Studying the workings of the brain has been a fascination and a passion for Bob Aitken, instructor at the School of Instructor Education at Vancouver Community College.
Aitken has spent years extensively studying brain research and hes excited about recent findings and the future of brain research.
This Friday, he will speak about the brain and the important research going on right now during the first of a two-part series for TALK, an acronym for Third Age Learning, at Kwantlen Polytechnic Universitys Richmond campus. (Part two happens Friday, Oct. 5).
I will discuss how the brain develops in a child versus an adult and how early childhood learning, or lack of, affects us as adults.
For example, he said, scientists say the optimum time to learn new languages is before the age of 10.
Research also shows that if you hear a foreign language spoken when you are, say, five or six, you can learn it later on in life because the brain remembers and stores this knowledge, he added.
During his talk, Aitken will also discuss the importance of exercise and learning to stop the development or slow the growth of Alzheimers disease as it stimulates the growth of new neurons.
During this Fridays 50-minute lecture, he will touch on a number of brain-related topics such as: why memory and emotions are so closely tied together, empathy, the difference between a man and a womans brain, and how we learn.
When it comes to men and womens brain functions, Aitken said women tend to think more holistically, therefore, are more in touch with their feelings.
Aitken will also touch on the future of mental illness research. The amount we know about the brain today is only a small fraction of what we will know within five to 10 years from now. Scientists say theyre developing new brain imagining technology, pinpointing mental illness.
The two-part series is held at Kwantlens Richmond campus from 10 to 11:50 a.m. For more information, call 604-277-1130 or visit www.kwantlen.ca/talk.
