Page 97 - Mind Games The Aging Brain and How to Keep it Healthy

Develop a Brawny Brain • 81

enced and practiced. Notice that as you become familiar
with a topic, the area of the brain being used will change. Re-
member from the first two chapters, though, that the areas of
the brain that are activated depend on what you are learning
and how you are going about learning it.
Remember when you last learned something new? Per-
haps it was learning a new dance step, making a new recipe,
or trying to use a new piece of equipment. Try to think of
that last thing you learned. Check as many as apply to you.

Did you have to:
_____ Learn new words?
_____ Memorize anything?
_____ Look up information?
_____ Ask someone for information?

_____ Practice anything?
_____ Explain what you learned to someone else?

Was it:

_____ Hard to learn?
_____ Not so hard to learn?
_____ Easy to learn?

Were you:

_____ Fascinated?
_____ Fearful?
_____ Fine?

Initially, you probably had to exert a lot of effort and con-
centration. People who are learning a new dance step, for ex-
ample, find that it takes a great deal of concentration at the
beginning. As you mastered the topic of interest, you likely
required less conscious effort. Notice in Figure 4-1 how the
PET scan demonstrates a decrease in the energy required to
perform the task as the subject became more expert and