These 3 pic­tures rep­re­sent a sim­pli­fied image of brain activ­ity taken from right above our heads, with our forehead/ 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 same acti­va­tion pat­terns, even if we’re talk­ing the same per­son doing the same thing?

Answer: the image to the left shows the per­son learn­ing how to mas­ter the activ­ity (jug­gling three balls). The image to the right shows the per­son once he has already mas­tered the activ­ity — which explains why there is very lit­tle acti­va­tion in the frontal lobes. This is why learn­ing new things is so impor­tant is we are to truly exer­cise our brains. Doing more of the same is not enough.

Credit for image: The Wis­dom Para­dox: How Your Mind Can Grow Stronger As Your Brain Grows Older book.

Be Socia­ble, Share!

•