Neuroplasticity (Part I)

I’ve been brain-damaged for almost seven years now. So, I have been following very closely the research on neuroplasticity and stem cells. I have a friend who had her stroke in the Himalyis, while she was visiting her Tibetan spiritual teacher. It was three weeks before she reached the hospital in New Delhi, and 3 years before she learned to talk again. She is an expert on brain plasticity having recovered her speech, walking again, and recovering some use of her arm. She has taught me about the potential that has recently been discovered. This missive is not so much about that, however. I write because of another aspect of the research into neuroplasticity that concerns me.

I have watched us, humankind, respond to the shift of awareness from a (once thought) static and unchanging brain, to one that changes and can be engineered. What concerns me is the attitude we seem to be adopting. The brain has been plastic for a long time, to nature’s specifications, and we have just discovered this fact, and are busily trying to change our brain function without much awareness of why we may have this marvelous capability in the first place.

Recently, developmental scientists have shown that there are multiple stages of adult development, that human adults grow and change over time. We, as a species, have been endowed with a lot of potential that we have yet to actualize. Since these stages represent real changes in mental outlook, capabilities, worldview and freedom of choice, they also represent (this assumption has been untested thus far) changes in our brain function. The current research has focused some on early childhood development and how awareness of the plasticity of the brain can be used to treat early brain deficits or accidents. At this point, no one is looking at what nature seems to have intended by designing us this way. Knowing that we were designed by nature, over a billion years or so, I have some concern that we may be acting with a great deal of hubris. I think we should pay attention to what nature intended, and designed for, before we act like this is a new, never before discovered phenomenon, that can, and should, be applied to all manner of human difficulties.

Understanding the changeability of the brain is a real breakthrough in our understanding. We are liberated, understanding our own nature, our own potential much better. We are poised on the threshold of a new era. My concern is that we might act on this new knowledge without understanding the natural context in which it evolved. Time and again I have seen the consequences of these kind of actions. It is not only time to be excited, but to consider what is really important. Before we make economic and scientific assumptions about this capability, we should consider how our very own potential may be effected.

In the meantime, this awareness, that the brain is flexible and responds to its environment, is leading to some interesting new thought. With the demographics of our population shifting toward the aged, there is more concern going into how to maintain the vitality, health and productivity of the elderly. This has prompted some focus upon ageing brains, and has led to some innovative ideas about protecting, and improving, brain functioning in elders. Below is one set of findings for preserving, and extending, good brain function in seniors.

A Chicago Tribune article a couple of days ago, titled Seniors see improvement in brain-training classes, includes

0.“Over the next few years, we will see these [brain health] programs burst into the mainstream with great force,” predicted Dr. Elkhonon Goldberg, a clinical professor of neurology at New York University School of Medicine and co-founder of Sharp Brains, a company that evaluates and helps markets brain fitness programs. A growing body of scientific studies supports the trend.”

0.“The major finding was stunning: Relatively short training regimens — 10 sessions of 1 to 1.5 hours each over five or six weeks — improved mental functioning as long as five years later. Booster sessions helped advance these gains, and some people found it easier to perform everyday tasks, such as managing finances, after mental workouts.”

0.“I think what this shows, conclusively, is that when healthy older people put effort into learning new things, they can improve their mental fitness,” said Michael Marsiske, a member of the research team and an associate professor at the University of Florida at Gainesville. “And even if structured learning is relatively brief, you should be able to see the benefits of that learning for some time to come.”

0.Not all training is alike, however. In the ACTIVE study, each form of mental training (for memory, speed or reasoning) affected only the function targeted without crossing over into other realms. Training results were strongest for speed of mental processing and weakest for memory.

0.“What this tells us is that specific brain functions may need different types of training,” said Dr. Jeffrey Elias, chief of the cognitive-aging program at the National Institute on Aging, which helped fund the ACTIVE study.

0.“With that in mind, researchers probably will design comprehensive programs with multiple types of training to forestall age-related mental decline, Elias predicted.”

My hope is that you will find the way to maximize your potential, without compromising the potential nature endowed you with.

l/d