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