Newsroom Archive for 04/15, 2010

Since its founding in 1993, Sorensen Institute's programs have been based on bringing together Virginians with strong opinions from both sides of the aisle and across the political spectrum. The underlying goal has been not only to learn new things but even more importantly, to encourage civil debate and friendships among those who truly disagree on divisive political issues. Confronting those who disagree with you, and learning how to better explain and defend your own beliefs, has always been at the heart of the Sorensen experience.

New brain research has revealed that engaging in just this type of activity—learning new things and talking issues with people who disagree with you— is very good for your brain and will dramatically increase the chances that your brain will stay healthy as you age.

Speaking this week on the Public Radio program Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Barbara Strauch—health and medical science editor at The New York Time— discussed these findings, which have been chronicled in her most recent book, The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain: The Surprising Talents of the Middle-Aged Mind. 

Here's the relevant excerpt:

Strauch: "What they're trying now to do actually is teach people to use two parts of their brain to call on their frontal cortext more. That's why you get all these efforts to try to push the brain as you get older, to try and make it work really hard. What they're trying to do is get you to use more of your brain, keep using more of your brain so your brain doesn't get in a rut and go fallow, or call on that frontal cortext more so those pathways are clear and you have it there when you need it.
Gross: How can you consciously call on your front cortext more?
Strauch: (laughter) Right. Hello, frontal cortext! I think it really has to do with patterns of your brain. And what you really need to do is keep pushing your brain. It's not a conscious thing. I think that if we try to focus really hard, that's calling on our frontal cortext; if we learn something new, they say foreign languages, something that— One professor at Columbia who has studied adult learning through the years says what's good is even talking to people who disagree with us, creating in your brain what he calls a disorienting dilemma or a kind of shaking up the cognitive egg. We have to present our brains with things that make it wake up, make it pay attention, make it work really, really hard. It can have an impact in terms of just presenting your brain with not just new information and not just retrievering information that you know like with crossword puzzles, but actually getting out there and letting your brain confront things that are different.
Gross: And make an argument to synthesize the thoughts you have and put it together in defense or an argument against an idea. That too?
Strauch: Yeah. I think it sharpens your brain, I find that. If I listen to people who disagree with me, I find it sharpens my own thinking. It kind of makes sense. I think we all know this is kind of going on, but we just never really paid attention to it and the scientists never really broke it apart to try and figure out what was actually going on.

Click here for the podcast of the interview (relevant excerpt begins at about 25:30)