Interesting Stuff

We thought it might be interesting to have a page where we gathered unusual and 'interesting stuff' related to juggling. We will update this information from time to time

BBC News 22nd Jan 2004 Juggling ‘can boost brain power’: Learning to juggle can cause changes in the brain, scientists have found. Using brain scans, the researchers showed that in 12 people who had learnt to juggle, certain brain areas had grown. But 3 months later, during which time people stopped juggling, the brain had gone back to its normal size. Writing in Nature magazine, the researchers from the University of Regensburg, Germany, say their findings challenge the view that experiences do not affect the brain. The team studied 24 people who had no juggling ability. They were scanned using voxel-based morphometry, a technique which measures concentrations of brain tissue. Half were then asked to teach themselves to juggle for at least 60 seconds using the traditional three-ball cascade routine, and given 3 months to practise. All 24 were then scanned again. There was no change in the brain of the non-juggling group. But brain scans of those who had learnt to juggle showed two areas had increased in size. Jugglers had more grey matter which consist largely of nerve cells in the mid-temporal area and the left posterior intraparietal sulcus, which both process visual motion information. BBC News Clearly, the Dalai Lama thinks it is a great idea!