March 15, 2006
The Neuropotential of the Older Brain:
Amuse it or Lose it
Gordon Sherman
Executive Director Of the Newgrange School and Educational Center
Minutes of the 24th Meeting of the 64th Year
The President called the 98 attending members to order for the March 15th meeting of the 64th year at 10:15 AM, and John Marks led the invocation.
Rosemary O’Brien read the minutes of the last meeting – a presentation by Mary Maudsley, Chair of the NJ Supreme Court Disciplinary Appointments Review Board, on the problems and pitfalls of maintaining attorney discipline.
Two Princeton faculty members were next introduced as guests – Karl Brown by Jim Harford and Lee Allen by Glenn Cullen.
Nick Van Dyck introduced the speaker, Dr. Gordon Sherman, who is the Executive Director of the Newgrange School and Educational Center, in Trenton. His topic was “The Neuropotential of the Older Brain: Amuse it or Lose it.” Former president of the American Dyslexic Association, he earned his Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut in Developmental Psychology and has been associated with the Neurology Dept. of the Harvard Medical School and the Beth Israel Research Laboratory. He is the author of over 80 articles and books.
We were privileged to learn more about ourselves from an authority not only on the aging brain but on the special problems of the dyslexic youngster. In this capacity, he was able to point out many similarities which are often overlooked. For example, he made the point that old and young share many of the same problems – both groups are in constant need of what he called cerebral diversity; we are less than efficient at multi-tasking; we find background noise an annoying interference; and we often have problems with balance (think of the one-year-old beginning to walk). This perspective teaches us that we know more than we realize about the science of aging; we have merely looked in the wrong place. Because of these parallels, we have much to learn from research on early childhood and the new achievements in teaching the learning disabled.
And there are also differences. Where the youngster has twice as many neurons, we have much greater capacity for reflection, the benefit of past experience, and an ability to step back and see ourselves as part of the problem. Dr. Sherman urged us to think of the aging brain as an adaptive evolutionary asset; to realize that we do some things better than youngsters; and to look for new frontiers to excel in. He made the point that each new tool used reshapes a part of the brain – cell phones, computer mouse, OnStar, and the like – and new programs can extend our capacity and open up new avenues of adventure.
Rather than waiting for the next new symptom to appear (which only prolongs our sense of helplessness) we can just as easily learn new skills. You may know that if we look inside the motor cortex of the concert violinist, we would find extensive mapping for each finger of the left hand; the dexterity learned in playing the violin is translated directly into the brain (I’m assuming he or she is right-handed). The same reasoning can be applied to learning new skills, a new language, or in solving a new kind of puzzle (for example, Sudoku). Dr. Sherman also reminded us that there is a new computer program, called Garage Band, which lets us compose music, and most of you are probably familiar with Microsoft’s Flight Simulator. It lets you crash as often as you like with no danger of broken bones or the risk of dipping into Medicare. (If you don’t like the noise, they also have a version for gliders.)
Because the brain is constantly being reshaped by new experiences, we have slightly different memories of the same target event; it is as if we were looking at the past through constantly changing lenses. Where we used to believe that memory was all stored in one place, it now seems clear that it is distributed throughout the brain – there is no single engram that stores a specific incident – and each time we remember something, we are, in effect, composing a portrait from a slightly altered palette.
And there is much we don’t know – but that is a topic for another time. An active discussion followed.
Respectfully submitted,
Donald P. Spence
Rosemary O’Brien read the minutes of the last meeting – a presentation by Mary Maudsley, Chair of the NJ Supreme Court Disciplinary Appointments Review Board, on the problems and pitfalls of maintaining attorney discipline.
Two Princeton faculty members were next introduced as guests – Karl Brown by Jim Harford and Lee Allen by Glenn Cullen.
Nick Van Dyck introduced the speaker, Dr. Gordon Sherman, who is the Executive Director of the Newgrange School and Educational Center, in Trenton. His topic was “The Neuropotential of the Older Brain: Amuse it or Lose it.” Former president of the American Dyslexic Association, he earned his Ph.D. at the University of Connecticut in Developmental Psychology and has been associated with the Neurology Dept. of the Harvard Medical School and the Beth Israel Research Laboratory. He is the author of over 80 articles and books.
We were privileged to learn more about ourselves from an authority not only on the aging brain but on the special problems of the dyslexic youngster. In this capacity, he was able to point out many similarities which are often overlooked. For example, he made the point that old and young share many of the same problems – both groups are in constant need of what he called cerebral diversity; we are less than efficient at multi-tasking; we find background noise an annoying interference; and we often have problems with balance (think of the one-year-old beginning to walk). This perspective teaches us that we know more than we realize about the science of aging; we have merely looked in the wrong place. Because of these parallels, we have much to learn from research on early childhood and the new achievements in teaching the learning disabled.
And there are also differences. Where the youngster has twice as many neurons, we have much greater capacity for reflection, the benefit of past experience, and an ability to step back and see ourselves as part of the problem. Dr. Sherman urged us to think of the aging brain as an adaptive evolutionary asset; to realize that we do some things better than youngsters; and to look for new frontiers to excel in. He made the point that each new tool used reshapes a part of the brain – cell phones, computer mouse, OnStar, and the like – and new programs can extend our capacity and open up new avenues of adventure.
Rather than waiting for the next new symptom to appear (which only prolongs our sense of helplessness) we can just as easily learn new skills. You may know that if we look inside the motor cortex of the concert violinist, we would find extensive mapping for each finger of the left hand; the dexterity learned in playing the violin is translated directly into the brain (I’m assuming he or she is right-handed). The same reasoning can be applied to learning new skills, a new language, or in solving a new kind of puzzle (for example, Sudoku). Dr. Sherman also reminded us that there is a new computer program, called Garage Band, which lets us compose music, and most of you are probably familiar with Microsoft’s Flight Simulator. It lets you crash as often as you like with no danger of broken bones or the risk of dipping into Medicare. (If you don’t like the noise, they also have a version for gliders.)
Because the brain is constantly being reshaped by new experiences, we have slightly different memories of the same target event; it is as if we were looking at the past through constantly changing lenses. Where we used to believe that memory was all stored in one place, it now seems clear that it is distributed throughout the brain – there is no single engram that stores a specific incident – and each time we remember something, we are, in effect, composing a portrait from a slightly altered palette.
And there is much we don’t know – but that is a topic for another time. An active discussion followed.
Respectfully submitted,
Donald P. Spence