MYTH: The brain`s hardwiring cannot be changed
Michaela de Gier
INTRODUCTION
When the brain is injured due to trauma like a car accident or stroke, nerve cells and their
connections are lost. For a long time it was believed that a victim of a brain injury would only
be able to use whatever brain function they were left with. But over the past two decades
many studies have confirmed that when neurons and synapses are lost due to injury, the
neighbouring neurons compensate for the loss and try to re-establish missing connections,
which effectively rebuilds the damaged neural network (Tanzi, 2012).
Up until the 1960`s, researchers believed that changes in the brain could only take place
during infancy and early childhood. By early adulthood, it was believed that the brain's
physical structure was permanent. Psychologist William James suggested that the brain was
perhaps not as unchanging as previously believed way back in 1890. In his book The Principles
of Psychology, he wrote, "Organic matter, especially nervous tissue, seems endowed with a
very extraordinary degree of plasticity." However, this idea went largely ignored for many
years.
In the 1920s, researcher Karl Lashley provided evidence of changes in the neural pathways of
rhesus monkeys. By the 1960s, researchers began to explore cases in which older adults who
had suffered massive strokes were able to regain functioning, demonstrating that the brain
was much more malleable than previously believed.
Modern research has demonstrated that the brain continues to create new neural pathways
and alter existing ones in order to adapt to new experiences, learn new information and
create new memories. Learning, as defined by Tortora and Grabowski (1996), is the ability to
acquire new knowledge or skills through instruction or experience. Memory is the process by
which that knowledge is retained over time. The capacity of the brain to change with learning
is called ‘plasticity’.
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WHAT IS BRAIN PLASTICITY?
Also known as neuroplasticity, it describes how experiences
reorganize neural pathways in the brain. Neuro comes from
neuron, while plasticity refers to being malleable. Long
lasting functional changes in the brain occur when we learn
new things or memorize new information (Tanzi, 2012). To
illustrate plasticity, imagine making an impression of a hand
in some clay. In order for the impression of the hand to
appear in the clay, changes must occur in the clay – the
shape of the clay changes as the hand is pressed into it.
Similarly, the neural circuitry in the brain must reorganize in
response to experience or sensory stimulation.
According to the website Neuroscience for kids, Neuroplasticity occurs in the brain under
two primary conditions:


During normal brain development when the immature brain first begins to process
sensory information through adulthood (developmental plasticity and plasticity of
learning and memory)
As an adaptive mechanism to compensate for lost function and/or to maximize
remaining functions in the event of brain trauma.
In a more recent example of neural rewiring, neuroscientist Michael Merzenich showed on
scans that the experience of learning a new skill had altered monkey`s brains. Merzenich
argued that as brain regions begin to newly interact, rewiring creates a new circuit. In this
form of neuroplasticity, “neurons that fire together, wire together” (Tanzi, 2012). A physical
workout builds muscle; a mental workout creates new synapses to strengthen the neural
network.
A nerve cell is made up of:


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Cell body – where the stimulus originates or is received
An Axon – transmits stimulus from the body of a nerve cell to another
Dendrites – receive the message via a synapse from the axon of another cell
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The process of myelination occurs as the nervous system receives and transmits stimuli. The
Schwann cells wrap around the axon to form a fatty layer called myelin. This ensures a
strengthening of the nerve pathways in order to increase the speed and efficiency at which
the stimuli are transmitted. Nerve cells that are not stimulated will remain fragile and transmit
messages at a slow response time of around 0.5 meters per second, while Omega oils,
repetitive movement and high intensity of experience promote myelination, allowing for a
fast transmitting time of 125 metres per second (De Jager, 2012).
Gopnick et. al. (1999) describes neurons as growing telephone
wires that communicate with one another. The connective wiring
consists of neurological pathways that are part of the CNS. They
carry sensory information to the brain where it can be processed.
The nerve cells have to make connections with one another,
transmitting the impulses to the brain. Like the basic telephone
trunk lines strung between cities, genes instruct the pathway to
the correct area of the brain from a particular nerve cell. For
example eyes send impulses to the occipital lobe of the brain and
not to the language production area in the temporal lobe. The basic trunk lines have been
established, but the specific connections from one house to another require additional
signals.
Over the first few years of life, the brain grows rapidly. As each neuron matures, it increases
the number of synaptic contacts and lays specific connections from house to house, or from
neuron to neuron.
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At birth, the brain already has about all of the neurons it will ever have. Each neuron in the
cerebral cortex has approximately 2500 synapses. It doubles in size in the first year, and by
age three it has reached 80 percent of its adult volume (Gilmore, 2000). As we age and gain
new experiences, old connections are deleted through a process called synaptic pruning
(Gopnick, 1999). Neurons that are used frequently develop stronger connections and those
that are rarely or never used eventually die. Ineffective or weak connections are `pruned’ in
much the same way as a gardener would shape a topiary plant. By developing new
connections and pruning away weak ones, the brain is able to adapt to the changing
environment.
LEARNING AND DOMINANCE
Learning and thinking consist of the flow of information from input, through processing, to
output.
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Input: Senses that search for information
Brain: Processes information, storage and retrieval of memories
Output: Muscle contractions through thought, word or deed
Learning involves the building of skills, and skills are built through the movement of muscles
(De Jager, 2012).
The telephone wires that carry messages from the senses to the brain
and to the muscles are called sensory motor pathways. These pathways enable electrical
impulses to travel from the eyes looking at the board and the ears listening to the teacher to
the brain. The brain then attempts to simultaneously make sense of the sum on the board
and instructions from the teacher, while telling the hand to pick up the pen and write (De
Jager, 2009).
Learning, according to Honey and Mumford has occurred when a person:


Knows something that he did not know earlier and demonstrates a change in
behaviour
A person can do something that he was incapable of before (De Jager, 2012).
A breakdown anywhere in the three step learning process will hinder the flow of information
and prevent effective learning from taking place.
The sensory-motor system specialises by establishing dominant patterns of learning where
each of the three learning phases is represented by a dominant sense, dominant side of the
brain and dominant hand and foot. According to de Jager, in nature, when there are two, one
will be the leader. For survival reasons (speed, efficiency and uniqueness), the developed
pathways specialise to allow one part of a paired structure to become more dominant (De
Jager, 2012).
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These dominant patterns are unique as a result of the interplay between genetics, neurochemical wiring and life experiences. Consequently we all have genetically hard-wired
patterns which determine how we think, feel and act as a result of how we take in, process
and respond to sensory information (De Jager, 2012).
Every dominant pattern allows us to excel in certain areas. We may for instance have an
aptitude for language, logic and maths which serves well in the traditional academic
environment (De Jager, 2012), while a dominant pattern that favours non-verbal
communication, pictures and hands on learning can leave a person feeling less than adequate
and prevent them from realizing their full potential.
We do not have to be held to ransom by our dominant patterns because sensory stimulation
and movement expands the wiring beyond our hard wired patterns allowing us to function in
the whole-brain state (De Jager, 2012). Now the dominant pattern that was previously
developed can become truly useful in the co-operative integrated state and you no longer
need to rely on coping strategies, but are able to access your full range of abilities and learn
with more proficiency.
CONTROLLED MOVEMENT
Developer of Mind Moves®, Dr Melodie De Jager explains that Mind Moves are easy, simple
movements that can effectively be used to rewire the brain to enable us to learn and perform
with greater ease (De Jager, 1999). These basic movements mimic the movements of a
developing baby and can be used to:
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
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Develop a specific part of the senses, brain and muscles so that we can be still
and concentrate.
Integrate the dominant and non-dominant parts of brain and body to ensure
whole brain learning.
Complete (inhibit) each primitive reflex (in the correct order) so that the
learner can develop physically, emotionally, socially and cognitively.
Mind Moves can be used to warm up the brain for learning and/or academic skills. These
include writing and public speaking, reading and spelling, creative problem solving and maths
as well as memory and confident test writing.
Professor of Neurology at Harvard University, Dr Rudolph E. Tanzi, writes: “The brain has
circuitry but no wires; the circuits are made of living tissue. Most important, they are
reshaped by thoughts, memories, desires, and experience - the bottom line is that we are not
“hardwired”. Our brains are incredibly resilient; the marvellous process of neuroplasticity
gives you the capability, in your thoughts, feelings, and actions, to develop in any direction
you choose”
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CONCLUSION
Deepak Chopra says that the road to brain wellness begins with awareness. In the brain,
energy flows where awareness goes (Chopra, 2012). In our everyday lives, if we intentionally
set out to learn new things, we effectively rewire our brains and improve them.
“Movement moulds the brain. Repetition makes it effective” (De Jager, 2009B). Once
integrated for whole brain and body thinking and learning, we may experience a dramatic
shift in our functional learning style and our ability to adjust to people and situations (De
Jager, 2012).
Move with purpose, move with Mind Moves!
Clifford, E. Neural Plasticity. Merzenich, Taub and Greenough. Available on Internet:
http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~hsmbb/BRAIN/vol6/p16-20-Neuronalplasticity.pdf Accessed 10 January 2014.
De Jager, M. 2009. Mind Moves: Moves that mend the mind. Johannesburg: The Mind Moves Institute.
De Jager, M. 2009B. Article: Movement, midlines, muscle tone and balance. Available from the Internet at:
www.mindmoves.co.za. Accessed 20 January 2014.
De Jager, M. 2012. Advanced Mind Moves Instructor Course. Johannesburg: Mind Moves Institute
Drubach, D. (2000). The brain explained. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.
Gilmore JH, Lin W, Prasatwa MW, et al. Regional gray matter growth, sexual dimorphism, and cerebral
asymmetry in the neonatal brain. Journal of Neuroscience. 2007; 27(6):1255-1260.
Gopnick, A., Meltzoff, A, Kuhl, P. (1999). The Scientist in the Crib: What early learning tells us about the mind.
New York, NY: Harper Collins Publishers.
Neuroscience for kids. (n.d) Brain plasticity: what is it? Available on internet:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/plast.html Accessed 10 January 2014.
Tanzi, Rudolph E, Chopra, Deepak. (2012). Super Brain. Rider, Random House Group
Tortora, G and Grabowski, S. (1996). Principles of Anatomy and Physiology. (8th ed.). New York: HarperCollins
College Publishers.
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