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http://www.businessinsider.

com/surprising-facts-about-how-our-brains-
work-2013-9
10 Surprising Facts About How Our Brains
Work
Author: Bee Beth !ooper
"ne of the things that surprises me time and time again is how we
think our brains work and how the# actua# do.
"n man# occasions $ %nd m#sef con&inced that there is a certain wa#
to do things' on# to %nd out that actua# that(s the compete wrong
wa# to think about it. )or e*ampe' $ awa#s found it fair#
understandabe that we can mutitask. +e' according to the atest
research studies' it(s itera# impossibe for our brains to hande 2
tasks at the same time.
,ecent# $ came across more of these fascinating e*periments and
ideas that heped a ton to ad-ust m# work.ow towards how our brains
actua# work /instead of what $ thought01.
2o here are 10 of the most surprising things our brain does and what
we can earn from it:
1. 3our brain does creati&e work better when #ou(re tired.
+hen $ e*pored the science of our bod# cocks and how the# a4ect our
dai# routines' $ was interested to %nd that a ot of the wa# $(d panned
m# da#s wasn(t rea# the best wa# to go about it. 5he wa# we work' in
particuar' actua# has a ot to do with the c#ces of our bod# cocks.
6ere(s how it breaks down:
$f #ou(re a morning ark' sa#' #ou( want to fa&or those morning hours
when #ou(re feeing more fresh to get #our most demanding' ana#tic
work done. 7sing #our brain to so&e probems' answer 8uestions and
make decisions is best done when #ou(re at #our peak
)or night ows' this is ob&ious# a much ater period in the da#.
"n the other hand' if #ou(re tr#ing to do creati&e work' #ou( actua#
ha&e more uck when #ou(re more tired and #our brain isn(t functioning
as e9cient#. 5his sounds cra:#' but it actua# makes sense when #ou
ook at the reasoning behind it. $t(s one of the reasons wh# great ideas
often happen in the shower after a ong da# of work.
$f #ou(re tired' #our brain is not as good at %tering out distractions and
focusing on a particuar task. $t(s aso a ot ess e9cient at
remembering connections between ideas or concepts. 5hese are both
good things when it comes to creati&e work' since this kind of work
re8uires us to make new connections' be open to new ideas and think
in new wa#s. 2o a tired' fu::# brain is much more use to us when
working on creati&e pro-ects.
5his 2cienti%c American artice e*pains how distractions can actua#
be a good thing for creati&e thinking:
$nsight probems in&o&e thinking outside the bo*. 5his is where
susceptibiit# to ;distraction< can be of bene%t. At o4-peak times we
are ess focused' and ma# consider a broader range of information.
5his wider scope gi&es us access to more aternati&es and di&erse
interpretations' thus fostering inno&ation and insight.
2.
2tress can change the si:e of #our brain /and make it smaer1.
$ bet #ou didn(t know stress is actua# the most common cause of
changes in brain function. $ was surprised to %nd this out when $ ooked
into how stress a4ects our brains.
$ aso found some research that showed signs of brain si:e decreasing
due to stress.
"ne stud# used bab# monke#s to test the e4ects of stress on
de&eopment and ong-term menta heath. 6af the monke#s were
cared for b# their peers for = months whie the other haf remained
with their mothers. Afterwards' the monke#s were returned to t#pica
socia groups for se&era months before the researchers scanned their
brains.
For the monkeys who had been removed from their mothers
and cared for by their peers areas of their brains re!ated to
stress were sti!! en!arged even after being in norma! socia!
conditions for severa! months"
Athough more studies are needed to e*pore this fu#' it(s prett# scar#
to think that proonged stress coud a4ect our brains ong-term.
Another study found that in rats who were e#posed to chronic
stress the hippocampuses in their brains actua!!y shrank" $he
hippocampus is integra! to forming memories" %t has been
debated before whether &ost $raumatic Stress 'isorder (&$S')
can actua!!y shrink the hippocampus or peop!e with natura!!y
sma!!er hippocampuses are *ust more prone to &$S'" $his
study cou!d point to the stress being a factor in actua!!y
changing the brain"
3.
$t is itera# impossibe for our brains to muti-task.
>uti-tasking is something we(&e ong been encouraged to practice'
but it turns out it(s actua# impossibe. +hen we think we(re muti-
tasking' we(re actua# conte*t-switching. 5hat is' we(re 8uick#
switching back-and-forth between di4erent tasks' rather than doing
them at the same time.
5he book Brain ,ues e*pains how detrimenta ;muti-tasking< can be:
,esearch shows #our error rate goes up ?0 percent and it takes #ou
twice as ong to do things.
5he probem with muti-tasking is that we(re spitting our brain(s
resources. +e(re gi&ing ess attention to each task' and probab#
performing worse on a of them:
When the brain tries to do two things at once it divides and
con+uers dedicating one,ha!f of our gray matter to each task"
6ere is how this ooks ike in reait#. +hist we tr# to do both Action A
and Action B at the same time' our brain is ne&er handing both
simutaneous#. $nstead' it has to painfu# switch back and forth and
use important brainpower -ust for the switching:
+hen our brains hande a singe task' the prefronta corte* pa#s a big
part. 6ere(s how it heps us achie&e a goa or compete a task:
5he anterior part of this brain region forms the goa or intention@for
e*ampe' ;$ want that cookie<@and the posterior prefronta corte*
taks to the rest of the brain so that #our hand reaches toward the
cookie -ar and #our mind knows whether #ou ha&e the cookie.
A study in &aris found that when a second task was re+uired
the brains of the study vo!unteers sp!it up with each
hemisphere working a!one on a task" $he brain was over!oaded
by the second task and cou!dn-t perform at its fu!! capacity
because it needed to sp!it its resources.
+hen a third task was added' the &ounteers( resuts pummeted:
5he tripe-task -uggers consistent# forgot one of their tasks. 5he# aso
made three times as man# errors as the# did whie dua-tasking.
A. Baps impro&e #our brain(s da# to da# performance.
+e(re prett# cear on how important seep is for our brains' but what
about napsC $t turns out' these short bursts of seep are actua# rea#
usefu.
6ere are a coupe of wa#s napping can bene%t the brain:
$mpro&ed memor#
$n one stud#' participants memori:ed iustrated cards to test their
memor# strength. After memori:ing a set of cards' the# had a A0-
minute break wherein one group napped' and the other sta#ed awake.
After the break both groups were tested on their memor# of the cards'
and the group who had napped performed better:
>uch to the surprise of the researchers' the seep group performed
signi%cant# better' retaining on a&erage D? percent of the patterns'
compared to =0 percent for those who had remained awake.
Apparent!y napping actua!!y he!ps our brain to so!idify
memories:
,esearch indicates that whena memor# is %rst recorded in the brain@
in the hippocampus' to be speci%c@it(s sti ;fragie< and easi#
forgotten' especia# if the brain is asked to memori:e more things.
Bapping' it seems' pushes memories to the neocorte*' the brain(s
;more permanent storage'< pre&enting them from being ;o&erwritten.<
Eet(s ook at that in a graph F the peope who took a nap' were abe to
wid# outperform those who didn(t. $t(s ike the# had a fresh start:
Better earning
5aking a nap aso heps to cear information out of #our brain(s
temporar# storage areas' getting it read# for new information to be
absorbed. A stud# from the 7ni&ersit# of !aifornia asked participants
to compete a chaenging task around midda#' which re8uired them to
take in a ot of new information. At around 2p.m.' haf of the &ounteers
took a nap whie the rest sta#ed awake.
5he rea# interesting part of this stud# is not on# that at =p.m. that
night the napping group performed better than those who didn(t take a
nap. $n fact' the napping group actua# performed better than the#
had earier in the morning.
+hat happens in the brain during a nap
2ome recent research has found that the right side of the brain is far
more acti&e during a nap than the eft side' which sta#s fair# 8uiet
whie we(re aseep. Gespite the fact that 9?H of the popuation is right-
handed' with the eft side of their brains being the most dominant' the
right side is consistent# the more acti&e hemisphere during seep.
5he stud#(s author' Andrei >ed&ede&' specuated that the right side of
the brain handes Ihousekeeping( duties whie we(re aseep.
2o whie the eft side of #our brain takes some time o4 to rea*' the
right side is cearing out #our temporar# storage areas' pushing
information into ong-term storage and soidif#ing #our memories from
the da#.
?. 3our &ision trumps a other senses.
Gespite being one of our %&e main senses' &ision seems to take
precedence o&er the others:
6ear a piece of information' and three da#s ater #ou( remember 10
percent of it. Add a picture and #ou( remember =? percent.
Jictures beat te*t as we' in part because reading is so ine9cient for
us. "ur brain sees words as ots of tin# pictures' and we ha&e to
identif# certain features in the etters to be abe to read them. 5hat
takes time.
$n fact' &ision is so powerfu that the best wine tasters in the word
ha&e been known to describe ad#ed white wine as a red.
Bot on# is it surprising that we re# on our &ision so much' but it
actua# isn(t e&en that good0 5akethis fact' for instance:
"ur brain is doing a this guessing because it doesn(t know where
things are. $n a three-dimensiona word' the ight actua# fas on our
retina in a two-dimensiona fashion. 2o our brain appro*imates
&iewabe image.

=. %ntroversion and e#troversion come from di.erent wiring in
the brain"
$ -ust recent# reai:ed that intro&ersion and e*tro&ersion are not
actua# reated to how outgoing or sh# we are' but rather how our
brains recharge.
6ere(s how the brains of intro&erts and e*tro&erts di4er:
,esearch has actua# found that there is a di4erence in the brains of
e*tro&erted and intro&erted peope in terms of how we process rewards
and how our genetic makeup di4ers. For e#troverts their brains
respond more strong!y when a gamb!e pays o." &art of this is
simp!y genetic but it-s part!y the di.erence of their dopamine
systems as we!!"
An e*periment that had peope take gambes whie in a brain scanner
found the foowing:
+hen the gambes the# took paid o4' the more e*tro&erted group
showed a stronger response in two crucia brain regions: the am#gdaa
and the nuceus accumbens.
5he nuceus accumbens is part of the dopamine s#stem' which a4ects
how we earn' and is genera# known for moti&ating us to search for
rewards. $he di.erence in the dopamine system in the
e#trovert-s brain tends to push them towards seeking out
nove!ty taking risks and en*oying unfami!iar or surprising
situations more than others" $he amygda!a is responsib!e for
processing emotiona! stimu!i which gives e#troverts that rush
of e#citement when they try something high!y stimu!ating
which might overwhe!m an introvert"
>ore research has actua# shown that the di4erence comes from how
intro&erts and e*tro&erts process stimui. 5hat is' the stimu!ation
coming into our brains is processed di.erent!y depending on
your persona!ity" For e#troverts the pathway is much shorter"
%t runs through an area where taste touch visua! and auditory
sensory processing takes p!ace" For introverts stimu!i runs
through a !ong comp!icated pathway in areas of the brain
associated with remembering p!anning and so!ving prob!ems"

K. +e tend to ike peope who make mistakes more.
Apparent#' making mistakes actua# makes us more ikeabe' due to
something caed the Jratfa L4ect.
Me&an Eee recent# e*pained how this works on the Bu4er bog:
$hose who never make mistakes are perceived as !ess !ikeab!e
than those who commit the occasiona! fau# pas" /essing up
draws peop!e c!oser to you makes you more human" &erfection
creates distance and an unattractive air of invincibi!ity" $hose
of us with 0aws win out every time"
5his theor# was tested b# ps#choogist Liot Aronson. $n his test' he
asked participants to isten to recordings of peope answering a 8ui:.
2eect recordings incuded the sound of the person knocking o&er a cup
of co4ee. +hen participants were asked to rate the 8ui::ers on
ikabiit#' the co4ee-spi group came out on top.
2o this is wh# we tend to disike peope who seem perfect0 And now we
know that making minor mistakes isn(t the worst thing in the word@in
fact' it can work in our fa&or.
D. /editation can rewire your brain for the better"
6ere(s another one that rea# surprised me. $ thought meditation was
on# good for impro&ing focus and heping me to sta# cam throughout
the da#' but it actua# has a whoe bunch of great bene%ts.
6ere are a few e*ampes:
Eess an*iet#
5his point is prett# technica' but it(s rea# interesting. 5he more we
meditate' the ess an*iet# we ha&e' and it turns out this is because
we(re actua# oosening the connections of particuar neura pathwa#s.
5his sounds bad' but it(s not.
+hat happens without meditation is that there(s a section of our brains
that(s sometimes caed the >e !enter /it(s technica# the media
prefronta corte*1. 5his is the part that processes information reating
to ourse&es and our e*periences. Borma# the neura pathwa#s from
the bodi# sensation and fear centers of the brain to the >e !enter are
rea# strong. +hen #ou e*perience a scar# or upsetting sensation' it
triggers a strong reaction in #our >e !enter' making #ou fee scared
and under attack.
+hen we meditate' we weaken this neura connection. 5his means that
we don(t react as strong# to sensations that might ha&e once it up our
>e !enters. As we weaken this connection' we simutaneous#
strengthen the connection between what(s known as our Assessment
!enter /the part of our brains known for reasoning1 and our bodi#
sensation and fear centers. 2o when we e*perience scar# or upsetting
sensations' we can more easi# ook at them rationa#. 6ere(s a good
e*ampe:
)or e*ampe' when #ou e*perience pain' rather than becoming an*ious
and assuming it means something is wrong with #ou' #ou can watch
the pain rise and fa without becoming ensnared in a stor# about what
it might mean.
>ore creati&it#
,esearchers at Eeiden 7ni&ersit# in the Betherands studied both
focused-attention and open-monitoring mediation to see if there was
an# impro&ement in creati&it# afterwards. 5he# found that peope who
practiced focused-attention meditation did not show an# ob&ious signs
of impro&ement in the creati&it# task foowing their meditation. )or
those who did open-monitoring meditation' howe&er' the# performed
better on a task that asked them to come up with new ideas.
Better memor#
"ne of the things meditation has been inked to is impro&ing rapid
memor# reca. !atherine Merr' a researcher at the >artinos !enter for
Biomedica $maging and the "sher ,esearch !enter found that peope
who practiced mindfu meditation were abe to ad-ust the brain wa&e
that screens out distractions and increase their producti&it# more
8uick# that those that did not meditate. 2he said that this abiit# to
ignore distractions coud e*pain ;their superior abiit# to rapid#
remember and incorporate new facts.< 5his seems to be &er# simiar to
the power of being e*posed to new situations that wi aso
dramatica# impro&e our memor# of things.
>editation has aso been inked to increasing compassion' decreasing
stress' impro&ing memor# skis and e&en increasing the amount of
gra# matter in the brain.

9. L*ercise can reorgani:e the brain and boost #our wipower.
2ure' e*ercise is good for #our bod#' but what about #our brainC +e
apparent# there(s a ink between e*ercise and menta aertness.
A ifetime of e*ercise can resut in a sometimes astonishing ee&ation in
cogniti&e performance' compared with those who are sedentar#.
L*ercisers outperform couch potatoes in tests that measure ong-term
memor#' reasoning' attention' probem-so&ing' e&en so-caed .uid-
inteigence tasks.
"f course' e*ercise can aso make us happier' as we(&e e*pored
before:
$f #ou start e*ercising' #our brain recogni:es this as a moment of
stress. As #our heart pressure increases' the brain thinks #ou are either
%ghting the enem# or .eeing from it. 5o protect #oursef and #our brain
from stress' #ou reease a protein caed BGB) /Brain-Geri&ed
Beurotrophic )actor1. 5his BGB) has a protecti&e and aso reparati&e
eement to #our memor# neurons and acts as a reset switch. 5hat(s
wh# we often fee so at ease and things are cear after e*ercising and
e&entua# happ#.
At the same time' endorphins' another chemica to %ght stress' are
reeased in #our brain. 5he main purpose of endorphis is this' writes
researcher >cNo&ern:
$hese endorphins tend to minimi1e the discomfort of e#ercise
b!ock the fee!ing of pain and are even associated with a fee!ing
of euphoria"

10. 2ou can make your brain think time is going s!ow!y by doing
new things.
L&er wished #ou didn(t %nd #oursef sa#ing ;+here does the time go0<
e&er# Oune when #ou reai:e the #ear is haf-o&erC 5his is a neat trick
that reates to how our brains percei&e time. "nce #ou know how it
works' #ou can trick #our brain into thinking time is mo&ing more
sow#.
Lssentia#' our brains take a whoe bunch of information from our
senses and organi:e it in a wa# that makes sense to us' before we e&er
percei&e it. 2o what we think is our sense of time is actua# -ust a
whoe bunch of information presented to us in a particuar wa#' as
determined b# our brains:
+hen our brains recei&e new information' it doesn(t necessari# come
in the proper order. 5his information needs to be reorgani:ed and
presented to us in a form we understand. +hen famiiar information is
processed' this doesn(t take much time at a. Bew information'
howe&er' is a bit sower and makes time fee eongated.
L&en stranger' it isn-t *ust a sing!e area of the brain that
contro!s our time perception3it-s done by a who!e bunch of
brain areas un!ike our common 4ve senses which can each be
pinpointed to a sing!e speci4c area"
+hen we recei&e ots of new information' it takes our brains a whie to
process it a. 5he onger this processing takes' the onger that period
of time fees:
+hen we(re in ife-threatening situations' for instance' ;we remember
the time as onger because we record more of the e*perience. Eife-
threatening e*periences make us rea# pa# attention' but we don(t
gain superhuman powers of perception.<
5he same thing happens when we hear en-o#abe music' because
;greater attention eads to perception of a onger period of time.<
!on&erse#' if #our brain doesn(t ha&e to process ots of new
information' time seems to mo&e faster' so the same amount of time
wi actua# fee shorter than it woud otherwise. 5his happens when
#ou take in ots of information that(s famiiar' because #ou(&e
processed it before. 3our brain doesn(t ha&e to work &er# hard' so it
processes time faster.
Go #ou ha&e another surprising fact about the brain #ou(d ike to
shareC $(d o&e to hear it0 $f #ou en-o#ed this post' $ think #ou might
aso ike our post about 10 2impe 5hings 3ou !an Go 5oda# 5hat +i
>ake 3ou 6appier' Backed B# 2cience.
5his post origina# appeared at Bu4er. !op#right 2013.
,ead more: http://bog.bu4erapp.com/10-surprising-facts-about-how-
our-brain-worksC
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