If You Can’t Measure It, Does It Count?

Dr. Fiona Kerr

Dendritic growth

(Image: Corel, JL, The postnatal development of the human cerebral cortex. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press: 1975)

Neurogenesis and Stimulation

Face to face

•SPINDLE NEURON

•combines emotion, belief and judgement in 1/20th second

•Empathy and trust established

MIRROR NEURON

•Act before judgement

•Subsets

•Fire in team bonding

•Top leaders 3x effect

OSCILLATION OF NEURONS

•Attune physical coordination

• creates dynamic resonance

•Motor neuron system triggers dopamine

The Brain And Interaction

Collaboration

• Increases trust, empathy and humour

• Lowers resistance to ideas

• Information absorbed, nimble responses

•Creative and innovative ideas

Exercise

Reflection

Sleep

Learning

Active vs passive•Memory recall much higher if participatory

Senses designed to work together•Ie images with text•Remember text least, verbal next and visual most•Brain pays more attention and codes info more robustlySmell goes straight to amygdala

Memory

Repetition

TimeInterconnection

Creativity

Diversity

empathy

Space

individual and group activities as well as activities requiring divergent and convergent thinking require different spaces

Space

• soft factors of colour and materials

• how the space facilitates or inhibits varying needs for communication, information sharing and collaboration, interaction or privacy and quiet reflection (Haner, 2005).

pay attention to •the proximity of people and spaces to each other•the style of the spaces and their soft environments and technological tools•the building and layout of the physical environment.

This is one of the major elements which have a bearing on the processes of innovation and creativity.

‘hybrid infrastructures’

It affects the flow and interconnection of people, and the performance of creative and innovative processes(Bakke & Yttri, 2003).

Art and PaintingBeing part of an art group increases well-being in the five cognitive domains:•Interest

•sustained attention

•Pleasure

•self-esteem

•normalcy

Neuro-aesthetic effect eliciting and contributing to empathy

Acting& storytelling

Increases cognitive affect

Uses 'intentional learning' so recruits frontal cortex

Specific skills include word recall, comprehension, word generation & problem solving

Also self confidence and personal growth

Singing

• Does same as acting but at lower level, except for self confidence and personal growth which is the same level

• Has some neuro aesthetic aspects of eliciting empathy and pleasure

Dancing

Combines all three aspects:•Memory training (improves hippocampus)•Social networking•Physical activity - cognitive skills improve

Over time greater everyday competence and health, independence and life contentment

Photography

Particularly improves: episodic memoryVisio-spacial processing

Richer than word recognition or puzzles

Looking for meaning recruits frontal cortex

Combine with handicraft.

Processing speed increases most with both through

novelty, increasing cognitive demands and creative

requirements

Highest when in a social group

Combining