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As part of mind stimulating trip I have the opportunity to visit some museums. I am lucky enough to be in NY city and visited the Metropolitan museum of art – among the greatest in the world.

I strolled through the long and winding rooms and wondered would I think these are great painting if somebody hadn’t told me? Or at least that these seven (pick any famous seven) painters are clearly above the other painters who’s works aren’t hung on these prestigious walls (and are largely or completely forgotten) for millions to see each year? Already the museum had at least got me thinking – proposing thought experiments.

I remember several years ago, after having spent 3 weeks in Europe and visiting various museums, when I walked into a Washington DC museum and as I wandered around I saw a painting in the distance and I said to myself - ‘A Degas’ even though I didn’t recognize this specific painting. When I wandered up to the description sure enough in was a Degas. I was feeling pretty proud for an artless scientist.

Therefore, today I was somewhat mystified when at the museums several times I was wrong with my guess of the artist. I thought I recognized the Pointillism style of X and it would turn out to be Y (pointillism is just one example of impressionism and post-impressionism). Then I realized as I looked closer (without remembering the names), at least to an untrained and schooled eye, that it seemed liked there were little groups that all pretty well used what I use to think of as a distinct style. I am sure somebody with a little bit more art knowledge would surely set me straight - but still there are some similarity in some of the techniques used by the various members (if they were not copying there were ‘heavily influenced’ - not to say the same thing doesn’t happen in writing and/or science).

This throw me for a few minutes because my simplistic understanding of the late 19^th century paintings were the exploration of new ways to look and interpret the world. They we could view the world through individual specific perceptions – but if they were just copying each other - . Early in the day I saw the rich colours and brilliant lighting techniques of the Renaissance and Baroque painters (and throw in Romanticism). Yes, they were beautiful but how many different ways can you depict reality in a straightforward manner (even with very dramatic lighting)? I had heard of several books that highlighted the changes in science and physics that fostered the new art (or vice versa – not sure about the chicken or egg argument in this case). My artless trained conclusion was how many ways can you depict a new reality – hence they soon started copying each other. And like the Renaissance painting style this new exciting departure from normal reality also gave way to the even newer and bolder attempts of modern art (modernism, post-modernism). Okay, enough of my overly simplistic art history lesson (which is I am sure somewhat misguided).

Sadly, I wasn’t inspired today at the museum – maybe because I have seen enough art (in the form of history) as now I only see slight derivations of things I have seen previously from the various museums I have visited around the world. (I also found myself in the middle of my visit to this museum pulling out my laptop and doing a little science as I glanced up at a Degas’ between my work on the computer - actually I guess I am pretty luck to be doing work in such beautiful surroundings).

But I do draw myself near to a Van Gogh painting - looking closely at the splotched on paint - layered thick and richly. I ponder of how his work, his inspiration is congealed in this one time piece of work that can not be copied - that globe of paint smeared with that specific color, that specific slash, that specific motion. His art does seem particularly full of energy - if that is possible.

What struck me the most today was when I visited the ancient Egyptian art section and they had stones wall carvings with hieroglyphics writing. I was not really sure if these were originals (but I assumed so), or copies. But I thought of the person who 5,000 or so years ago worked away to make this wall art. Was he a free person or a slave? Did he enjoy his work, or did they have any choice? But still the work has lasted – not in its original location half way around the world – but sits in a Central park museum on some of the richest land in the world. This art piece is viewed by millions and millions and over years and years. I wonder what is the artist’s story? This made my neurons and brain sing.

Stimulate your brain - take in some art, be it in a book, on the web, or stop by a local gallery in your area (you don’t have to go to some world class museum to view art). Sure you might have some disagreements with what the experts think. You might even have thoughts of your own - and there can not be too many things more stimulating for your brain than some honest to gosh thoughts. Maybe you will even be stimulated to produce some of your own art.

I am leaving for two scientific meeting early tomorrow morning (spread over 2 weeks). I am giving a talk in Toronto, and will do my best to swallow as much information as possible at the annual society for neuroscience meeting where 32,000 neuroscientists gather for 5 jam-packed crazy days to pick and choose among 15,000 posters and presentations.

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Due to the whirl wind trip I am not sure how regular I will be posting - but I am sure I will learn a great deal and have plenty to report when I get back.

Image by MacRonin47 via Flickr

Is web surfing good for your brain health?

Many of you reading this might be happy to hear the results of this new study as reported at esciencenews.

The researchers at UCLA (in press at American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry) compared reading and surfing the internet in 25 subjects between 55 and 76 years old. During these two tasks the subjects brains were scanned using fMRI. The more interactive endeavor of surfing the internet ended up activating the frontal brain regions which are involved in decision making.

Internet searches revealed a major difference between the two groups. While all participants demonstrated the same brain activity that was seen during the book-reading task, the Web-savvy group also registered activity in the frontal, temporal and cingulate areas of the brain, which control decision-making and complex reasoning.

It also appears that greater experience with net surfing resulted in greater brain activation.

In fact, researchers found that during Web searching, volunteers with prior experience registered a twofold increase in brain activation when compared with those with little Internet experience. The tiniest measurable unit of brain activity registered by the fMRI is called a voxel. Scientists discovered that during Internet searching, those with prior experience sparked 21,782 voxels, compared with only 8,646 voxels for those with less experience.

This is an interesting result and I am not sure you would see this in a younger group of subjects because even the lowest level of web surfers are pretty savvy. But if you have watched an older generation family member who did not grow up with the net, or adopted in when it came into general use, they seem lost when on the net - partially scared of doing something wrong, but just in general not fully using the tool to even a small percentage of its ability. Though I think anybody can adapt to get good use and hence probably good brain activation from surfing on the net.

As Small, one of the authors pointed out:

…the minimal brain activation found in the less experienced Internet group may be due to participants not quite grasping the strategies needed to successfully engage in an Internet search, which is common while learning a new activity.”With more time on the Internet, they may demonstrate the same brain activation patterns as the more experienced group,” he said.

All of this makes perfect sense to us surfers. If we were guessing the results before this experiment and comparing say TV watching, reading, and surfing; we would guess that TV watching would have the lowest activity, followed by reading, then internet surfing.

Compared with simple reading, the Internet’s wealth of choices requires that people make decisions about what to click on in order to pursue more information, an activity that engages important cognitive circuits in the brain.

Now I am not a gamer but it might be reasonable to propose if gaming was included as a comparison that it would produce an even greater range of activation.

Either way, surfing the net because it engages the frontal lobe via decision making (compared to passive intake of information) might be a good exercise for your brain and keep it nice and healthy as you age.

Hmmmm maybe my last 10 years haven’t been a total waste.

You might be scratching your head over my title but hopefully it will make sense at the end.

We all now the importance of exercise for both our body and mental health. You can’t go a week or so without hearing about the latest research that provides evidence for what we all know at a common sense level. Keep on moving (run, bike, swim, jump, play sports, anything) so you don’t slow down as you age (or at least a slower rate of slowing) and this same moving is good for your brain on many levels (more neurogenesis, less depression, better memory, less Alzheimer, etc, etc).

Money savings vs fitness savings

The nice thing about making monthly deposit into your long term saving plan is you see it steadily buildup and it doesn’t go away unless you decide to spend it (or some other economic catastrophe). However, the deposit you make into your bodies exercise bank is quite different. Yes, over time regular exercise will build up your fitness bank - you get fitter and fitter. The problem is when you stop doing those daily/weekly deposit your fitness bottom line stops dropping. While if you happen not to make a deposit into your long term saving account your bank balance does not start decreasing (unless those pesty bank keep on charging you fees, but even this would be balanced out by your interest payments). With your money - the old rule is with normal interests rates you should double your money every 7-14 years. Not true with fitness unless you keep up your routine you start sliding backwards.

For an excellent post on the importance of consistence exercise and the physiology behind lost fitness if you take a break check out Alan Couzens piece here.

So for money if you stop making deposits your account doesn’t start going backwards, but your fitness/health account starts reversing after a week or so of no exercise. Hence, the importance of consistency in your fitness routine.

A money saving method to help the consistency of your fitness account.

Some new research looking at money saving, by people who have trouble with this part of their life, found that those that plan their saving more than a month in the future did worse than those that plan only a month at a time (via esciencenews.com).

While keeping the savings goal in mind, planning to save in a shorter time frame, like one month, leads to the most success, said Tam. “This type of time frame helps people see steady progress along the way while not feeling too much pressure. This is similar to some of the dieting regimens – not too close so you don’t see progress but not too far away either so you don’t get discouraged.”

I found the importance of time-frame very interesting. Tam, one of the authors of the presentation/paper points out above the similar finding in dieting. So I wonder if the same principle would also hold for fitness routines?

As I have blogged about previously there seems to evidence suggesting getting in 45 minutes of exercise per day 6 days a week which equates to 4.5 hours per week. Now the question is should we think about daily (45 minutes), weekly (4.5 hours), monthly (18 hours), or yearly (216 hours)? Is money different because normally we are getting paid every 2 weeks and we make these saving choices - at least deposit into your bank account once or twice a month. So you could argue that money saving is quite different than the daily choice to exercise or not. But in reality to make those saving goals you have to make appropriate money spending choices each day (go out for dinner, buy the latest gadget, etc).

Something to try:

So if you are struggling to meet your fitness saving - constant banking - then you might try out this approach. Pick a monthly goal of how much exercise you would like to do - then keep track and chart your health saving each month.

To higher money and fitness savings (though for fitness you have to keep it up).