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Not so pitch perfect

Not making progress in your Mandarin grammar class? Having a harder time ordering your favorite ethnic dish? Well you’re not alone. Learning a new language clearly becomes more difficult for us as we grow older. Fortunately, new academic research is providing us with some evidence that it’s not entirely our fault. It’s no reason to give up, but at least we can start pointing some fingers at our Heschl’s Gyrus. Assuming you can find it…           

The recent study is showing that our ability to wrestle with new languages might be related to the size of an acute area in our brain’s temporal lobe known as the Heschl’s Gyrus, or (HG) if its all Greek to you. The HG is the first processing point for our audible world, and its size could determine your ability to distinguish between tones and pitches. Both are helpful when trying to master tonal languages like Croatian, Japanese, Swahili, Punjabi, and even French. Although, the scope of the study may be limited (17 participants) the lessons should be clear. If you have kids, get them engaged in learning a new language early on. This would involve encouraging them to practice outside of class as well. Because of our increasingly multi-cultured neighborhoods, there is ample opportunity for this, and trust us, they’ll thank you later. And if you yourself are thinking of learning a new language or just brushing up…well the sooner the better. There is plenty of value in extracurricular exercises for you too, and we encourage you to explore foreign music, television programs, and newspapers. This will help you with those tonal difficulties that plague us as our jaws and voices mature.                   

Essentially, the advice we give to new writers would be the same to you: don’t be afraid to mess up. And because we like to lead by example, you can be assured that we’re putting ourselves out there too; stuttering our way through Spanish classes. But in the end, we’ll enjoy being able to order those Huevos Rancheros again.  TW/LS/CE

What is a Schema?

In a number of our books, we talk about the importance of schemas in people’s lives. We often use a less technical term, “Life lenses,” when referring to schemas. So what are schemas or life lenses? In a sense they are deep, strongly held beliefs about ourselves and the world. But they are more than mere beliefs because they literally alter the way people perceive incoming information. For example, if one were to make the exact same statement to different people who hold different schemas or life lenses, the interpretation of that statement could vary considerable. Here’s an example:

In response to this statement (by an expert on the stock market), “The stock market has been increasing in volatility lately,” here’s how people with different life lenses might perceive that statement:

Life Lens of VULNERABLE: “Oh my gosh, I’m going to be ruined. I’ll never be able to retire!”

Life Lens of SUPERIOR: “Great! I just know I’ll be able to make a killing because I know how to outfox and out-predict most people.”

Life Lens of DISTRUSTING: “I don’t believe that guy. He must be trying to make everbody panic.”

No particular Life Lens related to the statement: “OK, and I know that’s something that the stock market does from time to time. It’s a little scary, but it’s simply how things work.”

Can you see how these interpretations are vastly different and would lead to emotions that range from high anxiety to euphoria or little emotional reaction at all? It’s useful to know which life lenses you might carry around because that knowledge can help you understand why you react the way you do in various situations. It’s also rather handy to learn how to recognize other people’s schemas in order to understand them better.

More about schemas another day…–CE

Death in America

I read an interesting article this week written by associated press author, Stephen Ohlemacher. He reported about the statistics released by the Nation Center for Health Statistics. Although Americans may be living longer, we are slipping in respect to other countries. How could the richest country in the world, the country that spends the most on health care, have shorter life expectancy than Japan, France, Australia, Sweden, Canada, and the United Kindom?

The answers: 45 million without health insurance in the US

                      US has the highest obesity rate in the world

                      Infant mortality is high—forty countries do better

We can do better too! When you consider who will get your vote, think about the real consequences of American policy on our lives and those we care about. LS

Where’s the love?

    It’s not the most serious charge levied at the pharmaceutical industry, but new findings on the effects of antidepressants on our ability to fall in love are pretty damning. If valid, studies indicate that people taking antidepressants like Prozac, Zolft, and Paxil may have a hard time experiencing the romantic fireworks of new love. The studies, spearheaded by Helen Fisher of Rutgers and J. Anderson Thompson from the University of Virginia, draw from laboratory and anecdotoal studies. In one, prairie dogs were shown to lose interest in mates when dopamine levels were artificailly suppressed. In the other study, women taking antidepressants rated pictures of men more negatively than those not taking the drugs. Though no causal relationship was firmly established, the neurological connection between the state of love and antidepressants seems simple enough:

      “Human romantic love is associated with increased activity in dopamine pathways. antideprssant suppress that activity…(and) could jeopardize romantic love.”  –from the Toronto Star reporting on the findings

     Getting out of the house, dating, and meeting new people are activities that are strongly recommended for those suffering from depression. Unfortunately, this research suggests that the very medication prescribed to treat depression might be counterproductive to those goals. Not only would it be hard to feel the depths of love, it would be hard to even understand the importance of experiencing love. Not conclusive, but certainly another reason to think about other options for treating depression such as cognitive therapy. TW/LS

Writing For Dummies

Some people have asked us what it’s like to write “For Dummies” books. The answer is that it’s not much different than writing for any other publisher. The For Dummies series is certainly not “dummy downed.” Rather, it is intended for an intelligent audience that is simply not expert in the particular subject matter of each book.

 Since the audience is assumed to be intelligent, but not highly proficient in the topic, the publisher asks authors to break material down into easily digested chunks. We like writing that way because we always want our writing to be accessible. In our writing workshops we talk about this issue in greater detail. Whether you write For Dummies or for just about any other audience, learning to connect with people in an understandable manner is an art form.–CE

Anxiety and writing

What is it about writing that causes such anxiety? Face your fears. Just write and the fear will become more managable. In preparing for the writing workshop we are presenting this fall, I have been spending time re-reading some of the classic and not so classic books on writing well. The advice seems to be quite consistent. The biggest challenge is to make a schedule and stick to it. That is what I did to get through grad school. I made a personal rule to write at least a paragraph a day. I’m using this blog as an exercise in discipline. Three blogs a week–even when I don’t have much to say. The anxiety is already decreasing! LS

Perfectionism and Writing

Nothing stops writing in its tracks faster than perfectionism. Perfectionists typically believe that they should produce beautiful prose that requires little revision on their first draft. But almost all publishable writing requires numerous revisions and extensive editing. We recommend that neophyte writers (especially those afflicted with perfectionism) consider writing with the goal of making as many mistakes and misstated thoughts as possible! They will evolve into proficient writers as they acquire the skills derived from re-writing and editing–over and over again.–CE

Summer’s End

The mornings are cooler in NM since the rains have started up. Many people with Seasonal Affective Disorder start noticing that the light is beginning to change in August. The days are just a bit shorter and the air is different. Here, it is barely noticable but in Alaska, people are beginning to think about winter.–LS