Welcome to Mental Health Guide
General Anti Mental Health Stigma Web Sites Article
For a permanent link to this article about Mental Health, or to bookmark this page, click here
How Your Brain Can Form Mental Maps To Learn
from: Martin MakThe brain has the ability to recall many things in detail. For instance, if you are sitting at your desk right now and if you close your eyes, you'll find that you'd be able to find your calculator or pen. Sometimes, unconsciously, you can even find yourself reaching out for such items when you need them unconsciously, while you are consciously thinking of solving a problem or making an important decision.
People who become blind as adults will find themselves impeded by their inability to use their vision to sense their environment. They cope by relying on their memory of how things are placed. Their mental maps then become suddenly very important to them. Blind people have to re-create the world around them in their heads by using their other senses to help them make sense and navigate their environment with new sensory data.
The blind are able to use their imagination and their memory to get around on their own. For example, when they move around town, they are no longer able to navigate according to familiar landmarks, buildings or street signs. Instead they must find new tags to help them find their way around, such as the aroma of freshly brewed coffee from a nearby café or the aroma of freshly baked bread from a nearby bakery. Using their other senses, they can feel underfoot of a stone or gravel path or the noise coming from a nearby subway, train track or traffic at a busy junction. Soon the familiar pathways will become routine - like the visual "maps" of normal sighted people.
In a similar fashion, people have been using mental maps to help them memorise large amount of information. Such memory techniques help students develop their study skills. In fact, anyone can use memory mapping to help them improve their memory and accelerate their learning. Such memory training has found favour by many people to improve memory in work, play and in school and with constant practise, can also keep the mind sharp even in old age.
For a long time, neurologists and scientists have tried to determine the area of the brain where spatial orientation is located. Recent findings show that the hippocampus, a part of the cerebrum inside the temporal lobes, could play an important role when it comes to orientation. The hippocoampus is part of the limbic system, which is considered to be the control centre for the assessment of information and is the seat of short-term memory.
A British neurologist, named Eleanor Maguire conducted research into the question of where the human sense of orientation is located. She chose London cab drivers for her study. The cabbies, in their distinctive black taxis, are famous for their ability to find their way to almost any location in London. To find out which part of the human brain is especially active during the cabbie's navigation, Eleanor Maguire used computers to make the blood circulation of individual sections of the brain visible. During the test, she first blindfolded the drivers, then asked them to try to reconstruct certain routes in their minds. While the were describing the route in their imagination, the computers picked up intense activity in the right-hand rear sector of the brain - the seat of the hippocampus. This section seems to perform much of the work when it comes to reading mental maps. Eleanor Maguire received an unusually clear research outcome. It is quite rare for scientists to succeed in defining a brain section to such a specific area. That's because under normal circumstances, several sections in the brain participate in complex thinking process.
Martin Mak has developed a new program to help you improve your memory and enhance your learning experience. Find out more with his popular and free ecourse.
http://www.mightymemory.com/memoryarticle.html
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Martin_Mak
http://EzineArticles.com/?How-Your-Brain-Can-Form-Mental-Maps-To-Learn&id=926397
General Anti Mental Health Stigma Web Sites Specific links
General Anti Mental Health Stigma Web Sites
- Looking for General Anti Mental Health Stigma Web Sites?
-- http://www.shopica.org/
Blinkx Video Search
- World's largest video search engine. Over 26 million hours of video.
-- http://www.blinkx.com/
Entertainment News
- Breaking headlines and Hollywood gossip. Free entertainment videos and clips!
-- http://www.ivillage.com/
Free Online Kids Games
- Hundreds of fun free online games for kids.
-- http://www.alfy.com/
Prop 8 Encounters Krayon's Wrath
- Video Blog: The election has me dancing in the streets! But Prop 8 threatens the institution of marriage in more ways than you might imagine. Get into it!
-- http://www.atom.com/
General Anti Mental Health Stigma Web Sites News
Complaint re: Veteran Suicide Cover-Up by Department of Veteran ... - Nolanchart.com
Did you know that 18 American war veterans die every day? And did you know that Veteran's Affairs has no idea why? And did you know.... Reader - The following has an excerpt from my previous post " US Soldier 2008 Body Count in Afghanistan Sets All ...
Read more...2008 (2604) - Dakota Voice
â–º January 16 - January 23 (1) Barack Obama says his biggest mistake was to vote to help Terri Schiavo avoid being starved and dehydrated to death, according to LifeSiteNews . "It wasn't something I was comfortable with, but it was not something ...
Read more...Obama begins to build administration - Rocky Mountain News
U.S. President elect Barack Obama stands on stage during an election night gathering in Grant Park on November 4, 2008 in Chicago, Illinois. Obama defeated Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) by a wide margin in the election to become the ...
Read more...Accused in police net for rape bid on German tourist - Tribune
The arrest of Manveer, alias Jolly, and Sukhwinder, alias Sukhi, in the alleged case of abduction and attempt to rape of a German tourist has not come as a surprise for residents of their native villages. In fact, residents say that this “had to ...
Read more...Best Answers to Sunday Question ... - Spokane Spokesman-Review
2. It has got to be the tongue piercing, when you are looking for a job, hired by my generation. I tant undtand a tang your thaying -- Gary Cuff. 3. I'd like to see the following cease: Spandex on overweight women, ganny Pouches worn on the rotund ...
Read more...