BRAIN POWER PAGE 1
Do you think your brain is getting quicker or slower with age? Why do you think this? The article
below is about recent neurological discoveries, but some of the information is missing. Read the
article and then listen to the radio programme and complete the gaps.
NPR - April 2009
Smart People
Really Do Think
Faster
The smarter the person, the faster
information zips around the brain,
a UCLA study finds. And this
ability to think quickly apparently
is inherited.
The study, published in the
Journal of Neuroscience, looked
at the brains and intelligence of
______ people. All the participants
took standard IQ tests. Then the
researchers studied their brains
using a technique called diffusion
tensor imaging, or DTI.
DTI is a variant of magnetic
resonance imaging (MRI) that can
measure the structural integrity of
the brain’s white matter, which
is made up of cells that carry
nerve impulses from one part of
the brain to another. The greater
the structural integrity, the faster
nerve impulses travel.
“These images really give you
a picture of the mental speed of
the brain,” says Paul Thompson,
Ph.D., a professor of neurology at
UCLA School of Medicine.
They’re also “the most beautiful
images of the brain you could
imagine,” Thompson says. “My
daughter, who’s 5, says they look
Discussion Which of the information did you find most surprising, interesting and relevant to
you?
like little _________________ at
each point in the brain.”
Thompson says DTI scans of the
participants in the study revealed
a clear link between brain speed
and _________________.
“When you say someone is quick-
thinking, it’s genuinely true,”
Thompson says. “The impulses
are going faster and they are
just more efficient at processing
information, and then making a
decision based on it.”
Thompson’s study also found that
_____________ factors played a
big role in brain speed.
The team was able to figure this
out because the people in their
study were all _________. Some
were identical twins, who share
all the same genes. Others were
non-identical twins, who share
only certain genes.
By comparing the groups, the
researchers were able to tease
out _____________ associated
with the structural integrity of
white matter. And it turned out
many of these genes were also
associated with intelligence.
Richard Haier, Ph.D., emeritus
professor at the University of
____________, Irvine, says this
may explain something scientists
have been wondering about for a
long time.
“We know that intelligence has
some genetic component,” he
says. “And what the Thompson
study is showing is that a large
part of the genetic aspect of
intelligence has to do with the
white matter tracks that connect
different parts of the brain.”
Haier says the good news is that
we’re not necessarily stuck with
the brain, or the brain speed, we
inherit. He says thinking is like
running or __________________.
It helps to have certain genes. But
anyone can get stronger or faster
by working out.
The brain is like a _____________,
Haier says: “The more you work it
the more efficient it gets.”
So people who practise the
violin, or do math problems, or
learn a foreign language are
constantly strengthening certain
______________ in their brains.
And Thompson notes that our
brains, unlike our _____________,
peak relatively late in life.
“The wires between the brain
cells, the connections, are the
things that you can modify
throughout life,” he says. “They
change and they improve through
your _____s and ______s and
______s.”
Thompson says there are
practical, as well as academic,
reasons to measure brain speed.
The technique can spot problems
such as ____________________
disease, which slows down the
brain. And because the scans
are so sensitive, they can show
whether new drugs for Alzheimer’s
are actually working.
BRAIN POWER PAGE 2
Teacher’s notes
Total pages 2 / student pages 1 / week of 13.04.09 / CD track 3 / mid-intermediate+ (B2+)
Gapfill answers in order of appearance: 92 / flowers / intelligence / genetic / twins / genes / California /
weightlifting / muscle / pathways / bodies / 40s / 50s / 60s / Alzheimer’s

Transcript
MELISSA BLOCK, host: Believe it or not, there is a speedometer out there for your brain, and it shows that
smart people really do think faster. That’s the conclusion of a study that also suggests people inherit the
ability to think quickly. NPR's Jon Hamilton has the story.
JON HAMILTON: A few years ago, scientists began using a special type of MRI machine to create images
showing the pathways that carry information around the brain.
Dr. PAUL THOMPSON (Professor of Neurology, University of California School of Medicine): They're the
most beautiful images of the brain you could imagine.
HAMILTON: Paul Thompson studied theses images in a lab at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Dr. THOMPSON: My daughter, who's five, says they look like flowers. They look like little flowers at each point
in the brain.
HAMILTON: Thousands of flowers connected by a network of spaghetti-like strands. Those strands are
the pathways that carry messages from one part of the brain to another. They're made of the brain’s so-
called white matter. And Thompson says the images show not only where these pathways lead but how fast
information is traveling.
Dr. THOMPSON: These images really give you a picture of the mental speed of the brain. And they link very
well with IQ and other, you know, cognitively relevant things for people having the scan.
HAMILTON: Thompson knows that because he was part of a team that studied the brains and intelligence
of 92 people. The team conducted the usual IQ tests on each person. Then they did the scans that show
information pathways. These scans measure the structural integrity of white matter. The greater the structural
integrity, the faster nerve impulses travel. Thompson says the link between brain speed and intelligence was
pretty clear.
Dr. THOMPSON: You know, when you say someone is quick-thinking, it's genuinely true, that the impulses
are going faster and they're just more efficient at processing information, and then making a decision based
on it.
HAMILTON: The study also found that genetic factors play a big role in how fast your brain works. Thompson's
team figured this out because the 92 people in their study were all twins. Some were identical twins, who
share all the same genes. Others were non-identical twins, who share only certain genes. This meant the
researchers could tease out genes associated with the structural integrity of white matter. And it turned out
many of these genes were also associated with intelligence. Richard Haier, of the University of California,
Irvine, says this may explain something scientists have been wondering about for a long time.
Dr. RICHARD HAIER (Professor Emeritus, University of California, Irvine): We know that intelligence has
some genetic component. And what the Thompson study is showing is that a large part of the genetic aspect
of intelligence has to do with the white matter tracks that connect different parts of the brain.
HAMILTON: Haier says the good news is we're not necessarily stuck with the brain or the brain speed we
inherit. He says it's like running or weightlifting. It helps to have certain genes. But anyone can get stronger
or faster by working out.
Dr. HAIER: Many people have conceptualized the brain as a kind of muscle for the purpose of this analogy.
And the more you work it the more efficient it gets.
HAMILTON: So people who practise the violin, or do math problems, or learn a foreign language are constantly
strengthening certain pathways in their brains. And Paul Thompson says unlike our bodies, our brains don’t
peak at an early age.
Dr. PAUL THOMPSON: The wires between the brain cells, the connections, are the things that you can
modify throughout life. They change, and they improve through your 40s and 50s and 60s. And it’s a much
more positive note than the sort of old, orthodox view of the brain, which was that you have all the brain cells
you’ll ever have by age of three, they can never be replaced, and you have to use it or lose it, so to speak.
HAMILTON: Thompson says there are practical, as well as academic, reasons to measure brain speed.
The technique can spot problems like Alzheimer's disease, which slow down the brain. And because the
scans are so sensitive, they can show whether new drugs for Alzheimer's are actually working. The research
appears in the Journal of Neuroscience.