TED Talks: Neurologist describes her stroke

April 20, 2008

From Think or Thwim, a TEDS Talk video of neurologist Jill Bolte Taylor, describing in that brief, TEDS way, the morning when she had a stroke on the left side of her brain. It’s a stirring talk, as she describes the loss of functions, the loss of the ability to hear, the loss of the ability to talk, and the great insights she got from the experience in her 30s — more than a decade later, after what must be described as a full recovery.

Caution to the skeptics — she veers into a bit of wooishness. It’s still worth the look. Caution to the squeamish: Yes, that’s a brain.

Psychology teachers: Can you use this in class? What a great piece in discussion of brain physiology.

Also, her book: Jill Bolte Taylor | My Stroke of Insight

Vodpod videos no longer available. from www.ted.com posted with vodpod

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Okay, if the TEDS version doesn’t show above (I’ve had good experiences posting them before . . .) here’s the YouTube version

21 Comments | Brain learning, Harry Wong, Learning, psychology, Science | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Spinning dancer

October 10, 2007

Spinning dancer - a right-brain/left-brain exercise

Cool .gif, and a bit of a rant:

Cool .gif: I found this .gif at That Wealth Advisor Guy, a blog of a midwestern investments advisor. He claims that if you see the dancer rotating clockwise, you are right-brained; if you see her rotating counter-clockwise, you are left-brained. I can see it both ways (look under her feet for a few seconds, see if she doesn’t reverse for you, too).

If this is a valid test — and I have no way to gauge that it is valid — it provides one more way to discern one more fact about people you work with, or know — or about your students with some relevance to their learning styles (I don’t know what the connections would be).

The rant: That Wealth Advisor Guy posts no links, no sources, and no citations to back up any of his claims. It may well be just a cool .gif. How could we know if he doesn’t give us the details?

His blog doesn’t allow comments.

Would I invest with a guy who doesn’t provide all the information I want, or all the information that should be legally required, and who seems unduly influenced by woo stuff he finds on the internet?

Off to see if I can find citations . . .

Below the fold: Right-brain, left-brain characteristics, as related by That Wealth Advisor Guy. Are they accurate, or backed by any research? Who can tell?

Update: Mo at Neurophilosophy debunks the left-brain / right-brain stuff. It’s just an optical illusion, which illustrates that we often see things differently from other people, but probably provides no deep insights into anything you should take seriously. Go read what he says!

Read the rest of this entry »

19 Comments | Brain development, Brain learning, Education, Learning styles, Woo | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell