The Brain at Work

Would you like to learn more about the fascinating subject of neuroscience and the way in which it can help individuals and teams become more effective at work?

If so MyBrain International is running two free seminars on Thursday 8th October and Monday 30th November in central London.

Seminar attendees will also have the opportunity to complete a MiND profile.  

MiND is the world’s first and only neurometric - a profiling tool based on the latest neurological research and discoveries.

It was developed following research by various eminent neuroscientists into the way in which information is distributed by the synaptic network.  As a result we are now able to identify the causal link between the psychology of a person and the physiology of their brain.  This insight has made MiND a genuinely ground-breaking tool as, for the first time, we are able to go beyond the mere assessment of how people think by providing an explanation of why they think the way they do and why other people may think differently.

In addition to providing an opportunity for you to complete a profile for yourself, the seminar will cover:

• An overview of the neuroscientific research that has led to the identification of the causal link between the psychology of a person and the physiology of their brain.
• An explanation of how that research led to the development of MiND, the world’s first neurometric.
• Details of how MiND differs from psychological profiling tools including an explanation as to why those differences are so valuable in team-building, leadership, coaching and numerous other applications.
• A demonstration of the ways in which MiND and the subject of neuroscience provides people with genuinely new insights into why they are the way they are and in what ways other people are different.

Who should attend?
The seminar open to senior managers, trainers and HR professionals who are interested in either becoming an accredited MyBrain Practitioner themselves or in learning how the use of the MiND tool could benefit their organisation.

Seminar Details:
Dates: Thursday 8th October (almost full) or Monday 30th November
Time: The event will begin at 9:30 with coffee served from 9:00. It will end at 2:00 following lunch
Venue: The Meeting House, 124 Wigmore Street, Central London, W1U 3RY

Please note that places are limited to a maximum of two people from any one organisation and will be allocated on a first come first served basis. Please use the following link to book places:

Click here to book.
Click here for more information on the MyBrain Practitioner programme.

If you would like to attend but are unable to make this date or location, please email enquiries@mybrain.co.uk providing your contact details and we will be in touch to see if we can accommodate you at a future event.

Left Handers’ Day

Did you know that people who are left handed have a special day dedicated to them?  The 13th August.  It was a day to celebrate the fact that lefties are special as they represent less than 10% of the population.

Lefties often claim special skills.  For example, did you know that three of the last four US presidents are left handed, as were Albert Einstein, Marie Curie, Bill Gates and Bart Simpson!

Because the brain is cross-wired to the opposite side of the body, it is often claimed that left-handedness is associated with the type of creativity sometimes associated with the right hemisphere of the brain.  While there appears to be some evidence to support this, there is no evidence to support the claim that all left-handers are right-brained.

Interestingly, the incidence of left-handedness appears to be consistently around 10% of the population everywhere in the world.  It is also interesting that in virtually every society left-handers have been persecuted.  I recall that one of my friends at primary school in the 1960s in a small village in Lincolnshire used to get caned by our teacher if he was caught writing with his left hand.  Why our teacher thought that handedness mattered and what psychotic perversity led him to believe that corporal punishment was needed to correct such a trivial matter is anyone’s guess.

So why is right-handedness more prevalent than left-handedness?  The answer to this question is not known but numerous theories exist ranging from hemispheric lateralization in the brain to genetic factors.  Interestingly a study of ultrasound scans of human foetuses in 1991 found that at 15 weeks most foetuses prefer to suck their right thumb, hinting that handedness is present prior to birth. Interestingly, Hepper et al. followed up this study of 75 individuals. They found that the 60 foetuses that preferred to suck their right thumb were indeed right-handed as teenagers, and of the 15 foetuses that preferred to suck their left thumb, 5 were right-handed and 10 were left-handed.

Whether handedness is an inherited genetic trait or not is also not known.  In 1991 Robert Collins of the Jackson Laboratory attempted to breed left- or right-handed mice.  Since the attempt failed it suggests that handedness is not inherited.  However, the study did find that left or right paw dominance was associated with higher levels of dopamine in the corresponding hemisphere, leading to suggestions that physiological and neurological lateralisation are associated.

Left Handers’ Day may seem like a bit of a gimmick, but as a result of highlighting the plight of left handers many things have improved.  For example, whereas once items such as can openers, scissors and computer mice were only available in right-handed versions, today many more products are designed to be ambidextrous.

To find out more about Left Hander’s Day visit www.lefthandersday.com.

Do Brain Games Work?

I was recently asked whether the variety of brain games and brain apps available that are promoted as a means of keeping your brain fit and healthy are any good. 

The answer I gave was that while there does appear to be some support for the notion that cognitive exercise can help maintain cognitive capacity and what neuroscientists call 'cognitive reserve', I am not aware of any hard evidence to support the claims of the brain game manufacturers.  

The best piece of research I could find on the subject was a study by the consumer watchdog Which? in 2009, where they looked at the validity of the claims made by products such as Dr Kawashima's Brain Training.  Coincidentally, I had one bought for me by my children as a Christmas present, but stopped using it after it said I had the brain of an 83 year old!
 

Which? began by asking the manufacturers what the benefits of using their products were and to back their claims up with evidence. They sent this to three experts and asked if they thought the evidence justified the claims. They looked at whether the evidence related directly to the product concerned and whether it had been checked by experts working in the same field and published in a reputable scientific journal.

As an example, one manufacturer claimed that “in just 20 minutes a day, the CD will help increase thinking ability, prevent brain aging, and hone memory, language, concentration, visual/spatial skills and executive function.”
 

One of Nintendo’s claims was that playing the game helps improve blood flow to the frontal cortex and thereby improve "practical intelligence". But the three neuroscientists consulted by Which? said there was no evidence that an increased blood flow had "any functional impact on your life whatsoever."

Which? Editor Martyn Hocking said: "If people enjoy using these games, then they should continue to do so - that's a no-brainer. But if people are under the illusion that these devices are scientifically proven to keep their minds in shape, they need to think again."

The Brain at Work Seminar - Additional Date

As there are very few places remaining on our free seminar on the 8th September, we have added another seminar the following month on Thursday 8th October.

The purpose of the seminar is to demonstrate the tools and materials MyBrain International provide to enable people to incorporate the subject of neuroscience in their own learning and development work.

Attendees at the seminar will also have the opportunity to complete a MiND profile. MiND is the world’s first and only neurometric - a profiling tool based on the latest neurological research that is used to identify the causal link between the psychology of a person and the physiology of their brain. This insight has made MiND a genuinely ground-breaking tool as, for the first time, we are able to go beyond the mere assessment of how people think by providing an explanation of why they think the way they do.

Click here for more information on the seminar and a link to the booking system.

If you would like to attend but are unable to make either of these dates or location, please get in touch so that we can see if we can accommodate you at a future event.

New Evidence of the Brain Body Connection

A new study published in the journal Nature (Louveau et al.,2015) appears to present new evidence of the connectedness of the body to the brain.  Until now it was thought that the lymphatic system, a vital component in our immune system, operated throughout the body but that it did not pass into the tissues of the brain.  However, the discovery announced in this report is that the team have discovered vessels located in the membrane that surrounds the brain and spinal cord (the meninges) that connects the brain to the immune system.

Whereas previously the brain had been thought of as independent of the immune system, these findings demonstrate that the brain is like every other tissue connected to the peripheral immune system.

The finding will hopefully have major implications for every neurological disease that has an immune component to it.  For example, the large protein chunks that build up in the brains of Alzheimer sufferers may be as a result of the failure of these vessels to remove them efficiently.  If that is the case entirely new medicines may emerge to treat Alzheimer’s as a result of these findings.

As with all research, the timescale for it to translate into effective human treatments is relatively slow.  But the discovery of these previously unknown structures is nevertheless a major advance in our understanding of the brain and neurodegenerative illnesses.

Neuro-science or neuro-nonsense?

Today, the brain sells. Take an old idea, put ‘neuro’ in front of it and you have an apparently exciting new product.  It seems that everything from energy drinks to training companies are getting in on the act, there is even a music app you can get for your smartphone that claims to be “scientifically optimised” to boost your attention span by up to 400% using “neuroscience based music”.  Sadly, most of these claims are neuro-nonsense.

MyBrain International is different.  Rather than trying to persuade you with snazzy advertising, we would rather prove our case by giving people the opportunity to experience our offering first-hand.  To do this we are running a free seminar in central London on the 8th September.

Who should attend?
The seminar is open to senior managers, trainers and HR professionals who are interested in learning how use of the MiND tool could benefit their organisations.  More specifically, the seminar will cover the following areas:

• An overview of the neuroscientific research that has led to the identification of the causal link between the psychology of a person and the physiology of their brain.
• An explanation of how that research led to the development of MiND, the world’s first neurometric.
• Details of how MiND differs from psychological profiling tools including an explanation as to why those differences are so valuable in team-building, leadership, coaching and numerous other applications.
• A demonstration of the ways in which MiND and the subject of neuroscience provides people with genuinely new insights into why they are the way they are and in what ways other people may differ.

If you are interested in attending please email enquiries@mybrain.co.uk providing your details and a contact number.  We will then get in touch to provide further details and to confirm your attendance.

CIPD 2015 L&D Show

Thank you to everyone who visited the MyBrain stand at the recent CIPD Learning & Development Show in London.  It was a great pleasure to meet and chat with so many people with a genuine interest neuroscience.

During the two days of the show there was hardly ever a quiet moment - more than 200 people visited the stand and left their business cards.  We were also impressed by how multinational the conference was with people from as far afield as Australia and India.  In total we counted more than 10 nationalities just from the visitors to our stand!

For those people who have booked to complete the MiND Practitioner training we look forward to seeing you soon, and to everyone else we look forward to keeping in touch and to seeing you again sometime in the future.