THE BRAIN

HONORS – UNIT 6

Use it or lose it hypothesis

• This hypothesis claims that by

stimulating our minds regularly, we

can improve mental function and

delay the onset of memory loss and

other age-related cognitive

deterioration.

Improve your brain function! (Pg 68, ex B/Vocab spreadsheet)

• Do you do any of the activities recommended in

the text?

• If not, do you think you will adopt some now that

you have read about their benefits? If so, which?

Do you know of any other ways to improve brain function?

eat a diet rich in omega 3 Exercise regularly Avoid alcohol Get enough sleep Play chess Do puzzles

Recommended by neuroscientists Sudoku puzzles Playing scrabble Showering with your eyes

closed Selecting unfamiliar words

from a dictionary and using them in conversation

Taking a different route to work or school

Freudian Slip: A verbal mistake that is thought to reveal a repressed belief,

thought, or emotion..

Bathtub effect

• "The 'bathtub effect‘ is perhaps the most commonly

reported finding in the literature on memory for words.

People remember the beginnings and ends of words

better than the middles, as if the word were a person

lying in a bathtub, with their head out of the water at

one end and their feet out at the other. And, just as in a

bathtub the head is further out of the water and more

prominent than the feet, so the beginnings of words are,

on average, better remembered than the ends.

Discussion questions

• Are there certain words that you often confuse

in your own language? Does the ‘bathtub

theory’ apply to these words?

• How do you think research of this kind could be

helpful to teachers and learners of a second

language?

(could help them develop methods of learning / teaching

vocabulary)