Comments on: Brain Plasticity: How learning changes your brain http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/ Brain Fitness and Cognitive Health news Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:58:08 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: www.becomeataxidriver.org.uk http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/comment-page-1/#comment-261018 www.becomeataxidriver.org.uk Tue, 19 May 2009 12:38:25 +0000 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/#comment-261018 im a london cabbie, i always suspected i had more power than bus drivers ;) im a london cabbie, i always suspected i had more power than bus drivers ;)

]]> By: linda berger MA.Ed http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/comment-page-1/#comment-249576 linda berger MA.Ed Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:47:56 +0000 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/#comment-249576 I am on the senior advisory committee at the Jewish Community Center, in St. Louis, Missouri. Do you provide information to anyone from the St. louis area? I am on the senior advisory committee at the Jewish
Community Center, in St. Louis, Missouri. Do you provide information to anyone from the St. louis area?

]]> By: spencer lord http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/comment-page-1/#comment-239127 spencer lord Tue, 24 Feb 2009 04:35:45 +0000 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/#comment-239127 doidge's book is superb. i read it three times. doidge’s book is superb. i read it three times.

]]> By: Alvaro Fernandez http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/comment-page-1/#comment-200300 Alvaro Fernandez Mon, 27 Oct 2008 22:10:22 +0000 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/#comment-200300 Hello Gary, I suggest you take a look at my interview with neuroscientist Art Kramer on how, indeed, old dogs can learn new tricks...but at a slower pace than when we are younger. Which means, we need more patience, practice, and motivation...perhaps you can combine travel with learning that second language. Hello Gary, I suggest you take a look at my interview with neuroscientist Art Kramer on how, indeed, old dogs can learn new tricks…but at a slower pace than when we are younger. Which means, we need more patience, practice, and motivation…perhaps you can combine travel with learning that second language.

]]> By: Gary D http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/comment-page-1/#comment-199546 Gary D Sat, 25 Oct 2008 05:00:59 +0000 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/#comment-199546 So, an old dog (like me) *can* learn new tricks! This is good news and encouraging. Question: why is it that learning a second language is easier when you're young as compared to when you're older? And, from your perspective what can be done to make it easier..?? So, an old dog (like me) *can* learn new tricks! This is good news and encouraging.

Question: why is it that learning a second language is easier when you’re young as compared to when you’re older? And, from your perspective what can be done to make it easier..??

]]> By: Alvaro Fernandez http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/comment-page-1/#comment-196868 Alvaro Fernandez Fri, 17 Oct 2008 20:01:36 +0000 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/#comment-196868 Tracy, cognitive therapy is the brain training modality that has been shown to help patients with depression, so I encourage you to find a good practitioner. You may enjoy my interview with Judith Beck (see under Resources -- Interviews with Brain Scientists), which includes links to fascinating studies. Tina: plasticity (the ability to change responding to experience) is a property of the brain. Our brain is changing all the time. And, yes, significant environmental changes (such as changing country and language) is going to accelerate some changes due to the need for adaptation. A very interesting area of research is how being bilingual can reduce the probability of developing Alzheimer's symptoms, presumably via the Cognitive Reserve and the constant frontal lobe "workout" needed to select words in the right language/ inhibit words from the "wrong" language. James: you should probably first disclose that you are in the business of selling services based on the theories that you are promoting in your comment. Second, and most important, I would encourage you to share the published references of the efficacy of the programs you advocate and seem to be selling. 50 years of practice means, I hope, that some high-quality, randomized, large-scale studies have been performed and results published in the kind of journals we can find in PubMed (from a health/ medicine point of view) or in What Works Clearinghouse (from an education point of view). Talking about the theories of one person -no matter how admirable he/ she is-, is not enough justification. Vygotsky and Luria were cognitive/ neuropsych pioneers since the early XX century, yet I hope you would like to see some direct evidence of efficacy for any program that claims to be based on their admirable work. Finally, I am not sure where you find "quick fixes" in this blog...exactly the opposite of what we are trying to do. As you point out well, tools are just that, tools, not magic solutions. Tracy, cognitive therapy is the brain training modality that has been shown to help patients with depression, so I encourage you to find a good practitioner. You may enjoy my interview with Judith Beck (see under Resources — Interviews with Brain Scientists), which includes links to fascinating studies.

Tina: plasticity (the ability to change responding to experience) is a property of the brain. Our brain is changing all the time. And, yes, significant environmental changes (such as changing country and language) is going to accelerate some changes due to the need for adaptation. A very interesting area of research is how being bilingual can reduce the probability of developing Alzheimer’s symptoms, presumably via the Cognitive Reserve and the constant frontal lobe “workout” needed to select words in the right language/ inhibit words from the “wrong” language.

James: you should probably first disclose that you are in the business of selling services based on the theories that you are promoting in your comment.

Second, and most important, I would encourage you to share the published references of the efficacy of the programs you advocate and seem to be selling. 50 years of practice means, I hope, that some high-quality, randomized, large-scale studies have been performed and results published in the kind of journals we can find in PubMed (from a health/ medicine point of view) or in What Works Clearinghouse (from an education point of view).

Talking about the theories of one person -no matter how admirable he/ she is-, is not enough justification. Vygotsky and Luria were cognitive/ neuropsych pioneers since the early XX century, yet I hope
you would like to see some direct evidence of efficacy for any program that claims to be based on their admirable work.

Finally, I am not sure where you find “quick fixes” in this blog…exactly the opposite of what we are trying to do. As you point out well, tools are just that, tools, not magic solutions.

]]> By: james a. bellanca http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/comment-page-1/#comment-196849 james a. bellanca Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:00:11 +0000 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/#comment-196849 It is amazing to read this newsletter and see all the sellers of "brain stuff" claiming to find something new and wonderful-that the brain is plastic, not immutable. The most amazing part is that these folks don't have any inkling that they are not the pioneers they claim to be. They might humbly go to the work of Israeli cogntive psychologist Reuven Feuerstein who postulated the theory more of structural cognitive modifiability more than 50 years ago in his work with learning impaired children. After they read Feuerstein's work, they will also see that he doesn't make the outlandish claims that they do with their miracle products. He knows that after all the work he and his colleagues have done with severely bain damaged children, brain traumatized adults and others, that what specifically works to change the brain is still a very hyypothetical question, not the quick fix answers that many, including people quoted in the newsletter, are selling. Finally, he would suggest that just because a tool (including software)makes the brain change, there is very little hard evidence about how successful they are in promoting learning. It is amazing to read this newsletter and see all the sellers of “brain stuff” claiming to find something new and wonderful-that the brain is plastic, not immutable. The most amazing part is that these folks don’t have any inkling that they are not the pioneers they claim to be. They might humbly go to the work of Israeli cogntive psychologist Reuven Feuerstein who postulated the theory more of structural cognitive modifiability more than 50 years ago in his work with learning impaired children. After they read Feuerstein’s work, they will also see that he doesn’t make the outlandish claims that they do with their miracle products. He knows that after all the work he and his colleagues have done with severely bain damaged children, brain traumatized adults and others, that what specifically works to change the brain is still a very hyypothetical question, not the quick fix answers that many, including people quoted in the newsletter, are selling. Finally, he would suggest that just because a tool (including software)makes the brain change, there is very little hard evidence about how successful they are in promoting learning.

]]> By: Tina http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/comment-page-1/#comment-196757 Tina Fri, 17 Oct 2008 13:38:30 +0000 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/#comment-196757 Hello...I'm currently in a Lifespan Psychology class and have some questions regarding brain plasticity and the learning of a new language. I'm trying to see if there is any correlation between learning a new language and our biological system. If a toddler is adopted by a new family that speaks a different language from his/her biological parent would that automatically trigger brain placticity to occur? If so, what chemical changes happen within the hippocampus? Are their other areas of the brain that are involved in this process as well? Hello…I’m currently in a Lifespan Psychology class and have some questions regarding brain plasticity and the learning of a new language. I’m trying to see if there is any correlation between learning a new language and our biological system.

If a toddler is adopted by a new family that speaks a different language from his/her biological parent would that automatically trigger brain placticity to occur? If so, what chemical changes happen within the hippocampus? Are their other areas of the brain that are involved in this process as well?

]]> By: Tracy http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/comment-page-1/#comment-192927 Tracy Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:55:25 +0000 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/#comment-192927 I am curious to learn how to use brain plasticity to help me to continue in my recovery from depression. I love to learn new things and think that this concept can help explain why talking to a therapist can literally change the biology of my brain. This has mystified me but I think this concept helps to explain it. I am curious to learn how to use brain plasticity to help me to continue in my recovery from depression. I love to learn new things and think that this concept can help explain why talking to a therapist can literally change the biology of my brain. This has mystified me but I think this concept helps to explain it.

]]> By: M. A. Greenstein http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/comment-page-1/#comment-189976 M. A. Greenstein Thu, 25 Sep 2008 06:02:26 +0000 http://www.sharpbrains.com/blog/2008/02/26/brain-plasticity-how-learning-changes-your-brain/#comment-189976 Alvaro and Pat, a thought on the pedagogy of movement behavior. Alvaro, I'm so pleased you noted the enjoyment of new patterns in the process of rehearsal. Helping people discover new movement (brain) patterns and motifs invites both opportunities to enjoy an expanded sense of aesthetics as well as a chance to return to the primary feeling of movement liberated from the shackles of unconscious habitual form. The uber talented ballet master Baryshnikov has been known to talk about going back to the basic barre to re-discover the joy and sensation of learning the core values of ballet movement. To help students or clients reap the athletic rewards of neuro-plasticity, I found it helpful to encourage a creative, "beginner's mind" attitude in the rehearsal phase. And research on mindful movement does suggest a neurological difference. Thoughts anyone? M. A. a.k.a. Dr. G. The George Greenstein Institute for the Advancement of Somatic Arts and Science Alvaro and Pat, a thought on the pedagogy of movement behavior.

Alvaro, I’m so pleased you noted the enjoyment of new patterns in the process of rehearsal.
Helping people discover new movement (brain) patterns and motifs invites both opportunities to enjoy an expanded sense of aesthetics as well as a chance to return to the primary feeling of movement liberated from the shackles of unconscious habitual form. The uber talented ballet master Baryshnikov has been known to talk about going back to the basic barre to re-discover the joy and sensation of learning the core values of ballet movement.

To help students or clients reap the athletic rewards of neuro-plasticity, I found it helpful to encourage a creative, “beginner’s mind” attitude in the rehearsal phase. And research on mindful movement does suggest a neurological difference.

Thoughts anyone?

M. A. a.k.a. Dr. G.
The George Greenstein Institute for the Advancement of Somatic Arts and Science

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