Experience Changes the Brain (Science Daily)

New research revealing what many have known for some time, particularly work by Dr Norman Doidge and others.

A recent documentary "The Brain that Changes Itself" reveals the successes scientists are now achieving by having (a) changed beliefs, and (b) done exercises that reconfigure the brain.

From the Science Daily report:

"The adult brain, long considered to be fixed in its wiring, is in fact remarkably dynamic. Neuroscientists once thought that the brain's wiring was fixed early in life, during a critical period beyond which changes were impossible. Recent discoveries have challenged that view, and now, research by scientists at Rockefeller University suggests that circuits in the adult brain are continually modified by experience."

Perhaps of more relevance and interest is the documentary (see above) and the comments by those who've accepted and acted on such understanding.

Example:

Neuroplasticity and Stroke Recovery (Peter J Wharton)

It works. One has to reach out for that which is just out of your reach and never give up until you have it. Then reach out again. And then again. Always formulating new goals and objectives. Yes it takes time but neural pathways are growing just as surely as those tomatoes you planted not so long ago and nurtured as a husbandman.

Every now and then someone will look surprised and comment on your improvement because you don't fit their expectations. I suffered a bad stroke in 2006 and was considered too badly damaged to respond to rehabilitation. After three weeks my wife was advised to consider which nursing home I would go to to complete my days. She asked for one chance for rehabilitation which the doctors agreed to. Too long a story, but while receiving high quality physiotherapy and occupational therapy I read a TIME magazine article on brain neuroplasticity and found it making sense in terms of improvements I was experiencing.

When asked what I wanted out of the therapy I said I wanted to paint again.(I was a university teacher in Drawing and Illustration). My drawing hand was paralysed and totally useless through the stroke, but I felt that by giving it something constructive to do something positive would happen in terms of bringing back functionality to my hand. I was given a canvas board and Acrylic paints and working over a month, a dedicated 4 minutes a day, I managed to complete a portrait of Einstein. This was exhibited in my show of portraits I mounted in.