Marian Diamond and the Brain Revolution

I have been rec­om­mend­ing, in this blog and in “real” life, the won­der­ful book Mag­ic Trees of the Mind: How to Nur­ture Your Child’s Intel­li­gence, Cre­ativ­i­ty, and Healthy Emo­tions from Birth Through Ado­les­cence, by Berke­ley’s Mar­i­an Dia­mond and Janet L. Hopson.

In case you want to famil­iar­ize your­self with Mar­i­an Dia­mond’s work, which pro­vides the cor­ner­stone for Brain Fit­ness, enrich­ment and train­ing, you can read some great essays writ­ten by her (gath­ered at the great New Hori­zons for Learn­ing website):

The Brain … Use It or Lose It: A core com­po­nent of brain exer­cise is chal­lenge. Pas­sive obser­va­tion is not enough.

What are the Deter­mi­nants of Chil­dren’s Aca­d­e­m­ic Suc­cess­es and Dif­fi­cul­ties?:  How can par­ents and teach­ers pro­vide con­di­tions that will most effec­tive­ly pro­mote Brain Fit­ness and life­long learningin our chil­dren’s brains?  Mar­i­an Dia­mond describes ways in which we can cul­ti­vate chil­dren’s minds to gath­er infor­ma­tion and enhance imag­i­na­tion, moti­va­tion, cre­ativ­i­ty and work ethic.

Suc­cess­ful Aging of the Healthy Brain: Beau­ti­ful essay on how to keep our brains and minds active and fit through­out our lifetime.

Response of the Brain to Enrich­ment: Although the brain pos­sess­es a rel­a­tive­ly con­stant struc­ture, the ever-chang­ing cere­bral cor­tex is pow­er­ful­ly shaped by expe­ri­ences before birth, dur­ing youth and, in fact, through­out life.

The Sig­nif­i­cance of Enrich­ment: Here, the brain phys­i­o­log­i­cal changes are explored in more detail.

Enrich­ment in Action: Dr. Dia­mond shares her work in Cam­bo­dia, to fur­ther strength­en the case for pro­vid­ing an enrich­ing envi­ron­ment to stim­u­late brain growth.

Male and Female Brains: Are there sig­nif­i­cant dif­fer­ences between the male and female brain?

Why Ein­stein’s Brain?: Mar­i­an Dia­mond describes how she came to be inter­est­ed in study­ing the par­tic­u­lar­i­ties in Ein­stein’s brain back in the ear­ly 1980s.

My Search for Love and Wis­dom in the Brain: Quote: “The frontal lobe is undoubt­ed­ly the most impor­tant area to cul­mi­nate the neur­al process­es lead­ing to what we call wis­dom and the most refined sense of love.”

You can explore many oth­er great resources on neu­ro­science and learn­ing at the New Hori­zons for Learn­ing web­site. Enjoy!

-Alvaro