4. Everybody has a brain. Some people believe that the brain is like the hard disk (盘) of a computer. We use it to store pictures, language(words, texts, sounds) and so on. Others compare the brain to a huge cupboard (惯柜) with lots of shelves and boxes in it. We put information into these boxes and hope to find it again later.
The brain is not a computer disk, and it isn't a cupboard. Look at the picture here. It looks a bit like weeds (杂草) in a garden, doesn't it?The picture actually shows a child's neocortex (大脑新皮质), which controls sight (视觉) and hearing. You can guess what happens ﹣﹣ more"weeds"grow as the child gets older. Scientists call these neuronal networks (神经元网络). The networks grow around our neurons:What makes them grow?Learning! "Learning is brain change," says Professor James Zull from Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio, USA.
"Without learning, nothing changes in the brain. For every new word you learn in your English lesson, every problem you solve in math, every new song you learn to sing, a neuronal network grows in your brain and the brain changes."
The more neuronal networks we grow, the better we can think and the better we remember. You may wonder if there is anything you can do to make the networks in your brain grow better. Professor Zull says yes, there is. He says that brain change is the strongest in the following situations:
•You are interested in and like what you are learning;
•You are in control of what you learn;
•You get challenging tasks that make you think hard.
Choose a right way to learn something, and you may develop your brain better than you think.