How You Learn .....................

2
R o b e r t S a p o l s k y, P h . D . ,

W h a t T i m e O f D a y D o Y ou
Learn Best? .......................... 3
T h e C on f e r e n c e B o a r d a n d
D a n a A l li a n ce

L i f e s t y le C o u n t s, T o o . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
T h e C on f e r e n c e B o a r d a n d
D a n a A l li a n ce

BRAIN
MATTERS
M o s t U S T e en s a r e S le e p
Deprived ............................... 5
E r i c C hu d l e r

RAISING AWARENESS ABOUT BRAIN HEALTH ISSUES

T e t r i s an d t he B r a i n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
E r i c C hu d l e r

P u t t i n g I t Al l T o g e th e r :
L e a r n i ng F o r W o r k a n d L i f e . . . . . 7
T h e C on f e r e n c e B o a r d a n d
D a n a A l li a n ce

Editor: Susana Del Buono

 Learning and the Brain
How You Learn
By Robert Sapolsky

Learning literally shapes the brain. Every time we learn something, we change the structure of our
brain a little bit, one synapse at a time.

Synapses are the points at which neurons communicate with one another through chemicals
called neurotransmitters. Think of an elaborate highway system: major routes are interconnected
with secondary and tertiary roads at intersections. You can travel anywhere by taking the right
route. The same principle holds true in the brain: neural signals are transmitted along complex
paths via a vast network of synaptic connections. More activity creates stronger synaptic
connections. Stronger connections support more efficient, flexible brain function.

Use it or lose it. Over the course of our lives, our experiences sculpt the connections that
crisscross our brains, synapse by synapse.

The more you learn, the richer your synapses... and the richer your
synapses, the more you learn
From before birth into young adulthood, synapses are overproduced by genetic programming and
then systematically pruned in a process that is driven largely by experience. This process of
"produce-and-prune," which occurs in waves in different brain areas, is fundamental to brain
development.

This is where the popular concept of "use it or lose it" comes from: synapses not used are literally
lost. Those that are used regularly become stronger. This is why most office workers have no
problem remembering how to type, but changing the copier paper is less automatic, and
programming a new piece of equipment like a Blackberry is comparatively difficult.

"Use it or lose it" applies lifelong, because the brain doesn't stop molding its circuits when we
reach adulthood. Synapses continue to be added and modified throughout life. These later
modifications are driven by experience - that is, by learning.

Experience-driven changes are either structural, as when new spines sprout up along dendrites to
create new synapses,or chemical, as when a larger spurt of neurotransmitter is released at a well-
used synapse. In both cases, the result is a denser, richer network of synaptic connections.
Learning strengthens pre-existing synapses.

Within the brain, axons usually form synapses with dendrites, nerve
fibers on the receiving neuron that are spiked with tiny hair-like growths
known as spines. The classic type of synapse in the brain is a
connection that links an axon to a dendritic spine. Neurotransmitters,
which are released when a nerve impulse reaches the synapse, diffuse
across the synaptic cleft and lock on to receptors on the receiving, or
post-synaptic cell.

Robert Sapolsky, Ph.D., Stanford University neurobiologist, in The Great Courses.

2|Brain Matters
 Learning and the Brain
What Time Of Day Do You Learn Best?
By the Conference Board and Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives

Do you work better at certain times of the day and fight sleep
at others? Suffer through a post-lunch haze of drowsiness?
Get a burst of energy just as the workday is winding down?

Through the course of any given day, we all have natural

peaks and troughs in our energy levels that can affect our
alertness and ability to concentrate. These fluctuations in
cognitive performance may largely be due to the influence of
circadian rhythms.

Circadian rhythms are the 24-hour sleep-wake cycles that direct a wide range of biological
functions-not just when we go to sleep and wake up, but virtually every element of our physiology.
Circadian influences on human physiology have been extensively researched, but scientists are
just beginning to understand their impact on cognitive performance.

Some studies have demonstrated that individual differences in patterns of circadian arousal-the
time of day that we are most alert-correlate with performance on a variety of cognitive tasks, and
that such performance peaks more or less regularly at a specific point in the day. For "morning
types," performance generally peaks in early morning hours, while "evening types" perform better
in the late afternoon.

Are you a lark, cheerful and talkative in the morning? Or an owl, coming alive after the sun goes
down? The answer may depend on your age. Older adults tend to be morning types, while
younger adults show an opposite pattern. When tested at various points throughout the day, both
young and older adults show dramatic differences in memory performance. But younger people
tend to improve as the day progresses, while older people generally exhibit a decline.

As we age, there appears to be a shift in our circadian arousal patterns toward a morning type,
and this shift seems to begin around age 50. Fewer than 2 percent of older adults show a
tendency toward evening arousal, while nearly 80 percent are morning types.

These patterns suggest that morning may be the best time for older adults to undertake
challenging cognitive tasks, and that late afternoon or evening may be best for younger people.
These are generalizations, not hard-and-fast rules. By paying close attention to your own
fluctuations in energy, alertness, and mental clarity throughout the day, you can learn to recognize
your own patterns and adjust your activities accordingly.

The Conference Board is one of the world's pre-eminent business membership and research organizations. Best known
for the Consumer Confidence Index and the Leading Economic Indicators, The Conference Board has, for more than 90
years, equipped the world's leading corporations with practical knowledge through issues-oriented research and senior
executive peer-to-peer meetings.

The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives (DABI) is a nonprofit organization of 280 eminent neuroscientists, including
ten Nobel laureates. The Dana Alliance is committed to advancing public awareness about the progress and benefits of
brain research and disseminating information on the brain in an understandable and accessible fashion.

3|Brain Matters
 Brain Health
Lifestyle Counts, Too
By the Conference Board and Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives

Epidemiological studies from many countries that have

tracked individuals from middle to old age have identified
four factors that predict maintenance of cognitive function
as we age. Substantial work in animal models supports
these factors, but only a handful of clinical trials-the gold
standard of biomedical research-have been conducted.
Still, even the most conservative neuroscientists agree that
certain lifestyle factors support brain health throughout life.

The key factors of a brain-health lifestyle are

 Increased mental activity

 Increased physical activity
 Increased levels of social engagement
 Control of vascular risk factors that can lead to
cognitive decline, including:
 High blood pressure
 High cholesterol
 Diabetes
 Smoking
 Being overweight

“There is increasing research in human and animal studies to

suggest that physical activity and exercise will protect your
mind and brain throughout your lifetime.”
Art Kramer, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology,
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

4|Brain Matters
 Teenage Brain
Most US Teens are Sleep Deprived
By Eric Chudler

Are you a teenager who gets enough sleep each

night? If you are, then you are one of the very few
who do! Researchers from the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention have found that only 7.6%
of high school students in the United States get
the optimal time of sleep on school nights.

The researchers gave a questionnaire to high

school students and asked how many hours of
sleep a student got each school night. To analyze
the data, the scientists grouped the students'
responses into three categories: 1) insufficient sleep time (less than 8 hours); 2) borderline sleep
time (8 hours); 3) optimal sleep time (equal or more than 9 hours).
Of the 12,154 students who responded to the questionnaire, 68.9% reported insufficient sleep,
23.5% reported borderline sleep and only 7.6% reported optimal sleep. More girls (71.3%) than boys
(66.6%) reported insufficient sleep and the number of students who reported insufficient sleep
increased with grade level: 9th graders (57.7%), 10th graders (67.6%), 11th graders (75.1%), 12th
graders (78.2%).

Sleep is essential to good health and the lack of sleep

may lead to concentration and memory problems,
depression, irritability and stress. As this new research
shows, teenagers are not getting enough sleep. The
lack of sufficient sleep may be caused by
extracurricular activities (e.g., sports, clubs,
community service), jobs, early school times,
homework, caffeine consumption, and social
pressures. The importance of sleep to proper mental
health should not be underestimated and sleep is
something that should not be sacrificed.

References and more information:

 Eaton, D.K., McKnight-Eily, L.R., Lowery, R., Perry, G.S., Presley-Cantrell, L., and Croft, J.B.,
Prevalence of insufficient, borderline, and optimal hours of sleep among high school students -
United States, 2007, J. Adolescent Health, in press, 2010.

5|Brain Matters
 Brain Games
Tetris and the Brain
By Eric Chudler

The video game Tetris was developed in 1984 and

quickly became one of the most popular computer
games in history. The goal of Tetris is to fit falling
shapes into a single line without any spaces. When a
solid line is created, the line is removed and players
score points. As the game goes on, the shapes fall
faster and faster and if the shapes stack up to the
top of the screen, the game is over.

New research by a team of American and Canadian

scientists shows that players are changing their
brains as they play Tetris. In these experiments, 26
girls (ages 12-15 years old) were divided into two
groups: girls in one group played Tetris for three
months (about 1.5 hours each week) while the other
group did not play Tetris. None of the girls had experience playing Tetris before the experiment
started.
Structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to examine changes in the
brain. The structural MRI allowed the researchers to compare the anatomy of the brain before and
after the three month period; the functional MRI (fMRI) permitted the researchers to see which parts
of the brain were being used when the girls played Tetris.
Compared to girls who did not play Tetris, girls who played Tetris for three months had significantly
thicker cerebral cortex in area 6 (in the parietal lobe) and areas 22/38 (in the temporal lobe) on the
left side of their brains. The fMRI data showed that girls in the Tetris-playing group had decreased
activity in parts of the frontal and parietal lobes on the right side of the brain when they played the
game. The brain areas that increased in thickness did NOT overlap with the areas that had decreases
in activity.

So, playing Tetris appears to increase the thickness of the cerebral cortex and change brain activity.
Does this mean that playing Tetris makes your smarter? Not necessarily! Scientists do not know how
these brain changes are related to cognitive abilities such as memory, attention and learning.

“Tetris appears to increase the

thickness of the cerebral cortex and
change brain activity.”

6|Brain Matters
 Putting It All Together:
Learning For Work And Life
By the Conference Board and Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives

The lesson from neuroscience is, at its core, a simple one: engage
your brain in learning, every day and in every way possible. Learning
shapes the brain throughout life, not just during periods of brain
development in childhood and young adulthood.

At any age, learning induces changes at the synaptic connections

that underlie all aspects of brain function, making these synapses
stronger and actually adding new synapses into our neural networks.
Learning supports the development of a rich network of synaptic
connections that crisscross our brain, which will in turn support our
overall cognitive health as we age.

If we push our brains and challenge them to learn, we can enhance

our neural architecture, no matter our age. By doing so, we will be
taking positive steps to manage our brain health.

We can also enhance our performance on the job and be better

equipped to adapt to rapid changes in technology and new
knowledge.

By enriching our brains with learning throughout life, we can enrich

our work and personal lives, and reap the benefits of better brain
health on the job and in every aspect of life.

7|Brain Matters
 REFERENCES

Your brain at work -How you Learn

http://yourbrainatwork.org/how-you-learn.html

Your brain at work - Lifestyle Counts

http://yourbrainatwork.org/lifestyle-counts.html

Neuroscience for Kids

http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/susa.html
Brain Facts
http://www.thethinkingbusiness.co.uk/brain_facts.html

A Tour of your brain

http://www.thethinkingbusiness.co.uk/brain_tour.html

Ten amazing facts about your brain

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article3639884.ece

8|Brain Matters