Fun ways to get your brain ready to study for final exams! Engaging Your Brain Fun ways to get your brain ready to study for final exams!

When does your brain stop making new neurons? When you are born 3 Years Old 23 Years Old 40 Years Old 53 Years Old Scientists used to believe that by the age of 3 the human brain was relatively fixed in form and function. However, neuroscientists today know that the “brain remains a work in progress…” even in its allotment of neurons. The amount of neural “real estate” devoted to a task expands with use…so what does that mean? YOUR BRAIN CAN CHANGE!

The Benefit of Brain Games You can improve your cognitive strength at any age! Make improvements to your Memory Processing speed Attention Reasoning and problem solving abilities

The Brain Storage System The brain works hard to store and retrieve needed information Working memory is important to reasoning and problem solving Processing speed gauges how quickly you are able to perceive and interpret information Improved attention will help you concentrate on important information

Everyone can use a few tips on how to help their brain function better Everyone can use a few tips on how to help their brain function better. These brain tips include easy things you can do to sharpen your thinking and perception. Catch some Z’s Learn to use your “other” hand Choose the rocky road Memorize a song Do a jigsaw puzzle Reacquaint yourself with the ball Eat fish Exercise your peripheral vision Step it up a notch Turn down your television Get exercise Learn to play a new instrument Visit a museum

Which Monster is Larger? Which monster is larger?   To most people, the one in the background seems larger — though, in fact, they are exactly the same size. But the depth cues in the picture (the receding tunnel) give the two-dimensional image a 3-D feel. Although both monsters create the same size image in our eyes, our brains take the depth cues into account, which results in a perception of the upper monster as further away — making it seem larger.

Count the number of F’s in the Passage FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE YEARS OF EXPERIENCE. How many did you count? There are actually six F's, but most people only count three. Why? It seems that there are two possibilities: The brain either skips over the high-frequency word "of," discounting it as less meaningful than many of the other larger words. The letter F usually makes a sound like in fox. In the word of, though, it makes the V sound. As a result, the brain may overlook the word of as it scans for the F sound. It's interesting to note that children often count the correct number of F's since they tend to read letter by letter

Choose one black dot and focus on it. It’s an impossible task. Each time you move your eyes and focus, you see that the dots in the center of your receptive field are all actually white. The surrounding ones just appear to be black. So why do you see black dots? The visual system processes edges of objects so that they are enhanced. Seeing edges is very important for the brain’s ability to understand and define an image. This sometimes leads to visual “artifacts” away from the center of the receptive field, such as the black dots in the Hermann grid.

What do you see? Some people immediately see a vase or trophy (in white). Others see two faces in profile (in black). Generally, we can switch back and forth between perceiving one and the other. This illusion is interesting because it shows that perception is not solely determined by an image. It’s also crucial that the brain be able to separate objects from the background — which, as in the picture above, can be tricky. Which is the object here — the vase or the faces? Which is the background? The spontaneous reversal between object and background illustrates the dynamism of perception.

Other Great Brain Training Websites: http://brainist.com/ http://www.gamesforthebrain.com/ http://www.websudoku.com/

sources http://www.dreammanifesto.com/reclaim-brain-engaging-brain-games.html http://www.revolutionhealth.com/conditions/brain-nerves/brain-health/fun-brain-tips/index