Ryan Harris - Neuroplasticity: A Complete Guide To Improving Your Brain Function, Developing New Ways Of Thinking, And Creating New Approaches To Life And Relationships, ... Self Development, Brain Training,

Most people will be able to easily grasp some sense of the word 'neuroplasticity'. Certainly the plasticity part of the word makes sense to most of us meaning changeable, mutable, moldable. Many of us are aware that neurons are part of the physical make up of our brains and, combined, the two suggest the ability to change the way that our brains work.

This, in essence, is what neuroplasticity means; the science is slightly more complex and as a field of study the area is very new. Until recently most scientific understanding of how our brains work was based on fairly standard theories that, after a certain age, the brain itself could not physically change. The way in which we think and act is based very much on the physical structure of our brain. It has long been understood that in early childhood the shape of the brain, and its internal structure, is formed by learning and experience but until the last twenty or so years it was firmly believed that once our brains set they could not be changed.

Modern scientific research has somewhat blown this out of the water, and anecdotal evidence has long since suggested these theories ranged from being slightly inaccurate to wildly wrong. The brain is a complex, rather strange organ and understanding how it develops helps to understand the theories behind neuroplasticity.

Mushy Brains and Solidified Thought

When we are born our brains are not, unlike much of the rest of us, fully formed. They grow rapidly, change and build links, eventually maturing roughly eighteen years after we've entered the world. This growth occurs in spurts of activity and has been used to explain such unpleasant phenomenon as the inability of teenagers to get up early and/or be even basically civil for long periods of time. The fact is the teenage brain is in the last stages of 'cooking' and the reason that they seem like a different species on occasion, is partly that they are not entirely 'human' yet.

How does your brain grow?

Learning plays a massive role in developing the neural pathways that eventually form our fully grown brain. Small children start learning from the adults around them (usually, but not always) their parents. This continues throughout childhood and well into adolescence. Traditional science understood that at certain points in this development the brain's structure became fixed, unchanging and unchangeable. Growth of the brain's structure is not, however, solely down to academic or taught learning. Humans also learn on an emotional level something that science has not disputed but the most recent research in the area of neuroplasticity has thrown some surprising light on this form of learning. In fact, emotional or experience based learning, also contributes towards the real, physical structure of the brain.

In a sense academic learning, emotional learning and experience based learning all crystallize in our physical brains and there is a direct correlation to the actual, real structure of our brains and our experiences in life.

Brain Changing Events

For many years, as has been stated, it was widely believed that once our brains were 'fixed' nothing could change them. There were exceptions and it was always clear that brain damage through an accident or through illnesses would certainly change the brain. Not, of course, in a good way. Brain damage can break down the physical structure of our brains, stopping some or nearly all functions. Unfortunately our brains are responsible for processing most bodily functions and actions. Severe cases of brain damage can cause a complete shutdown of most bodily functions and for many years once a neural pathway has been destroyed it was believed to be gone for good.

Grow Your Own - Brain

With massive advances in technology, particularly in the area of brain scanning, some interesting discoveries have been made. One stands out in particular and that is the fact that although we have very large brains, for mammals, we only use a small portion of the surface at any given time. Further research has established that this may account for some of the rather paradoxical cases in which unexpected (or much fuller) recoveries were made by those who had suffer brain injuries. Scientists soon began to feel that there was more to the brain and its development than met the eye. Further studies have now shown that neurons within the brain are generated throughout our lives contradicting the belief that as neurons die off, a natural part of aging, they cannot be replaced. Neural pathways, also once believed to be fixed, can be 'created' by the brain throughout our lives. This process of building and restructuring in the brain happens naturally, but the study of neuroplasticity shows that it can also be encouraged.