Neuroplasticity

Shattered Belief

In recent years, a long-held and powerful scientific dogma that brains cannot change has been shattered. Sound scientific evidence now exists to lend absolute credibility to the idea that the brain can change its physical form and function in response to new experiences throughout a person’s lifespan. This is in contradistinction to the former belief of the scientific community that the brain could change form and function only through mid-childhood after which it would become fixed.

In effect, it was thought that as a person aged, the neural networks of his brain became fixed. But over the past 20 years or so, a great body of research has accumulated, proving that the brain never stops changing, adjusting, and evolving as a direct and continual response to learning. This capacity of the brain to alter itself in response to learning is known as plasticity. According to Durbach (2000), there are at least two kinds of plastic changes the brain can make as it acquires new knowledge:

• The internal structure of the neurons (nerve cells) can change, with the most important changes occurring in relation to the synapses (connections between neurons)
•  The number of synapses between the neurons can increase

Today, many researchers in the field of Dyslexia acknowledge the role of low-level deficits in the neural processing of rapid transient information. This flow of rapid changing information is what enables our eyes to fluently sweep the pages of a book and attain comprehension of the written word. In the Dyslexic, there is an impairment of the brain structures needed for these visual sensory motor skills. But BrightStar’s Reader™ technology positively impacts brain plasticity to strengthen neural connections in to quickly enhance the ability to read.

Neuroplasticity Theory

This ability of the brain to change is known as neuroplasticity. The theory of neuroplasticity contends that the brain can regroup its neural pathways to adapt to new information.

Ongoing Education

The act of living is to exist in a perpetual classroom. As we acquire new skills and knowledge, by virtue of experience or instruction, the brain adapts its functioning to reflect the constant flow and acquisition of information. To put this in simpler terms, the brain changes in response to learning.

Reorganization

One way to illustrate plasticity is to think of what happens when one takes a coin and uses it to make an impression in a glob of clay. If the coin is to leave an impression in the clay, certain changes must occur within the clay. The clay’s shape conforms to that of the coin as it is pressed into its surface. In the same manner, the brain’s neural circuitry will change its organization as a response to sensory or experiential stimulation.

Specialized Neurons

Nerve cells, or neurons, function as the basic building blocks of the nervous system. As information comes in, neurons process this information and then transmit it to another part of the body. A large part of the brain is constructed of specialized neurons that can interact so as to regulate the five senses, our thoughts, mood, and physical movement.

Popular Pathways

Information sent by the neurons of the brain, travel along pathways. One way to imagine these pathways is to think of a forest trail. Every time the trail is used, hikers help to wear in a path. If the trail should be a popular one, with time, the trail will become worn, well-marked, and easy to follow.

Making Connections

The brain changes that come with learning happen, for the most part, at the level of the neurons and their connections. The ideal situation is one in which a large number of neurons have created connections with other neurons. The number of neurons that manage to make such connections predicts the ease with which one can acquire and retain new knowledge.

Poor Connectivity

On the other hand, those who have few such connections will find learning an impaired and frustrating process. This lack of “connectivity” is the root of many learning disabilities.

Changing Structure

As a person gains expertise in a specific discipline, certain areas of his brain will grow through the formation of new connections. Implicit in gaining these connections is the physical change of the brain’s internal structure. The change is manifest through these synapses (connections).

Cognition, Learning and Neuroplasticity

Our ability to learn is the reflection of our effectiveness in using our conscious intellectual (cognitive) skills. These cognitive skills are essential in shaping our self-awareness and identity. Because the human brain has plasticity, humans can learn, remember and gain self-awareness. As we are in a continual state of absorbing new information our brains are in a perpetual state of adaptation and change. The plasticity of the brain as it reacts to learning not only causes the brain to change but helps us gain awareness of our role in the world.