The Playful Brain

The Playful Brain

Author: Sergio Pellis

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2013-10-01

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1780744625

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A groundbreaking study into the formative role of play in our lives Sergio and Vivien Pellis have synthesized three decades of empirical research to create a remarkable work, unequalled in its field. A book that will not only expand our current knowledge of play behaviour, but will inspire change and progress from the laboratory to the playground.


The Playful Brain

The Playful Brain

Author: Richard M. Restak

Publisher: Riverhead Books (Hardcover)

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781594487774

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You're building up your memory. You're thinking shaper. You're creating a healthier brain This is your brain on puzzles. It's no secret that puzzles-crossword puzzles, logic puzzles, word puzzles-challenge and entertain us. But exciting new research suggests that they've become more than just a fun pastime. Solving different kinds of puzzles can actually help your brain improve itself and-perhaps just as important-ward off mental deterioration. In The Playful Brain, science happily combines with recreation as leading neuroscientist and bestselling author Richard Restak, M.D., and noted puzzle master Scott Kim team up to create a fascinating exploration of how puzzles can change, reshape, and strengthen our brains. Packed with illuminating insights and dozens of puzzles, The Painful Braininvestigates the science behind three key areas of brain development- memory, perception, and cognition. And it gives readers the chance to work the puzzles while learning how they're improving their brain. The result is both a lively book of popular science and an engaging set of exercises for developing a wide array of thinking and memory skills. PRAISE FOR RICHARD RESTAK AND SCOTT KIM ' Restak is one of the world's most important scientific thinkers.' - Scientific American 'Dr. Restak is an accomplished science writer with a gift for making complex scientific subjects accessible.' - The New York Times 'Scott Kim is the Escher of the alphabet.' - Isaac Asimov


A Playful Path

A Playful Path

Author: Bernard De Koven

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2013-12-18

Total Pages: 305

ISBN-13: 1304351823

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A Playful Path, the new book by games guru and fun theorist Bernard De Koven, serves as a collection of ideas and tools to help us bring our playfulness back into the open. When we find ourselves forgetting the life of the game or the game of life, the joy of form or the content, the play of brain or mind, body or spirit, this book can help us return to that which our soul is heir.


The Brain Book

The Brain Book

Author: Liam Drew

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2021-05-11

Total Pages: 74

ISBN-13: 0744049385

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It's a wrinkly, spongy mass the size of a cauliflower that sits in our heads and controls everything we do! Welcome to the world of the brain... What is the brain made of? How does it work? Why do we need one at all? Discover the answers to these questions and much more in this fun, fact-packed introduction to the brain. Filled with colorful illustrations and bite-sized chunks of information, this book covers everything from the anatomy of the brain and nervous system to how information is collected and sent around the body. Other topics include how we learn, memory, thinking, emotions, animal brains, sleep, and even questions about the brain that are yet to be answered. With entertaining illustrated characters, clear diagrams, and fascinating photographs, children will love learning about their minds and this all-important organ. The Brain Book is an ideal introduction to the brain and nervous system. Perfect for budding young scientists, it is a great addition to any STEAM library.


Think Smart

Think Smart

Author: Richard Restak

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2009-04-30

Total Pages: 296

ISBN-13: 1101050454

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A leading neuroscientist and New York Times-bestselling author of Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot distills the research on the brain and serves up practical, surprising, and illuminating recommendations for warding off neurological decline, cognitive function, and encouraging smarter thinking day to day. In Think Smart, the renowned neuropsychiatrist and bestselling author Dr. Richard Restak details how each of us can improve and tone our body's most powerful organ: the brain. As a renowned expert on the brain, Restak knows that in the last five years there have been exciting new scientific discoveries about the brain and its performance. So he's asked his colleagues-many of them the world's leading brain scientists and researchers-one important question: What can I do to help my brain work more efficiently? Their surprising-and remarkably feasible-answers are at the heart of Think Smart. Restak combines advice culled from cutting-edge research with brain-tuning exercises to show how individuals of any age can make their brain work more effectively. In the same accessible prose that made Mozart's Brain and the Fighter Pilot a New York Times bestseller, Restak presents a wide array of practical recommendations about a variety of topics, including the crucial role sleep plays in boosting creativity, the importance of honing sensory memory, and the neuron- firing benefits of certain foods. In Think Smart, the "wise, witty, and ethical Restak" (says the Smithsonian Institution) offers readers helpful suggestions for fighting neurological decline that will put every reader on the path to building a healthier, more limber brain.


The Playful Classroom

The Playful Classroom

Author: Jed Dearybury

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2020-06-30

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 1119674395

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Shows teachers how and why they should bring play into the classroom to make learning meaningful, relevant, and fun. Research studies show that all students—young and old, rich and poor, urban and rural—benefit immensely from classrooms filled with art, creativity, and laughter. Fun, playfulness, creative thinking, and individual expression reinforce positive experiences, which in turn lead to more engaged students, better classroom environments, and successful learning outcomes. Designed for K-12 educators, The Playful Classroom describes how teachers can develop a playful mindset for giving students meaningful, relevant and fun learning experiences. This unique real-world guide provides you with everything you need to incorporate engaging, hands-on lessons and creative activities, regardless of the level and subject you teach. Building on contemporary and seminal works on learning theory and play pedagogy, the authors explain how to inspire your students by bringing play. into your classroom. This clear, user-friendly guide supplies practical strategies and effective solutions for adding the missing ingredients to your classroom culture. Access to the authors’ companion website provides videos, learning experiences, and downloadable teaching and learning resources. Packed with relatable humor, proven methods, and valuable insights, this book enables you to: Provide meaningful experiences that will benefit students both in school and later in life Combine the principles of PLAY with traditional curricula to encourage creative learning Promote trust, collaboration, and growth in students Develop a playful mindset for bringing the arts into every lesson Foster critical thinking in any school community The Playful Classroom: The Power of Play for All Ages is a must-have resource for K-12 educators, higher education professionals, and readers looking for education-based professional development and training resources.


The Playful Machine

The Playful Machine

Author: Ralf Der

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-01-11

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 3642202535

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Autonomous robots may become our closest companions in the near future. While the technology for physically building such machines is already available today, a problem lies in the generation of the behavior for such complex machines. Nature proposes a solution: young children and higher animals learn to master their complex brain-body systems by playing. Can this be an option for robots? How can a machine be playful? The book provides answers by developing a general principle---homeokinesis, the dynamical symbiosis between brain, body, and environment---that is shown to drive robots to self- determined, individual development in a playful and obviously embodiment- related way: a dog-like robot starts playing with a barrier, eventually jumping or climbing over it; a snakebot develops coiling and jumping modes; humanoids develop climbing behaviors when fallen into a pit, or engage in wrestling-like scenarios when encountering an opponent. The book also develops guided self-organization, a new method that helps to make the playful machines fit for fulfilling tasks in the real world. The book provides two levels of presentation. Students and scientific researchers interested in the field of robotics, self-organization and dynamical systems theory may be satisfied by the in-depth mathematical analysis of the principle, the bootstrapping scenarios, and the emerging behaviors. But the book additionally comes with a robotics simulator inviting also the non- scientific reader to simply enjoy the fabulous world of playful machines by performing the numerous experiments.


Mind Wide Open

Mind Wide Open

Author: Steven Johnson

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2004-02-27

Total Pages: 289

ISBN-13: 0743258797

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BRILLIANTLY EXPLORING TODAY'S CUTTING-EDGE BRAIN RESEARCH, MIND WIDE OPEN IS AN UNPRECEDENTED JOURNEY INTO THE ESSENCE OF HUMAN PERSONALITY, ALLOWING READERS TO UNDERSTAND THEMSELVES AND THE PEOPLE IN THEIR LIVES AS NEVER BEFORE. Using a mix of experiential reportage, personal storytelling, and fresh scientific discovery, Steven Johnson describes how the brain works -- its chemicals, structures, and subroutines -- and how these systems connect to the day-to-day realities of individual lives. For a hundred years, he says, many of us have assumed that the most powerful route to self-knowledge took the form of lying on a couch, talking about our childhoods. The possibility entertained in this book is that you can follow another path, in which learning about the brain's mechanics can widen one's self-awareness as powerfully as any therapy or meditation or drug. In Mind Wide Open, Johnson embarks on this path as his own test subject, participating in a battery of attention tests, learning to control video games by altering his brain waves, scanning his own brain with a $2 million fMRI machine, all in search of a modern answer to the oldest of questions: who am I? Along the way, Johnson explores how we "read" other people, how the brain processes frightening events (and how we might rid ourselves of the scars those memories leave), what the neurochemistry is behind love and sex, what it means that our brains are teeming with powerful chemicals closely related to recreational drugs, why music moves us to tears, and where our breakthrough ideas come from. Johnson's clear, engaging explanation of the physical functions of the brain reveals not only the broad strokes of our aptitudes and fears, our skills and weaknesses and desires, but also the momentary brain phenomena that a whole human life comprises. Why, when hearing a tale of woe, do we sometimes smile inappropriately, even if we don't want to? Why are some of us so bad at remembering phone numbers but brilliant at recognizing faces? Why does depression make us feel stupid? To read Mind Wide Open is to rethink family histories, individual fates, and the very nature of the self, and to see that brain science is now personally transformative -- a valuable tool for better relationships and better living.


How Puzzles Improve Your Brain

How Puzzles Improve Your Brain

Author: Richard Restak

Publisher: Souvenir Press

Published: 2012-12-15

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 028564176X

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Regular mental exercises, including crosswords, Sudoku, and even brain training computer games, can help to improve memory, fine motor skills, perception and cognition. Solving different types of mental exercises helps the brain to reshape and strengthen itself, as well as heightening imagination and creativity skills. Anyone who wants to improve their memory, logic or perception skills can turn to the individual exercises (by Scott Kim who creates puzzles for magazines including Scientific America) featured in How Puzzles Improve Your Brain, that will stimulate the area of the brain that controls those skills. Richard Restak outlines how the brain processes individual functions, while Scott Kim has created puzzles that stimulate and challenge the area of the brain responsible for that function, giving your brain an engaging work-out. Drawing on decades of scientific research, this book can change your brain as you read it. If you want to enhance your brain performance regular mental exercises, including crosswords and Sudoku (even brain training computer games), can help to improve memory, fine motor skills, logic and visual observation. Solving different types of mental exercises helps the brain to improve itself, as well as heightening imagination and creativity skills. Packed with illuminating insights and dozens of witty and, often, perplexing puzzles, How Puzzles Improve Your Brain can create a healthier brain while explaining how the puzzles are changing it. In How Puzzles Improve Your Brain Scott Kim, a puzzle master, has designed puzzles that can target, and improve, specific areas of the brain while Richard Restak, a leading neuroscientist, describes the science behind how they reshape and strengthen the brain. Packed with illuminating insights and dozens of witty and often perplexing exercises, this mind-boggling book is designed to enhance specific brain functions and can aid anyone who wants to improve their memory, logic, or perception skills.


Overloaded

Overloaded

Author: Ginny Smith

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2021-04-01

Total Pages: 337

ISBN-13: 1472969367

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A NEW SCIENTIST BOOK OF THE YEAR From adrenaline to dopamine, our lives are shaped by the chemicals that control us. They are the hormones and neurotransmitters that our brains run on, and Overloaded looks at the roles they play in all aspects of our experiences, from how we make decisions, who we love, what we remember to basic survival drives such as hunger, fear and sleep. Author Ginny Smith explores what these tiny molecules do: what roles do cortisol and adrenaline play in memory formation? How do hormones and neurotransmitters affect the trajectory of our romantic relationships? Ginny meets scientists at the cutting-edge of brain chemistry research who are uncovering unexpected connections between these crucial chemicals. An eye-opening route through the remarkable world of neuro-transmitters, Overloaded unveils the chemicals inside each of us that touch every facet of our lives.