From the monthly archives:

October 2009

Teaching and the Brain

by Stepping on October 9, 2009

in Sharing

Brain Scan: Top 01
Image by B1SHOP via Flickr

Another fascinating post over at Shrink Rap explores how learning sculpts the brains connections.

“Recent studies have shown that in the absence of any overt behavior, and even during sleep or anesthesia, the brain’s spontaneous activity is not random, but organized in patterns of correlated activity that occur in anatomically and functionally connected regions,” says senior author Maurizio Corbetta, M.D., Norman J. Stupp Professor of Neurology. “The reasons behind the spontaneous activity patterns remain mysterious, but we have now shown that learning causes small changes in those patterns, and that these changes are behaviorally important.” See the entire post at Shrink Rap.

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Teen smoking linked to drinking and drug use is reported on Shrink Rap:

“If a teenager feels smoking is socially acceptable and widely practiced, they are much more likely not only to smoke, but to also drink and possibly use marijuana,” says lead author Dr. Jennifer A. Epstein, assistant professor of public health in the Division of Prevention and Health Behavior at Weill Cornell Medical College. “While the differences between how boys and girls are influenced by these social factors are subtle, they could help us develop new gender-specific educational tactics for preventing these behaviors.”…more at Shrink Rap

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