TODAY'S BRAIN TALK
Seems that the "Google Effect" is altering our brains these days; that is, we don't necessarily remember facts nowadays--rather, we remember how to find it on the 'net:
"A new study confirms it: Google is altering your brain. More precisely, our growing dependence on the Internet has changed how -- and what -- our brains choose to remember.
When we know where to find information, we're less likely to remember it -- an amnesia dubbed "The Google Effect" by a team led by psychologist Betsy Sparrow of Columbia University.
Goodbye, soul-searching; hello, facts-at-fingertips.
The finding, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science, doesn't prove that Google, Yahoo or other search engines are making us dumber, as some have asserted. We're still capable of remembering things that matter -- and are not easily found online, Sparrow said.
Rather, it suggests that the human memory is reorganizing where it goes for information, adapting to new computing technologies rather than relying purely on rote memory. We're outsourcing "search" from our brains to our computers.
"We're not thoughtless, empty-headed people who don't have memories anymore," Sparrow said. "But we are becoming particularly adept at remembering where to go find things. And that's kind of amazing."
In a series of four experiments at Columbia and Harvard, Sparrow and her team found that students are more likely to recall a trivial fact if they think it will be erased from the computer -- and forget it if they're assured it will be there.
Similarly, the team proved that people are better at remembering where to find facts rather than the facts themselves. The students, they found, recalled the names of files where information was stored rather than the information itself.
This creates a mental dependency on instant access to information, the team noted.
No wonder the loss of our Internet connection feels like losing a friend, researchers wrote."

This doesn't surprise me, as I think about it.  It goes along with what I've noticed in my teaching.  I always tell students, when you really need to remember something, write it down.  The act of writing it down helps you remember things.  That's why taking notes in class during a lecture, or on a book one is reading, helps so much.  Maybe it has to do with the fact that you're doing some work with the material, adding some extra focus to it with your brain; maybe that is at least partly what helps with memory.

Meanwhile, with the internet, doesn't it seem like we most focus these days when we're googling for something?  That's when we're working the hardest, when we're most focused.  That's when the brain is paying the most attention.  No wonder we remember it.  Of course, it's also really not such a good thing that we're so dependent on the computer for retrieving certain facts.  What if one day you don't have access to a computer?  Well, anyway...once again we see how changing times alter our brains.  But then, we with Moebius know our brains are very complex things...

A GOOD EXAMPLE OF INCLUSION
The article excerpt I include below actually has nothing directly to do with Moebius or facial differences; but what it does highlight is the kind of attitude I think all of us in this community want to see:  doing one's best to make sure anyone with a difference feels included:
"Charlotte Jude Schwartz hates being allergic to peanuts and tree nuts but, thanks to her mother's creativity about food, it's not too hard to stick to her allergy-free regimen.
On Halloween in 2007, since trick-or-treating is challenging for kids with allergies, Mireille Schwartz rented a clear wedding tent, set it up in their cul de sac, decorated it like a haunted house and offered peanut-free and other allergy-sensitive treats. That way, anyone in the neighborhood could enjoy a party without worrying about getting an allergic reaction to those common candy ingredients
"After the tent had been disassembled, I lay in bed and I was thinking about other kids' Halloweens. And it just broke my heart," Schwartz said. "There had to be a way to keep children safe, and not just safe but enjoying and living vibrant and full lives."
The party became the seed of an idea that's become an important resource for food allergy sufferers in the San Francisco Bay Area. Schwartz started the Bay Area Allergy Advisory Board, which matches people living with food allergies with doctors who can provide clear diagnoses and recommendations. The organization covers the costs for these medical expenses, including prescriptions, and offers advice on how to make and buy safe foods in a cost-effective manner.
Schwartz is among many parents of food allergic children who are putting in extra time and money to make sure that their kids feel included in normal activities. Those costs are in addition to medical expenses related to serious allergies, including refills of prescriptions for lifesaving epinephrine autoinjectors.
No one gets turned away, and some of the money comes out of Schwartz's own pocket. Charlotte, 11, also donates money to the cause from her allowance and dog-walking earnings. "There's so many people out there who have this problem, and if a dollar can help it, just one little bit, I'll give a million dollars!" she says enthusiastically."

"Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training." -Anna Freud