Exercise and the Brain/ Ted Talk Summary Research (Essay Sample)

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Exercise and the Brain/ Ted Talk Summary
There has always existed an interconnection between the function of the brain regarding the ability to hold memories, learning new information and creativity and exercise. Different researchers have participated in the field of neural science to understand the connection. One of the researchers who majors in Neural Science and is a lecturer at New York University is Dr. Lucy Suzuki, who explores this field. Her research has been primarily based on how participation in aerobics and exercise improves memory, learning process, cognition, and creativity.The speaker gives a brief account of how she became interested in the field of neural science. It was during her freshman year during a seminar called The Brain and it’s Potential that they were shown a live and real fixed human brain. The lecturer informed them that it was the most magnificent organ that was aware of its self and as a function of its environment. During the lecture, Dr. Lucy learned about neural plasticity (The ability of a brain to change due to its environment), and this made her excited. She never knew it would become part of her lifetime work. The beginning of her study was by analyzing the hippocampus. The hippocampus is the section on the brain responsible for long-term memory. Her goal as she turned forty was to be in the best physical shape. She joined an Intensati class taught by Patricia Moreno. Intensati incorporated dancing, kick-boxing, Yoga and martial arts movements. The movements were performed and positive reaffirmations repeated during the exercise. Dr. Suzuki learned that by the end of the exercise there were merits. The merits included great motivation and better focus in performing her daily duties plus also ease in writing.
Dr. Suzuki researched further and looked into new and older researches to understand how the changes occurred. She read Marian Diamond research that was about the relation of exercise and the improvement of cognitive activity in rats. The study proved that rats placed in an enriched environment (with toys and other mice) had larger growth of their cortex. This led to an increase in the overall brain size while rats placed in an impoverished environment (without toys and other) had lesser growth on their cortex. To understand the changes better, she decided to become and Intensati and a fitness instructor. She introduced an aerobics class when she realized the students could be her test subjects in her study. After the aerobics class was done the rest of the time was to lect...