Pamela

Week of April 9th " So when your child does puzzles, they are doing one of the best brain building exercises for developing their reading, math and logic skills. They also develop problem solving skills and individual success and achievement. That is why they like to do puzzles over and over again! Your brain stays focused on one single activity — it is hard to think of anything else except the pieces before you and how they fit together. I think that is why puzzling is so calming and relaxing — you are doing an activity that renews and refreshes your brain! Simply stated, your brain gets happy when you do puzzles. They develop problem solving strategies for fitting the pieces together and completing the puzzle. They observe and detect similarities and differences, analyze, and do trial and error.

Puzzles can also be a small group (or family) activity. This promotes shared strategies, observation, and cooperation and a sense of shared achievement. " []

April 15

added edits to report on main page

April 16

added edits to report on wiki home page based on the puz zles and the parts of the brain affected -research includes the following information:

====With regards to maintaining balance as the room is moving, guests will be excerzising a part of the brain called the cerebellum, which is a structure associated with the regulation and coordination of movement, posture, and balance.====

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April 30th

-worked on power point presentation for oral presentation on Wednesday, May 2, 2012 -added edits

May 1 added few edits to powerpoint presentation: pictures, order, more points - will be talking about

safety- wheel chair straps on floor, soft walls inside exhibit, exterior- statistics and information about stress - 1 way window to intrigue visitors outside of the exhibit and applications- stress in daily life, emphasize that it does not help the thought process - better to stay calm

May 6th After taking in feedback after the mock-presentation on May 2nd, I did some research about the influence of music on individuals. The information below are from the corresponding links. There is also a link about extreme athletes and stress

1. Michel (1999) cites Zuckerman (1994) who discusses the optimum level of arousal, which is the level of arousal that people work best at. A person with a low optimum level of arousal works best with reduced stimulation from the environment, whereas someone with a high optimum level of arousal requires more stimulation from the environment. This study investigates this in terms of extroverts and introverts task performance with background music as arousal.

To study this issue in terms of an everyday situation, a television distraction with introverts and extraverts was studied by Furnham et al (1994). A comprehension task showed both groups performed better in silence, but that when completing the task with a distraction, extraverts outperformed introverts. Campbell and Hawley (1982) studied students in a library and found extroverts locate themselves where there is greater external stimulation when they study. This supports the arousal theory suggesting they require more stimulation to learn. A common form of exterior arousal comes from music, which is often played as people work and may affect performance. Geen (1984) found extroverts chose music with a higher noise intensity than introverts during learning task, but when at the same intensity introverts were more aroused than extraverts. Furnham & Bradley (1997) investigated the effect pop music has on introverts and extroverts. They found immediate memory recall was worse for both groups when pop music was played than when it was silent, however there was no difference in performance between the personality types. In the delayed response condition extraverts’ recall was higher than introverts. Furnham & Strbac (2002) found effects for a comprehension task with music as background noise, where extraverts outperform introverts. The hypothesis for the music condition is silence will show the best performance and familiar music (as it is more arousing than unfamiliar music) will show the worst performance based on Furnham & Bradley (1997) findings that both personality types perform better in silence than with music. The hypothesis for performance between personalities is extraverts will perform better than introverts in the music conditions due to increased arousal and introverts will perform better in silence. The participants were students and consisted of 40 introverts and 67 extraverts.

This study showed performance differed when the background music changed. Performance was best in the silent condition and worst in the familiar music condition, therefore the first hypothesis is accepted. There was no difference in performance in any of the conditions between introverts and extraverts, therefore the second hypothesis is rejected. There was no difference in performance in any condition between people who usually listen to music while they work and those who do not, meaning the third hypothesis is rejected. []

Music reduces stress and aids relaxation

Listening to slow, quiet classical music, is proven to reduce stress[|3]. Countless studies have shown that music's relaxing effects can be seen on anyone, including newborns. One of the great benefits of music as a stress reliever is that it can be used while you do your usual deeds so that it really doesn't take time. How does music reduces stress?
 * Physical relaxation. Music can promote relaxation of tense muscles, enabling you to easily release some of the tension you carry from a stressful day.
 * Aids in stress relief activities. Music can help you get "into the zone" when practicing yoga, self hypnosis or guided imagery, can help you feel energized when exercising and recover after exercising, help dissolve the stress when you're soaking in the tub.
 * Reduces negative emotions. Music, especially upbeat tunes, can take your mind off what stresses you, and help you feel more optimistic and positive. This helps release stress and can even help you keep from getting as stressed over life's little frustrations in the future. Researchers discovered[|4] that music can decrease the amount of the cortisol, a stress-related hormone produced by the body in response to stress.
 * Music improves productivity
 * According to a report in the journal Neuroscience of Behavior and Physiology[|28], a person's ability to recognize visual images, including letters and numbers, is faster when either rock or classical music is playing in the background

Music improves body movement and coordination Music reduces muscle tension and improves body movement and coordination[|25]-[|26]. Music may play an important role in developing, maintaining and restoring physical functioning in the rehabilitation of persons with movement disorders. Music improves memory performance

The power of music to affect memory is quite intriguing. Mozart's music and baroque music, with a 60 beats per minute beat pattern, activates the left and right brain. The simultaneous left and right brain action maximizes learning and retention of information. The information being studied activates the left brain while the music activates the right brain. Also, activities which engage both sides of the brain at the same time, such as playing an instrument or singing, cause the brain to be more capable of processing information. Listening to music facilitates the recall of information[|19]. Researchers have shown that certain types of music are a great "keys" for recalling memories. Information learned while listening to a particular song can often be recalled simply by "playing" the songs mentally. Musical training has even better effect than just listening to classical music. There is clear evidence[|20], that children who take music lessons develop a better memory compared with children who have no musical training. Note: For learning or memory performance, it's important that music doesn't have a vocal component; otherwise you're more likely to remember the words of the background song than what you're supposed to be recalling. Music improves concentration and attention Easy listening music or relaxing classics improves the duration and intensity of concentration in all age groups and ability levels. It's not clear what type of music is better, or what kind of musical structure is necessary to help, but many studies have shown significant effects[|21]. []_ Stress and extreme athletes []

May13



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