By Lauren Otis, Staff Writer
This is your baby’s brain on Mozart.
This is your baby’s brain not on Mozart.
Notice the difference? No?
Well that’s because playing classical music to your child really has no beneficial effect on his or her intelligence, according to Sam Wang, associate professor of molecular biology and neuroscience at Princeton University.
This is just one of many “brain lies” that have become pervasive in contemporary society, Mr. Wang told attendees to a breakfast sponsored by the Princeton Regional Chamber of Commerce at the Nassau Club on Wednesday.
Other brain myths include the belief that alcohol kills brain cells, and that we only use 10 percent of our brains, said Mr. Wang, who is co-author with Sandra Aamodt of the book Welcome To Your Brain.
”As it turns out, none of those three are true,” Mr. Wang said. “You’re really happy about the brain one aren’t you? No, you’re excited about the alcohol one,” he said to laughter in the audience.
When an audience member quipped about Princeton undergraduates recently requiring hospitalization for excess alcohol consumption during bicker, Mr. Wang responded: “There are upper limits to that one.”
Attributes are often ascribed to brains which they do not contain, usually conforming to contemporary technological developments, hence current descriptions of the brain as a sophisticated computer, Mr. Wang said.
”Your brain is an incredibly efficient object which has been shaped by millions of years of evolution,” he said. “In fact, our brains often don’t tell us the truth. Our brains have the job of helping us survive in the world and fight another day,” he said.
A typical brain weighs about 3 pounds and uses 12 watts of power, Mr. Wang said.
”This 12 watts is less than you would find in a small bulb, say in your refrigerator, so in a sense we are all ‘dim bulbs,’” he said. “Your brain uses 12 watts of power whether you are awake or asleep, bad or good. The only time it doesn’t use 12 watts is when you are in a deep coma, then it uses about 6 watts.”
William James, a psychologist and philosopher at the turn of the last century wrote in 1908: “We are making use of only a small part of our possible mental and physical resources,” according to Mr. Wang. Then Dale Carnegie, the self-improvement pioneer, turned this general statement into the assertion that we use only 10 percent of our brain, which he ascribed to Mr. James, Mr. Wang said.
The truth is “you need every bit of your brain,” Mr. Wang said. “If you have a stroke you will find out, sometimes the hard way, that you use every bit of your brain,” he said.
As for the notion that playing classical music to babies increases their intelligence, “this belief comes from a study that was done, playing classical music not to babies but to teenagers, who improved in one out of seven different intelligence tests that were administered to them — this (effect) lasted for about 20 minutes,” Mr. Wang said. Other researchers weren’t even able to replicate this modest result, he added.
For all those parents who sit their infants down to watch educational and developmental DVDS, Mr. Wang said research has demonstrated that “those infants acquired language more slowly than those that did not watch an hour of baby DVDs.”
On the contrary, teaching a child to play a musical instrument will help brain development, and learning new music and playing it helps older people maintain good brain function, Mr. Wang said.
Many of the things adults do to keep their brains sharp, including Sudoku and crossword puzzles, help your brain get better at those specific tasks but don’t have much if any broader benefit, Mr. Wang said. Instead, “physical exercise is one of the best things you can do,” to benefit your brain, he said.
”There is a rule of thumb that things that are good for your heart are good for your brain,” Mr. Wang said.
Pursuing continuing education later in life — the “use it or lose it” notion of brain function — does have some basis in fact, Mr. Wang said. “There is some correlation between educational status and being intellectually engaged,” he said.
One positive aspect of living in the current down economy is giving up unhealthy extravagances may be easier, Mr. Wang said.
”We only have a finite amount of willful self-control, what we call in life willpower,” he said, adding “it turns out the brain has a finite supply of willpower, and you can wear it out.”
Although, “it turns out willpower is a resource that is finite, it can be depleted,” the good news is willpower can be toned up just like a muscle, Mr. Wang said. “Willpower is a specific mental capacity that can be built up by training,” he said.
”Willpower is a thing you can train,” Mr. Wang said. He noted that it has been demonstrated that doing a disciplined task — brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand for six weeks, in one instance — will build up your resource for willpower so you will be better able to stick to an exercise regime.
Mr. Wang said the idea that the “right brain” is analytic, and the “left brain” intuitive, with one dominant in men the other in women “is not quite right.”
”Men and women in many respects are not very different in their mental skills,” Mr. Wang said. But some stereotypes are true: “Men are better at mental object rotation (visualizing an object in space), women tend to be better at object location, ‘honey where are the keys?’” he said.
Although men and women are equally good at reading their own moods — whether they are in a good or bad mood — “everybody is better at reading women’s moods,” based on whatever signals women send out, Mr. Wang said.
Mr. Wang said the relationship between sleep and the brain is still a mystery. ““Biologically the reason we sleep is not really known, it is probably in primitive animals replenishment, in mammals memory consolidation,” he said. “Memory is maybe consolidated in some way when you are asleep,” he said. Memories do get rewritten, probably during sleep, which is why memories will differ over time — “most couples are aware of this phenomena,” he said.
To groans in the audience, Mr. Wang said “memory peaks around the age of 30.” He acknowledged it was disappointing news to him too, as he is 41. The so-called executive function of the frontal lobe of the brain — the cognitive abilities that control and regulate other abilities and behaviors — don’t start to decline until we are in our 70s and 80s, Mr. Wang said.
”Intellectually challenging and stimulating tasks are what keep your brain young,” Mr. Wang said. “The key here is to maintain an intellectually engaged lifestyle.”
Mr. Wang confirmed the basis for countless municipal laws banning cell phone use while driving. In taking our concentration and brain resources away from the road “talking on your cell phone while driving is like driving after having two drinks,” he said.
And for all those students who swear by cramming, Mr. Wang confirmed what your teachers have always told you: “Eight hours of study is more effective spread out over two or three sessions than over one session.” And a good night’s sleep before the exam does help you better process all that studied information, he said.
The our brain’s endowments are pretty much contained within us as babies genetically, and our brain development mechanisms do proceed mostly on their own assuming our physical environments are reasonably normal, Mr. Wang said, weighing in on the “nature versus nurture” question. It has been demonstrated that increases in IQ across populations do occur at a more rapid clip than evolution would allow for, he said, so nurture is important.
Back to your baby’s brain on Mozart.
Although playing classical music to babies may not do much, “it turns out it is a good idea to talk to a baby, even if they appear to be not capable of generating language.” Mr. Wang said. Children’s language ability, and emotions, key off our own, even at the earliest pre-verbal phases of their development, he said.
So turn off the classical and have a talk with your kid.

