If so, you probably applied a spot of logical thinking. You looked first in the most obvious places – bags and pockets – and then mentally retraced your steps to the point when you last used them.
Researchers looking at child development often use search-and-find tasks to look at the ways in which children apply what they are learning about the physical world. Tests carried out on toddlers reveal that something quite remarkable happens in child development between the ages of two and five – a stage identified by both educationalists and neuroscientists as critical to the capacity for learning.
Dr Sara Baker is a researcher into early childhood at the Faculty of Education. She is interested in the role of the brain’s prefrontal lobe in how young children learn to adapt their understanding to an ever-shifting environment. Many of her studies chart changes in children’s ways of thinking about the world. She uses longitudinal designs to examine the shape of individual children’s learning curves month by month.
Research by Baker and colleagues is contributing to an understanding of the acquisition of skills essential to learning. She explains: “The brain’s frontal lobe is one of the four major divisions of the cerebral cortex. It regulates decision-making, problem-solving and behaviour. We call these functions executive skills – they are at the root of the cognitive differences between humans and other animals. My executive functions enable me to resist a slice of cake when I know I’m soon having dinner.”
In an experiment designed to identify the age at which executive skills develop, Baker and colleagues used a row of four interconnected boxes to test children’s ability to apply their knowledge of basic physics. A ball rolled down an incline entered the first box and disappeared. A barrier (its top visible) was slotted in between two of the boxes to stop the ball rolling any further. The children were asked to open the door of the box in which the ball was hidden.
Aged 29–31 months, only 32% of the children correctly identified the location of the ball by working out that the barrier would have stopped it. Aged 32–36 months, 66% of children were successful. Toddlers under the age of three appear to understand the principles of solidity and continuity, but have trouble acting on this knowledge. A single month in a child’s age affected their ability to carry out the task correctly.
Baker’s interest in children’s development of executive skills dates from the moment a decade ago when she picked up a picture book while sitting in the foyer of a nursery school; the narrative focused on opposites: big/small, light/dark, hot/cold. How would children respond if they were asked to point to the opposite picture to the one depicting the word they heard spoken? This question became the topic for her PhD. Her findings confirmed that the huge variability of children’s executive skills could explain the range of social and cognitive behaviours we see emerging in the early years. What we learn at this stage, and what we learn to apply, sets us on course for life.
Most three-year-olds find the ‘opposites’ task hard. Given two pictures of bears, one big, one small, they automatically point to the big bear when they hear the word ‘big’ spoken aloud. They point to the big bear even when they have been asked (and appear to have understood) to point to the image that is the opposite of the word they hear.
Five-year-olds are much more successful in carrying out the task explained to them. “By age five, most children have acquired the ability to override their impulses, and put them on hold, in order to follow a request,” says Baker. “The ability to control impulses is vital to children’s socialisation, their ability to share and work in groups – and ultimately to be adaptable and well adjusted.”
What happens in children’s brains and minds to enable them to make these important leaps in understanding? The answer involves an understanding of neuroscience as well as child development. Baker and colleagues are engaged in multidisciplinary projects including examining how individuals with autism may perceive and learn about the physical world differently from those without a diagnosis. Her team is also developing a pedagogical, play-based approach in collaboration with teachers.
“Executive function is a hot topic in education. When we talk to teachers about the psychology behind frontal lobe development, they immediately recognise how important self-regulation is, and will tell you about the child who can’t concentrate. It might be the case that this child is struggling with their executive functions: their working memory or inhibitory control might be flagging,” says Baker.
“The tricky part is to grasp the processes developing in the child’s brain and come up with ways to encourage that development. In early years’ education, playful learning and giving children freedom to explore could help to encourage independence as well as the ability to know when to ask for help, both of which depend on self-regulatory skills. If we want to encourage adaptability and self-reliance, we have to look beyond the formal curriculum.”

“The tricky part is to grasp the processes developing in the child’s brain and come up with ways to encourage that development. – Sara Baker” share this quote

Baker’s research into children’s ability to apply knowledge to successfully predict the location of an object hidden from view revealed much more than simply which age group was successful. She says: “In looking at the data from tasks, it’s not enough to focus only on children’s failures. We need to look at why they search for an object in a particular place. Often they’re applying something else that they’ve learnt.”
When younger children opened the same door twice in the boxes experiment, despite the barrier having been moved, they were applying logic: an object may be precisely where it was found before. After all, it’s always worth looking for the house keys first where they should be.
In another experiment (involving dropping balls into opaque tubes that crossed each other), the younger children applied their knowledge of gravity (the ball would fall down the tube) but failed to take into account that the tubes were not straight. Baker says: “When children repeat a mistake, they reveal something about their view of the world and, as researchers, we learn how their brain is developing. As teachers and parents, our role is to help children to overcome that strong, but wrong, impulse.”
During the course of a day, your frontal lobe will have enabled you to do far more than find your keys. The synaptic firing of millions of cells in your brain may have guided you through a tricky situation with colleagues or prompted you to make a split-second decision as you crossed a busy road. “The development of this vital area of your brain happened well before you started formal education and will continue throughout your lifetime,” says Baker.

The text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License and first appeared on The University of Cambridge website. Click here for the original article.

Vygotsky’s Theory (VT) of Cognitive Development:

Vygotsky’s Theory (VT) of Cognitive Development: Sociocultural Orientation

By: Caitlin Beddows, Posted on: April 11, 2016

Vygotsky’s theory of cognitive development is recognized as one of the most innovative psychological theories of the twentieth century. The theory is based on the assumption that culture plays a major role in cognitive development. Each period in child development is associated with a leading activity dominant in a given period. A considerable emphasis is placed on emergent cognitive functions conceptualized through the notion of the zone of proximal development. Instruction and learning are perceived as leading child’s cognitive development rather than following it.

Vygotsky’s theory (VT) of cognitive development: Sociocultural Orientation

International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavior Sciences

The distinctive feature of VT is its emphasis on culture as the most important factor of cognitive development. Though Vygotsky readily admitted that some basic cognitive processes can be shared by humans and higher animals, he explicitly and deliberately focused his own theory on those cognitive processes that are uniquely human. He called them ‘higher mental processes’ and associated their development with the involvement of cultural tools in the shaping of human cognition. Culture in VT is not an external envelope or ethnographically specific appearance of human behavior and thinking; culture according to VT is the force that shapes all higher mental processes, such as perception, attention, memory, and problem solving. In the absence of more appropriate terms, we still use the same verbal labels for both basic cognitive processes and culturally shaped higher mental processes though these two groups of processes are very different in their origin, development, and capacity.
Taken as a whole, the VT posed three major objectives for a study of human psychology: reconstruction of the transition from an animal to a human way of thinking and behaving; investigation of the historical change occurring in human mental functions as a result of the introduction of new cultural tools and sociocultural activities; and investigation of the developmental construction of children’s and adults’ psychological functions in a given society (Vygotsky and Luria, 1930/1993).
Regarding the first objective, Vygotsky relied mainly on the comparison of human behavior and the behavior of apes as reported by other researchers, such as Wolfgang Kohler (see Vygotsky, 1934/2012: pp. 73–85). Vygotsky suggested that nonhuman primates have both some intellectual problem-solving skills and communicative abilities, but that in the apes these two domains remain dissociated. Communicative abilities do not impact on problem solving, while problem solving does not shape interpersonal interaction. In a human child, intensive interaction between these two domains takes place during the second year of life. As a result, speech becomes intellectual, while problem solving acquires the quality of verbal intelligence. Thus, the transition from animal to human cognition was envisaged by Vygotsky as a change in the interaction between different cognitive functions. Vygotsky and his colleagues, however, had no opportunity to investigate this hypothesis in actual studies with nonhuman primates. The development of Vygotsky’s line of reasoning can, however, be identified in the work of Tomasello (1999) and his colleagues. First Tomasello (1999: p. 48) reasserts the main thesis of VT regarding the cultural origin of human higher metal processes: “Following Vygotsky and many other cultural psychologists, I contend that many of the most interesting and important human cognitive achievements, such as language and mathematics, require historical time and process for their realization – even if most cognitive scientists largely ignore these historical processes.” He then proceeds to show that in a number of cognitive tasks such as spatial memory, rotation of objects, and estimation of quantities, chimpanzees demonstrate performance comparable to and sometimes exceeding that of two-and-a-half year old children. At the same time children have an obvious advantage in the tasks related to gestural communication, observational learning, and understanding of intentions. Tomasello (1999: p. 213) concludes his analysis by stating that: “Language does not create new cognitive processes out of nothing, of course, but when children interact with other persons intersubjectively and adopt their communicative conventions, this social process creates a new form of cognitive representation – one that has no counterpart in other animal species.”
Vygotsky should also be credited with posing an intriguing question regarding possible historical changes in human cognition. Are cognitive functions of people in antiquity, Middle Ages, and the eighteenth century the same as those of people in the twenty-first century? Do the historical changes in cultural tools impact on our cognition? In the absence of a ‘time machine,’ Vygotsky and Luria decided to rely on a ‘quasihistorical’ study of cognition in a traditional society that undergoes rapid sociocultural change. Vygotsky and Luria thought that they had found such a historical ‘experiment’ in the Soviet Central Asia of the early 1930s. The unique sociocultural situation of this region in the late 1920s and early 1930s was determined by a very rapid invasion of Soviet power into an otherwise traditional and mostly nonliterate agricultural society. As a result, people belonging to the same economic and sociocultural group, often even to the same extended family, found themselves under very different sociocultural circumstances. Some of them, especially those in the remote villages, retained all aspects of a traditional nonliterate culture and way of life. Others became involved in new agricultural or industrial enterprises, exposed to the new technology and means of communication, but still without access to systematic formal education. Some of the local people, however, already attended adult literacy courses and even teachers’ colleges.
The main conclusions reached by Vygotsky and Luria on the basis of this study were that informants who retain a traditional nonliterate culture and way of life tend to solve problems by using functional reasoning reflecting their everyday life practical experience and reject the possibility of looking at classification, generalization, or drawing conclusions from another; for example, more abstractive point of view. Exposure to modern technology and involvement in jobs based on division of labor tend to increase the subjects’ readiness to solve problems both in functional and in verbal–logical ways. It was observed, however, that informants who did not experience formal education rather easily reverted to purely functional reasoning. At the same time, informants who received some form of formal education demonstrated a clear preference for the verbal-logical form of problem solving.
Though the goal of Vygotsky and Luria was to investigate the ‘historical’ change in human cognition, their Central Asia research is usually interpreted as one of the first cross-cultural studies of cognitive processes. With the wisdom of hindsight, one can distinguish a number of questions that remained unanswered in this initial research. Vygotsky and Luria seem to have grouped together different sociocultural factors such as the acquisition of literacy, formal classroom learning, exposure to modern technology, and participation in labor activities based on the formal division of labor. Each of these factors seems, however, to have a different impact on the construction of cognitive functions and should be investigated separately.
The Central Asia study later inspired the Scribner and Cole (1981) research in Western Africa that demonstrated that literacy and schooling may have a differential cognitive impact. By conducting their research in an African society where literacy in three different languages was associated with different acquisition and application contexts (school, home, and religious institution), Scribner and Cole showed that literacy does not have an overall impact on problem solving but affects specific cognitive functions corresponding to each one of the contexts. Formal education on the other hand has an impact on problem solving in the tasks that resemble those used in school. The emergence of cognitive functions was thus linked to more specific sociocultural contexts and activities. More recent studies conducted in Central American Mayan villages were able to identify the transition from subsistence and agriculture to wage economy and commerce as the main factor leading children from more concrete to more abstractive cognitive representations. At the same time, in more complex tasks that required selecting a strategy for continuation of the model pattern, schooling proved to have the strongest relationship with the choice of a more abstractive and less imitative strategy, with the involvement in the ‘new’ economy coming second.

The Top 6 Cancer Prevention Foods Of All Time

According to the US National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Database, 43.3% of American males and 37.8% of American females will develop cancer in their lifetime. That’s a staggering number. Almost one out of two men and a little more than one out of three women.
So what can you do about it? beforehand? before that diagnosis comes in and it’s too late. There has been a lot of research into preventative measures, even some done by the American Cancer Society (surprisingly) but it’s all scattered and unclear in many ways. So I decided to do some of my own research and really create something valuable. I decided to research the best specific anti-cancer, or cancer prevention foods in the world. These foods were made to keep your body in a peak state of health and avoid cancer from developing in the first place.
The best way to “Fight Cancer” is to prevent it, it’s to live healthy, eat healthy, exercise and get plenty of nutrition. When I was doing research for this article I wanted to creating something unique, interesting and new. We’ve all seen articles and scientific journals stating that a specific food prevents cancer in lab rat studies, and that’s great! and those foods are definitely on the cancer prevention list.
What about taking another approach though? what about focusing on the causes of cancer and then backtracking a bit. Why not research foods that have the best anti-cancer development effects, meaning, find the main causes of cancer and find the foods that have the closest matching nutritional profile to supplement preventing the main causes of cancer? Does this make sense? I hope so! if not, I’ll be recording a video on youtube about this within the next week or so.
Here’s how I came up with the content for this article…

It makes sense right? take the the top alkalizing and anti-inflammatory foods on the planet and these have to be the best cancer prevention foods as well. So I did my research and this is what I found…

The Top Alkalizing Foods On The Planet:

1. Kale: Kale is one of if not the richest alkalizing food on the planet. It’s rich in many vitamins and minerals that alkalize like calcium and magnesium. It’s a great source of chlorophyll which plays an important role in alkalizing the body. This is also a very strong anti-inflammatory food because of the omega 3 fatty acids contained in this green so it really tops this list in two ways!
2. Lemon: Lemon is acidic in nature but when in the human body it creates an alkalizing effect. Once it enters the metabolism it’s minerals enter the bloodstream and really help to alkalize the body. Lemon is also very rich in vitamin C which boosts immunity to prevent tumorous cancer growth.
3. Broccoli: One of the top alkalizing foods on the planet and a great source of fiber which is healthy for the Colon. It also contains sulforaphane which is a known anti-cancer compound.
Other foods worth consuming to alkalize the body are coconut water, any leafy greens, celery, cucumber, and most green vegetables in general because of the chlorophyll content in them.

The Top Anti-Inflammatory Foods On The Planet:

1. Turmeric: Turmeric is one of my favorite medicinal spices on the planet, coming from India. According to PubMed.gov, cancer rates in India are lower than those in western countries. Duke University found more than 200 citations for turmeric and cancer and more than 700 for curcumin and cancer. In the book Phytochemicals: Mechanisms of Action, are discussed. Curcumin, which is the active compound in turmeric were effective in animal models in prevention and/or treatment of colon cancer, mammary cancer, prostate cancer, murine hepatocarcinogenesis (liver cancer in rats), esophageal cancer, and oral cancer. Duke said that the effectiveness of the herb against these cancers compared favorably with that reported for pharmaceuticals. I personally love this liquid turmeric for bioavailability and assimilation reasons.
2. Blueberries: With a rich blend of nutrients and anthocyanin antioxidants, blueberries protect the brain and aid in anti-inflammatory efforts. They are low on the glycemic index (like most berries) which some people believe feed cancer cells already out of balance. They can also be frozen without effecting their antioxidant benefits, unlike many other foods. Be sure to eat organic blueberries as new studies are showing that organic blueberries have higher concentrations of phenol antioxidants and anthocyanin antioxidants giving you the best anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer effects.
3. Flaxseeds: You may be wondering why flaxseeds made the list right? well, it’s the richest source of omega 3 fatty acids on the planet. Omega 3 fatty acids are one of the main drivers for creating an anti-inflammatory state within the body.
Other anti-inflammatory foods include, fish, walnuts, ginger, cloves, garlic.
And there you have it, eat more Kale, Lemon, Broccoli, Turmeric, Blueberry and Flaxseeds to prevent cancer. If I had cancer I would load up on these foods as often as I could as well.
Notice one more thing, Kale is green, Lemon is Yellow, Turmeric is orange, blueberry is blue and flaxseeds are brown. Notice the different colors? Eat the rainbow (the rainbow from the earth, not skittles) and you’ll notice dramatic positive effects on your health!
To your health and well-being! Please share this article to help spread the word about these amazing foods and help inspire more healthy choices!
– David Benjamin
P.S. If you already have cancer eat these foods, or share it with those who it may bring hope too. My mother is a stage 4 colon cancer survivor, if she can do it you can too! Keep your head up, take care of your health and laugh a lot! Laughing boosts immunity which gives you strength, vitality and life back!
Sources: Pubmed.gov, Duke University, whfoods.com, Dr. Andrew Weil, Dr. Joseph Mercola.

The Man Who Discovered The Cause Of Cancer

The Man Who Discovered The Cause Of Cancer Wrote A Book On Curing It

Dr. Otto Warburg was the man who discovered the cause of cancer, he was awarded the nobel prize in 1931 for his work. Initially it was my understanding that he discovered cancer but he actually discovered the cause which in my opinion is even more valuable than discovering cancer. Many people have recognized a problem, a disease, a tumorous lump growing on someone and labeling it a disease. The cause of that disease is even more important and relevant than the disease itself if you want to do something about it. His work came to be known as the “Warburg Effect” or the “Warburg Hypothesis” which basically entailed that cancer cells live off sugar (glycolysis) and that they also thrive in an anaerobic environment. These causes lead me to believe the opposite would help to reverse the cancer growth. What do you think?
He’s one of the most relevant figures in our history when it comes to cancer, what causes it and how to really treat it. Most people have no idea who this man is though, why is that? is it because of what he has to say about cancer and about disease in general? There’s no question that he was a brilliant man during his time. The first man to discover the cause of cancer is somewhat like the first man landing on the moon! it’s just the micro and macro scale of things.
His discovery led him to certain conclusions. These conclusions that he was led to may be true or false to you but i’m going to leave that up to you to decide. I trust this man (the discoverer of it) more than the American Cancer Society or any other medical organization though because he’s worked to get to a place of excellence and understanding of cancer. Large organizations that take your money for a ‘cure’ or to walk around in a circle wearing pink shirts haven’t done a whole lot with the BILLIONS of dollars poured in for research.
Oddly enough Dr. Otto Warburg gave his two cents on what can be done to treat and heal cancer and what changes need to take place in the human body for the human body to no longer have cancer. Let me say that again! the man who discovered cancer shared practical information on how cancer can cease to exist based on his understanding of cancer in his research.
So what was his thoughts on cancer? First, he was quoted as saying:

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His first belief was that cancer itself cannot exist in an alkaline environment. What conclusion could you draw from this? Foods and drinks that are alkaline are beneficial for helping to remove cancer from the human body. From his research his conclusion was that cancer can not live in an alkaline environment. If you have cancer then wouldn’t it be a natural conclusion to put alkaline foods and drinks such as water into your body as much as possible as opposed to acidic foods which may in fact feed the cancer growth? It’s just a thought.
Beyond this Dr. Otto Warburg also said…
“Cancerous tissues are acidic, whereas healthy tissues are alkaline. Water splits into H+ and OH- ions, if there is an excess of H+, it is acidic; if there is an excess of OH- ions, then it is alkaline.”
“All normal cells have an absolute requirement for oxygen, but cancer cells can live without oxygen – a rule without exception. “Deprive a cell 35% of its oxygen for 48 hours and it may become cancerous.” Dr. Warburg has made it clear that the root cause of cancer is oxygen deficiency, which creates an acidic state in the human body. Dr Warburg also discovered that cancer cells are anaerobic (do not breathe oxygen) and cannot survive in the presence of high levels of oxygen, as found in an alkaline state.
Dr. Wargburg understood the importance of oxygen and an alkaline environment around the cancerous growth. He even went so far as to say that “No Disease, including cancer can live in an alkaline environment” too. So from Dr. Warburg some of the best cancer and disease prevention (and healing, according to him) advice would be to give your boxy more oxygen and an alkaline environment.
How do you do that? More deep breathing. More nature. If you live in the city you are being bombarded by chemicals and decreasing oxygen levels. The country and nature have higher levels of pure oxygen and this was one of the keys according to Dr. Warbug to help the body be in an alkaline environment. Not only that but eating alkaline foods such as vegetables and fruits can help to alkalize the body environment as well.
Believe it or not Dr. Otto Warburg also wrote a book entitled “Cancer: It’s cause and it’s Cure” which blows my mind. I recommend listening to the recent interview on my podcast with Ty Bollinger as well as reading the Top 6 Cancer Prevention Foods.

One Sentence Reminders Every Relationship Needs To Hear

What would life be without relationships? We all need someone to help us get through this crazy ride, but sometimes, our own relationships can make life more difficult. When times get tough or you just need some simple reminders to help you remember why you fell in love with your significant other in the first place, just reference these quick tips.

Here are one sentence reminders every relationship needs to hear:

Related article: 3 Things That Will Make Your Next Relationship Last
1. Never take your love for granted – even when times get tough, true love will get you through.
2. Take time to make each other feel special; after all, the magic shouldn’t just disappear just because you’ve been together for a while.
3. Great sex only goes so far – make your partner feel loved in other intimate ways, such as holding hands, kissing them in public, and hugging them, just because.
4. Tell each other “I love you” as much as possible, and share the reasons why you feel this way.
5. When the times get rough, remember why you fell for him or her to begin with.
6. Share your deepest, darkest secrets with one another, but don’t feel like you have to spill everything onto the table. The mysteries of the human soul make life worth it.
7. Express gratitude for each other every day.
8. Forget the rest of the world and create your own story.
9. Hold onto each other, especially through the storms.
10. Don’t stop believin.’
11. Remember to spend time apart sometimes – it will make your relationship even better.
12. Go stargazing sometime – it will help you remember just how lucky you are to have come across one another in this vast universe.
13. Keep the lines of communication open at all times.
14. Encourage self-love on the daily – after all, you will become better partners if you learn to love yourselves first.
15. Have cute names for each other.
16. Learn how to forgive one another, even if you don’t fully agree with the other person’s words or actions.
17. Remember that you will fight sometimes, but this doesn’t have to mean the end of your relationship.
18. Sometimes, you’ll have to ask for forgiveness. This doesn’t make you weak, it means you really love your guy or gal and want another chance.
19. You will never stop learning from one another.
20. Engage in deep discussions often.
21. Surprise your partner sometimes – it keeps the relationship fresh and exciting.
22. Rejoice during the happy times, and cry during the sad ones. Part of the human experience is to feel many different emotions, and that’s perfectly okay.
23. Embrace the weirdness in both of you.
24. Relationships change over time, so don’t fight the evolution of your bond.
25. Develop friendships outside of your relationship, too; that way, you won’t get bored of one another.
26. Realize how amazing your partner is, and remind them daily.
27. Your partner won’t always make you happy, but that doesn’t mean they don’t love you unconditionally.
28. Share your thoughts with your partner always, even if you two have differing opinions.
29. Trust and respect are the number two most important things in your relationship.
30. Get out of the city once in a while and feel the wind in your hair – it will do your relationship good.
31. In a discussion, remember to listen to each other before speaking.
32. Remember that relationships take work. Nothing worth having ever comes easily.
33. Make time to have fun and play; just because you’re adults, doesn’t mean you can’t roll around in the grass and get a little dirty, right?
34. Eat ice cream in bed and watch Netflix all day. Without feeling guilty.
35. Try new exotic foods together – new experiences will help you grow as a couple.
36. Go a day each week without your phones.
37. Act like big kids for a day. Have a water balloon fight, play hide and seek, and make macaroni and cheese for dinner.
38. Congratulate each other on any accomplishment, no matter how small.
39. Walk on the beach hand in hand, and just focus on how amazing love feels.
40. Read a book together in bed.
41. Never forget your inside jokes.
42. Your partner will annoy you to death sometimes, but you’ll even find this cute about them.
43. Go on a roadtrip together, and see the world from a different perspective.
44. Challenge each other to new experiences that will help both of you grow as people.

45. Take care of one another and cherish the relationship you have, because every fleeting moment is precious.

9 Things You Never Knew Your Brain Could Do

9 Amazing Things You Didn’t Know The Brain Could Do
No other brain in the animal kingdom is capable of generating the kind of higher consciousness associated with human ingenuity, with our ability to make plans and write poetry. Yet the most complex structure in the known universe – as it is often described – is more mysterious than the least-explored regions of the deepest ocean.
– The Independent (UK)
In terms of brain research, we’ve discovered more in the last twenty years than all previous years combined. Much of this can be attributed to the frantic pace of brain imaging technology and other medical advances. As there are currently no signs that this pace is slowing, it is fair to state that we’ll continue to discover amazing tidbits about the brain.
For such a complex structure, the brain is not very large…at all. Roughly the size of our two fists pressed together, our brain weighs no more than 3 pounds (or 1.4 kilograms). For such a small entity, the amount of complexity involved in the brain’s circuitry has earned it the title “the most complex structure in the universe.”
The intricacy of the brain is surpassed only by its ingenuity. Truly, all of the greatest feats the world-over have been a direct result of the brain’s marvelous abilities.
We’ll discuss nine things that you may not know the brain can do. The human brain can…

Function after death

Near-death experiences (NDE) are a relatively common occurrence. One study undertaken at a hospital in the Netherlands reported that 18 percent of the 344 cardiac patients considered clinically dead recalled having life experiences after the fact.
Pam Reynolds is perhaps one of the best known cases. In Reynold’s case, her brain had been brought to a nonfunctioning state by brain doctors in order to perform surgery. Despite this, she was still able to recall relevant information pertaining to doctor’s conversations, surgical tools, etc.
http://profezie3m.altervista.org/archivio/TheLancet_NDE.htm

Process information faster than any personal computer

Notice that we included the word personal. Amazingly, engineers at Fujitsu designed a super computer that processes information faster. This computer also happens to be huge and inefficient. Our neat, compact brain will work just fine, thank you. Joking aside, the processing power of the human brain steamrolls nearly every man-made tech device.

Power a light bulb

The sheer number of electrical connections firing at any given time is quite staggering. These electric impulses are so numerous that it could hypothetically power a light bulb. In terms of units of power, the brain can produce the equivalent of about 25 watts.

Clear out toxins

Wait, doesn’t the immune system help clear toxins from the body? Yes, but the brain does as well. Scientists at the University of Rochester discovered activity in the brain of sleeping mice that showed the “clearing out” of damaging molecules often associated with neurodegeneration. This experiment serves as additional evidence that sleep is important to our brain health.

Perform better when tired

Contemporary thought is that our brain works better when we’re fresh and alert. While this is the case for work that involves logic and analysis, we’re actually more creative when we’re tired. It is simple logic, really: we’re not as good at filtering out distractions when tuckered out. Additionally, we’re less able to remember connections between ideas and concepts. These are two benefits to creative thought. It’s common for creative breakthroughs to occur when one is sleeping, for example.

Shrink in size

While this is not a desirable attribute, it is true nonetheless. Stress is the most common cause of changes to brain function, and it has been discovered that stress can also decrease brain size. Animal studies show that chronic stress can cause the brain area known as the hippocampus to shrink. Currently, studies are underway to discover whether or not Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can shrink the hippocampus in patients.

Grow in size

Conversely, the brain is capable of growing denser in certain areas. Known as neuroplasticity, the brain has the remarkable ability of forming new neural connections throughout life. While our brain will never develop at the rate that it does in early childhood, newly-formed neural networks can indeed slightly increase the mass in certain areas of the brain.

Can be rewired

The brain is remarkable in its ability to adapt. It has been proven that meditation brings a host of benefits to practitioners by lowering anxiety, increasing focus and improving self-control. It is even possible for the brain to become wired for enhanced creative ability and improved memory The brain is remarkable in its ability to adapt. It has been proven that meditation brings a host of benefits to practitioners by lowering anxiety, increasing focus and improving self-control. It is even possible for the brain to become wired for enhanced creative ability and improved memory.

Can make itself smarter

It was once thought that intelligence was a direct result of genetics, and that it was fixed in life. It turns out that neither of these are true. While genetics undoubtedly plays a role in one’s innate intelligence, it is not the sole determinant. In fact, in an article published in Scientific American, scientists came up with four truths about the brain:
(1) Fluid intelligence is trainable
(2) Intellectual challenges increase intellectual capabilities
(3) Anyone can increase their brain’s cognitive ability
(4) Numerous tasks exist that can increase one’s intelligence

The Joy of Missing Out

Why it's important to leave some space for being alone—and how our tech gadgets get in the way.

By Christopher Willard | April 7, 2016

I was flying to a mindfulness conference recently when I looked down to my tray table. My Macbook formed the base of a neat pyramid of trendy technologies, with my iPad on top of the laptop, and my iPhone resting on the iPad. It took a moment before I realized the absurdity: I’m off to talk about the importance of staying in the moment and have no less than three gleaming Apple products sitting in front of me just to get through one cross-country flight? Sure, it was funny, but my next impulse was to take a picture and share the moment online.
There’s nothing inherently bad or good about technology. Technology just is. How we relate to it and what we do with it are what matters. But our phones are not designed to be neutral, they are created to keep us hooked with texting, shopping, and sharing data with marketers, corporations, and even government agencies…oh, and our friends and family, too.
I’ve heard it said that a thinking mind can be our most powerful servant or our most terrible master. The same could well be said of our technology, which more often disconnects us from others and ourselves that connects us. And, our phones and devices are addictive, in a very literal sense. Our beeps and alerts arrive on what behaviorists call a “variable rate reinforcement schedule.” The term essentially means that our phone’s random buzzing throughout the day acts as a little reward for the brain, which is rewired to crave more. Video games, slot machines, and even our phones are often designed by psychologists to maximize their addictive qualities. This explains why we see kids (or catch ourselves) mindlessly refreshing email and social media feeds.

Our devices hold out the false promise that there is something more important, more urgent, more interesting than our present-moment experience.

Our devices hold out the false promise that there is something more important, more urgent, more interesting than our present-moment experience. Unfortunately, while that statement makes rational sense, it is not going to hold much water with a nine-year-old clutching an iPad, or a tween on snapchat.
We can tell kids that they need healthy boundaries around screen time, or we can show them with our own actions, which is far harder but far more effective. I’m as guilty as anyone else; I love my gadgets and my social media. Ask yourself, how long do you spend in the morning checking in with yourself and your loved ones in person before you tap the glowing screen of your phone? Where is your phone right now? How do you feel when you don’t know where it is? Do you usually keep it in your pocket, your bag, your desk, another room?
When we teach children to disconnect from their experience with digital distractions, by modeling that behavior ourselves, it is no wonder they never learn basic emotional fluency, attachment, and social cues. They don’t learn that emotions and urges arise and pass, and that human beings actually can tolerate discomfort.
Sherry Turkle, who writes about technology says “If we don’t teach our kids to be alone, we will teach them to be lonely.” Explicitly and implicitly, the way we live and the media we consume are teaching all of us to be lonely, to be too busy to attend to our needs, and to deal with emotions through looking outside of ourselves, rather than looking inside at the first twinge of discomfort.

With mindfulness, we look inward, get in touch with the internal experience, tolerate it, and maybe even learn from it. In this way, we become happier and healthier.

Running counter to all of the checking out, mindfulness teaches us how to be with ourselves, a capacity for being alone. Mindful curiosity reveals that the present moment is both important and interesting. Checking in with the pleasant, the unpleasant, and the neutral aspects of our experience and the world around us is profoundly worthwhile. With mindfulness, we look inward, get in touch with the internal experience, tolerate it, and maybe even learn from it. In this way, we become happier and healthier. Mindfulness teaches us not only how to be alone, but how to be in authentic connection with others as well.
When we are intentional about taking time off from technology, we may face resistance at first. One family I work with turns off the wireless router for much of the day, and if the kids want the Internet, they plug in the old-fashioned way, with a cable. Since there is only one room where the cable can be connected, this rule at least keeps family members in the same room, and it makes connecting to the Internet an intentional act, not something done merely due to boredom.
Other families and institutions have set hours when the Internet is on or off, or they have virtual quiet rooms where the router blocks access to some sites. Others set specific days or hours to be “technology sabbaths” or “phone-free Fridays,” when we can truly be present for ourselves and those around us. Time away from technology has been shown to have significant benefits to social skills,^⁠ as well as reducing stress. Kids often worry about FOMO, the fear of missing out, but increasingly talk about the relief of unplugging and JOMO—the joy of missing out.

How To Set Mindful Technology Limits

Establish tech-free times, such as the hour before bed or the first hour after waking up.
Designate tech-free places, such as the dinner table, the car, the family room, or staff meetings.
Try leaving your phone in the car or in your bag, rather than your pocket, while you run errands.
Establish wireless hours and wired hours within the home, and check with your provider about how to shut down non-emergency use of devices during certain hours.
Lobby for virtual quiet rooms, where chat functions or social media are blocked, within schools, libraries, and other public venues.
Only check messages when you can actually respond to them.
Deliberately interact with people: ask someone for directions, chat with the shop clerk, and say hello to someone next to you rather than immediately looking into your phone.

Two Tips for Mindful Tech:

1) When you pick up your gadgets, do it mindfully. Each time you look at your phone it’s an opportunity for a short mindfulness practice to check in first. The beeps and buzzes of our devices can also be reminders to take a breath or check in with ourselves. Mark Epstein, a psychiatrist and writer, even suggests sometimes not shutting off the cell phone when you meditate. Instead, just sit in meditation and notice the body’s and the mind’s reactions to each beep and buzz of the phone, the stories and urges and emotions as they arise. The objects of attention become our emotional response to the silence (anticipation, relief), our emotional response to the beeps, chirps, songs, and buzzes as they arise (irritation, curiosity, anxiety), and whatever urges arise due to the sounds.
2) Build mindful reminders into your devices. Make the background wallpaper some kind of reminder to breathe or check in. How many times a day do we type a password into our devices? This too can be a reminder if we make our password breathe or something similar. My friend Mark Bertin suggests putting calm images like beach scenes on your most annoying contacts or difficult people. There are also plenty of free websites, apps, and podcasts offer guided meditations and discussions of meditation as well. Other software and hardware teach basic mind/body principles through biofeedback and neurofeedback. Plug-ins for browsers can block certain websites and distractions for chosen lengths of time. Shut off automatic passive alerts and push notifications, and instead make the active choice to check in with messages and updates.

10 Habits of Unhappy People (and How to Avoid Having Them)

“I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition.” – Martha Washington, wife of 1^st U.S. President George Washington
Happiness is something that we all strive to attain. As human beings we can accept the fact that: (a) life is short, and (b) unhappiness makes our lives difficult. As is common knowledge, our habits have a big impact on the quality of life that we live; specifically, these habits directly impact our happiness (or lack thereof).
To make a clear distinction, there is a strong difference between clinical depression and chronic unhappiness. Depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain, while unhappiness is a disposition that is often acquired through how we choose to live our lives. Similar to depression, however, unhappiness can be diagnosed and treated.

Here are 10 habits of unhappy people, all of which can be avoided.

1. Chronic Complaining

Happy and successful people do not complain much. On the other side, it seems that chronic complainers always have something negative to say… even when those around them are happy! The bottom line: we all have different circumstances that we are given in this lifetime, but in the end these circumstances are ours – fair or unfair, wanted or unwanted. Instead, seek solutions to problems instead of complaining, which leads to nowhere.

2. Being critical – of self and others

How we talk to ourselves shapes our self-image, for better or worse. Self-worth is an essential component to our happiness, and feeling good about ourselves is a right that we all have. Realize when mistakes are made, accept them, and move on…don’t engage in negative self-talk. Further, respect the inherent differences of others and recognize their right to live happily and without undue criticism.

3. Living beyond means

We live in a materialistic society, one where we are constantly bombarded with advertisements for the latest car, gadget, or credit card; all promising an easier, more fulfilling existence. Don’t believe it for a second. While purchasing a new product may provide a needed emotional boost, it doesn’t last. Ever heard the term “buyer’s remorse”? It exists for a reason. Instead, seek out something to do that doesn’t involve whipping out a piece of plastic – exercise, reading, sightseeing, etc. – anything brings satisfaction without the debt.

4. Negative addictions

Most things are good in moderation – food, a drink or two, entertainment… it’s when these things take center stage in our lives that it becomes a problem. Unfortunately, many good people have met their end through addictive habits, especially through dependence on alcohol and drugs. A great preventative measure and remedy to these addictions? Finding and living our passions to the greatest extent possible (see #8).

5. Regretting the past

Regret is not only useless, it can be extremely harmful. Research continues to show that repetitive, negative thoughts about decisions made in the past in often a precursor to chronic stress and depression. According to Psychology Today, there are four ways to cope with regret: (1) learn from mistakes but don’t dwell, (2) if nothing can be changed about the situation to let it go, (3) make sure too much blame is not being undertaken, and(4) reframing the situation more positively.

6. Worrying about the future

We only have so much say in what our future holds. This is not meant to disempower (quite the opposite); rather it is stating simple truth. What we can do is live in the present while fully exercising our God-given abilities and talents, enabling and empowering us to live a happier existence. There’s that phrase again: living in the present. Face difficulties as they arise and let them go. Enjoy the beautiful things in life and experience them fully…be present.

7. Being driven by fear

Yes, fear can be an enabler to unhappiness. To fully understand this, we have to again go back to being present. Quite simply, we can’t allow fear of the unknown (and/or the unavoidable) to cripple our quality of life. Fear is a negative thought process that is often on auto pilot. Remember: we are not our negative thoughts. We are not fear, worry, anxiety, or any other negative thought process.

8. Gossiping

Nothing exudes unhappiness and insecurity more than negative small talk about someone else. After all, why would a happy, confident person engage in something that is of no benefit? They wouldn’t. Gossip is something to be left to the kids at recess, not to adults attempting to make their lives (and others!) better.

9. Holding grudges

Similar to other negative emotions, animosity is a needless weight on our backs. We are all witness to the negative behaviors of other people and can become (sometimes justifiably) angered as a result. But remember: this isn’t about their ignorant behavior; it’s about your happiness. Either forgive, forget, or ignore… and move on with your life.

10. Expanding our problems

When we experience unhappiness and discontent, our first reaction is almost entirely emotional. In other words, we blow things completely out of proportion. After all, we still have that darned “lizard brain” (amygdala) – the epicenter of negative emotions. Instead, just take a step back, look at the problem objectively (with minimal emotion), and focus on a solution!

Thursday, April 28, 2016

Six Habits of Highly Attractive People

Everyone has met somebody who, physical appearance aside, is just truly, deeply appealing. Whether they are physically attractive or not, members of the opposite sex flock to them in droves, and though you’d like to be annoyed by that, you might actually have a bit of a crush on them yourself. You just want to get to know them better – and so does everyone else.

Whether we are male or female, each of us likely spends hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars over the course of our lives in an effort to improve our physical appearance. We sweat at the gym, buy flattering clothes, shave, bathe, and style our hair in order to maintain our physical appeal – but how much time do we spend cultivating that curious internal magnetism that is actually the basis of most attraction?

Below are five simple habits that can increase your charisma, confidence, and sense of self.

1. Empower yourself!

The Law of Attraction dictates that we tend to arrive at the outcome which we most expect. Of course this principle does not always hold true – unfortunately for my toddler, who expected cookies for dinner – however, there is certainly something to it. When we radiate a genuine confidence in our actions, others tend to believe in our goals as well. After all, if we don’t believe we deserve our desired outcome, why should the rest of the world?
Focusing on reasons why we should reach our goal puts us in a more confident mindset, and genuine confidence is an infinitely attractive trait. It also helps us to perform at our best. A teenager asking a girl to a school dance is much more likely to get a “yes” if he is smiling, standing tall, and cracking jokes than if he is staring at the floor and mumbling. The message that the latter gives is that he doesn’t think she should want to go to the dance with him. This might, in turn, make her doubt her attraction to him in the first place. However, a wide smile and clever joke will make her feel comfortable, connected, and excited for the fun-filled evening ahead.
A good way to empower yourself before a big moment like this is to write down ten reasons why the person would want to say yes. Once you internalize these reasons, even if you are denied, you will feel that it is their loss and find it easier to move on from the rejection. Even more effective than doing this before a big moment is to practice it in your daily life. By consciously noticing when you elicit a smile, or when your hair looks great, or when your speech was well received, you are training your brain to look for these positive traits in yourself and, in turn, to see yourself in a flattering light. When you see yourself as an appealing, clever, magnanimous person, others will too.

2. Take Time to Meditate.

Most people feel stressed and unsure of themselves when entering a new social situation. Although this is completely natural and understandable, it is far from the best mindset to be in when you want to give off a good impression. A simple trick to counteract this is to learn how to meditate. Meditation has been shown to lower stress levels, and in particular the traits of anxiety, impulsiveness, and worry, all of which often lead to social blunders. It also strengthens your mental strength and focus, creativity, and memory, qualities which are crucial to good conversation and building relationships. Best of all, it only takes twenty minutes a day.
Science Proves The Power Of Meditation

3. Know Yourself, Be Yourself.

Personal congruence is the practice of aligning your thoughts, words, and actions. Congruence is the quality that causes a person to come off to others as authentic and self-assured. Practicing congruence promotes self-confidence because you are acting with integrity, and because others are responding to you as you truly are rather than as you think they would like you to be. Being congruent is about embracing and expressing your true feelings.
Most people fail to be congruent because they do not want to show weakness. However, I have found that some of my best friends are those who have known me at my worst, most unattractive moments. There’s something very endearing and relatable about someone who is being vulnerable – even though they are not perfect. Genuine flaws are usually much more charming than a manufactured veneer of perfection.

4. You do you, honey!

Do things because you genuinely want to – not because you want to appear a certain way to others or to fit in. When you stop looking for validation from others, you free yourself up to pursue interests and hobbies that you may never have considered before – which will, in the end, make you a more well-rounded and interesting person. Your passion for the pursuits you have chosen will be attractive to others, because nothing is more appealing than someone who is genuinely having a good time. Think of the last truly and universally likeable person you encountered – did he need you to like him? Of course not – because he liked himself. Take back control of your self-image by worrying less about what others think of you and more about who you really are and how much you are enjoying life.
10 Bad Habits to Avoid for Optimum Success

5. Listen Up!

Everyone loves to talk – but few have perfected the art of listening. As the wife of a very good listener, I can tell you from the outside what a profound impact it has on people. Most people, myself included, tend to talk too much because we are eager to make a connection. However, it’s in listening that you come to truly understand a person and what makes them tick. Because he is a natural at this, my husband not only attracts people and makes them feel comfortable, but is also able to offer thoughtful insights regarding their problems, strengths, and motivations. Listening opens your mind, strengthens your sense of empathy, and develops your ability to connect. As someone who struggles to develop this skill, I cannot recommend it highly enough!

6. Shake It Off!

Everyone has felt the sting of rejection – even Taylor Swift. Unfortunately, if we dwell on these rejections and the reasons why others might not like us, we can train our brain to look for our flaws and blunders – creating the opposite of the effect discussed above in tip #1. The fact that not everyone will like us can be disheartening, or it can be tremendously freeing. Rejection, after all, is rarely about your defects. More often, two people simply don’t mesh well, and you are both better off putting your time and energy into other relationships.
The funny thing about becoming a truly and deeply appealing person is that, if you have this quality, you likely don’t even care – because you love yourself regardless. Your most important and long-lasting relationship is the one that you have with yourself. Cultivate that, and the rest is sure to fall into place.

Science Explains Why People Who Love Writing Are Smarter

It isn’t often you discover, as a writer, that what you do professionally has intelligence-boosting benefits. Everyone assumes that folks in STEM professions are smart; those of us who trend more towards arts and humanities don’t receive the same treatment by a long shot. So when there’s this study and this study and this article that all show that people who write are smarter, well…
Buy an “Intelligence is sexy” t-shirt!

Writers Are More Emotionally Intelligent

Writers are highly motivated, empathetic, capable of self-regulation, highly self-aware and have superior social skills: all hallmarks of people who are highly emotionally intelligent. Emotional intelligence exploded onto the scene as a much more accurate indicator of overall intelligence than IQ in the mid-nineties. People with higher levels of emotional intelligence -the ability to understand, identify and assess their own emotions as well as others- tend to be more widely sought than people with high IQs among recruiters and employers.

Writers are Able to Learn More

In a fascinating study of students taking notes on their laptops versus students taking notes longhand, students who took notes by using a laptop were found to retain less of the information they learned. They also didn’t think as critically about it as did the students who took notes longhand. Note-taking by laptop, researchers learned, was essentially the same as taking dictation: students were focused on getting all of the words instead of the content of the words. Whereas when students took notes longhand they knew they wouldn’t be able to copy everyword, so they were automatically and necessarily sorting the information as it came in. This required that they think more critically about what was being said, as well as organize and summarize it on the fly.

Writers Are Better Able to Process Negative Feelings

A study of unemployed engineers showed that of three groups of engineers, those who were told to write about their experiences and feelings of financial instability and economic inadequacy were more likely to be employed eight months after the study, by over twice as much (53% versus 24%). The theory is that writing gives a sense of closure around the feelings associated with job loss and unemployment, making the prospect of job-hunting less daunting and more manageable.
The Power of Writing – Use Your Words

Writers Are Better Able to Process…Everything

Writing gives a framework within which a person can organize their minds and help them think more clearly and process more efficiently and analytically. Almost every writer is familiar with the problem of the story in their head looking nothing like the story they’re writing, and how many frustrating drafts it takes before they start really resembling each other. This constant editing and processing of information over and over gives writers specifically the incredible ability not just to thoughtfully sort and organize information, but also to use that information most effectively. Whether it’s telling a story or creating quatrains or putting together a technical manual, the process of writing actually boosts writers’ intellectual capacities.
The bottom line is that writing, like anything worth doing, takes regular practice, time and energy to see the benefits. You’re probably not going to pick up a pen and immediately turn into the next Flannery O’Connor or Barbara Kingsolver, but you might get there. Along the way, you’ll be increasing your intelligence every time you take the initiative and sit down to write.

7 Unconventional Tips to Build your Self-Confidence

Self-confidence is one of those things that I think we all struggle with at some point. Whether you are an average Joe or Jane, or a professional athlete – self-confidence is crucial in our everyday lives. That being said, maintaining a healthy self-confidence is easier said than done sometimes. Here are some tips to keep in mind when you feel your self-confidence levels dipping into the red.

1. Self-Imaging

Image what you are and you will be that…eventually. Positive self-imaging gives you confidence. Post-it notes on the mirror or somewhere else that you will see every day can be helpful.

2. Do Uncomfortable Things

Doing things that are uncomfortable is a great way to grow your confidence. Who knows? Maybe you will be able to do the Waltz or something? Just trying new things that are uncomfortable really boosts confidence when you find out that you actually good at them or have some potential.

3. Fail Often

Failing often helps you learn how not to be defeated. When you see the situation a second time, you will know what to do. Failing helps you learn and grow. It’s this process you will boost your confidence over your lifetime. The most successful companies today will be those that are able to embrace failure in all of its forms: They must fail fast, fail early and fail often. Only then will they succeed.

4. Be Okay with Being Wrong

You don’t always have to be right, just don’t worry about being wrong. Sometimes you have to take a stand and then admit that you were wrong. This is just part of a process of trial and error that helps you and others discover what is right. In scientific endeavors, there is usually a thesis about what the truth is and if it cannot be proved wrong, then it is right.

5. Praise Others

Thinking negatively about ourselves can lead to talking negatively about others. To break this cycle, compliment and praise those around you. This will lead to you feeling better about yourself and the cycle of negativity is broken. By looking for the best in other people, you tend to bring about the best in yourself.

6. Laugh When Encountering Frustration

If you can laugh off frustration instead of crying about it, your spirits will be lifted and help you go forward. This helps you think positively and promotes self-confidence about the possibilities of success.

7. Don’t let Other’s Opinions Affect You

If you let others opinions affect you it will stop you from doing what you think or know is right. Don’t let ‘nay-sayers’ get you feeling down, this only leads to negative thoughts. Try surrounding yourself with a few positive people and keep them close. Their opinions should help you with gaining confidence without a need to seek external validation. There are so many ‘trolls’ and ‘haters’ online that you should not succumb to their goal of trying to bring you down. Just ignore them and value the opinions of your positive thinking group of people.

6 Ways to Build Confidence that will Make You Truly Unstoppable

There is one common trait among highly successful people that is universal no matter what it is that they are trying to accomplish: They believe in themselves. Confidence is the difference between “I can’t” and “I am unstoppable”. Remember, no one will believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself first. Confidence isn’t just something that happens for most people, it is something that is developed over time. Here are 6 ways that you can build the kind of confidence that makes you truly unstoppable in life.

1. Be Realistic

The key building personal confidence starts with being real with yourself. Know your abilities, know your limitations. The reason this is so important is because too often we expect more out of ourselves and feel like a failure when we can’t achieve things that are, in reality, nearly impossible.

2. Embrace Fear

Fear is an important aspect of confidence. Fear is healthy in the regard that we can overcome it. There is nothing that builds confidence in yourself like looking fear right in the eyes and saying, “Yes, I see you. No, I am not giving in to you. You will not beat me.” Fear exists for a reason, to get our attention and make us focus. Fear doesn’t exist to hold us back.

3. Pick your Battles

Picking your battles goes back to being realistic. If you were to set a goal and acknowledge all of the challenges associated with that goal, move through the challenges in a manner that allows for small victories. Build momentum in your quest, so that if there is a setback – it becomes a speed bump and not a road block. You can also see this as taking “baby steps”. Those little victories add up to build your overall confidence along the way.

4. Understand Your Failures, and Accept Them

Failures are not the end of a task. They are a lesson in how the task should be completed. That’s it. Sometimes we need more lessons to finish a certain task than others, but that doesn’t mean that we are inept. It just means that we are learning. Changing your perspective from “failure” to “lesson” is the best way to build confidence in the fact that you’re not messing up, you’re getting better.

5. Surround Yourself with the Right People

The team you put yourself on makes all the difference when it comes to confidence. Surround yourself with people that build you up, and support that confidence. Even when it comes to goals that are purely yours like losing weight, the people that support you are the ones that nurture that confidence that you have in yourself.
Read: 7 Unconventional Tips to Build your Self-Confidence

6. Make it Tangible

The truly easiest way to build and develop your personal confidence is to make it tangible. For instance, when you are working toward completing a task, write down what you want to accomplish and what you need to do to get there. As you knock out the little things that are associated with the bigger goal you can step back and say, “Wow I’ve gotten a lot done toward completing this bigger task.” It’s like drawing a map from point A to point B and marking your progress, if you can’t see it – you don’t know how far you’ve really come.

4 Things You Should Do To Build Your Self-Confidence

I think that one of the most important things that a person can develop in their life is self-confidence. When you don’t just think that you can do something, but you know in your soul that there is nothing that can stop you – well, there is nothing that can stop you. Self-confidence isn’t just something we are born with, it’s something that we develop over time. As many ways as there are to build self-confidence, it seems there are twice as many things that we will encounter in our lives that can put dents in that confidence that we’ve worked so hard to build. Developing self-confidence is an active process. Here are 4 things that you can do that will help you develop that unstoppable confidence in yourself that will make you successful in anything you do.

Meditation

One thing that absolutely kills self-confidence is anxiety. Anxiety fuels doubts and doubts burn self-confidence like a grassfire. Meditation is one of the best ways to not only manage anxiety but to eliminate it. Sometimes the best thing you can do for a worried mind is to let it relax. You brain is just like a muscle in that sense: if you keep working out a torn muscle it will never heal. If your brain is running non-stop all day, it’s never going to clear up.

Learn a Language

The amazing thing about learning a new language is how it activates parts of your brain that don’t get used a lot. The cool thing about learning a new language is that it is a tangible result. There are tons of free language learning resources available out there like Duolingo that track your progress and show you how much you’ve learned. Learning any new skill is beneficial for self-confidence, but learning a new language allows you connect with new people, cultures, and places.
6 Ways to Build Confidence that will Make You Truly Unstoppable

Sales Training

Even if you don’t work in sales, I promise you that if you read through sales training materials you will instantly see the benefits that can come from it. Sales is all about confidence and communication – two skills that will help you be successful in any industry. Just because you aren’t in a sales position doesn’t mean that you don’t ever need those skills. For instance, giving a presentation at work involves a lot of skills that selling a product does. Sales training helps you interact with people effectively, and develops a sense of confidence in yourself like very few other types of training can.
Break Out of Your Shell! Five Ways to Build Social Confidence

Start a Business

Starting a business doesn’t have to be the massive endeavour that most people think it is. You can start something as simple as an Etsy store to sell crafts or start a blog that is monetized. Starting a business is a unique opportunity to build something with your own two hands. Let’s say you like to bake, there are tons of places where you can sell your products without having to buy a bakery. All it takes is an idea, some research, and ambition. Entrepreneurship is an amazing way to show yourself what you are capable of.

Memory capacity of brain is 10 times more than previously thought

Salk researchers and collaborators have achieved critical insight into the size of neural connections, putting the memory capacity of the brain far higher than common estimates. The new work also answers a longstanding question as to how the brain is so energy efficient and could help engineers build computers that are incredibly powerful but also conserve energy.

"This is a real bombshell in the field of neuroscience," says Terry Sejnowski, Salk professor and co-senior author of the paper, which was published in eLife. "We discovered the key to unlocking the design principle for how hippocampal neurons function with low energy but high computation power. Our new measurements of the brain's memory capacity increase conservative estimates by a factor of 10 to at least a petabyte, in the same ballpark as the World Wide Web."
Our memories and thoughts are the result of patterns of electrical and chemical activity in the brain. A key part of the activity happens when branches of neurons, much like electrical wire, interact at certain junctions, known as synapses. An output 'wire' (an axon) from one neuron connects to an input 'wire' (a dendrite) of a second neuron. Signals travel across the synapse as chemicals called neurotransmitters to tell the receiving neuron whether to convey an electrical signal to other neurons. Each neuron can have thousands of these synapses with thousands of other neurons.

"When we first reconstructed every dendrite, axon, glial process, and synapse from a volume of hippocampus the size of a single red blood cell, we were somewhat bewildered by the complexity and diversity amongst the synapses," says Kristen Harris, co-senior author of the work and professor of neuroscience at the University of Texas, Austin. "While I had hoped to learn fundamental principles about how the brain is organized from these detailed reconstructions, I have been truly amazed at the precision obtained in the analyses of this report."
Synapses are still a mystery, though their dysfunction can cause a range of neurological diseases. Larger synapses—with more surface area and vesicles of neurotransmitters—are stronger, making them more likely to activate their surrounding neurons than medium or small synapses.
The Salk team, while building a 3D reconstruction of rat hippocampus tissue (the memory center of the brain), noticed something unusual. In some cases, a single axon from one neuron formed two synapses reaching out to a single dendrite of a second neuron, signifying that the first neuron seemed to be sending a duplicate message to the receiving neuron.

At first, the researchers didn't think much of this duplicity, which occurs about 10 percent of the time in the hippocampus. But Tom Bartol, a Salk staff scientist, had an idea: if they could measure the difference between two very similar synapses such as these, they might glean insight into synaptic sizes, which so far had only been classified in the field as small, medium and large.
To do this, researchers used advanced microscopy and computational algorithms they had developed to image rat brains and reconstruct the connectivity, shapes, volumes and surface area of the brain tissue down to a nanomolecular level.
The scientists expected the synapses would be roughly similar in size, but were surprised to discover the synapses were nearly identical.
"We were amazed to find that the difference in the sizes of the pairs of synapses were very small, on average, only about eight percent different in size. No one thought it would be such a small difference. This was a curveball from nature," says Bartol.
Because the memory capacity of neurons is dependent upon synapse size, this eight percent difference turned out to be a key number the team could then plug into their algorithmic models of the brain to measure how much information could potentially be stored in synaptic connections.
It was known before that the range in sizes between the smallest and largest synapses was a factor of 60 and that most are small.
But armed with the knowledge that synapses of all sizes could vary in increments as little as eight percent between sizes within a factor of 60, the team determined there could be about 26 categories of sizes of synapses, rather than just a few.
"Our data suggests there are 10 times more discrete sizes of synapses than previously thought," says Bartol. In computer terms, 26 sizes of synapses correspond to about 4.7 "bits" of information. Previously, it was thought that the brain was capable of just one to two bits for short and long memory storage in the hippocampus.
"This is roughly an order of magnitude of precision more than anyone has ever imagined," says Sejnowski.
What makes this precision puzzling is that hippocampal synapses are notoriously unreliable. When a signal travels from one neuron to another, it typically activates that second neuron only 10 to 20 percent of the time.
"We had often wondered how the remarkable precision of the brain can come out of such unreliable synapses," says Bartol. One answer, it seems, is in the constant adjustment of synapses, averaging out their success and failure rates over time. The team used their new data and a statistical model to find out how many signals it would take a pair of synapses to get to that eight percent difference.
The researchers calculated that for the smallest synapses, about 1,500 events cause a change in their size/ability (20 minutes) and for the largest synapses, only a couple hundred signaling events (1 to 2 minutes) cause a change.
"This means that every 2 or 20 minutes, your synapses are going up or down to the next size. The synapses are adjusting themselves according to the signals they receive," says Bartol.
"Our prior work had hinted at the possibility that spines and axons that synapse together would be similar in size, but the reality of the precision is truly remarkable and lays the foundation for whole new ways to think about brains and computers," says Harris. "The work resulting from this collaboration has opened a new chapter in the search for learning and memory mechanisms." Harris adds that the findings suggest more questions to explore, for example, if similar rules apply for synapses in other regions of the brain and how those rules differ during development and as synapses change during the initial stages of learning.
"The implications of what we found are far-reaching," adds Sejnowski. "Hidden under the apparent chaos and messiness of the brain is an underlying precision to the size and shapes of synapses that was hidden from us."
The findings also offer a valuable explanation for the brain's surprising efficiency. The waking adult brain generates only about 20 watts of continuous power—as much as a very dim light bulb. The Salk discovery could help computer scientists build ultraprecise, but energy-efficient, computers, particularly ones that employ "deep learning" and artificial neural nets—techniques capable of sophisticated learning and analysis, such as speech, object recognition and translation.
"This trick of the brain absolutely points to a way to design better computers," says Sejnowski. "Using probabilistic transmission turns out to be as accurate and require much less energy for both computers and brains."

Explore further: Modeling memory in the brain

More information: Thomas M Bartol et al. Nanoconnectomic upper bound on the variability of synaptic plasticity, eLife (2015). DOI: 10.7554/eLife.10778

Journal reference: eLife

Provided by: Salk Institute