Relief...contre la planéité

La recherche sur le cerveau progresse plus rapidement que la capacité de l’éducation à modifier ses pratiques. Le dernier numéro du magazine Time contient un formidable dossier sur l’état actuel de nos connaissances sur le cerveau. Le fait le plus extraordinaire serait cette capacité du cerveau à modifier sa propre structure (Time: How The Brain Rewires Itself). On y arrive également par la pensée, mieux certainement qu’Uri Geller. Le cerveau, en résumé, est doté d’une plasticité neuronale (neuroplasticity). Comme le fait judicieusement remarquer Geogre Siemens, on n’a pas fini de s’interroger sur la relation entre le cerveau et les nouvelles technologies.

If our thoughts change – or literally, rewire – our brain, imagine the impact of new tools and technology. How are we, and our students, impacted by information abundance? Blogs? Podcasts? Games and simulation? Video? New technology?

Les éléments du dossier :

• How The Brain Rewires Itself: Not only can the brain learn new tricks, but it can also change its structure and function–even in old age

• The Mystery of Consciousness: You exist, right? Prove it. How 100 billion jabbering neurons create the knowledge–or illusion–that you’re here

• Time Travel in the Brain: What are you doing when you aren’t doing anything at all?

• 6 Lessons for Handling Stress: Take a deep breath. Now exhale slowly. You’ve just taken the first step toward managing stress and avoiding burnout

• What Do Babies Know?: Babies have to learn everything, but as Piaget was saying, they start with a few primitive reflexes that get things going

• How We Make Life-and-Death Decisions: In the up-close-and-personal scenario the emotions are usually strong enough to win

• The Flavor Of Memories: Any kind of emotional experience will create a stronger memory

• Markiteing To Your Mind: We can use brain imaging to gain insight into the mechanisms behind people’s decisions

• The Power of Hope: What woke my patient that Friday was simply his mind, forcing its way through a broken brain, a father’s final act to comfort his family

• Who Should Reead Your Mind?: the exploding new field of neuroethics, the study of the ethical and philosophical dilemmas provoked by advances in brain science

• How To Change A Personality: future pharmaceuticals, targeting very specific parts of the brain, will be even more effective and will have fewer side effects

• What The Mouse Brain Tells Us: the mouse brain can be a powerful tool for unraveling the mystery of human mental disorders

• The Gift Of Mimicry: Do areas of gray matter respond to the emotional contours of speech produced by others in the same way they do when we ourselves are speaking?

• Five Paths to Understanding the Brain: une présentation interactive de notre compréhension du cerveau au fil du temps.

Les vidéos (utilisateurs Mac : j’ai eu plus de succès avec Firefox que Safari) :

• Mysteries of Conciousness: Sarah Scantlin is a living medical miracle. An accident injured her brain so severely she should have died, but 20 years later she has regained the ability to speak

• Exercise Your Brain: Dr. Sanjay Gupta tells us how we can keep our memory as we age and even create new brain cells through mental and physical exercise

• A Look Inside A Baby’s Brain

• How Your Brain Handles Stress

• Coping With Stress

• Helping The Blind To See

• Blind Learn To See With Tongue

Par ricochet :

La robotisation du cerveau

Impact des jouets sur le cerveau

Imitation neuronale

Différences de cerveau entre les sexes

Un deuxième cerveau

Le cerveau des enfants doués se développe autrement

Les effets de l’alcool sur le cerveau des jeunes

La lecture bombarde le cerveau

Avantage Q.I. masculin (et cerveau d’ado)

Étude : la musique favorise le développement du cerveau