Laughter, shared effort, imagination and lateral thinking all come into play when you're doing a neurobic workout.
Elspeth
Elspeth
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Mental flexibility, lateral thinking, word manipulation, ambidexterity and visual acuity... we're building on all of these. Perhaps you'd like to test us with a sudden question or a poser to solve?
Elspeth Maconachie Like toothful tigers, we tackled word oddities such as contranyms, words which can hold opposing meanings, such as bound, screen or sanction. We then turned our attention to numbers but found some of us had shakeable determination and indeed boundful enthusiasm.
But such activities, even when we fail, have neurons forging new pathways. Elspeth Maconachie The usually bustling u3a room takes on a Bletchley Park like hum on the fourth Tuesday of the month as finely tuned minds tackle relatively pointless code cracking.
Elspeth The neurobics class worked so well at the end of March that they could afford to have the afternoon off for Anzac Day. We'll crank up the cerebral circuits again in May.
Elspeth I'm confident that all those who came along for neurobics had their brains suitably challenged, with links leaping from across the midline, important in quick thinking as well as physical balance & falls prevention.
Elspeth Maconachie Words, sequence puzzles and memory training gave a range of challenges in October, but in November a smaller group concentrated on clue types common in cryptic crosswords. Thus, we tested our recall of such things as foreign phrases, homophones (due & dew), and Roman numerals (vivid). Cryptic are best approached with mental flexibility, so we warmed up by drawing mirror images of such objects as a curly cobra and a yacht.
Elspeth Maconachie Some (slightly) easier puzzles this month including tech savvy lingo (fyi) and cryptic clues with a gathering whose number was back nearer full strength.
Elspeth Recall of words and pictures, anagrams, art and sequence spotting all gave the grey matter a chance to exercise in September.  Elspeth
Nifty numbers, drawing, memory and anagrams took most of our time.
We agreed that we remember best if we have a motive, make an association or see a pattern. While the mature brain has a wealth of links and material, calling it up can take extra minutes and we also need to be deliberate in giving attention to new information, such as names, for easier recall. Elspeth Maconachie |
About Brain Games
It is well established that new skills can help build brain pathways with benefits for memory, confidence, happiness and even falls prevention. Brain Games offers a variety of entertaining and informative ways to challenge, inform and exercise your brain. Thus we might solve word, number, shape, picture or logic puzzles, take part in a quiz, brainstorm solutions to a dilemma, draw a picture or maybe even learn to juggle! We may, at times, read or view material on topics such as ... (dementia, brain repair...etc), gender differences, optimism and pessimism, lateral thinking and creativity. Convenor and contact details
Elspeth Maconachie
0418 621 764 Meeting Times
2023:
4th Tuesday 2 to 4 pm, U3A Meeting Room 1, Fawckner Drive. Archives
August 2023
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