Growing the brain.

When I was young, there was a belief that eating fish feeds the brain, so I guess there are some smart sharks. Today the obsession is that drinking water feeds the brain. The simple truth is that thinking feeds and develops the brain. Over the past decade we have the benefit of various brain scanning devices and are getting to know both what the brain looks like in detail, and how it works. But it is slow business and nothing is definitive yet. So therefore beware of any book or system, especially those over ten years old, that claims to know how the brain works, and worse tells you definitively how to develop it. They are likely to be over-simplistic, or simply wrong.
The brain develops by mental stimulation, by growing connectors between different parts of the brain. The more we think, and the more disciplined we get, the more connections are created and the brain changes as a result. This much is the starting point of modern neuroscience. Children's brains are growing rapidly throughout schooling, and adult brains have a similar potential. Our message to pupils is that their brains are capable of most things, through disciplined hard work, putting their mind to the task. This will permamently make them smarter. It is a message that needs emphasising to children from infancy onwards, by parents, teachers and others; and also that 'can do' attitudes can also be fun and give a great sense of achievement.
See more on: http://www.tlrp.org/pub/documents/
Neuroscience%20Commentary%20FINAL.pdf