A recent New York Times article followed Todd Braver, a psychology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, and five other neuroscientists on an unusual journey…a week in late May in a remote area of southern Utah, rafting the San Juan River, camping on the soft banks and hiking the tributary canyons. The reason for their trip was to understand how heavy use of digital devices and other technology changes how we think and behave, and how a retreat into nature might reverse those effects.
Over the course of the trip, they discover what other recent studies have also revealed…that the less they taxed their brains with email, multitasking, and the stress of constant communication, the more they freed up their minds for a free flow of creative and analytical thinking, and the more their attention span and capacity to learn increased and sharpened.
Join the scientists on a short video of this trip into the heart of silence…and the study of how getting outside may help to make you smarter…
>>Down the River, Into the Brain>>
