The Winner's Brain by Dr. Jeff Brown

Dr. Jeff Brown is a Harvard graduate, a well known author and psychologist, and an acknowledged expert on the human brain. He is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and a champion of cognitive-behavioral psychology. He is board-certified in both clinical and cognitive-behavioral psychology by the American Board of Professional Psychology. Jeff is also the psychologist for the Boston Marathon medical team and is on Runner’s World magazine’s scientific advisory board. He was present on that fateful day in April 2013 when the bombs went off at the marathon, and was able to render invaluable service and attention to the victims and their families. I turned to the chapter in his book dealing with memory and re-read it in order to share some of his thoughts with you. My favorite line from the book is “Some memories are embedded in your brain like rocks while others fade like watercolors.” I’m sure all of you have noticed this as the decades roll by! Dr. Brown has many more memorable thoughts and tips in this chaper and I will share them with you to the extent my space in this column allows. “In many ways, memory is what makes you uniquely you. You are the sum of your remembered experiences. “The human brain has an impressive capacity for remembering things...and it’s clear the brain must have some sort of massive mental storage closet for information...the brain has numerous storage closets (and retrieval systems) for many different types of memories.....When you need a memory, your brain gathers the various bits and pieces like the ingredients of a recipe, stirs them together, and pours them back in your working memory. “One of the best ways to take your memory to a higher level is by exposing it to as many new experiences as possible...even something as small as tasting an exotic new fruit, learning the meaning of a few new words, or trying out a new soap provides you with more cross reference material for the future.” He also writes that we tend to encode memories more strongly when we are in a highly emotional state or when they have significant meaning, are really unusual, or we’re paying close attention. One of the main points Dr. Brown and other researchers make is that “the brain relies on memory to imagine, simulate, and predict possible future events. In many ways, the gift of prediction is memory’s most crucial contribution to success.” Finally, the point is made that diluting some memories is also important. Boston University memory researcher Elizabeth Kensinger is quoted in Jeff’s book, “Selectivity...makes it easier for us to conjure up memories that are relevant to our current thoughts and actions without having to rummage through too much useless brain clutter.” In other words, we might do well to take the advice in a recent Disney movie, “Let It Go”. © Joan Rowden Hart