In his book, Study Smarter, Not Harder, Kevin Paul talks about "The Three Brains" other wise known as the "Triune Brain," and how they apply to learning. Very Interesting. Here is the nutshell:Lower Brain: aka Mammalian Brain
Responds to stress, reacts to 'fight or flight.'
This response wants to block out our higher thought processes and operate on 'instinct' mode during times of stress. Thus it is necessary to "quiet" the mammalian brain during studies, test-taking, performing surgeries, taking a penalty kick, or any other highly intense situation where we need to stay calm, cool, and collected in order to think brilliantly. One way to train the ability to stay cool under pressure is to train under pressure.
In an article from Scientific American Mind, Raôul R. D. Oudejans, a psychologist at Free University Amsterdam, "The best way to make a performance situation feel like rehearsal, is to subject yourself to the same anxiety-packed conditions during practice that you expect to encounter during your moment in the spotlight"...he goes on to say:
These results indicate that turning up the heat from the very first day of practice may be one of the most effective ways to immunize yourself against blowing it. “Performers train and train, but it’s not that common to specifically train under these kinds of psychological constraints,” Oudejans says. “They’re trained in how to play their game, but they don’t train under pressure, so they fail.” Training in such situations minimizes the possibility of freezing up for the same reason that letting spiders crawl all over you makes them less frightening: your brain gradually adapts, so that circumstances that once would have made you uneasy no longer feel novel or threatening. “The more exposure you get to these high-pressure situations, and the more you succeed [despite them], the less likely you’re going to get that whole affective experience,” explains Art Markman, a psychologist at the University of Texas at Austin. In other words, the more comfortable you feel, the less likely you are to be affected by pressure.
Middle Brain: aka Limbic Brain
Responds to emotions, long term memory.
Studying, learning with strong emotions attached will increase our long term memory.
Higher Brain: aka Cortical Brain (Neocortex:cerebral cortex)
Responsible for our high level thinking. The mind must be "quiet" and in a state of relaxed intensity in order to think at such high levels. Listening to Baroque music composed at 60 beats per minute is a great way to induce "the zone" and relaxed intensity due to the stimulation of the alpha waves of the brain (which are active during times of relaxed intensity).
I'm going to go and turn on some baroque music now and activate my cerbral cortex!
