The Brain That Changes Itself

The Brain That Changes Itself explores the groundbreaking research in neuroplasticity and shares fascinating stories of people who can use the brain’s ability to adapt and be cured of ailments previously incurable.

Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to reform itself by making new neural connections throughout life. A catchy phrase used by Psychology teachers to describe this is “neurons that fire together wire together.” When two events happen at the same time, those neurons involved in the experience fire together. Thus they associate themselves with each other. As this connection becomes stronger, these neurons wire together.

Scientists thought for a long time that each area of the brain had a distinct function, and if that area got damaged, there was no getting that part back. Though some areas are responsible for specific roles, many often overlap and help one another. If one pathway becomes blocked, a secondary one is exposed and used instead. This new pathway grows stronger with repeated use in a process called unmasking.

A story of a woman named Cheryl Schiltz demonstrates this phenomenon. For years, she struggled with her balance because of a loss of the part of her brain responsible for balance. A neuroplasticity pioneer, Paul Bach-y-Rita, created a device called an accelerometer that sent balance signals through an electrode on her tongue. This stimulated the area of Schiltz’s brain responsible for balance. After using the device consistently, it “unmasked” a new pathway for balance. Schiltz could miraculously balance on her own.

Just imagining what we want can make physical changes in the brain and body. An example of this is patients who experience phantom pain. This is the phenomenon where people who lose a limb experience pain that seems to come from the limb that doesn’t exist anymore. Once considered a psychological problem, phantom pain is now known to be a nervous system problem. The theory for why the pain still happens is that the brain map for that missing limb is eager for input and sends growth factors to nearby neurons. With this theory, neuroplasticity researcher V. S. Ramachandran created a mirror box that showed the mirror image of the working limb so the brain would think the missing limb was moving and responding to input. This way, they could unlearn the phantom pain. It worked wonders for a patient experiencing severe phantom pain after losing his arm in a motorcycle accident. After using it for ten minutes a day for four weeks, the pain had disappeared. Another way imagination can change our brain is through visualization. An experiment had two groups of beginning pianists. One group sat in front of the piano and visualized playing a sequence while the other…