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16 Power Up Your Mind

between the logical and the intuitive. Of course, it is never a simple
question of “either/or,” just as neuroscience shows that it is rarely a
simple issue of “right” or “left.”
As with the idea that we have three brains not one, thinking
about your brain’s two halves gives you a visual model to help you
begin to understand why certain people behave in different ways.
And just as our extraordinary brain demonstrates its plasticity
and flexibility, so we can learn to adapt and change our behavior
beyond the quarter that may instinctively dominate for each of us.

CLOSE-UP ON YOUR BRAIN

The greatest unexplored territory in the world is the space between our ears.
William O’Brien, former President of Hanover Insurance

Now return to the task of unpacking your mind. Put the two halves
together again and zoom in on your brain with an imaginary micro-
scope. The grey jelly-like matter that you can see is, on closer
inspection, made up of brain cells, some 100 billion of them.
Understanding how these cells work offers some important clues
about the way we learn and work.
Discovered by Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramon y Cajal a
century ago, the cells are also called neurons. Each has the poten-
tial to connect with another, reaching out a “tentacle” called an
axon. Each neuron has other tentacles called dendrites that it uses
to receive incoming signals from another neuron’s axon (see Figure
3). The minute gap between axons is called a synapse.
It is at this detailed level that the brain is operating when you
learn, have a thought, remember something, feel aroused, or under-
take any of the other myriad functions dealt with by your brain. One
cell connects chemically and electrically with another and a neural
pathway or synaptic connection is made. Your dendrites “learn”
from other cells by receiving messages and the cell, in turn, “teaches”
other cells by passing on information through its axon. It is the num-
ber of connections, not the number of cells, that is important. Just
as any electrical appliance has wires bringing the current in and wires