This guest post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who writes on the subject of nursing schools in LA. She invites your feedback at HeatherJohnson2323@gmail.com.
The derogatory insult “Grow a brain” takes on a whole new meaning with neuroplasticity. We all know that the human brain is capable of the most fabulous achievements – its trillions of neurons and cells keep working from the time we are born till the day we die. But the most amazing aspect of the brain is its ability to improve itself – its cognitive, learning and retention powers – when we exercise those cells on a regular basis. It sounds fabulous, but just as physical exercise is good for the body and tones it to become fit and healthy, mental stimulation and exercise have positive effects on the brain and its working, making it perform better and faster.
This “extraordinary discovery” of the brain (according to Canadian psychiatrist Norman Doidge) to change according to new learning and experience has been termed neuroplasticity or plasticity of the brain. On taking a closer look at how neuroplasticity works, we find that it’s involved at a major level when we’re infants and the brain matures as we transform into adults. When neurons mature, they communicate with each other and form connections called synapses; these synaptic connections reduce as we grow older, with the brain retaining only those connections that are used and deleting those that are idle for long periods of time.
Synaptic pruning is thus the reason that we retain some aspects of what we learn through the years while forgetting most others. It’s why experts in a particular field are so good at what they do – their continuous learning and experience in that sphere make those synaptic connections strong and active. How fit your brain is depends on how varied your experiences and how vast your learning is – the more you use your grey cells, the more synaptic connections you retain, and the better your mental health and grasping power.
Neuroplasticity differs from person to person – while the base determinant is our genes, the way we grow up, the people who surround us, and the experiences we go through play a significant role in our learning capacities and in the ability of our brains to possess increased or decreased plasticity. When the brain changes with more learning, either a difference is seen in the structure of the neurons or there’s an increase in the number of synapses formed between the neurons.
Of late, there’s been a new aspect to neuroplasticity that offers hope for those suffering from accident or illness-related brain damage. Norman Doidge talks of miraculous recoveries in his book “The Brain That Changes Itself”, where people born with brain defects or those who lost part of its use through strokes or accidents make their will power work wonders for them. Neuroplasticity is the science that allows the good portions of the brain to take over the activities and functions that the damaged part normally handles. By stimulating continuous and persistent activity, we know for certain that neurons are capable of reorienting themselves and forming new synapses to perform new functions.
It’s important as we grow old to protect ourselves from the mental illnesses like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s that plague the human species by keeping our brains active and using them in challenging situations and activities regularly.
psychology,educational psychology,brain fitness,plasticity,neuroscience,nursing
The derogatory insult “Grow a brain” takes on a whole new meaning with neuroplasticity. We all know that the human brain is capable of the most fabulous achievements – its trillions of neurons and cells keep working from the time we are born till the day we die. But the most amazing aspect of the brain is its ability to improve itself – its cognitive, learning and retention powers – when we exercise those cells on a regular basis. It sounds fabulous, but just as physical exercise is good for the body and tones it to become fit and healthy, mental stimulation and exercise have positive effects on the brain and its working, making it perform better and faster.
This “extraordinary discovery” of the brain (according to Canadian psychiatrist Norman Doidge) to change according to new learning and experience has been termed neuroplasticity or plasticity of the brain. On taking a closer look at how neuroplasticity works, we find that it’s involved at a major level when we’re infants and the brain matures as we transform into adults. When neurons mature, they communicate with each other and form connections called synapses; these synaptic connections reduce as we grow older, with the brain retaining only those connections that are used and deleting those that are idle for long periods of time.
Synaptic pruning is thus the reason that we retain some aspects of what we learn through the years while forgetting most others. It’s why experts in a particular field are so good at what they do – their continuous learning and experience in that sphere make those synaptic connections strong and active. How fit your brain is depends on how varied your experiences and how vast your learning is – the more you use your grey cells, the more synaptic connections you retain, and the better your mental health and grasping power.
Neuroplasticity differs from person to person – while the base determinant is our genes, the way we grow up, the people who surround us, and the experiences we go through play a significant role in our learning capacities and in the ability of our brains to possess increased or decreased plasticity. When the brain changes with more learning, either a difference is seen in the structure of the neurons or there’s an increase in the number of synapses formed between the neurons.
Of late, there’s been a new aspect to neuroplasticity that offers hope for those suffering from accident or illness-related brain damage. Norman Doidge talks of miraculous recoveries in his book “The Brain That Changes Itself”, where people born with brain defects or those who lost part of its use through strokes or accidents make their will power work wonders for them. Neuroplasticity is the science that allows the good portions of the brain to take over the activities and functions that the damaged part normally handles. By stimulating continuous and persistent activity, we know for certain that neurons are capable of reorienting themselves and forming new synapses to perform new functions.
It’s important as we grow old to protect ourselves from the mental illnesses like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s that plague the human species by keeping our brains active and using them in challenging situations and activities regularly.
psychology,educational psychology,brain fitness,plasticity,neuroscience,nursing
2 comments:
This is a great post. Thanks, Heather.
There are all kinds of fascinating research studies popping up that show how we're not stuck with what we have in terms of our brains.
Dr. Iriki in Japan trained Macaque monkeys and now Degus rats to use rakes. With the Macaques he showed that learning to use the tool changed the genetic makeup of the animal's brain.
If anyone hasn't seen Susanne Jaeggi and Martin Buschkuehl's study on Training Working Memory (PNAS April, 2008), it is very impressive. Jaeggi and Buschkuehl's team recorded increases in mental agility (fluid intelligence) of more than 40% after 19 days of focused training with a progressive dual n-back training method.
I was so impressed that I contacted the research team and developed a software program using the same method so that anyone can achieve these improvements at home.
IQ Training Program
Martin
Thanks for submitting this post to our blog carnival. We just published the 37th edition of Brain Blogging and your article was featured!
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Shaheen
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