Shadowing Practice: The 21st century brain - Learn English Speaking with Video

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- What happened?

Thank you.

Hello, I'm Dr Hannah Critchlow.

I'm a fellow here at Magdalen College, Cambridge University.

I've been researching the 21st century brain and how we can all future -proof our minds in the age of AI.

I would say no, because embedded within our brains is this incredible mechanism called synaptic plasticity.

If we skip back in our species history, then similarly in the 21st century BC, humanity was undergoing a big evolutionary shift.

There was the widespread use of the written word.

We were also using metals to develop incredible tools, including weapons.

and we were starting to live in more city -like states.

If we now skip forward to today, the 21st century AD, We similarly seem to have been compelled to develop incredible technologies

that allow us to communicate with one another across the globe as never before.

The invention of the internet, social media, even the development of artificial intelligent technologies

that have been very much inspired on understanding of how our own neural networks operate to create human intelligence.

We've developed these technologies that allow us to share our perspectives, share our knowledge, across generations and across the world.

And I would say that our ability

To have this synaptic plasticity within our brain that allows us to learn from our environment, to remember new things and behave in new ways so

that we can innovate and problem solve

and evolve into the future will again help us to thrive into the 21st century and beyond.

Now traditionally, societies and scientists really thought that our species' success was underpinned by our ability to be logical,

to reason and to be rational.

And actually our emotions were this sloppy hysterical thing that really we should try to control or quash or ignore.

Increasingly, scientists and society are starting to appreciate how our emotions actually bring with them lots of layers of additional information.

And they can be used as guides to help us with our decision making.

So we know, for example, now, that our emotional intelligence is the number one predictor for our life success and satisfaction levels.

And scientists have increasingly been able to study this incredibly complex behaviour of emotional intelligence and empathy,

and we now have tools to start to measure it more precisely.

And what we're finding from the scientific studies is that emotional intelligence is not very heritable.

So it's got a heritability level of around 10 to 45%, meaning

that the genes that we've been given from our mum and dad actually don't play a big component in this complex behaviour.

Now this means that our environment, the society we're in, plays a big major role in shaping our emotional intelligence.

And this also brings with it good news because it means that we can all enhance or elevate our emotional intelligence,

regardless of the genes that we've been given from our mum and from our dad.

So, how do we do this?

Well, simple things like, for example, looking each other in the eye directly.

We can also practice self -compassion, so spend time listening to our own emotions and actually trying to use them to help us to guide our behaviour.

We can also spend time reading fiction books, which place us in other people's worlds, help us to learn about other people's perspectives and the journeys that they go on.

And in fact, there's medical schools in America that have introduced humanity classes

that are essential for their students to help develop their emotional intelligence and empathy skills.

We can even feed our emotional intelligence.

There was a lovely study that was published recently where they took a hundred volunteers and half of them,

they actually fed them with prebiotics and probiotics just for a small number of weeks

and that helped to enhance their altruistic behaviour.

So they were much more likely to act with other people in mind, creating a much more egalitarian state.

-Hum.

Now, leaders have to make sometimes very difficult decisions, and it helps them not to be too swayed by everybody else's situation.

And unfortunately, As we've all seen, this can sometimes go too far in the wrong direction.

Now, embedded within our nervous system are these very clever mechanisms that help leaders to make these difficult decisions.

So for example, if you're in a position of power, your mirror neuron circuits, which are nerve cells within the brain,

that are thought to be involved in our ability to imitate one another and to have empathy for others.

These nerve cells actually start to quieten down with electrical activity when people are in a position of power.

Now there's a lot of information from the outside world

and from the people around us that we don't actually store within our brains.

We store that knowledge within our peripheral nervous system and particularly from the nerve cells in the gut and in the heart.

I don't know whether you've ever had a gut feeling about something or a heart flicker.

That's those nerve cells that live there sending a little signal up via the vagus nerve,

which is a cable or a bundle of nerve cells that runs all the way from those organs up to the brain, and to a particular region called the insula,

which is involved in monitoring the information from your body and also the knowledge and the people and the environment around you.

And when you're in a position of power, there's a dampening down of that vagal nerve sensitivity,

which means that you're less able to take on board that knowledge from the outside world, and use it in your decision making.

Now, is there anything that we can do to help combat this impact of power on the nervous system?

So that we can immunize its negative effects, if you like?

Well, yes, thankfully there does seem to be.

So, for example, if we just spend 30 seconds every day doing some exercises to get our heart rate up,

Then spend the next 30 seconds listening to that strong heart beat and really tuning into it.

And if we do this for just a small number of weeks,

it can help us to get into the habit of listening to our peripheral nervous system and listening to that collective knowledge,

that wisdom from the outside world, that's being stored in that embodied cognition.

Thank you.

We might be finding it increasingly difficult to think with clarity and precision.

There is no doubt lots going on in our environment in the current day.

However, there are some key ways that we can help our brain to focus and think clearly and not get overwhelmed.

So for example, making sure that we eat healthily so our brain is getting the nutrients that it needs, and so that we're not filling our diets with processed food

that actually lack that nutritional value that our bodies and brains are sometimes screaming for.

Also making sure that we sleep so

that we can help to consolidate what we've learned from the day before into nice stable memories

so that we can form new habits in behaviour.

And so we know that if we exercise regularly, then that helps to create new nerve cells within the brain,

particularly the hippocampus, which is a key region of the brain involved in learning

and memory and helping us to navigate our environment.

So that advice all seems very intuitive.

It's things that we all really know already to be true.

But more recently, there's some new neuroscience knowledge that's coming out that can similarly help us to make the right decisions.

21st century brain, I went to James Cook University to meet with Professor Zoltan Skorny.

He's leading one of the world's largest randomised controlled trials, looking at how our diet can influence our ability to think clearly and with precision.

He's looking at one extreme end of the spectrum for this behaviour.

And I met with some of the patients that are on the trial.

They've been diagnosed with schizophrenia or bipolar.

So conditions that are very much characterised by very chaotic

disorganized thought that might result in hallucinations or delusions and a difficulty creating reality.

And he's found that simply changing their diet can have a profound impact on their ability to think clearly and with precision.

effectively removing their debilitating symptoms.

It's incredibly important for groups of brains or groups of people to work together well.

And scientists have started to recently study exactly how that magic can happen in the brain.

If we hook up individuals to an EEG machine so that we're measuring the electrical activity within their brains, we can see

that the degree of brain synchronicity between the individuals in the team can actually be used to predict how well

that group of people works are working together.

if they're learning from each other.

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if they're building consensus, if they're having dissent but without conflict.

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if they're allowing ideas to hop from mind to mind so that they can innovate and problem -solve effectively, then you can see this within the brain.

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The degree of brain synchronicity,

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so those electrical traces lining up with each other between brains can predict how well a group of people are working together.

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So knowing this, is there anything that we can do to help boost a team's performance fire their brain synchronicity.

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Yes, So it's simple things that again we know intuitively to be true.

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So if we look each other in the eye directly, That helps to boost brain synchronicity.

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If we do simple things like sing with each other.

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And that helps to increase brain synchronicity.

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And if we look throughout our species history, embedded across many different religions across the globe, we see rituals of chanting,

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of singing together and praying together.

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Skills that help to boost that brain synchronicity, helping us to bond.

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We also know that exercising together helps increase brain synchronicity, and as does being in a positive mood.

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And in fact, we can even predict within 30 seconds of a group of strangers coming together, who's going to be the leader of the group,

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by looking at the degree of brain synchronicity they exhibit.

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So those that fall in line with others and sometimes lead

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that dance of brain synchronicity are much more likely to be the leaders of the group.

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Now our brains, as clever as they are, they basically operate as prediction machines.

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So they like to

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process information from the outside world and then predict what's going on and then create an output which is our behaviour.

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Now, to put this in numbers, something like 11 million bits of data enters our senses every single second.

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It's a vast amount of information, but we're only consciously aware of something in the region of 40 bits per second.

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So a huge amount of information we discard, we don't prioritise and we're not consciously aware of.

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And our brains have to do this so that we can actually keep up with reality.

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Otherwise we might effectively just blow a fuse.

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So in order for our brains to do this we basically create shortcuts in our thinking.

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We use our past to create a lens of expectation for how we want to interact and navigate through the world.

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This creates biases or assumptions within our brain.

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It creates shortcuts in our information processing, so that we can function effectively.

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When you're dealing with a new situation, when there's a lot of uncertainty and ambiguity in your environment, your brain struggles to predict.

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It doesn't really know what's going on and it has to analyse lots of new data at the same time.

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And if there's a lot of ambiguity or uncertainty in our environment,

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our brain has to work incredibly hard to do all the metabolic work in order to have the agility

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and the nimbleness to think our way through this new situation.

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The one thing that we do know for sure though, is that none of us predict our futures.

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We have uncertainty all the time in our environment.

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We don't know what tomorrow will bring, let alone the next month or the next year.

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So how do we increase our tolerance for it?

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Well, making sure that our nervous system isn't feeling too stressed. or fearful.

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So for example, simple things like breathing.

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Breathing in for four seconds.

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Thank you and then exhaling for four seconds.

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and tracing the shape of a box.

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with each breath.

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and doing a few iterations of that can help calm the nervous system.

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We know that a small amount of stress is actually quite good for our brains.

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It increases the flexibility or the plasticity in the brain.

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but chronic amounts of stress feeling fear, feeling very much frightened of our environment.

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can actually cause neurotoxicity.

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IT'S A LITTLE BIT OF A strips connections in the brain, And it can also, in severe cases, cause nerve cells to die.

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It can also decrease the rate of neurogenesis.

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so that not as many new nerve cells are being born in the brain to help us to learn

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and remember in new ways.

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So it's really important for us to approach uncertainty and ambiguity, with feelings of possibility rather than fear or doom.

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And see, opportunity within these situations rather than simply being frightened.

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So we seem to have been compelled to develop these incredible technologies going back to the 21st century BC

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when the written word was coming into widespread use.

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to nowadays where we have increasing numbers of technologies that allow us to share our perspective,

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to allow us to share our information and our knowledge about the world with others.

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The internet, the development of social media, the development of artificial intelligence systems that allow us to trawl through vast data sets

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and see patterns to change our perspective of the world and how we understand it.

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All of these technologies have arisen from the human mind.

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And all of them, I would argue, help us to connect.

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on a deeper level.

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This ability of ours, this drive of ours to connect with one another, seems to have underpinned our species' success in the past.

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but also in the future.

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And many researchers believe

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that we're undergoing a massive evolutionary transition towards creating a hyper -connected organic computer if you like or a human hive mind,

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allowing us to share our ideas and to innovate and to share our perspective and knowledge like never before.

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And I think amongst all of this technological developments, we have to really value our ability to connect with others on a human level.

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Two of the communities that I've been very much lucky to be involved in is the houseboat community on the River Cam,

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and also the college community here at Magdalen at Cambridge University.

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And there, there is a real sense of human connection, of valuing each other's intelligence of being challenged by different perspectives.

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and actually helping to move are thinking forwards as a result.

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Context & Background

In the enlightening video titled "The 21st Century Brain," Dr. Hannah Critchlow, a fellow at Magdalen College, University of Cambridge, discusses how our brains are evolving in the age of artificial intelligence. Her research emphasizes the remarkable ability of synaptic plasticity, which allows our brains to learn, remember, and adapt to new environments. Dr. Critchlow highlights the importance of emotional intelligence in determining life success, suggesting that it is shaped significantly by our surroundings rather than solely by genetics. This understanding can enhance our communication skills, making it valuable for those focusing on English speaking practice.

Top 5 Phrases for Daily Communication

"Thank you." — A basic yet essential phrase for polite interaction.
"I would say that..." — A useful expression for sharing personal opinions in discussions.
"What we're finding..." — Great for introducing conclusions based on evidence.
"This brings with it good news..." — A positive way to transition to uplifting facts.
"How do we do this?" — An engaging way to initiate problem-solving conversations.

Step-by-step Shadowing Guide

Improving your English speaking skills through shadowing can be an effective method, especially when applying insights from impactful talks like Dr. Critchlow's. Here’s a systematic approach to tackle the complexity of this video:

Watch and Listen: Begin by watching the video without any subtitles to grasp the general message and tone.
Slow Down: Play the video at a slower speed. This helps in capturing the nuances of pronunciation and intonation, critical for IELTS speaking practice.
Trace the Script: If available, read the transcript while listening to the video. Focus on phonetics and rhythm to improve your shadow speech techniques.
Repeat and Imitate: Pause after every few sentences. Repeat them out loud, imitating Dr. Critchlow's delivery. This mimicry will enhance your fluency.
Engage with Others: Discuss the key points from the video with a partner or in a speaking group. Using phrases like "What we're finding..." in conversations will practice both your speaking ability and emotional intelligence.

Utilizing these methods effectively on a shadowspeaks platform or any shadowing site will not only enrich your vocabulary but also boost your confidence in daily communication. Remember, enhancing your English skills is a journey, and practicing consistently will yield the best results.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	have been · We've developed · we've been given
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	have been compelled · was underpinned · we've been given
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	circuits, which are · hippocampus, which is · output which is

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

Shadowing Practice: The 21st century brain - Learn English Speaking with Video

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