| Neurobic Extra Credit: Assignment instructions Pick three neurobic exercises to do every day for two weeks Indicate which neurobic exercises you chose to do. Each day write a paragraph regarding what the experience was like and any observations throughout the day that caught your attention. A Few Suggested Neurobic Exercises •Rely on different senses when performing a daily routine, e.g., dress or shower with eyes closed; wear earplugs when eating to experience the world without sound; blindfolded, walk around or drive your car late at night, with a partner you trust guiding the way. •Try the Cook’s Hook-up when your brain feels foggy •Greet someone you do not know, smile, and simply say, “How is your ____day?” Or, ask what time it is, ask if they have change for a dollar, ask if they have heard a weather report recently, etc. •Go in to a store in which you had no interest in the past and just look around, e. g., floral shop, JoAnn’s, NAPA Auto Parts, medical supply, second hand store, or visit a book store a look at books in a section you typically avoid, etc. •Stimulate spatial learning by changing the location of objects in your room, e. g., clock, where you keep your purse or wallet, where you place your shoes, etc. Spend a little time each day writing, opening doors, using the computer mouse, or pressing buttons on your cell phone (when making a call) with your non- dominant hand. •Place different colored gelatin filters over your desk lamp to vary the lighting. Lawrence Katz notes that “Colors evoke strong emotional associations that can create completely different feelings about ordinary objects and events. Use cups that are a different color.” •Experiment with having different smells when doing various tasks, a different smell when talking on the phone or when reading or when reflecting or when reviewing for an exam. Katz notes that “Certain odors produce increased alertness and energy. In Japan, nutmeg or cinnamon odors are added to air- conditioning systems of office buildings to enhance productivity.” •Learn Braille. According to Katz, relying more on tactile sensations activates and strengthens a whole new set of neural pathways that “linking the cognitive regions of your cortex (those parts that know what a letter or number stands for) to sensory regions.” •Develop your vocabulary in a multisensory way. Synesthesia is a memory of something that is connected to all sensory modalities. Alexander Luria, a Russian psychologist, studied a journalist for decades, who had a synesthetic memory. Every memory he had, reportedly, was associated with a taste, fragrance, color, sound, texture, etc. •Go for a brisk 15-minute walk paying attention (mindfully) to all sounds, smells, textures, sights tactile sensations (warmth, coolness, wind, moisture). •Try modifying the position of various objects in your house by placing them upside down (family photos) or in a way where you view them from an entirely new perspective. Try to read a map of familiar terrain upside down. Try dialing your phone or entering numbers on your calculator upside down. This strengthens the capabilities of your right brain which is proficient at perceiving spatial and nonverbal cues, and according to Katz, “The strategy of looking at things upside down is a key component for awakening the latent artist in us.” •Using your non-dominant hand“can unleash a tremendous amount of new brain wiring. You may not think of it as learning, but the nerve cells in your brain do!” •Go out of your way to experience novelty to make “multisensory associations between different shapes, colors, smells, and tastes, as well as social interaction.” Talk to people you ordinarily do not associate with or even like. •When you find yourself bored or in disagreement during a conversation and cannot leave without being rude, stand on one foot, move your tongue back and forth with mouth closed, occasionally pressing your tongue against your cheek (tongue-in-cheek) when your disagreement is especially strong. Periodically, orient one hand with three middles fingers touching the bottom of your jaw to make an unnoticeable “fung goo” gesture. •Engage your olfactory system as often as you can and in novel ways. Katz states that “The olfactory system can distinguish millions of odors by activating unique combinations of receptors in the nose (Each receptor is like a single note on a piano, while the perception of an odor is like striking a chord.) . . . . and because the olfactory system is linked directly to the emotional center of the brain, new odors may evoke unexpected feelings and associations.” He recommends going into different Ethnic restaurants and mindfully attending to the various smells and tastes and overall atmosphere. •Close your eyes and distinguish foods by smell or touch. Hold your nose as you sample different foods. •Think of activities you did as a child or in your distant past in order to rekindle old memories, e.g., a baseball park hotdog, a birthday cake, popsicles, S’mores, macaroni and cheese, or visit a place you used to frequent in your past. •Change the order in which you eat your food, e.g., start with dessert and end up with chips. Change where you normally sit for a meal (outside, on the porch, in a swing, on the floor). Eat your food using the “wrong” hand. Or, have waffles or cereal for dinner. •Change the atmosphere. Dim the lights or rely on candlelight. Rearrange your furniture. Spice up your rooms with novel items, e.g., a tablecloth on the kitchen table, different, more colorful bath towels, different silverware or drinking cups, etc. •Make a phone call to a friend or relative spontaneously with no thought as to what you will talk about. •Wear a disguise or spend a day off in a town where no one knows you. Assume a new identity and pretend to be someone else. Perhaps carry a butterfly net with you and ask if anyone has seen any flying squirrels. •Go bird watching and record how many different species of birds you can see in one hour. Feed ducks or seagulls and name them according to their presenting personality. Sit in a park, close your eyes, and note all of the different sensory experiences you become aware of (smells, sounds, tactile sensations, etc.) •Do something artistic (even if you are all thumbs) and just paint or draw something as uncontrollably bizarre as possible with no obvious meaning or identification with anything in objective reality. Katz writes, “Art is a medium for activating the nonverbal and emotional parts of the cerebral cortex. When you create art, you draw on parts of your brain interested in forms, colors, and textures, as well as thought processes very different from the logical, linear thinking that occupies most of your waking hours.” •Deemphasize your visual sense when learning, incorporate tactile/kinesthetic, auditory, olfactory, gustatory senses •Change your orientation in physical space when studying by facing north or south or east or west (NSEW) at different times. •Put outlines or notes of subjects on different walls in your room (NSEW), ceiling and floor; or put outlines of your notes or review concepts in different places in your room, a drawer, top of table, to the opposite side of a door, in a closet, under your bed. •Walk around when reviewing study material. •Walk around your house, apartment, or yard backward. Crawl on your hands and knees. •Employ rapid eye movements (without moving your head, shift eye movements from side to side) when reviewing or learning a new concept •Close one eye when walking, looking for something, or changing the channel on your remote. •Rewrite key points you want to remember using your non-dominant hand •Write key concepts backward (neuron as noruen, etc.) or from right to left. •Put material you are trying to learn behind you, as you rehearse or review •Make the outline what you are learning in different colors, different shades (light, dark) or vary the size of the letters •Change the pitch of your voice or sing the material you are reviewing in different volumes, cadences/rhythms, (jazz, rock, etc.). Carry on a conversation with yourself (or someone you really trust) in a singing voice, or varying the pitch or volume of your voice. •Modify concepts you are learning in some way: make pictures of these concepts or put them in some symbolic form. •You think of something. Good luck! |
