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GHENIUSow to be a Written by John Woodward Consultants Dr. David Hardman and Phil Chambers Illustrated by Serge Seidlitz and Andy Smith
Nội dung tài liệu
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CONTENTS 6 Your amazing brain MEET YOUR BRAIN HOW MEMORY WORKS 10 Mapping the brain 60 How you think 12 Left brain, right brain 62 What is memory? 14 Taking sides 64 Improve your memory 16 Nerves and neurons 66 Do you remember? 18 Brain waves 68 Paying attention 20 What is a genius? 70 Making associations 72 Albert Einstein COME TO YOUR SENSES PROBLEM SOLVING 24 Brain and eyes 76 How you learn 26 Tricky pictures 78 Mastering mazes 28 How you see 80 Puzzling patterns 30 Simple illusions 82 Intelligence types 32 Impossible illusions 84 George Washington Carveer 34 How you hear 86 Logic 36 Sounds like? 88 Illogical thinking 38 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozartt 90 Brainteasers 40 Taste and smell 92 Thinking inside the box 42 Sensitive senses 94 Mathematical thinking 44 How you feel and touch 96 Think of a number 46 Touch and tell46 Touch and tel 98 The magic of math 48 Tricking thee mind 100 Spatial awarenessareness 50 Magic tricks 102 Seeing in 2-D 522 Sensing your body 104 Thinking in 3-D 54 Body illusions 106 Invention 56 Intuitionio 108 Wernher voon Braun 4
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A WAY WITH WORDS YOUR BRAIN AND YOU 112 Learning to speak 138 Sense of self 114 Having a word 140 Personality types 116 Using language 142 What about you? 118 Words aloud 144 What makes you tick? 120 Reading and writing 146 Mary Anning 122 Jean Franςois Champollion 148 The unconscious 150 Dreams 152 Emotions 154 Mahatma Gandhi 156 Fear 158 Reading emotions 160 Body talk 162 Good and bad habits 164 Winning and losing THE CREATIVE MIND THE EVOLVING BRAIN 126 What is creativity? 168 How we got our brains 128 Are you a creative spark? 170 Charles Darwin 130 Boost your creativity 172 How the brain grows 132 Creative exercises 174 Brain surgery 134 Leonardo da Vinci 176 Animal intelligence 178 Train your pet 180 Can machines think? 182 Program your friend 184 Glossary 186 Answers 190 Index 5
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Emotions Do youyou rememberemember? 4. What color is the terrifyingWhat color is the terrifyi Fear, anger, joy, love, Put your brain’s memory skillsyour brain’s memory sk monster he is scared of?e is scared of? and other emotions might to the test. Study the picturee test. Study the picture 5. Who is the love of his life?s the love of his lif seem like automatic mental shown inside this boy’s busyn inside this boy’s 6.6. What food does the boyWhat food does the boy responses, but we can use head for 45 seconds, then coverr 45 seconds, then really, really hate? our brains to control our it up and try to answer thery to answer the 7. How many candles areandles are emotions if we want. following questions. No peeking!following questions. No peeking! there on the birthday cake?on the birthday cak 8.8 Name three differentName three different 1. Where does he like to sing?W animals that we see. 2. Name three sports that weame 9. What is the delicious smellou see the boy doing.boy do that we see the boy sniff?boy s Automatic 3. One picture shows us insidee show 10. What injury makesinjury m activity his body. Which part do we see?rt do we see? him cry?him cry? Your brain is always active, even when you are asleep. How did you do? Turn It also keeps you alive by controlling your heartbeat, to page 186 to find out. temperature, breathing, and digestion. The brain is the most astonishing part of your body. Its billions of cells control everything you think and do, including your actions, senses, emotions, memory, and language. The more you use it, the better it works. Perception All of your senses are This book is all about how to wired into your brain, which takes in the signals get your brain cells buzzing and, they send and allows you maybe, become a genius. to see, hear, smell, taste, and feel the world. B Perfect pair This puzzle tests your spatial awareness—your A sense of space. Which two pieces on the far right will E fit together to create this C hexagon shape? D Check the F puzzle answers on page 186. 6
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Thinking Your brain is always solving problems by connecting different ideas—even when they are not part of your own experience. Only humans can do this. A human brainA human brraain is the most complexis the most complexex structure on Earth.strtrurucctturere on EEartrtrth. Memory Every event or fact that grabs your attention may be stored in your memory—an amazingly efficient library of information that never runs out of space. Language Your brain gives you the ability to communicate and understand complex ideas using speech. You can also learn by reading words that were written long ago. Movement Your brain triggers and organizes your movements, so your actions are smooth Feel lost? and efficient. Most of this Life is full of puzzling happens without you problems—such as how thinking about it. to get to the middle of this tricky maze. It’s your a-maze-ing brain that helps you find the answers. 7
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Fish Bird Human Origin of genius Compared to other animals, tthe human brain has a much bigger cerebrum (shown in orange MenMeMeningingesesss Thhhheeseesee laylaylayersers cucushionn theth above). This is what makes uss intelligent, because bbrabr in agaaagaagagaainst shock. we use the cerebrum for consscious thought. B Your braain is the most complex organ in yyour bbooddyy—aaaa ssppoonnggyy ppiinnkk mmaassss mmaaddee uupp ooff bbiillions of microoscopic nerve cells linked togetheer in an electronnic network. Each part has its ownn job, but it is the biggest part, the cerebrum, tthat is responssible for your thoughts and actions. Pituitary glannd This releases chemicals calleed hormones into your blood. Theey control many functions, includinng of Pergamun growth and body development. Galen A Greek surgeon named Galen of Pergamun was one of the first people to suspect that the brain was an important organ and that it controlled Hyypothalaamus memories and emotions. Galen livedCE, in what is ThiThiis is the part of your brain between 129 and 200 thaat regulates ssleep, hunger, now Turkey, where he treated the and body tempeerature. gory injuries of gladiators. Thallamus The thalammus relays sensoryy signals from yofrom your body to your cerebrum,ur body to your cerebrum where they are decoded and analyzed. Your bYoYourYoYoYouuuurr brain is 77 percent water.bbbbbbbbrain is 77 percent water.rain is 77 percent watrraraain is 77 percent wateriin iis 77 percent wat77 percent water77 ppeeercrrrcentt wwaatteererr. Brain stem Connected to the spinal cord, the brain stem links the rest of the body to the brain and controls heartbeat and breathing. 10
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Skull Forms a protectivep casing around the brain Cerebrum The biggest part of the brain controls all our conscious actions and thoughts, analyzes sensory data, and stores memories. Up tUpUUpUUUpp to 2 pints (1 litre) ofto 2 pints (1 litre) ofto 2 pints (1 litretottoo 22 pppints (1 litre) oints (1 litre) ofinttss (1 littrrreee)) of bloodbbloobbllooood flows through yourd flows through youdddd fl wdd flows through yourflows through yoflows through yoows through youwwsss ththrrorouugghh youurr brbbrain every minute.rain every minute.rrain every minuterrrraa n eaiin evveverery m nueryry miinuttee.e. Cororpusss caccalloll sumsum A bA bbbaaaandand ofof nerererervveve fibefibersrs thathat lt linkininnnk thethe twotwo sisidesdes ofof ththe ce cereerererebebrubrub mm SSSSubbaraararaachncc oid spspacece This iiis fiss lleled wd wwithithith shoshoock-absorbor inging flufluid.id. Blood supply The brain needs a constant supply of oxygen to fuel its activities. This is delivered in the blood via the body’s circulatory system of arteries, veins, and capillaries. Around one fifth of the body’s entire quota of oxygenated blood is reserved for the brain. Cerebellum This complex foldeThis complex foldedd structure helps control balance and movement. Parietal lobe Processes informmation from the senses, especcially from the skin, muscles, and joints ThTheT outert bbrain The cerebrum is heavilT ly folded in order to increase the total surface area, wwhich iss packed with brain cells. It Frontal lobe Vital to iss divided into halves, thhe left thought, personalh h lity,li and right hemispheres, and speech, and emotion eaach consists of four lobbes thaat have different functiions. Temporal lobe Mostly concernedd with the recognitionn of sound Occipittal lobe Receives nerve signalss from the eyes and interprrets visual information Spinalal ccocordrdrdrdddd Cerebellum 11
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The cerebrum is divided into two halves, connected by am o two halve bridge of nerve fibers. For some functions, each half is wiredrve ns, each to the opposite side of the body, but other skills and thoughtside of and RigLefeft visual fiel processes are controlled by only one half of the brain.d by only one n.n eye sees the leftght side of each visual field LEFTLEFTEFTBRA d LEFT BRAININ SKILLS The left side of your brain isde responsible for the more logical,b rational aspects of your thinking,a Languagee as well as your verbal skills.s y Your ability to express yourselfYo in words is usually controlled by the frontal lobe of the left cerebral hemisphere.ce Sciientifict thought Logical scientific thinking is thee ific thinking is the Left opptic tract job ojob oof the left side of the brain,of the left s Carries ddata from althoough most science alsoscience also right vissual field involvves being creative. Rational thought Thinking and reacting in a rationalacting in a rational way appears to be mostly a left-brainappears to be mostly a left-ears to beto activity. It allows you to analyze aactiv ze a problem to find an answer. Mathematicalthem skillsskills Studies show that the left side of thees show that the left side of the brain is much better at dealing withb numbers than the right side, and it is responsible for mathematical skills. Writing skills Like spoken language, writing skillsage, writing ski that involve organizing ideas andthat involve o expressing them in words are largely controlled by the left hemisphere. Two minds? Many mental activities involve both sides of the brain, but the side that is most involved may vary. These two scans show the brain activity of two people while listening to music. The one on the left is using their right hemisphere much more, indicating a more intuitive approach, while the Left visuaal cortex Processes daata from other person may be more analytical. right visual field This scan shows brain activity (red areas) in 12 the right hemisphere. A trained musician uses the left hemisphere more.
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RIGHTRIIG BRAIN fiefieldch ht of each Right visualLeft side eye sees the rightvisii ual field RIIGHT BRAIN SKIILLSS Thee right side oof your bou rain seems to be the focus ofs youur more creatit ve thout ughts and emotional, intuitivea ressponses. It is also imo portant for spatial awareness.nt Spatial skillss Your ability to visualize and work with three-dimensional Optic nerve shapes is strongly linked to Sends visual the right side of your brain.th signals to brain ArArt Vissual art is related to spatial skills, annd the right side of your brain is prprrobably more active when you arerobably more active when you are drrawing, painting, or looking at art. Imaginatioagination Right optic tract Your creative imagination is mostlycreative imag y Carries dataa from left visual fifield directed by the right hemispheredir , although expressing that imaginationn involves left-brain skills.s Insighth Those moments of insight whenmom you connect two very differentnne ideas probably come from thei ably come fr right half of your brain. Musiccc Like visual art, music involves a loolves t Righthh visual coortex of right-brain activity—but trainedained Processes dataa from left musicians also use their left brainsnss visual field to master musical theory.ry.ry.y.y. Right-handed The left brain controls the rightworld hand, and since most people are right-handed, this suggests Croossedos d wirewi s that the left brain is usually The left she le side of each eye isside o dominant. So do left-handers connected to tnnected to he left side of your use their right-brain skills brain, but it picks upbutut it p dataa from the right more? There is no proof of this, side of your head—the right visual fi—the—th field. Each side of the and many left-handers have no brain processes images from the othes is imim her side of the head. trouble using language and logic. Each side also controls the musclesalsso s of the opposite hand. 13
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BRAIN GAMES TAKING SIDES Most people are either left- or right-handed, but did you know that you can also have a dominant foot and a preferred eye? In both physical and mental tasks, the left and right sides of your brain are far from equal, and it is very rare for someone to be able to use both hands or feet equally well. Try the following tests to find which side you are ontests to find which side you are on. Best foot forward The easiest way of finding which of your feet is dominant is to kicck a soccer ball, but you usually taake the first step of a flight of stairss with your stronger foot, too. Youur preferred foot may not be on the same side as your dominannt hand—you can be left-footed any nd Eye-motion right-handed or vice versa. Look straight at the nose of the girl in each of these pictures. In which one do you think she looks happier? Most people find that she looks happier in the bottom image, which shows her smiling on the left side of the picture. This is because information from your left visual field gets processed in your brain’s right hemisphere, which is also dominant for interpreting emotions. Try doing thiTry doing thiTrTrryy dodo oppositeoppositeopopppposite hand to normal, such aspposite hand to normal, such asppositepposite hppppopppppposite hpopositeppppoposposososiosissit oiniingnng things with theng things with thengngg ththththith switching the hand that you holdswswitwit iiiteitettte hhhahanand hhiniiingngsgs itctchchihiningng nd tototo witwitithth your fork with or putting youryoyou ththehe nonorormrmamal ththehe ourur forforork hahanandnd al,l, susucuch watch on the other arm. This forceswatch on the other arm. This forceswawatatctchch rk witwitithth ththahatatt yo ch asas onon ththehe oror pr puput youou hohol your brain to learn new waysyoyouourur otoththehererer uttttitttintingng oldld brbraraiainin ararmrmm. yoyouourur of doing things and createsof doing things and createsofof df dodoioining tototo leleaeararn ThThihishis more connections betweenmomor ng ththihin rn nenewewew forfororcrceceseses orere ingngsgs anand wawayays the two sides of your brain.ththehe cocononnnnenecect nd crcrerea ys twtwowo cticttiotiononsns eatateteseses sisididedeseses bebetetwtwewee ofof yf yoyouourur eenen brbraraiaininn. 14
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EEye see you Trick your brain Too discoveer which is your dominant This exercise reveals how your brain sometimes tricks you eye, hold up your index finger into taking shortcuts. First, draw this upside-down picture of to eye level and look past itt a face. Then turn the face the right way up and draw it again. into the distance. Then close When you compare the two pictures, you may be surprised eaach eye, one at a time. You to find that the upside-down version is the most accurate. will see that with your weaker eyye, your finger will appear to juump, whereas with your stronger eye, it will stay in place. Your sttronger eye figures out the positionn of things, while the weaker eye helpps with depth perception. Having one hand as strong as the otherHaviving one hand as strtrorong as the otherer can give you an advantage in somecan giveve you an advavantagage in some sports. In baseball, for example, ansportrtsrtts. In basebeball, fofor exexample,e, an ambidextrous hitter can switch handsambidexextxtrtrorous hitttttterer can switch handsds to strike the ball from the best side.toto strtririke the ball frfrofrrom the besesest side.e. The left side of your brain assigns simple shapes to common objects—for example, an almond shape for an eye. So if you draw a face the right way up, you probably draw the features based on what you think they look like rather than what you see. When you look Handy test at a face upside down, however, the right side of your Ambidexterity is the ability to use both hands equally well. To brain works harder to understand the unfamiliar image see if you are ambidextrous try the exercise below. Take a pencil and you draw the shapes and lines you actually see. in your right hand and ask a friend to time you for 15 seconds. Starting top right, work your way along the line, putting as many dots as you can in the white circles. Then do the same on the other side with your left hand and compare the results. Left hand start Right hand start You will get the farthest along the line with your dominant hand, but you may surprise yourself by just how well you did with your weaker hand. If you found that you got just as far with each hand, you are probably ambidextrous. 15
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