Mental function improves after certain kinds of socializing

"This fits with evolutionary perspectives that examine social pressures on the emergence of intelligence, and research showing a neural overlap between social-cognitive and executive brain functions."

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OK, so research shows a link between being successful socially and developing higher level brain functioning. This reminds me of a lot of training I've had since I've been working in education. The brain is like a muscle and there are ways to make it stronger.

I heard a professor give a great talk about the brain and the connection between our emotions and our ability to learn. Basically, stressful/negative emotions trigger our lower brain (our "alligator" brain controlling fight or flight) and keep us from operating at a high level of executive functioning like reasoning.

He had a great illustration for what happens to our brains when we feel emotionally safe and we begin to operate in our frontal lobe. He called it "flow" and described the feeling as when we get lost in something and forget what time it is and we stop paying attention to what's going on outside our immediate vicinity. It's a feeling I think we all recognize and enjoy.

This prof also said it could take somewhere around 3 hours for a student to be emotionally ready to "flow" after his/her lower brain has been triggered due to an alarming stimulus.

Our brains are constantly creating and destroying neurological connections. By understanding how our brain works best, we can strengthen our ability to access that "flow" which allows us to operate most effectively.

On a lighter note, I wonder how much smarter Americans would be on a national level if they watched fewer "gripping/exciting/scary" TV shows where they're constantly being bombarded with alarming stimuli?