Artemyev Pavel - Juggling is Magic! стр 4.

And another significant nuance: juggling is primarily volumetric gymnastics, and volume tasks will always be more difficult than tasks in the plane. It is understandable that this affects the development of the brain. For example, if we compare the number of neurons in the cortex of the hemispheres in mice, rats and moles (representatives of the flat world) with the same pigeons, tits, magpies and rooks (inhabitants of celestial volume), then we will have to give the palm to birds. You will be surprised, but the raven will turn out to be smarter than a cat with a dog and at least not dumber than a noble horse! And the Ara parrot in intelligence will leave far behind the bears with lions and even confidently ahead of the huge giraffe! If we talk about the marine element, then this is still the same gigantic volume, requiring the brain of floating creatures to calculate calculations made in three dimensions at once. Perhaps it is for this reason that we observe that mammals living in an aquatic volume (grinds, fin whales, dolphins, orcas) are equal to humans by all formal features! Accordingly, draw conclusions about juggling, doing which, you break out of the plane into the volume

And now a few words about mirror neurons  the very ones with which the whole animal world is armed and without which no training would be possible.

They were discovered by Italian neurophysiologist Giacomo Rizzolatti in the 1990s. A distinctive feature of them lies in the fact that they work not only during some action, but also when we observe the actions of other people. In other words, mirror neurons allow us to try on the behavior of another person. Like a network of small mirrors, a neurochain of similar neurons from birth sensitively tracks the volatile images of the outside world. At the same time, she not only passively reflects them, but forces the brain to copy these images, creating internal models, learning to move, talk, eat and dress. In fact, this is the same imprinting. Ducklings emulate their mother from the first days, repeating all her movements, learning to swim, and then fly. Smile at the baby and he will smile back, unconsciously copying your facial expressions. This is also an example of unconscious learning, and in addition to smiling, the child over the years takes on increasingly complex emotions from his parents: irony, politeness, anger, leniency. By the way, the kids also rise from the fours only because they copy the behavior of adults  without any pressure, over and over again making attempts to get on their feet. Lumps, abrasions  nothing stops them because mirror neuron commands are imperative. This works especially hard in the early years. To survive, a little man is simply obliged to learn  and learn as quickly as possible. This explains the speed at which we repeat certain movements, copy facial expressions, words and phrases, voice intonations. The example of children Mowgli once again confirms these conclusions, and, getting to the wolves, children run on all fours, among monkeys climb trees. No genes dance anymore, and none of them remember bipedal walking.

If anyone else doubts the existence of mirror neurons, pay attention to how infectious our yawn is. It is worth your interlocutor to yawn a couple of times, and your mouth begins to open itself. This does not mean that you are drawn to sleep, you just copy the visible image. And this is all they are, too  mirror neurons! By the way, the ability of other parrots (and not only) to repeat certain sounds and human words is also explained by the work of mirror neurons. If someone cries, and we see and hear it, our lips involuntarily tremble. Conversely  someone elses fun boosts our mood, even if we have no idea  who laughs for what reason. We copy feelings and behavior, dance and sports movements, facial expressions and intonation  almost everything. And this is one of the most important natural components. A program that helps survival. We can confidently say that without mirror neurons, no personal development would be possible.

Of course, with age, along with the metabolic rate, the speed of building new neurochains also decreases, but on the other hand, there are already quite efficient neurochains, there is an invaluable experience in assimilating something new. This way we learn not from scratch, and this seriously facilitates our life path.

For example, knowing our native language, we are quite able to learn the second language, and the third and fourth (any polyglot will confirm this) will not give you an easier example. A child fond of drawing is able to succeed in serious painting, in descriptive geometry, and in spelling. A reading person loads almost all parts of the brain, and his mirror neurons perform uniform miracles during reading. Not seeing book characters, not hearing their voices, not feeling smells, earthly tremors, heat, wind and cold, an experienced reader reproduces all this with ease in his own imagination. It is mirror neurochips that allow us to turn into creators and virtual directors. Moreover, avid readers better understand their heroes, empathize with them, which turns the reading process into real art. Those who have reached this stage can safely call themselves established readers  Readers with a capital letter. By the way, the dreams of such Readers will not be as an example brighter, more interesting and more colorful.

But

Paying tribute to Her Majesty the Book, I will still indicate one weak link. So, this is our vision with you, which, unfortunately, gets tired of books and screens. This is where juggling can come to the rescue. Why? Yes, because working with balls relieves the spasm of the eye muscles, giving the opportunity for full rest and high-quality training of our vision. Therefore, combining these two activities (reading and juggling), we find a new quality of life!

Both reading and juggling stimulate our mirror neurons  and in both hemispheres of the brain. But if multiple works have been written about the benefits of reading, then serious observations of juggling people began to be carried out relatively recently. The first researchers had to be content with logical tests and personal observations, but today theoretical assumptions are confirmed by the readings of all kinds of tomographs, clearly demonstrating that after 23 months of active juggling in volunteers from control groups, the amount of white matter in the parietal lobe of the brain increases by an average of 5%! A popular statement was also confirmed that the process is much more important than the final result, since the increase in white matter was observed in all students, regardless of their real success in juggling. At the same time, tests showed a confident increase in IQ by 35% or more. So the conclusion is unambiguous:

juggling and reading children (and adults too) are undoubtedly smarter!

It has been repeatedly proven that juggling people show better results of the mental rotation test of complex geometric objects (mental rotation test). It is also worth noting that research related to juggling is becoming more and more every year, and modern equipment only confirms the most optimistic conclusions. Actually, in the old days, craftsmanship and handicraft were directly correlated with the human mind. Recall the English handyman  which means master, skillful. And in Russia, many enthusiastic epithets were linked with hands: manual work, golden hands, master of all trades, etc.