It used to be thought that the brain development would end in late adolescence and early adulthood. After the adulthood, the brain was basically stereotyped, and then it began to go downhill. Scientists now know that the brain still retains the potential for huge changes in adulthood. This ability is called “neural plasticity” and refers to the ability to generate and modify neural connections. Our brains retain neural plasticity for life.
Neuroplasticity is reflected in the fact that the brain can be changed at any time by external stimuli. When you practice a certain brain function for a long time, you can generate and strengthen the neural connections responsible for this function. When you insist on practicing the piano every day, the brain area responsible for finger movements in the brain will grow more nerve fiber connections, and the “terrestrial” of your fingers in the brain will grow larger. The area of the cerebral language cortex responsible for reading and writing English will also grow larger.
But if you are occasionally lazy, have n’t practiced the piano for a few days, or have n’t learned English for a few days, the consolidation process of the “Piano Neural Network” or “English Neural Network” just set up in your brain will go on strike and become weaker and weaker. The nerve connections will even be trimmed, and when you regain your piano and English in a few days, you will feel a lot rusty. All in all, our brains can change throughout life and have a positive adaptation to the environment.
At birth you have almost all the neurons you can have in your life. Neurons will grow a lot of “small hands” connected with other neurons, these small hands are called “synapses”. In the first 15 months of your life, the number of synaptic connections between brain neurons has reached its maximum. In the process, there will be a large number of neurons because nothing can be “depressed”-about half of the embryonic neurons will eventually die because they can not establish an effective connection with other neurons.
In addition, for those neurons that have survived because of their usefulness, their axons (longer synapses) will be surrounded by glial cells. This process is called myelinization . Why is the myelin sheath wrapped around the neuron axon? Because neurons in the brain need to transmit information over long distances, such as from the prefrontal lobe behind the forehead to the medial temporal lobe located in the middle of the brain, or from the occipital lobe located in the back of the head to the temporal lobe near the ear. Myelinating of nerve fibers is like wrapping a rubber insulation layer around the wires, which can greatly improve the transmission speed and quality of nerve signals in the brain.
After that, the brain will greatly trim the intricately developed neural connections, just like the construction of newly grown small saplings, trimming the rarely used neural connections, leaving only important, repeated neural connections, Make efficient use of brain energy and material. The sharp trimming of the nerve fibers’ bifurcations continues until the end of puberty.
How are distant neurons connected to each other? This seems to be a very incredible phenomenon, and scientists have not been able to tell why.
A popular theory so far holds that distant neurons learn about each other’s existence by jointly generating synchronized electrical discharge activities, and reach out to each other’s small hands of friendship-neurosynapses, and finally connect together . However, scientists have not yet been able to understand how neural connections form.
Not only can the brain network be modified for life and actively adapt to the environment, there is an important area in the brain that can generate new neurons throughout life. This magic area is the hippocampus .
The hippocampus is the area of the human brain that produces new neurons throughout life. This area is also the center of spatial memory formation. For example, when you learn to recognize the way in a new environment, the hippocampus in the brain will be excited to generate new neurons.
Once the new hippocampal neurons and synapses are integrated into the brain’s original neural network, it can improve the brain’s spatial memory and even promote further growth in the hippocampus. A British study measured the brains of taxi drivers in London and found that their hippocampus on average was significantly larger than the hippocampus of ordinary people-thanks to the training on London’s complicated roads.
Although the brain is plastic throughout life, and can be modified at any time according to environmental changes, many people still find it a bit painful to learn new skills and knowledge. Why is this?
When our brain is doing anything, it is almost impossible for a single neuron to complete, but it needs a group of neurons to show periodic activities to complete. This effect is similar to the wave-shaped crowds on the football stadium auditorium .
And the formation process of memory is also formed by the neuron groups of different regions periodically activated synchronously.
Specifically, distant neurons in the brain are synchronized and activated. This synchronization causes neurons in two places to grow new synapses toward each other because of reasons that some scientists have not yet understood, and eventually magically each other. Connected together to complete the encoding and consolidation of memory. This process of memory consolidation usually requires repeated activations to achieve. For example, when learning English words, we usually can’t remember them. Instead, we need to memorize a word repeatedly, and remember it ten times or eight times.
If you feel that learning a certain knowledge skill is unattractive or even a bit painful, it is probably because the knowledge you are trying to learn is far from your actual ability, or your expectations for knowledge are far away. For example, when you learn English, when you first learn English, every word and grammar is a process from scratch. You need to establish a new circuit in your brain.
The establishment of a new circuit is a difficult process and is often forgotten after learning it. Every time you forget a word or grammar, you can easily feel frustrated, so when you learn English, it is easy to catch fish for three days and two days, and it is more difficult to stick to it. But when you learn English well, your brain’s English circuit becomes more stable, and adding more bricks and tiles will become relatively simple. At this time, the difficulty of learning English is reduced, and I feel less painful.
Brain plasticity does decrease with age, but the brain retains some plasticity until old age. As we get older, although our ability to learn new knowledge and adapt to the new environment will decline, but because the plasticity of the brain will always exist, the ability to learn will also always exist, it is completely feasible to live to learn.
Ten principles of neural plasticity in the brain
Neuroplasticity indicates that the brain can constantly change during the course of life. For example, the neural circuit that completes a specific task can be moved from one place to another; the thickness of gray matter can be thicker or thinner; the synaptic connections can be stronger Or weakened.
Neuroplasticity is the brain’s native ability to adapt to an individual’s development and growth, or to rebuild connections through plasticity after a brain injury. The developing brain is more plastic than the adult brain. Even the adult brain is plastic.
1. Use It Or Lose It — “Use It Or Lose It”
Neural circuits (neural connections) that are not actively involved in tasks for long periods of time degenerate. There are countless examples of this. After some musicians stop practicing for a while, the neural circuits responsible for music degenerate due to lack of use. When they play music again, they will feel rusty and will require extra time and attempts to re-strengthen the neural circuit.
2, the more you use the better — “Use It and Improve It”
Training that enhances specific brain functions can improve this function. For example, after a stroke patient’s body function is impaired, he will likely reduce the use of this side of the body. The physical dysfunction mentioned here comes from the result of damage to the neurons that control this side of the human brain, not from the muscles, ligaments, or bones on this side. In order to restore physical function on this side, a method called restraint-induced exercise therapy (Cimt) is often used . This method forces patients to use a paralyzed arm as much as possible by limiting healthy arms. This training can help restore the function of the human brain on the side injured by a stroke.
3. Targeting — “Specificity”
Neuroplasticity is directly related to the nature of the training the brain receives. From a therapeutic perspective, specific specific activities or patterns of movement are very important for forming specific neural circuits. For example, exercises that enhance swallowing may also be related to the brain areas and neural circuits that produce language, but exercises that enhance swallowing may not necessarily produce language.
4. Constant repetition is the best way to strengthen neural circuits — “Repetition Matters”
Shaping the neural network through training requires enough repetitions. The challenge for therapists in a rehabilitation setting is often to quantify how long or how long a patient takes to recover certain skills. Whether it ’s the patient himself, a loved one, or an insurance company, they want to know, “How long does it take for patients to get better?” Although doctors do n’t know the exact time, they know that to make these changes, thousands of repetitions training.
5. Intensity — “Intensity Matters”
Sufficient strength is required to induce plasticity. Sometimes strength and repetition are the same concept. Studies have also shown that the more intensive the treatment plan, the more likely a person is to achieve results, and the more likely these improvements will continue over time.
6. The sooner the easier — “Timing Matters”
Take rehabilitation as an example, in the process of recovery, different time points have different plasticity. The hypothesis here is that in the early stages of brain trauma, the brain itself has the strongest desire to recover. So the sooner the neurological changes are triggered by training, the better the chances of recovery. Conversely, if the opportunity for early recovery is missed, the brain adapts the trauma in its own way. And this adaptation may not be the way we want to go.
7. Significance — “Salience Matters”
Training is best to have significant enough visible effects that can enhance plasticity. What did the patient get from training? What does it mean to him? The answers to these questions will affect their training effectiveness. It is important for the therapist to know what is important to the patient, because emotions can change the actual intensity of training and also strengthen memory. If the training effect is obvious and important to the patient, they are more likely to persevere and to remember the skills learned.
8. Age — “Age Matters”
Training-induced plasticity is more likely to occur in the young brain. The young brain is already more plastic and adaptable than the aging brain.
9. Transferable — “Transference and Generalization”
Although training is generally targeted, the plasticity of the neural network generated for training for one task can improve the ability to complete similar tasks. During the training process, the therapist needs to focus on how a particular skill or activity is promoted or transferred to a real-world activity.
For example, short-term memory and navigation pathfinding are in the same brain area. The training of short-term memory may also affect the ability to navigate.
10. Compensation and interference — “Interference”
The plasticity formed by brain compensation can hinder the desired effect of training. For example, when patients are able to perform neurotherapy without treatment, they will compensate for the function of some defects. Compensation is also a response to brain plasticity. Once they learn a different compensation method, it is difficult to change. Even the compensation method is not the best method. Compensation itself is also a manifestation of neural plasticity. It’s just that the new changes are not necessarily what we want.
“Neural plasticity has broken people’s inherent concepts and brought new inspirations in various aspects such as rehabilitation, learning and growth. In the past, scientists often thought that the brain structure does not change after the critical period of the baby. In fact, the brain is composed of neurons Cells and glial cells, these cells are interconnected, and by strengthening or weakening these connections, the structure of the brain changes. “
Neurons will always grow and change , which also shows that our life has infinite possibilities .
Therefore, “ change “ is very important. Only by changing yourself can neurons rejuvenate and grow new neurons. After consolidation, they are different.
If you don’t change, you can only repeat the old neural circuit over and over again, live a repetitive life, and follow the old path as you repeat it again and again.
