Education:
a lifelong
challenge
for the
brain
Brain Awareness Week
European Parliament,
Brussels
15 March 2011
Colin Blakemore
University of Oxford
Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging
(FMRIB Centre, Oxford)
Basic organization of the brain in
largely genetically determined
Expansion of the
cortex during
evolution has
generated space
for additional
specialized areas
S1
S2
A1
V1
V2
Krubitzer, L & Kahn, DM (2003) Prog Neurobiol
Encephalization Quotient
The exceptional brain of modern humans
Homo sapiens
● Old World monkeys □ New World monkeys + Apes
Hominids: 1 aferensis 2 africanus 3 boisei
4 robustus 5 habilis 6 erectus
Martin, RD (1984) Body size, brain size and feeding strategies
Big brains are
clever brains...
...but not
without
knowledge and
experience
Humans have the capacity to
reflect on the past and anticipate
...sometimes
the future...
Primary areas for sensation and movement
… and for spoken language
Broca’s
area
Wernicke’s
area
Separate processing of form and motion
V5/MT
V1, V2
Face-selective and object-selective areas
Faces
Objects
Objects
(parahippocampal
gyrus)
Faces
(fusiform gyrus)
Verbs
Visual Contrast & Form
Colin Clifford, University of Sydney
Bedny, M et al. (2008) J Neurosci. 28: 11347
David Hubel &
Torsten Wiesel
Activity-dependent plasticity
in sensory cortex
Blakemore,
Sengpiel,CF&etCooper,
al (1999)
GF
(1970)
Nature
Nature
Neurosci
228:2:477
727
mGluR5
PLCβ1
mGluR5
PLC-β1 knockout
knockout
Cortical cells
Control
Control
Hannan, AJ et al (2001) Nature Neurosci 4: 282
The hippocampus: essential for
personal memories
Learning to navigate
Eleanor Maguire, UCL
Right posterior hippocampus enlarges
Touch takes over visual areas in the blind
VISUAL
MOTION
NORMAL,
SIGHTED
LATEONSET
BLIND
Goyal, MS et al (2006)
NeuroReport 17: 1381
TACTILE
MOTION
VIEWING
FACES
TOUCHING
FACES
Changes in the brain after stroke
Using
affected
hand
Additional areas of
brain activity
THERAPY
Using
normal
hand
Johansen-Berg, H, Matthews, PM et al, FMRIB Centre, Oxford
Mutations make mice with big brains
Changing the proportion of stem
cells re-entering the cell cycle
Reducing cell death
Kuida, K et al (1998) Cell
94: 325
Chenn, A & Walsh, CA (2002) Science
297; 365