Three Simple Tips to Avoid Impulse Spending and Stay within Your Holiday Budget
The holidays are here, which for most of us means spending time shopping in malls or online looking for gifts for loved ones (and even for ourselves!). It also means trying to keep from spending too much money.
Apparently whether we stay within our holiday shopping budget may not depend as much on willpower as it does on the circuitry of our own brains.
Brian Knutson of Standford University and colleagues mapped the brains of shoppers using a MRI. They discovered that, as people contemplated whether or not to make a purchase, one of two segments of their brains would “light up.” If the nucleus accumbens–part of the reward and pleasure center of the brain–lit up, the subject would invariably make the purchase. If the insula–the part of the brain that registers pain (such as the pain of something costing more than its perceived value)–lit up, the subject would invaribly say “Thanks, but no thanks.”
By watching which part of the brain became active, researchers could accurately predict whether or not the shopper would make the purchase.
The reason shopping feels so good may be related to the brain chemical dopamine. This “feel good” chemical is released anytime we are exposed to the exciting mix of new places, challenges, sights and sounds–all of which are plentiful at the mall. Read the rest of this entry »
Anytime a great new idea comes on the scene, it is inevitably followed by a herd of experts all claiming that they have the best resource for you. But how can you tell which one is telling the truth?
Some kids struggle to learn.
For years, moms have been making their kids take summertime piano lessons. Not surprisingly, moms know best: it turns out those piano lessons may have helped you more than you realize. Over the summer, students typically lose over 22% of what they learned the previous year. They call it “summer slide” and Kim Bellini, director of the 
June 15th is National Brain Training Day! On June 1st, LearningRx, the country’s leading personal brain training company declared June 15th National Brain Training Day. The day was declared with two purposes in mind. First, to dispel myths around cognitive skills training. Secondly, to raise awareness of the phenomenal gains the right type of brain training can bring.
Does your child need brain training or tutoring? What’s the difference? Do you know? Take this short quiz, and see if you can tell the difference. Get a piece of paper, read through the two scenarios in each question, and write down which story is like brain training and which story is like tutoring.
Chances are, now that summer’s here, you aren’t thinking much about brain fitness (if you think about it at all). No, you’re thinking about playing tag, eating watermelon, or lying on the beach in the sun doing absolutely nothing, and I don’t blame you. But activities that boost physical and brain fitness during the summer can help you (and your family) enjoy the long summer days even more, and be ready for next fall – when cooler weather and challenging classes will require more of both the brain and the body.
