What happens in an actor’s brain?

This is a fascinating article from the BBC.  It looks at what an actor’s brain is doing during a performance.

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By Nick Higham
Today programme

Original article here with additional video and images.

For an actor, the performance conditions weren’t exactly ideal: flat on her back in a large machine, under strict instructions to lie as still as possible, speaking in short bursts interspersed with the shrill sound of a magnetic resonance imaging scanner.

But last week Fiona Shaw, one of Britain’s leading actresses – who has in her time played everything from the tragic heroine Medea to Shakespeare’s Richard II – volunteered in the cause of science to spend an hour having her brain scanned while “acting”.

Professor Sophie Scott of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College London wanted to know what happens physically in an actor’s head when they pretend to be someone else.

She hoped that scanning Fiona’s brain in action would be able to tell us.

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Brain Training – saves money and you live longer…

The value of brain training is becoming increasingly black and white – you save money and live longer.  This month I have written two separate comments on recent research backing up the value of quality brain training.  However here I want to promote that the two are intrinsicly linked. Brain training in a corporate environment can save companies billions of dollars / pounds each year.  High quality brain training courses for an individual can mean you have more chance of living longer…

Facts:

• Stress related illness cost the UK £28 billion each year
• This is a 1/4 of the UK’s sick bill
• More than 13 million working days a year are lost in the UK because of work related stress
• Stress is thought to contribute to coronary heart disease (CHD)
• More than $475 billion is spent annually in the USA treating CHD
• Meditation, or relaxing the brain, can reduce number of heart attacks and stroke by 47%

Brainwave training is a simple and cost effective way assist with these issues.

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Controlling brainwave activity ‘eases heart disease’

The American Heart Association has published research showing that 20 minutes of meditation twice a day can lower your risk of heart attack and stroke by 47%.  This is a very powerful endorsement for just how important is it to learn to control your brainwave activity.

Whilst many of my clients are looking to improve their levels of focus and concentration, especially top athletes, it is just as important to be able to slow your brainwaves down.  I describe this as having full mobility of brainwaves.

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2009 World Memory Championships – TV coverage

Channel 4 News:

CBS Network:

Watch CBS News Videos Online

2009 World Memory Championships – the result

The 2009 World Memory Championships have finished.  It was an exciting three days of competition, with some new world records being set and great performances from many new names.  Here are the results:

1 Ben Pridmore
2 Johannes Mallow
3 Simon Reinhard
4 Dr. Gunther Karsten
5 Wang Feng
6 Su Ruiqiao
7 Cornelia Beddies
8 Boris Konrad
9 Guo Chuanwei
10 Yuan Wenkui

Congratulations to Ben Pridmore for successfully defending his 2008 title.  Dorothea Seitz is the Junior World Champion.  It has been announced that next year the World Memory Championships will be held in China.

Interview with World Memory Champion

The current World Memory Champion, Ben Pridmore, is interviewed as he attempts to retain his title at the 2009 World Memory Championships.

To follow all of the posts related to the 2009 World Memory Championships, please click on this tag link link I have created to group all the posts together:

http://getthementaledge.com/tag/wmc2009/

If you would like to train your memory, then the Mind Maximizer course is for you.

WMC 2009 – New World Record: Abstract Images

Dr. Gunther Carsten has just set the first new World Record of the 2009 World Memory Championships…

Event: Abstract Images
Record: 318 Abstract Images in 15 minutes

During the World Memory Championships there are a series of events testing different memory skills.  Some involve memorising numbers, playing cards, numbers, events or names and faces.  This event was memorising abstract images.  Competitors are given 15 minutes to memorise as many of the provided abstract images as possible.  They then have 45 minutes to recall them.

Gunther managed to correctly memorise 318 abstract images in the 15 minutes.

This is a great start to the World Memory Championships and puts Gunther into first place at this stage.

To follow all of the posts related to the 2009 World Memory Championships, please click on this tag link link I have created to group all the posts together:

http://getthementaledge.com/tag/wmc2009/

If you would like to train your memory, then the Mind Maximizer course is for you.

World Memory Championships 2009

The World Memory Championships for 2009 have started today. It is being held in London and has the largest prize purse in the history of the event – $92,000.  It us running from Thursday 12th November through to Saturday 14th November.

My friend and business associate, Dominic O’Brien, is at the event as one of the event organisers.  Dominic has been World Memory Champion eight times and now dedicates himself to helping others improve their memory.  Dominic will be giving me news during the event, which I will post here.

The official website for the event is here:  World Memory Championships

To follow all of the posts related to the 2009 World Memory Championships, please click on this tag link link I have created to group all the posts together:

http://getthementaledge.com/tag/wmc2009/

If you would like to train your memory, then the Mind Maximizer course is for you.

The Cost of Stress

What are companies doing to reduce the stress burden on employees? More than 13 million work days are lost in the UK due to stress related illness.  How many organisations are creating a brain friendly work environment which helps to reduce stress?

This is not just about taking time out or playing ping-pong at lunch, though both of those help.  This is about companies creating work practices and environments which help employees keep at optimal performance.  Stress management programmes.

From the BBC:

“The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE)  said the cost of work related mental illness was £28bn – a quarter of the UK’s total sick bill.”

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Brain training the military

The future of military might may not just be in bigger and better hardware of warfare, but in fitter and faster brains of military personnel.

The Brain Training Company is at the cutting edge of mental fitness training.  What was seen ten years ago as kooky executive training or fringe athletic training to achieve the mental edge, may now become a mainstream component of military training.

It is demonstrably possible to improve someone’s mental fitness; be that to increase IQ, manage stress better, enhance levels of focus and concentration when under pressure, or learning information at a greatly increased speed.  The foundation of this at The Brain Training Company is brainwave training.  Developing the ability to consciously control brainwave activity.  From this there are knock on benefits, such as greater neural connectivity and increased blood flow to the brain.

For military personnel this is a critical step in improving personal performance – faster and better decision making when under pressure.

This article from Wired.com looks at this topic:

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