#Wandering willows scans full#
#Wandering willows scans series#

Tomorrow morning, Strayer will lead a small group into the Grand Gulch Primitive Area, an orange-hued playground of sandstone walls dotted with Ancient Puebloan ruins. Despite the demands of academic life, not to mention marriage and raising two teenage sons, he still spends a total of two months a year canyoneering, rafting, and hiking. In high school, Strayer and a few friends cycled 1,000 miles from eastern Washington to the Olympic peninsula-and back-so that they could camp on the beach. The University of Utah professor grew up hiking and backpacking near his hometown of Spokane, and he added river rafting to his repertoire about 20 years ago.

#Wandering willows scans series#

His pioneering, 15-year work on the dangers of distracted driving helped spawn public awareness campaigns, dozens of state texting-while-driving bans, a segment on The Oprah Winfrey Show, and a Pulitzer Prize-winning series in The New York Times.īut unlike your average cognitive neuroscientist, Strayer, 54, is just as comfortable in the wilderness as he is in the lab. A bespectacled, bearded man with a friendly, intellectual air, Strayer is something of a rock star in the world of brain science. There, I met the driving force behind the research, David Strayer, Ph.D. Our science experiment started five days earlier in a dusty motel parking lot in Hanksville, Utah. Imagine a world in which backpacking becomes the science-recommended way to prepare for the SATs, chess tournaments, and all of life’s biggest mental challenges. Compelling evidence would make hiking a lock for the good-for-you activity hall of fame, to be sure, but that’s not all. This canyon in southern Utah may not look like an academic setting, but the neuroscientists behind this study could prove that trail time actually makes the brain perform better. I can’t help but ponder the ramifications of all this as I consider the first question on my Remote Associates Test. Recent studies have already linked wilderness exposure with stress reduction and overall happiness. And the longer you’re out there (up to a point), the smarter you’ll get. These changes let you think more clearly, focus more acutely, and perform to your maximum cognitive ability. The researchers who designed this experiment hypothesize that exposure to nature causes significant, measurable changes to the brain. The six of us represent the very first step in a cognitive pilot study aimed at exploring a question every reader of this magazine will find intriguing: Does backpacking make you smarter?

Behind me, assorted rustlings and yawns tell me that my five campmates are doing the same thing. When they do, I unzip the door so I can see the warming sky and unfold the test. The sunrise colors the Ancient Puebloan ruin to the east, and I hunker down in my bag, waiting for the rays to reach my tent. And I will, as soon as my fingers thaw enough to grip a pen. It’s my fourth morning in the wild, and I’m supposed to take a cognitive test that’s part of a groundbreaking research project. Instead, I’m snuggled in a sleeping bag, surrounded by sagebrush and willow deep within a red-rock maze of hulking sandstone cliffs. There’s not a single white coat, MRI, or PET scanner to be found. Indeed, an observer would be hard-pressed to see any traditional research going on here. Maybe 20℉ or so, judging by the sting on my exposed cheeks. Ruth Ann Atchley (Photo by: Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan)įor a neuroscience lab, it sure is cold. Paul Atchley (Photo by: Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan) (Photo by: Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan)ĭavid Strayer (Photo by: Elisabeth Kwak-Hefferan)

#Wandering willows scans full#

Get full access to Outside Learn, our online education hub featuring in-depth fitness, nutrition, and adventure courses and more than 2,000 instructional videos when you sign up for Outside+