Is Your Right or Left Brain in Charge?

You’ve heard the expressions “right brain” and left brain,” but do you know what these terms refer to? And what about “whole brain thinking?”

Your brain’s  cortex, your “grey matter,” is the source of your analytical thinking ability. Your cortex is naturally divided into two sides that are connected by a very complex mass of nerve fibers called the corpus collosum.

For most people the left side of the cortex (your “left brain”) deals with logical thinking — anything connected to words, numbers, reasoning, and analysis. It also tends to operate in the Gamma and Beta brainwave frequencies.

The right side of the cortex, (your “right brain”) on the other hand, focuses on imagination, images, color, day-dreaming, visualization, and pattern recognition. It tends to generate the Alpha brainwaves that are so highly developed in meditators and artistic types

There’s a common assumption that each used either our right-brain or our left-brain.  So if that’s valid, then someone like Einstein would have used his left-brain, while someone like the great creative master photographer Ansel Adams would have focused on his  right-brain.

Does this assumption hold up? Actually Albert Einstein and  Ansel Adams’ personal notebooks reveal otherwise. Einstein credited his greatest scientific insights not to left-brain logic, but rather to his right-brain highly creative daydreaming. And Ansel Adams credited his greatest art photographs not to his right-brain artistic eye, but  to his left-brain detailed analytical note taking.

Our most powerful mental activities actually use both sides of your cortex simultaneously — whole brain thinking. If you say you are primarily creative or intuitive (right-brain dominated), or analytical and logical (left-brain dominant), you’re just describing your most highly developed mental skill — and the side of the cortex that is you’ve most highly developed.

But with the proper training, the other side of your cortex can also flourish and develop. This has the potential to literally DOUBLE your mind power, and increase your ability to do the whole brain thinking like Albert Einstein and Andel Adams..

Get Immediate Results
There’s an outrageously powerful way for you to immediately refine the non-dominant side of your cortex. Great athletes do it. So do top executives, famous artists, and people from all walks of life who seek to excel in their lives.

 

Build Middle-Age Brain Power?

Are you a middle-age or older adult? Then you might want to spend more time searching the internet to build your brain power.

Scientists at UCLA have found that for middle-age and older adults, searching the Internet triggers key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. The findings demonstrate that Web search activity may help stimulate and  improve brain function and cognitive ability.

“The study results indicate that emerging computerized technologies may have physiological effects and potential (improve brain power) benefits for middle-aged and older adults,” said principal investigator Dr. Gary Small, a professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. Small found that searching the internet engages complicated brain activity, and “may help exercise and improve brain function.”

As the brain ages, a number of structural and functional changes occur, including atrophy, reductions in cell activity, and increases in deposits of plaques and tangles – all of which impact cognitive function. Small noted that pursuing activities that keep the mind engaged helps preserve brain health and cognitive ability.

The UCLA team worked with 24 neurologically normal research volunteers between the ages of 55 and 76. Half of the study participants had experience searching the Internet, while the other half had no experience. Age, educational level and gender were similar between the two groups.

Study participants performed Web searches and book-reading tasks while undergoing brain scans that measured the level of cerebral blood flow during the cognitive tasks.

All study participants showed significant brain activity during the book-reading task, but internet searches revealed a major difference. While all participants demonstrated the same brain activity that was seen during the book-reading task, the Web-savvy group also registered activity in the frontal, temporal and cingulate areas of the brain controlling decision-making and complex reasoning.

“Our most striking finding was that Internet searching appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry that is not activated during reading — but only in those with prior Internet experience,” said Small, who is also the director of UCLA’s Memory and Aging Research Center. In fact, researchers found that during Web searching, volunteers with prior experience registered a twofold increase in brain activation when compared with those with little Internet experience.

Compared with simple reading, the Internet requires making decisions about what to click on in order to pursue more information — an activity that engages cognitive circuits in the brain.”Searching the Web appears to enhance brain circuitry in mid-age and older adults,” Small said.

Small added that the minimal brain activation in the less experienced Internet group may be due to participants not quite grasping the strategies needed to successfully engage in an Internet search.

Does the Internet Improve Brain Functions?

Scientists at UCLA have found that  searching the Internet triggers key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning — stimulating, and possibly improving, brain function.

“Emerging computerized technologies may have physiological effects and potential benefits for middle-aged and older adults,” said principal investigator Dr. Gary Small, a professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA. Small found that searching the internet engages complicated brain activity, and “may help exercise and improve brain function.”

As we ages, a number of structural and functional changes occur in the brain, including atrophy, reductions in cell activity, and increases in deposits of plaques and tangles – all of which impact cognitive function. Small noted that pursuing activities that keep the mind engaged helps preserve brain health and cognitive ability.

The UCLA team worked with 24 neurologically normal research volunteers between the ages of 55 and 76. Half of the study participants had experience searching the Internet, while the other half had no experience. Age, educational level and gender were similar between the two groups.

Study participants performed Web searches and book-reading tasks while undergoing brain scans that measured the level of cerebral blood flow during the cognitive tasks.

All study participants showed significant brain activity during the book-reading task, but internet searches revealed a major difference. While all participants demonstrated the same brain activity that was seen during the book-reading task, the Web-savvy group also registered activity in the frontal, temporal and cingulate areas of the brain controlling decision-making and complex reasoning.

“Our most striking finding was that Internet searching appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry that is not activated during reading — but only in those with prior Internet experience,” said Small, who is also the director of UCLA’s Memory and Aging Research Center. In fact, researchers found that during Web searching, volunteers with prior experience registered a twofold increase in brain activation when compared with those with little Internet experience.

Compared with simple reading, the Internet requires making decisions about what to click on in order to pursue more information — an activity that engages cognitive circuits in the brain.”Searching the web appears to enhance brain circuitry in older adults,” Small said. He added that the minimal brain activation in the less experienced computer group might have been because they did not  quite grasp the strategies of a successful Internet search.

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