Brain Scientists Identify Links between Arts, Learning

By Dana Foundation | May 24, 2009 |

Arts edu­ca­tion influ­ences learn­ing and oth­er areas of cog­ni­tion and may deserve a more promi­nent place in schools, accord­ing to a wave of recent neu­ro­science research.One recent study found that chil­dren who receive music instruc­tion for just 15 months show strength­ened con­nec­tions in musi­cal­ly rel­e­vant brain areas and per­form bet­ter on asso­ci­at­ed tasks, com­pared with…

Read More

Jogging our Brains for Brain Vitality, Healthy Aging-and Intelligence!

By Alvaro Fernandez | December 12, 2007 |

Quick: say the col­or in which each word in this graph­ic is dis­played (don’t just read the word!): Here you have a round-up of some great recent arti­cles on mem­o­ry, aging, and cog­ni­tive abil­i­ties such as self-con­trol: 1) How to Boost Your Willpow­er (New York Times). — “The video watch­ers were lat­er giv­en a con­cen­tra­tion test in…

Read More

Brain Teasers with a Neuroscience angle

By Alvaro Fernandez | September 16, 2007 |

Quick! say aloud the col­or you see in every word, DON“T sim­ply read the word. The Stroop test is used in neu­ropsy­cho­log­i­cal eval­u­a­tions to mea­sure men­tal vital­i­ty and flex­i­bil­i­ty, since per­form­ing well requires strong impulse-con­trol capa­bil­i­ty. This is one of the Top 10 Brain Teasers and Games we pro­file here. Want more teasers? You can check…

Read More

Brain Teaser for the Frontal Lobes: Tipping the Scales

By Caroline Latham | June 15, 2007 |

Wes Car­roll found this one in the Men­sa pub­li­ca­tion Num­ber Puz­zles for Math Genius­es by Harold Gale.Tipping the Scales.Question:The top two scales are in per­fect balance.How many dia­monds will be need­ed to bal­ance the bot­tom set?This puz­zle works your exec­u­tive func­tions in your frontal lobes by using your pat­tern recog­ni­tion, hypoth­e­sis test­ing, and logic.Click here to get the Answer.

Read More

Sunday Afternoon Quiz

By Caroline Latham | June 10, 2007 |

(These are not trick ques­tions) Name the one sport in which nei­ther the spec­ta­tors nor the par­tic­i­pants know the score or the leader until the con­test ends.What famous North Amer­i­can land­mark is con­stant­ly mov­ing backward?Of all veg­eta­bles, only two can live to pro­duce on their own for sev­er­al grow­ing sea­sons.… Can you name at least half of them?Name the only veg­etable or fruit that is nev­er sold frozen, canned, processed, cooked, or in any oth­er form except fresh.Name 6 or more things that you can wear on your feet begin­ning with the let­ter “S.“Click here for the answers.

Read More

#22 Brain Teaser: The Really, Really, Really Big Number

By Caroline Latham | May 17, 2007 |

When you divide 12 by 5, the remain­der is 2; it’s what’s left over after you have removed all the 5’s from the 12.  When you raise 4 to the fifth pow­er (that is, 4^5), you mul­ti­ply four by itself five times: 4x4x4x4x4, which equals 1,024. What is the remain­der when you divide 100^100 by 11?

Read More