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Saturday, January 9, 2010

Where are my keys?

I've been reading this book called "The Brain that Changes Itself" by Norman Doidge, PhD.  Neuroscientists previously believed that our mental abilities were fixed at a very young age, but now there is an understanding that the brain is instead plastic and has the ability to change and improve its functioning at any age.  There is a story of a woman who had no spatial reasoning.  She couldn't make a mental map of things in space.  Out of sight literally meant out of mind for her.  It made me think of certain organizing clients who are always looking for their keys and who don't like to put things away for fear of never finding them.  The woman in the story reversed her spatial reasoning deficiency and a host of other learning disabilities by a series of exercises that worked by carving new neural pathways in the brain.  I did a little research and found a website called Lumosity which offers a series of brain fitness programs designed by some of the leading experts in neuroscience and cognitive psychology.  There is one for improving spatial reasoning called Memory Matrix.  A pattern flashes on the screen which you have to repeat by clicking the correct tiles.  It starts with three and, assuming you get it right, goes up from there.  


Its pretty easy at first and then at about level 8 or 9 is when I started really feeling my brain stretching.  Its like yoga for the brain and I'm totally hooked.  Turns out I can feed my addiction all day long since there's a Memory Matrix application for the iPhone.  



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