Anyone who engages me in conversation lately will discover, very quickly, that I have become a huge fan of National Public Radio. When I get to work in the morning I click it on, just in time for the BBC news hour and that is followed by several shows. I also listen to various podcasts of other shows. There is just so much interesting stuff going on out there and I get to listen while I work which, in the office I work in, is apparently more acceptable than whistling while I work.
So I was listening to a show about Zoos, or rather about how animals operate depending on their environment. A scientist performed an experiment where they put monkeys under three living conditions: one group lived in concrete cages, one group lived in luxury - a large living area with trees and toys and all kinds of wonder, and a third group that was "middle class" - it lived in a reasonably sized area, with fewer toys et al. The brain functions of these monkeys was measured and, to cut a long story short, the middle class monkeys had brain activity of 25-40% (or some big number) greater than the concrete caged monkeys. The difference between the middle and luxury was not as great. Apparently it was negligible. Similar studies were performed with birds in capitivity versus birds living in the wild and the same results were found.
That got me thinking - am I living in a concrete cage? I mean, my apartment is small enough to qualify as on the level of cage. Am I in auto pilot - going to and from work, doing the same things every day and letting my brain atrophy? What am I doing to make sure that I keep my brain working? Wait a minute... why do I assume that my brain is even working?
2 comments:
Well at least you're thinking about it and that's a start. It does make one wonder though. Hmmm....
As I was writing this, I was thinking about your amazing photos and how great it would be to have that much open space. When I first started living in an apartment,I thought I was going to lose my mind. I kept telling my parents that I needed was a small patch of grass. And now I see that it makes a big difference - well,at least to monkeys.
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