Ever hear of a wild concert called Woodstock, Three Days of Peace and Music? The very last performer was Jimi Hendrix doing a two-hour set starting with Message to Love and ending with Hey Joe. It happened on Monday, 9am on August 18th, 1969 - 37 years ago.

Hendrix told an 8th grade infinitesimal joke that still resonates with his fans born with weak prefrontal cortices.

"Folks, my family was so poor when I was a kid, if the teacher

said Pay Attention - my family told me to answer we just could not

afford it.

He followed up with his philosophy: I hate to be in one corner. I hate to be just and only a guitar player or either only as a song writer or only as a tap dancer. I like to move around.

A Bit of Effort

At Northwestern University a recent EEG experiment measured brainwave cycles comparing attention to distraction. When you decide to produce personal focus the result is a major measurable change in the function of your three-pound Jello-like coconut. It was never proven before.

Imagine - the simple act of attention produces an altered state-of-consciousness. Some call it a high; this research proves attention changes your brain cycles-per-second (brainwave rhythms).

Wait - this is easy so Pay Attention. Your act of Attention creates neurons that are in-sync. The human guinea pigs (patients) were told to play attention to one stimulus and ignore the other. Choosing is a volitional act of Attention.

Can you resist distractions? Our own research finds that even the slightest distraction (music, noise or conversation) reduces comprehension and memory up to 48%. Attention rules so shut off the music, stick in earplugs and almost double your learning skills.

The act of focusing on one specific stimulus (idea, picture, sound) is a small change that produces a massive reaction. What happens is synchronization, a coherence (sticking together) of neurons into a network. All it takes is the act of awareness and an extra bit of effort to concentrate to create Attention.

Hebbian Theory

"Psychology is basically a biological science." Professor Donald O. Hebb. The key to his original thinking was put in simple English by his students.

The brain cells (neurons) that fire together - wire together.

He was interested in the EEG (Electroencephalogram) because Hans Berger who first recorded human brainwave rhythms in 1924, proved that even without external stimuli the brain is constantly producing electrical activity.

Professor Donald O. Hebb of McGill University understood the meaning of neural networks before his peers. Like bees in a hive, when neurons team up into networks the brain structure and its function changes into specialized (structures) systems.

He died in 1985 and is considered the father of neuroscience. We care about Hebb and Attention because the function of neurons as neural networks contributes to important psychological processes such as learning and memory. Hebb was first to conclude our brain is based on electrochemical reactions creating cognition and consciousness.

Brain Gyms

The day after Christmas 2006 the New York Times did an editorial piece on the importance of exercising your whiskey soaked, addle patted coconut.

A study of 2,800 mature (age 65 and rising) took ten sessions of cognitive (brain) training. It was divided into memory improvement, reasoning (patterns) in word series, and a form of subliminal perception (speed visualizing).

The results were certified and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Get this - a quickie learning improvement through simple brain exercises can reduce the natural tendency of mind deterioration in old age.

Five years after the original training the 2,800 were tested and compared to senior citizens who had had no cognitive training. Results: a mental slide in memory and learning abilities by those who had no specialized training, and significant retention of memory, reasoning and identification by those who received the brain training.

The Times concludes brain exercises may well help in permitting our elderly to live independently. Remember - almost 40% of our senior population is on the way to living active lives into their 80s and even 90s. Will cognitive training in basic learning skills lead to a doubling of our productive years and the enjoyment of life up to 100?

RasterMaster

Principle: the use of a pacer while reading focuses attention like nothing else. In the five thousand years of using symbols to communicate ideas homo sapiens have read randomly without a mechanical aid for attention, comprehension and memory.

There are three simple pacers that will improve learning skills significantly. In 12 hours of training using a RasterMaster, a handheld laser tool, a pen or the cursor of your computer mouse, the average student triples their reading speed and doubles their memory.

Is this the kind of Brain Gym the Times recommends for the elderly to improve their quality of life?

In 1959 Evelyn Wood created the principles of speed reading, graduating 2 million including the White House staffs of four U.S. Presidents. Partnering with her led to our use of the RasterMaster and the cursor to underline the sentences of text while reading. It creates attention neural networks that last a lifetime.

Our eyes instinctually follow a moving object. Some call it peripheral vision while scientists refer to it as Vestibulo-Ocular Reflex (VOR). It boils down to being a bit of a Cyborg, combing our human cognitive skills with tools for focusing attention and comprehension. The result is releasing the dormant gifts and talents of your brain for learning.

Would it improve your life as a student and your career to read-and-remember three books, articles and reports in the time your untrained peer can hardly finish even one?

Endwords

Our research has resulted in Brain Gyms for kids, adults and senior citizens. In 12 hours of training you can create a firewall around your mind, the one you will be using for up to one-hundred years. Will this firewall protect you from Alzheimers, Parkinsons or schizophrenia? Some believe it. We suggest it cannot hurt and will add years of productive living. No mean trick in itself.

See ya,

copyright © 2006 H. Bernard Wechsler www.speedlearning.org hbw@speedlearning.org