The human brain

> I don't know about the 10% figure, Tasker,
> but I was thinking this exact same question
> while reading a news story about a
> researcher who claims that the position we
> sleep in is linked to our attitudes. I
> thought it was very interesting but very
> general and probably not done with enough
> subjects to make any hard conclusions.

> Who knows (I don't yet)? But really, can
> anyone really sleep on their back like a tin
> soldier all night?

> Going to sleep soon on my side,

> Erik

Glad to answer the questions. About the 10%. I learned it straight out of my Psychology Studies textbooks. If you care to go back about 40 years you might be able to find the textbook. :o)

About Phonics. Phonics is the old-fashioned style of learning to read by sounding out letters and combinations. Accuracy is higher, as is retention and comprehension according to tests done by several universities when the controversy occurred over the 'new' (old actually) method of look-say teaching of reading occurred.

Phonics is the 'natural reader' method that people who self-teach themselves to read use unconsciously. I taught myself to read at age 2-1/2 years since I had already learned, like most children do, the sounds of the letters "A is like apple". It's a simple step to put sounds together and read.

Look-say is just what it says it is. The student is supposed to recognize words by their over all shape. I was investigating look-say vs Phonics years ago when I was trying to find a proper school for a youngster who wasn't doing so well in the public school system.

One teacher sat down and drew a bunch of triangles upside down and right-side up interspersed with a bunch of circles and told me what it 'said'. I asked her to explain and she couldn't. She said 'we just teach them to know what it says'. I asked what they did if they came across an unfamiliar word and she said they figure it out in context. Uh-huh. No, thanks!

My husband was taught look-say method and he often does not read what something actually does say despite the fact that he has come a long way since he's been trying phonics. Yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks but the real trick is to undo the habits of a lifetime.

An interesting point: in the post-cold war era it came out that both the United States and Russia had been doing experiments in ESP. The Russians began before the USA did and had progressed to doing lots of things like telekinesis and mind-reading experiments both with people and other animals.

Many Russians (and some US citizens) had been taught how to do certain types of extrasensory perception things. Even at the height of this the tests indicated that the brain was very minimally involved compared to its potential.

Oddly, the more highly developed the primitive centers of the brain are, the more accomplished people are at remote viewing, telekinesis, healing, and so on.

For all those who think space is the final frontier, you might like to look a little closer to home. What we DON'T understand about the human body, and the brain in particular, would fill a library and then some.

Hope this clarifies a few things. I don't have time or inclination to spend looking up very old references or even new ones but if you feel so inclined, please share with the rest of us.

Sandi

Hmm, when Micheal asked the question, I remembered a doco I saw on hydrocphelics who had full function with only 10% of the brain intact. A quick google search turned up:
http://www.h2net.net/p/nslade/Papers/how.html
Hardly authoritive, and the fact it is 30 year old research does not inspire much confidence.

> Glad to answer the questions. About the 10%.
> I learned it straight out of my Psychology
> Studies textbooks. If you care to go back
> about 40 years you might be able to find the
> textbook. :o)

> About Phonics. Phonics is the old-fashioned
> style of learning to read by sounding out
> letters and combinations. Accuracy is
> higher, as is retention and comprehension
> according to tests done by several
> universities when the controversy occurred
> over the 'new' (old actually) method of
> look-say teaching of reading occurred.

> Phonics is the 'natural reader' method that
> people who self-teach themselves to read use
> unconsciously. I taught myself to read at
> age 2-1/2 years since I had already learned,
> like most children do, the sounds of the
> letters "A is like apple". It's a
> simple step to put sounds together and read.

> Look-say is just what it says it is. The
> student is supposed to recognize words by
> their over all shape. I was investigating
> look-say vs Phonics years ago when I was
> trying to find a proper school for a
> youngster who wasn't doing so well in the
> public school system.

> One teacher sat down and drew a bunch of
> triangles upside down and right-side up
> interspersed with a bunch of circles and
> told me what it 'said'. I asked her to
> explain and she couldn't. She said 'we just
> teach them to know what it says'. I asked
> what they did if they came across an
> unfamiliar word and she said they figure it
> out in context. Uh-huh. No, thanks!

> My husband was taught look-say method and he
> often does not read what something actually
> does say despite the fact that he has come a
> long way since he's been trying phonics.
> Yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks but
> the real trick is to undo the habits of a
> lifetime.

> An interesting point: in the post-cold war
> era it came out that both the United States
> and Russia had been doing experiments in
> ESP. The Russians began before the USA did
> and had progressed to doing lots of things
> like telekinesis and mind-reading
> experiments both with people and other
> animals.

> Many Russians (and some US citizens) had
> been taught how to do certain types of
> extrasensory perception things. Even at the
> height of this the tests indicated that the
> brain was very minimally involved compared
> to its potential.

> Oddly, the more highly developed the
> primitive centers of the brain are, the more
> accomplished people are at remote viewing,
> telekinesis, healing, and so on.

> For all those who think space is the final
> frontier, you might like to look a little
> closer to home. What we DON'T understand
> about the human body, and the brain in
> particular, would fill a library and then
> some.

> Hope this clarifies a few things. I don't
> have time or inclination to spend looking up
> very old references or even new ones but if
> you feel so inclined, please share with the
> rest of us.

> Sandi

Hi:

> About Phonics. Phonics is the old-fashioned style of learning to read by sounding out
> letters and combinations. Accuracy is higher, as is retention and comprehension
> according to tests done by several universities when the controversy occurred
> over the 'new' (old actually) method of look-say teaching of reading occurred.

Thanks to the "Hooked on Phonics" ads, I think most people are probably familiar with the return of phonetic reading.

I was taught phonetic english, too, and had NO trouble reading the "Cambridge University" tidbit.

It's just my humble opinion, but I think that the "look say" way of teaching was just a bone headed way of trying to rush people through the process.

Many people that were taught phonetic English DO, indeed, read with full word recognition instead of looking at each letter. Hence the ability of many people to read that letter and laugh because it WAS so easy to read.

But full word absorption is a stage you get to - not a stage to start at.

I know many people that learned phonetic english and still struggle with reading and comprehension. Know what else I notice? Those people don't read all that much.

Just my belief, but I believe it has more to do with whether the person reads regularly than with the teaching method.

Take playing the piano as an example. The more you practice, the better you get. The same applies to hockey, or soccer or tennis... or reading.

Progression of ability improves with comfort and familiarity derived from repetition.

The same could be applied to reading. A person that reads two books a week is going to be a more fluent reader than someone who might pick up one book a year - regardless of how they were taught.

Use it or lose it? Does that apply to the brain? You bet it does.

Interesting tidbit from an article called "Use it or Lose it"

• Though most of the research providing information on the plasticity of the brain comes from animal studies, recent experiments from the Brain Research Institute at UCLA have shown similar results in human brains. In Wernicke's area, which deals with word understanding, the nerve cells have more dendrites in college-educated people than in people with only a high school education.
  http://www.newhorizons.org/neuro/diamond_use.htm

And here's another tidbit to chew on.

It is a fact that when people watch television, within 30 seconds of sitting down in front of the boob tube, the brain goes from predominantly beta waves (alert, conscious) to predominantly alpha waves (unfocused, receptive lack of attention: the state of aimless fantasy and daydreaming below the threshold of consciousness).

Food for thought, indeed. For anyone that's not on vacation in the "alpha" camp, of course. ; )

Linda