During the first ten minutes of class, write your summary of the “Wiring” chapter from John Medina’s Brain Rules. What are some of the most important things that you remember from the chapter? What is special about the wiring of our brains? How does our wiring reflect who we are individually? How does our wiring reveal how we are similar, too? What is the Jennifer Aniston neuron?
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Medina discusses how our brains are wired. Electricity and current goes through our brains through what are neurons, or the wires of the brain. They are shaped like upside down trees where roots are up and branches are down. Each brain has different wiring, due to the fact that we learn and experience different things in different ways. Where we learn and store information is also different depending from person to person. Also, different brains react differently to the same stimuli, as shown by Dr. Ojemann, a neurosurgeon known for road mapping a person’s brain before surgery. On the other hand, we have similarities as well. For example, identical twins have very similar personalities. They ways their brains are wired are similar because they were once one cell, so their DNA is identical. Were we see the difference is when they react to the same situation differently, as well as having a different point of view of the same movie or film. That shows the difference in our brains wiring, even in terms of identical twins. Our brains also have a Jennifer Aniston neuron, where our brains react to seeing pictures of her. This is true for when we see a face that we know, whether it’s a celebrity or a family member. Medina has some ideas on what we can do in order to use the idea of different wiring of brains to our advantage. We can have smaller classrooms in order for a teacher to learn how their students’ brains work individually. Workplaces can test out who can do what more effectively in order to put such employee in an area that can benefit from their skills.
We all grow up differently. Everybody have their own unique personality. That is because of the wiring by the brain. From emotions to behavior, a person actions is based on how their minds are wired to react to it. In John Medina Brian Rules wiring chapter, he states that each time a person learn, their minds are constantly rewiring itself. In fact he explained the myth that some people including myself thought about identical twins, that everything about them is the same, but in fact their minds are totally different, just like everyone else. Another factorial that caught my attention was how some people can be really talented at one thing, but horrible at something else, even if it’s in the same category. Similar to Michael Jordan being great in basketball, I am also a good basketball player. Being that I’m good in basketball I thought I could have excel in any other sport. One day I tried out for the soccer team at my old high school, and failed miserably. I wasn’t able to kick the ball right, and block the incoming balls at goalie position. Learning this showed when it comes to basketball the wiring in my mind was able to help me at the sport, but when it came to soccer, the wiring in my mind wasn’t able to help me play that sport. Another reason for this was because of experience. In John Medina Brain Rules wiring chapter he said, “Our brains are sensitive to external input that their physical wiring depends upon the culture in which they find themselves.” Because I grew up from young only playing basketball my mind was wired to be able to understand only that specific sport, which is why I failed at soccer, but because the mind is an amazing thing, if I was to start playing soccer every day, then my mind would wire itself so I can get better at that sport, hence the term, “practice make perfect.” People minds are stimulated by certain people. Brain Rules talked about a neuron called the Jennifer Anniston neuron, which was when a person brain got every excited in that region by getting showed a picture of Jennifer Aniston. It may not be Jennifer Aniston, but everyone have a similar neuron that reacts like this to certain people you see, or know. As a young man that likes music, I believe I have a Beyoncé Neuron.
In the book Brain Rules by John Medina, he talks about wiring and how the body, and brain are associated in it. In this chapter Medina starts off by telling us about how Michael Jordan went from playing baseball to going to basketball. In our bodies we have different neurons that connect to our brains. When we learn something new, the brain changes by getting rewired, Everyday the brain learns something new and constantly rewires it self….One thing I found interesting was that the brains of wild animals are 15% to 30% larger. The brain is said to act like a muscle in out bodies. The more activity you do, the larger and more complex it can become. A good example of this would be going to the gym to workout. When you go to the gym to work out the different muscles in the body, the body starts to build muscle over a period of time. The more your go to the gym to work out the more you will start to build muscle in your body. The brain basically works the same. Inside out brain are neurons. These neurons are shaped like upside down trees where as in this case the roots would be up trying to make all different type of connections and the branches would be down. Another thing I found interesting was how Medina said that everyone, somewhere in the brain has a neuron called the Jennifer Anniston neuron. In out brains, it may not be Jennifer Aniston neuron, but everyone have a similar neuron that reacts in a certain way to people you see, or know.
In “Brain Rules” wiring chapter Medina talk about how all the neurons in the brain are hooked up and connected. Electric currents travel throughout the brain depending on certain neurons scattered around the brain. Each brain has different wiring, this is because we learn and experience different things in different ways and that information translates into unique networks of cells. Not to mention, all that information is in the same regions of the mind, everyone stores that information in the different places. But despite these differences same of our brains can have certain similarities, for instance, identical twins can have similar behaviors. Because of their similar DNA patterns, it is possible for their brains to have similar wiring. Our brains also have a Jennifer Aniston neuron, where our brains react to seeing pictures of her. This is true for when we see a face that we recognize, whether it’s a family member, friend, or a celebrity.
John Medina’s “Wiring” in Brain Rules is unsurprisingly about how our brains are wired and the way they are programmed to function. It mentions that all our brains are wired differently. We don’t even keep the same things stored in the same place. For example if 2 people are bilingual and Spanish is their secondary language, they won’t necessarily store that knowledge in the same part of the brain. Another interesting thing mentioned in the chapter is that every time we learn something are brains starts to rewire things in order to understand the new concepts. In this chapter Medina tries to illustrate what it would be like to be in a tiny submarine inside the brain going from neuron to neuron. He goes on to describe that not even identical twins’ brains are wired the same way. They could be watching the same movie but the way they experience the movie will vary. The Jennifer Aniston neuron is a part of our brain that is wired and designed to be flexible. It fires when it notices something it has learned to recognize. In the experiment where this neuron was discovered, neurons were also discovered for Halle Berry and Bill Clinton.
In John Medina’s “Wiring” chapter in brain Rules is talking about no other than how our brain is wired. We are told how in our life, the things we do and learn in life physically change what our brains looks like. Saying this, we can say that everyone brain is wired differently because no two same people go through the same things in life, not even twins. They can be doing the same things, but the way their brains interpret it will be different. Everyone has different wiring and different categories of intelligence. We used to think there were just 7 categories but there may be more than 7 billion categorizes of intelligence, roughly the population of the world. Medina then goes talking about how the school system doesn’t respect that not everyone brain is the same and we are having grading structures based on age. This wouldn’t work because everyone has a different brain structure and how their brain works. He then says how the brain of the school children are just as undeveloped as the bodies of the school children. We are then also introduced to the “Jennifer Aniston” neuron that only stimulates when nobody other than Jennifer Aniston is in the room.
In John Medina’s “Brain rules”, he introduces brain rule number five “Every brain is wired differently. Medina describes the basketball player Michael Jordan’s “athletic Failures” and how the brain learns with physical activities. This is true in my case, since I learned some of my writing ,reading and some problem solving skills through what people call “muscle memory”. I am not much of a visual learner , so practice everything multiple times in order to remember and execute it. This is exactly how I approach the CATW writing exam. The professor told us to write a CATW essay every day and to review , so that we can improve our writing skill as much as possible.I guess my body is use to learning this way and can not be taught any other way. I wonder if I developed this skill while growing up to excel in one aspect of my life. Median also this illustrates another example of how the brain behaves with different activities. Now , Medina mentions that the brain makes highways to connect neurons together with other neurons. In addition, this process does not happen over an hour. I thought this was very interesting because this how some our memories are kept, According to Medina. I wonder if I do not get enough sleep will I forget some smalls memories? will I ever recover some forgotten memories through “muscle memories” ?
The wiring chapter in John Medina’s “Brain Rules” talks about how the wiring of ones brain varies based on each individual. According to this chapter, they’re numerous reasons as to why every ones brain is wired different. For starters, one of the reasons could be due to what someone has learned. Based on what one has learned, not only can ones brain wire it differently than the next, but how the brains of different individuals choose to wire itself varies as well. With that being said, if you are given two individuals to learn the same exact thing, how their brains will wire that knew acquired knowledge would differ. The wiring of ones brain can also reflect on who we are as individuals. The reason for this is because based on what we learn, it is actually possible to analyze the brains wiring and see what an individual can do. An example of this in the chapter is based on the analysis made on the brains of violin players. It was seen that the wiring of the violin players was quite unique. This was because the side of the brain that controlled the hand that would hold the handle had much more swollen wiring. Where as the side of the brain that controlled the hand that was using the stick to play the violin appeared to have an almost anorexic look to the wiring. This was due to the complex learning recruitment’s that one side of the brain had to acquire over the other due to the complexity of what is needed to be learned.
In the wiring chapter of John Medina’s Brain Rules, it describes how each persons brain is wired differently from another despite being a professional athlete to being twins. The brain is wired and changes base on what someone has learn. For example, if one learns or is specialized in a field than their brain is wired only for that field and may likely struggle attempting to do something else to obtain similar results compared to what he/she would specialized in. The way about how our brains is special is like I said it will be affected by what someone specializes or use more of. If a person plays basketball, but then tries baseball, then their ability or skill level at baseball will never be as efficient or good as their skill at basketball. The Jennifer Aniston neuron is this one neuron in an experiment that responded to seven photographs of actress Jennifer Aniston while it ignored the 80 other images of other people. Basically it is a neuron in our heads that is stimulated only when Jennifer Aniston is in the room.
John Medina’s fifth brain rule is Wiring, or more specifically how you brain is connected. The neurons in your brain act almost as muscles do in the sense that the more you to utilize them the stronger they become. One example Medina uses is a violinist. The part of the brain that controls the hand that is used for the intricate fingering and fine motor skills looks almost to be on steroids when compared to the part of the brain that controls the basic strumming of the violin. As a reader I asked myself why, which Medina explained like this; the hand that strums does not employ many fine motor skills nor is it needed to be exorcised due to the fact that its task is not complicated. However, the hand that does the fingering to adjust the sound employs much more fine motor skills in order to place each finger correctly to create the intended sound. This means that it needs to be exorcised at a greater intensity as compared to that of the other hand. Another of Medina’s key points of the chapter, based on his first, is that your life experiences literally shape how your brain is developed. For example a man who hunts for a living’s brain would be larger and stronger in the part of the brain that governs muscular strength and skills of that nature than opposed to a man who is an accountant whose brain is stronger in that of mathematics. This does not mean that any of the men are stupid, but simply that because of they’re experience they are smarter in different regions. Another of his points is that different parts of the brain develop at different times. This means that peoples mind develop differently and has nothing to with being stupid versus being smart.
In the “Wiring” chapter of Brain Rules by John Medina, we learn how the brain about how the brain looks different within every person and animal. This is due to what we learn, and the ways that our brain tries to remember them. The example given at the beginning of the chapter was the comparison of sports legends Michael Jordan and Ken Griffey Jr. Even though both had played baseball, Jordan’s brain was already wired to play basketball since this was the sport that he had played for the majority of his life, making Griffey Jr. the better baseball player. When we learn something, the structure of our neurons changes, leading to a physical change to the structure and wiring of our brains. Activities that we choose to do in our lives, such as the sport or instrument we play, can wire and rewire out brains. Medina also talks about the Jennifer Aniston neuron, which is a neuron that fires when a known external input is show to us. This experiment was also done with images of Halle Berry and Bill Clinton, each giving the same result of a reaction from a neuron when they are seen.
Believe it or not, no two individual brains are looks exactly the same. This also included identical twins, who can have the same experience’s will not end up with them having identical brains. The brain is always constantly changing, even at this moment, without us even knowing it. If our brain were all the same, than we would be able to do what the greatest athlete and genius can do, such as we could do what Michael Jordan can do and be as smart as Albert Einstein. The brains changes every moment because it is always rewiring itself. What exactly rewire our brains, you many ask? Well everything we do rewires it, such as listening to music and playing any sports. Rewiring occurs to us at the little things we do. Learning is what really impact our brain to rewire. No two person store information in the same place and way.This process doesn’t only occur with just us, but it occurs with animal as well. It is stated that wild animal brains are about 15 to 30 percent larger compared to those animals that are tamed or domestic. Due to the environment, they live in impact their brain rewiring because they are constantly in danger, which force them to always be in constant learning mode. The same can occur with humans as well. In our brain, as the neurons learn, they swell, sway and split. They break the connection they recently had , in order to form a new connection with its neighborhood. At time, most connection stays put, so they could increase the strength the connection they have. Disconnecting wires, does not always occur when you learn. This entire process occur just to remember one little thing thing. In short, any mental and physical activity can change your brain, at any moment, so it’s impossible to have two brain that are identical.
In the wiring chapter of John Medina’s “Brain Rules,” he mentions how the brain is constantly rewiring itself because it is constantly learning new things which alter your neurons physically. As neurons break connection from one spot, they form new connections in another region of the brain. Other neurons may tend to stay in their original spot strengthening their connections rather than making new ones. All these changes are what makes your brain’s structure and may also determine its size, which brings me to my next point. One factor that can determine how big and complex the brain is, is the activity that you use it to do. As John Medina said, “What you do in life physically changes what your brain looks like.” Italian scientist Vincenzo Malacarne did an experiment in which he trained a group of birds to do some tricks. He then killed them and examined their brains where he learned that his trained birds had more extensive folding patterns in specific regions of the brain compared to his untrained birds. About 50 years later, Charles Darwin did a similar experiment in which he examined the brain of both wild animals and domestic animals. Darwin noticed that the brains of wild animals were about 15 to 30 percent larger than your average household pet. The harsh environment of the world forced these animals to adapt causing them to stay in a mode in which they are constantly learning. The experiences of the wild animals are much different than that of a house pet. There are still some similarities that most of our brains share. All of our brains consist of the same matter which performs the same functions. This called experience-independent wiring. Medina describes this as “interstate freeways, turnpikes, and state highways” but once you get to the “residential streets, one-laners and dirt roads” our differences in patterns begin to show. This is called experience-dependent wiring. This can be best demonstrated by George Ojemann, a skilled neurosurgeon, as he maps out one of his patient’s brain. By using a thin silver wire which sends out small electrical shocks, he touches different parts of Neil’s brain while asking him if he feels anything. This way he gets a sense of which part of that individual’s brain has receptors for a specific body part. Ojemann once combined the brain maps he made for 117 of his patients and found that about 79 percent of them had one region of their brains in common which related to language.
In the Book John medina talks about how each person have their brain wired differently. It all depends on the past experiences they go through. The brain will think completely differently for a poor person and a rich person. The Poor will cherish and the rich will most likely wont care what he does with the money. The way we think, the way we act, the way we look at things a certain way all depends on what we have gone through. I can definitely say that my brain is wired differently from many others. Others give me tips and hints on how to study but they dont work for me, i have my own way to go through it.
Wiring chapter is telling us that the brain it’s basically build on experiences or memories this person had. The brain wiring is constantly changing because we learned new things each day, which means our focus changes. Our brain wiring it’s being compared with slugs because they basically have the same behavior, while we used to do something part of our brain get stronger than the others, and that was discover by an Italian scientist that made an experiment with birds, a group were trains and the other ones were not. After few days he decide to killed them and study their brain wiring(specific space) and he found out that the birds that were train had tig brain tissues than the other ones. Moreover each human being has different wiring, Medina mention that a new born have the same amount of neurons as and adult that this changes according to the age, the biggest changes happen when the person it’s going thought puberty.
In this chapter John Median discuss the wiring of our brain. This is important because it shows why some people are good at a specific thing but bad in other things. This is show in his introduction when he compare Jordan to Ken Griffey Jr.. After Jordan leave baseball in 1994 he went to play baseball because that was his dream, but since his brain was already wired to play basketball, although he try being good at baseball he was still the worst player in his team. He had a .202 batting average.
The wiring of the brain is special because what we learn can physical change the way our brain look. It is also important because of what it is preset to do and those are the basic function like breathing, hearth beat, and your ability to know where your body parts are. We can compare out brain like the road map of the United States, full of interstate freeways, turnpikes, and states highways to residential streets, one-lane alley, and even dirt roads.
Overall the brain is wired in amazing ways. It have the ability to physically change depend on what we learn. Also various regions of the brain develop at different rates in different people. This is also what makes us all so unique, no two people’s brains store the same information on the same way in the same place.