“It was back on December
11 when we last talked about the brain, Curmudge. That was a pretty long holiday break; you must have had a
lot of visions of sugarplums dancing in your head.”
“Those were cold viruses dancing in my head, Impertinent
Person. Nevertheless, we posted
some interesting stuff in December and January. But I agree that it’s time to get back to neuroplasticity. As we said in December, Merzenich, Taub, and their coworkers, who
did basic studies with animals, followed it up with applications to human
patients.”
“So where do we start?”
“At the beginning, Julie, with babies and children. Our principal resource will continue to
be Doidge’s book, The Brain That Changes
Itself. (1) (Unless otherwise indicated, quoted
material is from Doidge’s book.) We
have all observed the bright eyes of a newborn ‘looking at the world with
wide-eyed amazement.’ (2) But until
recently, I didn’t realize that her brain was acquiring knowledge faster than
that of a college student cramming for an exam. In fact, she even learned the sound of her mother’s voice in utero.”
“That, Curmudge, is why babies and small children need so
much tender loving care. They are
absorbing what’s going on around them but can’t differentiate good from bad.”
“During this so-called critical
period the chemical BDNF ‘turns on the nucleus basalis, the part of our
brain that allows us to focus our attention—and
keeps it on during the entire critical period. It also allows us to remember what we are
experiencing.’ In addition, ‘it
allows brain map differentiation and change to take place effortlessly.’ Ultimately, BDNF turns off the nucleus
basalis and ends the period of effortless learning.”
“As I understand it, Old Guy, the critical period in which
learning occurs rapidly and easily runs from birth until around the age of
seven. After that, learning
requires close attention. But if
for some reason the critical period ends prematurely, big problems occur in the
child’s development.”
“That’s for sure, Julie. When that happens, all neuron connections are sealed before
all of the important ones are reinforced.
‘The child is left with scores of undifferentiated brain maps and hence
pervasive developmental disorders.
Their brains are hyperexcitable and hypersensitive. If they hear one frequency, the whole
auditory cortex starts firing.’ “
“Wow, Professor, that sounds pretty ominous. Fortunately, Doidge tells us how
Merzenich came riding to the rescue.”
“Merzenich and coworkers extended their studies of animals,
discussed earlier, to humans.
Their work was based on the principle that ‘more efficient use of
neurons occurs whenever we become proficient at a skill, and that as neurons
are trained to become more efficient, they can process faster.’ They learned that children with
language disabilities often have auditory processing problems. ‘Merzenich believed that these
children’s auditory cortex neurons were firing too slowly, so they couldn’t
distinguish between two very similar sounds.’ ‘Improper hearing led to weaknesses in all the language
tasks.’ So he and coworkers
developed Fast ForWord, a training
program to improve children’s ability to distinguish short sounds from
long. Children worked on the
program for over an hour per day, five days per week, for several weeks. Their language skills, mental
processing, and proficiency in other subjects improved; and their brain scans
had begun to normalize.”
“Doidge relates a heart-warming story of an autistic girl
who happened to be in a special-ed class that used Fast ForWord. Along
with communication, her other autism symptoms improved as well. Curmudge, that serendipitous finding must
have inspired the researchers. The
girl’s mother termed it ‘a big blessing.’ “
“The result: At the time Doidge was writing his book,
Merzenich was developing a modification of Fast ForWord for autism. Currently there are foundations and commercial enterprises
that provide treatments for autism spectrum disorders based on
neuroplasticity. Examples are the Ohio Center
for Autism Spectrum Disorders and Low Incidence Disabilities and Autism Speaks. In addition, there are web sites like Bumblebee Kids that offer aids for
early child development as well as autism, and others like Brainology, Lumosity,
and LearningRx that facilitate learning from grade school to
adulthood. Also there are on-site
facilities such as the Arrowsmith
School in Toronto for students with learning disabilities and the Arrowsmith Program
that offers the Arrowsmith cognitive exercise program to public and
private schools internationally.”
“So what’s scheduled for our next outing, Professor?”
“We’re going to graduate from babies and young people to senior
citizens experiencing ‘senior moments’ and disabling strokes. You won’t want to miss that.”
“Senior moments? I’ll
learn from the voice of experience.”
Kaizen Curmudgeon
(1)
Doidge, Norman, MD The Brain That Changes Itself (2007).
(2) Gopnik,
Alison http://www.alisongopnik.com/Alison_Gopnik_WSJcolumns.htm#04Oct13
Link to posting from blog archives: Mistakes 2—standard work, checklists, “Isabel”—4/08/10 http://kaizencurmudgeon.blogspot.com/2010/04/mistakes-2.html
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