The Hindu Business Line : Keep pushing your brain

The 5 Rs of memory, or learning, are Reception, Registration, Reinforcement, Retention, and Recall, says Prof K. Ganapathy, President, Apollo Telemedicine Networking Foundation, Chennai.

“Learning is directly proportional to one’s interest in the subject, how much one is motivated, how badly one wants to achieve the goal set for oneself,” he elaborates, when recently interacting with Business Line.

A former President of the Neurological Society of India, and currently Senior Consultant Neurosurgeon and Head, Division of Stereotactic Radiosurgery, Apollo Hospitals, Chennai, Prof Ganapathy ( www.kganapathy.com ) reminisces how when he was doing his PhD in neurosurgery, acquiring the qualification was the only reason for his existence — his raison d’être — nothing else mattered. “I would not let anything come in my way. I was like a PTC bus looking neither to the left or the right; there was no red light, no amber. It was only green lights all the way!”

The seed and the soil alone are not enough, he emphasises. “Good fertiliser does wonders, having a role model, a hero, drives you on. Even after 38 years my teachers continue to be a source of inspiration,” adds Prof Ganapathy cheerfully.

Excerpts from the interview:

Can you explain how the 5 Rs work?

Once the student is motivated to receive information it is easier to have it registered. Reinforcement is primarily by repetition.

Most of us take classes not purely to help students but for selfish reasons. Every time I prepare for a lecture, every time I talk, the material gets reinforced. The information is permanently etched and retained in my data bank as an engram from which recall is easier. Certain topics can be dealt with at a reflex level because it has been repeated ad nauseam.

Associative memory underlies the power of the human mind. Two facts stored in human memory can instantly be put together and bring a new idea to life. The same facts stored on the Internet will remain useless until they are pieced together inside a creative mind.

A mind rich in knowledge can produce rich associations upon encountering new information. An empty mind is as useful as a toddler given the power of the Internet in search of a solution.

Biological neural networks work in such a way, that knowledge is retained in memory only if it is refreshed/reviewed. Learning and repetition are therefore still vital for the progress of mankind.

How much do you think an average employee uses of his brain? Can there be a danger of overstraining the brain?

The best way to use the brain is to use it! The one organ in the body that will never ever require rest is the human brain. The physical energy and calories expended in solving the most complicated mathematical theorem can be supplied by five peanuts.

The greatest genius in the world probably uses a hundred-thousandth of his brain. In 1977, I assisted my boss in performing a hemispherectomy (removal of almost half of the brain) on a senior IAS officer who continued to work as Home Secretary to the Government of Tamil Nadu for several months. All of us know of hundreds of patients in society who have had significant chunks of their brains removed. While cases have been reported of deaths occurring following participation in a marathon, boxing and other sports, there is no scientifically documented record of any instability or death occurring due to continuous use of one’s brain.

“Mental exhaustion” is a marketing ploy to ensure a holiday. It is not based on scientific facts. Variety and diversity will certainly increase the synaptic connections.

Are there simple exercises to keep the brain in a fit state?
The simplest and most effective exercise is continuous stimulation of the brain — in other words keep yourself occupied all the time. In simple, “Bite more than what you can chew.”
Any exercise which requires the brain to repeatedly perform a set of tasks that demand precise sequential, spacing, positioning, movement, balance control and planning operations to strengthen, in a precise way, the “muscle of the brain”, the neural network, can be considered a brain exercise.
These exercises refine and sharpen the ability of the brain to process information efficiently and maintain cognitive performance, which gradually weakens, as we grow older. The programme’s power and the benefits it delivers come from improvements it makes in the balance and sensory integration processes.
Traditionally brain exercises have been employed in the area of neuro rehabilitation. The beneficiaries have been the mentally and physically challenged, stroke and head trauma victims, and so on. Whether these exercises really augment the performance of a normal individual is being evaluated.
The background concepts most at play in such programmes are neurogenesis and neuroplasticity, the brain’s natural ability to employ new neurons and adapt the way they travel.
Commitment to daily use is critical and the benefits that follow are very analogous to those of weight lifting and other fitness activities. “Use it or lose it” is a favourite saying among those who study the brain.
Anything that challenges your brain’s processing limits will make it easier for your neurons to form new connections. Doing ‘brain exercises’ such as watching countdown, playing Sudoku or taking a shower with your eyes closed can make us all up to 40 per cent cleverer within seven days, according to research by a BBC programme. The bottom line appears to be, “Keep pushing your brain.”

D. MURALI

N. S. VAGEESH
http://InterviewsInsights.blogspot.com

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