Effects of Juggling on the Left and Right Brain - Term Paper Example

Juggling and its Effect on the Left and Right Brain Simply put, juggling is an activity that involves the throwing and catching of an object with good timing, rhythm and near perfect hand to eye co-ordination. It is a great way to exercise and release stress. The kind of concentration and attention that is attributed to the juggling process plays a significant role in reducing stress. Your mind and body are focused and alert while at the same time in a relaxed and calm state after juggling. In this state, it is easier to develop new ideas, solve problems. There is evidence that juggling has the ability to increase brain power. Learning how to juggling requires the use of analytics and logic. This is largely a function of the “left brain.”This is because there is need to break down the process of juggling into small steps of learning. Once the process of juggling has been learnt, the individual starts to juggle in a relaxed state and this is where the “right” side of the brain comes into play. Learning how to juggle requires an interaction between the left and the right brain. Juggling has been discovered to boost certain connections of the brain between different parts of the brain. Axons are outgrowths of nerve cells and their function is to connect the different cells of the brain. These axons form the white matter of the brain. The grey matter of the brain on the other hand, contains the cell bodies of the nerve cells. Juggling has been discovered to have an effect on white matter. A study conducted by Jan Scholz et al at the Oxford University on 24 young men and women revealed that the subjects grew white matter on the parietal lobe. The participants of this study were given training packs to juggle. They used to juggle for 30 minutes for 6 weeks. The investigators used diffuse tensor imaging to study the white matter of the participants. The participants who did not juggle did not have any change in the white matter. The jugglers on the other hand, had increased white matter on the parietal part of the brain. The parietal lobe is the specific part of the brain that controls our vision and movement. This observation was noted on all the jugglers (New Scientist Life). After learning the skills, the nerve axons that connect the left and the right brain see the right brain come into action. The nerve cells go through the copus callosum using a neurotransmitter acetylcholine that triggers the right brain to be more active and control juggling after the learning phase of juggling is over. Juggling therefore increases the amount of white matter as well as the grey matter of the brain. Learning increases growth on the left part of the brain. The right part benefits from using the skill already acquired. Therefore juggling increases overall brain power. Our ability to juggle may also be affected by how we perceive ourselves and our self esteem. Self talk has a way of enabling an individual to guide his/her mind through performing and accomplishing a certain task. Self talk has been defined as the practice or act of talking to oneself. It can be done either silently or loudly. But more importantly, how one talks to himself or herself matter and determines whether it will be possible to accomplish a given task. Self talk are of two kinds; positive and negative self talk. Positive self talk basically means talking to oneself and encouraging oneself that the ability to accomplish a given challenge lies within them and all they have to do is to try. Negative self talk is destructive and occurs when an individual convinces oneself that they lack the ability to perform a given challenge and would rather not try. Gandhi once said that what we think soon become our words and our words soon become our actions. Our actions on the other hand, become our habits and our habits form our character. Our character defines our destiny. Therefore our ability to accomplish any task depends a lot on what we think about ourselves and what we do to encourage ourselves. Initially, when I first tried to juggle I found it to be a difficult task and I highly doubted my ability to juggle. I thought that it was a highly complex action that only professionals could do. Every time I tried and failed the more I got convinced that it was hard. Later I met my colleague who had learnt how to juggle and was amazed at how he did it. I told myself, if he could do it then I could also do it. I kept trying and convincing myself that I had the ability to do it and that I was getting better at it every day that passed by. Eventually my juggling improved to the point that it became so easy for me to juggle. There are several modes of learning including operant conditioning, classical conditioning and observational learning. Classical conditioning stems from the experiments conducted by Pavlov on dogs. Pavlov conducted an experiment on his dogs. He used to ring a bell before giving his dogs food. After a while he rang the bell without giving the dogs food and noted that they salivated. He concluded that the ringing of the bell resulted in salivation because the dogs associated the sound of the bell with food. It is important to note that initially the dogs would not salivate in response to the sound of the ringing bell (Learning theory). Juggling is an action that involves good eye-hand co-ordination, focus, good rhythm and timing. While juggling, many people use music to provide the rhythm. But, this rhythm can also be a form of classical conditioning. Essentially with the music playing, an individual is able to co-ordinate his hands and eyes with the rhythm so as to be able to juggle. And therefore hearing the music sets the stage for an individual to start juggling. It even helps to set an individuals mind in the correct frame and may induce positive self talk. Operant conditioning on the other hand has been closely associated with Skinner, B. Skinner had designed an experimental apparatus that he used to modify the behavior of rats. He made use of positive and negative reinforcement to modify the behavior of the rat (Instructional Design). He would introduce stimulus that encouraged the rats to perform a certain action (positive reinforcement). He would also use certain stimuli (Shock) to discourage the rats from undesirable behavior (punishment). When a bad stimulus is withdrawn a particular behavior is strengthened (negative reinforcement). While learning how to juggle, an individual always tries to juggle the balls in a pattern that elicited the best outcome. The individual uses a specific timing, a specific placing of the hands and a specific co-ordination of the eyes and the hands. In so doing, an individual is able to maximize his learning to juggle by simply performing actions that yielded desirable outcomes. Again the actions, timings, eye-hand co-ordinations that have yielded undesirable outcomes are avoided. For instance, when an individual notes that every time he places his hands in a certain position at a certain timing he is unable to juggle properly, then the individual will avoid those actions. An individual can also learn by simply observing. Observational learning has been associated with the work of Bandura Albert. Bandura sought to demonstrate that it was not necessary to apply consequences for learning to occur. Bandura believed that learning could easily occur through observation of another individual’s activity. He formulated a four step pattern which basically combines an operant view and a cognitive view of learning. The four steps include attention, retention, reproduction, and motivation (Observational learning). Observation is a powerful way of learning. Through observation an individual is able to observe a colleague perform a task and tries to perform the task just as the colleague had done. I was able to observe my colleague as he was juggling and it is through the observation that I was able to learn how to juggle. Although it may have gone unnoticed, I believe that throughout my learning to juggle, I have been classically conditioned. For instance every time I hear a certain music that I use for juggling I feel a need to juggle. This feeling to juggle has been closely associated with juggling itself. Although classical conditioning has played a role in my process of learning how to juggle, operant conditioning and observational learning have had a bigger impact on my learning process. Through a combination of observations and positive and negative reinforcements I have learnt how to juggle. A good example of positive reinforcement is when I place my hands at a certain position and my eyes on the ball I juggle well. Every time my eye-hand co-ordination is correct my juggling accuracy increases. I then have noted that every time I want to juggle, I have to ensure that my eye-hand co-ordination has to be right. On the other hand, whenever I place my hands in the wrong position, or I loose focus a little or wrong timing, I realized that I made mistakes repeatedly. This has made me learn that wrong eye-hand co-ordination, wrong timing, lose of focus resulted in deterioration in my juggling. In order to juggle well, then I have to refrain from doing the wrong things and do the ones that result in good outcomes. The personality of a person has the ability to influence an individual’s ability to learn. Certain personality types and traits increase the learning ability of an individual while others decrease it. Personality traits are the intrinsic differences that throughout our life remain constant (Emotional Competency). Personality types on the other hand, aims to classify people into two groups/categories i.e. an individual can either be type this or type that. The categories are discontinuous. Personality types have generally been criticized for being over-simplistic and overlooking the continuous and multi-dimensional nature of personality traits (Wilderdom). I attribute my learning to juggle to a great extent, to be from observing my colleague juggle the ball. While trying to learn how to juggle I realized that there were some personality traits that were helping me learn how to juggle faster while others slowed me down. For instance, I am a confident individual, not very creative, intelligent, impatient, uncooperative, and aggressive. Even though I believed in my ability to juggle at the very first stages of learning I highly doubted that I could do it. I had to rely on my colleague to offer guidance and also observe him juggle in order to learn. But my aggressiveness and impatience made me overlook certain minute details that requires patience in order to observe them and perform them. My inability to be patient and being overly aggressive portrayed my as an individual who was uncooperative. I was in a hurry to put to practice something that I had noticed from previous observation and in the process failed to notice other important aspects. Apart from the above discussed personality theories, psychodynamic theory has been of great use and relevance in my learning to juggle. This theory holds that human relationships and behavior are shaped by both the unconscious, conscious influences and childhood experiences (Institute of Human Thermodynamics). I used to be a bully during my childhood days. I would not tolerate anything from the other students and was always on the look out for a chance to harass another student. Perhaps this culminated into my inability to be patient, and being too aggressive that I come across as being uncooperative. Although these traits were major setbacks to my learning, my levels of confidence and self esteem are actually the factors that saw me learn how to juggle. I believe in myself and have a positive attitude towards life’s challemges. In general, this assignment has greatly increased my knowledge on juggling and its impact on brain power. I have also gained an in-depth understanding of some learning theories and concepts that are directly associated with learning how to juggle. This assignment has exposed me to a great amount of information on this subject that has enabled me develop a broad understanding of the subject. I have learnt the importance self taking and more importantly, the importance of positive self talk and its impact on an individuals ability to perform a certain task. An individual’s personality also has an ability to influence the learning ability of an individual. I have been able to understand how the personality traits of an individual will influence and determine whether an individual will be able to learn a new task. I therefore consider this assignment a great learning opportunity and insightful venture. Works cited “Classical Conditioning (Pavlov)”learning-theories.com. Learning Theories. N.d.web.12 Apr 2012. “Freud’s Psycho Dynamic Theory and Thermodynamics” humanthermodynamics.com. Institute of Human Thermodynamics. 26 Dec 2005.web.12 Apr 2012. “Learning to Juggle Grows Brain Network for Good”newscientist.com. NewScientist. 11 Oct 2009.web.12 Apr 2012. “Observational learning: An overview”edpsycinteractive.org. educational Psychology Interactive. Oct 2004 .web. 12 Apr 2012. “Operant Conditioning (B.F. Skinner)”instructional deisgn.org. Instructional Design. n.d.web.12 Apr 2012. “Personality traits”emotionalcompetency.com. Emotional Competency. n.d.web. 12 Apr 2012. “Personality types”wilderdom.com. n.p. 29 sep 2005.web.12 Apr 2012. Read More