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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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Shared links

September 25, 2009

Image by [ r ? c e y t ? y ] via Flickr

These two posts give some interesting insights and food for thought.
Depression and anxiety disorders in adolescents
Brain research transforming all human needs services

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Likable Links

September 16, 2009

Some fascinating content that has been located in different corners of  the web:
Evidence Points to Conscious ‘Metacognition’ in Some Nonhuman Animals
“The field offers growing evidence that some animals have functional parallels to humans’ consciousness and to humans’ cognitive self-awareness…”
Adult Brain Can Change Within Seconds
“The human brain can adapt to changing demands even in adulthood, but [...]

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False Memories

August 7, 2009

Studies continue to develop an understanding that memory can be more unreliable than expected. Sometimes false memories can be developed or even implanted intentionally. Especially interesting is the notion of the partial memory that researchers are able to embellish with incidents that did not occur. The implications of this research are wide ranging for [...]

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Study links teen drinking and behavioral problems

July 19, 2009

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Shrink Wrap blog shares an interesting post concerning a study that links teen drinking to behavioral problems.
“Forty-three per cent of students who reported behavioral or other problems also reported having been drunk more than 10 times in their lives, while only 27 per cent of students who reported few or no [...]

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Study explores teen depression and television

July 17, 2009

Image by YlvaS via Flickr

An recent article on US News and World Report explores an interesting study concerning teen depression and television usage:
“So, Brian Primack, a pediatrician at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine who studies how teenagers’ use of media affects their health, analyzed survey data that followed 4,142 teenagers from 1995 to [...]

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Talking with Struggling Teens about Sex and Drugs

July 3, 2009

Image by Kassel via Flickr

The book How to talk so teens will listen & listen so teens will talk has been passing through our office.  It presents some good advice about approaching the difficult subjects of sex and drugs with teens.  The simple take away: instead of one big talk, break the discussion up over [...]

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Challenges of Transparency

June 20, 2009

In recovery, re-establishing trust is a difficult hurdle that most struggle accepting.  Often the time is takes for the healing sought exceeds what “seems” necessary.  Often time when this complaint gets shared, those further along the path of recovery will provide the gentle reminder “that you took years walking into the forest, it will take [...]

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New Screening Question

April 15, 2009

An interesting video clip with Dr. Sanjay Gupta aired on CNN presenting the new screening question for the medical profession for alcoholism.
See it at Shrink Rap.

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