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Sep 12, 2006

Use It or Lose It: what is It?

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Who has not heard “Use It or Lose It”. Now, what is “It”? And, is “It” only one thing or a num­ber of inte­grated ele­ments, each of which are heav­ily involved in spe­cific “brain exer­cises”, and all of which are impor­tant to main­tain Brain Fit­ness.

Let’s review at a glance:

The brain is com­posed of 3 “brains” or main sub-systems, each named after the evo­lu­tion­ary moment in which the sub-system is believed to have appeared, and after which species we share that struc­ture with.

Theropod A) Neo­cor­tex, or Human Brain, is the most recent area, where we per­form high-level think­ing and com­plex inte­gra­tive tasks. Other mam­mals do have this part too, but in much smaller pro­por­tion of the whole brain vol­ume.
B) Lim­bic Sys­tem, or Mam­malian Brain, crit­i­cal for emo­tions and for memory,

C) Cere­bel­lum and Stem, or Rep­til­ian Brain, that reg­u­lates basic vital vari­ables such as breath­ing, heart­beat and motor coor­di­na­tion (Credit for pic: Arnold Key­ser­ling and R.C.L.)
Theropod B) Lim­bic sys­tem: emo­tions are gen­er­ated here, as well as the appetites and urges that help us sur­vive. For instance, the amyg­dala gets trig­gered to pre­pare us to deal with a threat­en­ing sit­u­a­tion, result­ing in our feel­ing of fear. The hip­pocam­pus is key in the for­ma­tion of mem­ory. (Credit: Sand­hills College)
Theropod A) The Neo­cor­tex is com­posed of

-Frontal Lobes: or the CEO of the Mind, for sophis­ti­cated brain func­tions such as plan­ning and conceptualizing.

-Pari­etal: deals with move­ment, the senses, and some forms of recog­ni­tion

-Tem­po­ral: audi­tory processes and language

-Occip­i­tal: visual pro­cess­ing cen­ter (credit: Morphonix)
In action When we exer­cise our brains, we put our Neu­rons in action. “Cells that fire together wire together”, mean­ing that synapses, or unions between neu­rons, get solid­i­fied the more often the respec­tive neu­rons “talk” to each other. (Credit: Peter Furstenberg)
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Categories: Cognitive Neuroscience, Education & Lifelong Learning, Health & Wellness, Peak Performance, Uncategorized

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26 Responses

  1. Elona says:
    September 13, 2006 at 7:40

    Great post. You have made a very com­plex topic very acces­si­ble. I teach a unit on the teenage brain to my grade nine stu­dents in my Learn­ing Strate­gies Class. I think they will “get it.” more eas­ily after view­ing this. I tell them they have to use all parts of their brain all the time, not just the video, tv watch­ing part. So I have them do all kinds of dif­fer­ent puz­zles to keep their brain “strong”.

  2. Alvaro says:
    September 16, 2006 at 9:30

    Very good take-away. Yes, we need nov­elty and vari­ety to exer­cise our brains. I see that once we under­stand the basics of brain anatomy and func­tion­ing, the implca­tions are clear.

    Good luck, and please let me know how the exper­i­ment goes.

  3. Brain exercise: Frontal and Parietal Lobes « SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution says:
    September 20, 2006 at 7:55

    […] Let’s now exer­cise our Frontal Lobes (that deal with work­ing atten­tion, among other things), and Pari­etal Lobes (visual inter­pre­ta­tion). (Basic brain anatomy) […]

  4. senia.com » Introducing … the Sharpbrains Blog! says:
    September 20, 2006 at 2:25

    […] Here are some of my favorites from his posts so far: 1) The “It” in “Use It or Lose It”: what are the dif­fer­ent parts of the brain that peo­ple should think about exer­cis­ing? 2) Phys­i­cal Fit­ness and Brain Fit­ness: this post includes the super-interesting quote: “rats that get reg­u­lar exer­cise lit­er­ally grow big­ger brains than seden­tary rats. 3) The Brain and Mind Fit­ness Rev­o­lu­tion is here with us: how do you improve brain fit­ness and what in terms of neu­ro­mar­ket­ing affects decision-making? […]

  5. Brain exercise today: Occipital lobes « SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution says:
    September 20, 2006 at 9:57

    […] Let’s now exer­cise our Occip­i­tal Lobes (visual inter­pre­ta­tion and rota­tion). (Basic brain anatomy here) […]

  6. Brain exercise: how is this possible? « SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution says:
    September 22, 2006 at 10:19

    […] These 3 pic­tures rep­re­sent a sim­pli­fied image of brain activ­ity taken from right above our heads, with our Frontal Lobes at the top of each image. Dark color indi­cates most activ­ity, light color some activ­ity. (Basic brain anatomy here). […]

  7. The Neuroscience of Leadership and Brain Fitness « SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution says:
    September 23, 2006 at 5:09

    […] Fur­ther infor­ma­tion on a num­ber of these and other areas cov­ered in the arti­cle: — Neu­ro­plas­tic­ity and brain exer­cise — On being “smart” and build­ing neural con­nec­tions — “Use It or Lose It” what is It? (sim­pli­fied brain anatomy) — Ready to learn? — Work­ing Mem­ory Train­ing and Atten­tion — On atten­tion, trad­ing psy­chol­ogy and open minds — Emo­tions and Decision-Making — Brain Fit­ness Pro­grams and the Brain and Mind Fit­ness Rev­o­lu­tion — Phys­i­cal fit­ness and Brain Fit­ness — On being positive […]

  8. Sharpbrains » Brain exercise: how is this possible? says:
    September 28, 2006 at 3:15

    […] These 3 pic­tures rep­re­sent a sim­pli­fied image of brain activ­ity taken from right above our heads, with our Frontal Lobes at the top of each image. Dark color indi­cates most activ­ity, light color some activ­ity. (Basic brain anatomy here).The 3 images show the brain activ­ity hap­pen­ing in 3 dif­fer­ent moments in time when one per­son is doing exactly the same thing. Ques­tion: How is that pos­si­ble? how come we don’t see the acti­va­tion of the same areas? […]

  9. Exercise Brain: Visual brain teaser game « SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution says:
    September 30, 2006 at 9:07

    […] Let’s now exer­cise our Occip­i­tal Lobes (visual inter­pre­ta­tion and rota­tion). (Basic brain anatomy here) […]

  10. Exercise brain: planning puzzle « SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution says:
    October 8, 2006 at 7:27

    […] (Basic brain anatomy here) […]

  11. Brain Coach Answers: Aren’t crosswords and sudoku sufficient brain exercise? « SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution says:
    October 9, 2006 at 11:35

    […] Using your brain to solve cre­ative chal­lenges is excel­lent prac­tice and will help slow down the effects of aging. The lim­i­ta­tion with your cur­rent brain work­out pro­gram is that it does not have enough vari­ety or nov­elty to work out all your men­tal mus­cles. Have you ever seen the guys in the gym with the buff upper bod­ies sup­ported by lit­tle chicken legs? The same thing can hap­pen in your brain. Just as you crosstrain in your phys­i­cal fit­ness rou­tine (mix­ing car­dio with strength train­ing and flex­i­bil­ity) to get a bal­anced work­out, you need to crosstrain your men­tal fit­ness to exer­cise your brain through motor coor­di­na­tion, emo­tional under­stand­ing, mem­ory, focus and atten­tion, sen­sory com­mu­ni­ca­tion, lan­guage skills, and men­tal visualization. […]

  12. Exercise Brain: Frontal and Parietal lobes « SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution says:
    October 10, 2006 at 9:10

    […] Let’s now exer­cise our Frontal Lobes (that deal with work­ing atten­tion, among other things), and Pari­etal Lobes (visual inter­pre­ta­tion). (Basic brain anatomy here) […]

  13. SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution » Exercise Brain: Frontal and Parietal lobes says:
    October 12, 2006 at 1:26

    […] Let’s now exer­cise our Frontal Lobes (that deal with work­ing mem­ory and atten­tion, among other things), and Pari­etal Lobes (visual inter­pre­ta­tion). (Basic brain anatomy here) […]

  14. Brain Coach Answers: How Can I Be More Creative? Is Creativity a Part of Brain Fitness? « SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution says:
    October 16, 2006 at 9:03

    […] Fur­ther Links Mind/Body, Emo­tions, and Decision-Making Social Intel­li­gence and Mir­ror Neu­rons Social Intel­li­gence and the Frontal Lobes An Ape Can Do This. Can We Not? “Use It or Lose It” What is It? The Exec­u­tive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the Civ­i­lized Mind by Dr. Elkhonon Gold­berg Brain Exer­cise at the Osher Life­long Learn­ing Institute […]

  15. Visual Perception Brain Teaser « SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution says:
    October 18, 2006 at 5:03

    […] Links: Basic Neu­roanatomy Brain Map Visual Perception […]

  16. Brain Puzzle for the Whole Brain: The Blind Beggar « SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution says:
    October 20, 2006 at 12:02

    […] Links: Exec­u­tive func­tion Exec­u­tive Func­tion Dis­or­der Basic Neuroanatomy […]

  17. SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution » Blog Archive » Waltzing Your Way to Physical and Mental Fitness says:
    October 27, 2006 at 11:53

    […] Related Links Brain Anatomy Phys­i­cal Fit­ness and Brain Fit­ness Glos­sary of Brain Fit­ness Terms […]

  18. SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution » Blog Archive » Visual Perception Brain Teaser says:
    October 28, 2006 at 3:28

    […] Links: Basic Neu­roanatomy Brain Map Visual Perception […]

  19. SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution » Blog Archive » Exercise Brain: Frontal and Parietal lobes says:
    October 28, 2006 at 7:43

    […] Let’s now exer­cise our Frontal Lobes (that deal with work­ing mem­ory and atten­tion, among other things), and Pari­etal Lobes (visual inter­pre­ta­tion). (Basic brain anatomy here) […]

  20. SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution » Blog Archive » Brain Coach Answers: Aren’t crosswords and sudoku sufficient brain exercise? says:
    October 28, 2006 at 7:46

    […] Using your brain to solve cre­ative chal­lenges is excel­lent prac­tice and will help slow down the effects of aging. The lim­i­ta­tion with your cur­rent brain work­out pro­gram is that it does not have enough vari­ety or nov­elty to work out all your men­tal mus­cles. Have you ever seen the guys in the gym with the buff upper bod­ies sup­ported by lit­tle chicken legs? The same thing can hap­pen in your brain. Just as you crosstrain in your phys­i­cal fit­ness rou­tine (mix­ing car­dio with strength train­ing and flex­i­bil­ity) to get a bal­anced work­out, you need to crosstrain your men­tal fit­ness to exer­cise your brain through motor coor­di­na­tion, emo­tional under­stand­ing, mem­ory, focus and atten­tion, sen­sory com­mu­ni­ca­tion, lan­guage skills, and men­tal visualization. […]

  21. SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution » Blog Archive » Brain Coach Answers: How Can I Be More Creative? Is Creativity a Part of Brain Fitness? says:
    October 31, 2006 at 12:20

    […] Fur­ther Links Just For­get It! Mind/Body, Emo­tions, and Decision-Making Social Intel­li­gence and Mir­ror Neu­rons Social Intel­li­gence and the Frontal Lobes An Ape Can Do This. Can We Not? “Use It or Lose It” What is It? The Exec­u­tive Brain: Frontal Lobes and the Civ­i­lized Mind by Dr. Elkhonon Gold­berg Brain Exer­cise at the Osher Life­long Learn­ing Institute […]

  22. » Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg on Brain Fitness Programs and Cognitive Training   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    December 8, 2006 at 7:26

    […] Frontal Lobes and exec­u­tive functions […]

  23. » Brain Exercise for the Frontal lobes: McKinsey   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    May 1, 2007 at 9:35

    […] Use It or Lose It: what is It? […]

  24. » 10 Habits of Highly Effective Brains   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    August 22, 2007 at 6:08

    […] Learn what is the “It” in “Use It or Lose It”. A basic under­stand­ing will serve you well to appre­ci­ate our brain’s beauty as a liv­ing and constantly-developing for­est of bil­lions of neu­rons and synapses, full of what Mar­ian Dia­mond calls the magic trees of the mind. Devote time to prac­tis­ing men­tally stim­u­lat­ing habits. […]

  25. The Ten Habits Of Highly Effective Brains | Science Student says:
    August 26, 2007 at 3:28

    […] They are: 1. Learn what is the “It” in “Use It or Lose It”. A basic under­stand­ing will serve you well to appre­ci­ate your brain’s beauty as a liv­ing and constantly-developing dense for­est with bil­lions of neu­rons and synapses. […]

  26. » Executive Functions, Google/ Microsoft Brain Teasers, and News   « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains      says:
    September 5, 2007 at 5:53

    […] For more con­text on what those are, here are some quotes from my Inter­view with Dr. Elkhonon Gold­berg: AF: Please tell us more about what the Frontal Lobes are […]

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