![]() ![]() ![]() And controlled research is showing these targeted exercises have benefits on other brain capacities as well. Neuroscientists who study brain plasticity have determined that there are ways to enhance the beneficial effects of brain exercises to maximize the efficiency and positive outcomes so that children or adults can specifically target some capacities over others in a short period of time. Our current understanding of how the brain changes itself when we do activities that challenge areas of the brain such as memory, attention, time and processing opens the door to endless possibilities for improving our brains and its capacity to learn. A study at Cornell University demonstrated that students who used a Fast ForWord computer program achieved significant improvements in their language and reading. Or, aging adults in their 70’s who did computer-based processing speed exercises a few minutes a day for six consecutive weeks so they could do things like react faster when driving showed improvements in processing speed (again we would expect that) but also in memory when compared to adults who did other exercises but not the processing speed exercises, and the improvements lasted for ten years without doing additional exercises (Rebok, 2014). Researchers have shown that when seven year olds do a simple computer-based exercise that targets working memory for just a few minutes a day for a few consecutive weeks they show improved working memory (we would expect that) but also improved reading comprehension compared with children in their classrooms who received reading instruction but did not do the working memory activities (Loosli, 2012). Once a skill is established, the neurons become so efficient that fewer are needed and some map space is available for new learning. ![]() When learning is taking place, a relatively larger space is allotted. The space allotted to a neural map evolves over time. Neural learning is the process in which neurons “fire” together and thus “wire” together, which results in structural changes in the brain. Neuroscientists now believe that if we do activities that target memory, attention, and timing and processing for extended periods of time, it is likely that it will be beneficial for improving the brain’s capacities and make changes in the neuro map of a brain. Michael Merzenich discovered that our brains change well past the critical period, and throughout our lives. The brain has a “critical period” in infancy and early childhood in which the brain is so plastic that its structure is easily changed by simple exposure to new things in the environment.įor decades, the prevailing scientific view held that the brain was a finely tuned machine that operated within a fixed scope of ability once the critical period had passed. Norman Doidge in The Brain that Changes Itself You are asking how frequently you must practice one activity to make sure its brain map space is not lost to another.” If you ever ask yourself, ‘How often must I practice French, or guitar, or math to keep on top of it?’ you are asking a question about competitive plasticity. If we stop exercising our mental skills, we do not just forget them: the brain map space for those skills is turned over to the skills we practice instead. “There is an endless war of nerves going on inside each of our brains. The Promise of Brain Plasticity - Overcoming Language, Learning, and Reading Problemsīy Lynn Ayres, M.Ed. ![]()
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