Jj is for Jottings 112.  What is Neuroplasticity?

Just what is neuroplasticity?  It is the term which describes a sequence of processes that take place in your brain in response to incoming stimuli. In other words, your emotions, behaviours, experiences and thoughts physically change the way your brain functions.

Until recently, it was thought that adult brains were hard-wired and set in their ways.  But now a growing body of evidence tells us that our brains change throughout our lifetime in this process of neuroplasticity.  Neuroplasticity is an ongoing phenomenon, happening in every moment of the day, whether you understand it or not.  Our brain is actually being reshaped by the signals passing through our neural network at any given time.  I actually described this process in an article on learning, but I didn’t mention the word “neuroplasticity”.  I thought there were enough tricky words in it already!

In the 1990s, neuropsychiatrist Eric Kandel discovered that connections in a neural bundle can double with repeat stimulation. This earned him a Nobel Prize.   In later experiments, he also found that if neural connections aren’t used, they shrink in as little as three weeks.  “Use it or lose it” applies to brains as well as to muscles.

 THE BAD NEWS ABOUT NEUROPLASTICITY.

Since your emotions and thoughts physically change the way your brain functions, negative thoughts and emotions lead to more negative thoughts and emotions.  And therefore negative experiences.  The things you repeatedly think and do are the things your brain and mind will continue to support and encourage. The more you rehearse or practise something, the stronger the neural connections become.

AND THE GOOD NEWS.

Since your emotions and thoughts physically change the way your brain functions, positive thoughts and emotions lead to more positive thoughts and emotions.  And therefore positive experiences.  The things you repeatedly think and do are the things your brain and mind will continue to support and encourage. The more you rehearse of practise something, the stronger the neural connections become.  (And if you think this is basically a repeat of the previous paragraph, you’re quite right.  Neuroplasticity works both ways.)

NEUROPLASTICITY GIVES US CHOICES.

This is WONDERFUL news.  It means we can consciously choose to use neuroplasticity to our advantage.  Neuroscientists call this “self-directed neuroplasticity”.

At around the same time as Kandel’s research, other scientists discovered that few of our genes are static. The majority of genes (ranging from 75 to 85 %) are turned off and on by signals from our environment.  This includes the environment of thoughts, beliefs, and emotions that we cultivate in our brains.

When we purposely translate a thought into a positive emotion, we can positively influence our health and healing. It begins with an intention created in the frontal lobe of your brain, which triggers the release of chemical messengers, otherwise known as neuropeptides.  These messengers then send signals throughout the body which, in turn, are like keys turning genetic switches on and off.

On the other hand, negative emotion may be an addiction to high levels of our own stress hormones, like cortisol and adrenaline.  But with a little practice, we can all learn to lower our stress hormones and increase our healing hormones.  Through self-directed neuroplasticity we direct the formation of new neural pathways and the destruction of old ones through the quality of the experiences we cultivate.

LEARNING.

Learning obviously utilises neuroplasticity.  Exposure to new concepts, thoughts and information leads the brain to lay down new pathways .  And of course repetition aids that process.

Learning can be multi-facetted.  When we read with our children we are stimulating their brains in so many ways at once.  Not just the obvious one of seeing words and letters and remembering them, but in drawing inferences, stimulating memory, thinking, and so much more.

Alternatively, learning can involve a specific target or skill, such as learning sound-letter links or some of the reading-aloud games.  All types of learning involve neuroplasticity – setting out with the intention of stimulating new brain pathways and connections.

A Clear Example of Neuroplasticity.

A study involved having volunteers practise simple finger exercises on the piano for 2 hours/day.  Before they began, researchers mapped how much of the motor cortex controlled the finger movements needed for the piano exercise.  The motor cortex is the part of the brain where movement is controlled.  (They used transcranial-magnetic-stimulation to do this – just so you know.)  After a week of practice, the area of motor cortex devoted to these finger movements had expanded greatly into the surrounding areas of the brain.

This can be verified post mortem.  I read somewhere else that examination of a concert pianist’s brain in that part of the motor cortex revealed much richer  neural connections than normal.

The Power of Neuroplasticity.

Knowing about and applying the principles of neuroplasticity gives us great power to improve our lives and those of our children.  But it takes application and persistence over time.  Simple, but not easy.

 

Check out the Facebook page: Aa is for Alpacas.