Video Games and Brain Development

Posted by Peter on August 16th, 2005 | Comments off

Recently, Scott Bauer of the Associated Press (July 27, 2005) released an article entitled: Blind Teen Amazes With Video-Game Skills.

In it, Bauer writes of super video game whiz, Brice Mellen. Brice is super proficient in games such as Mortal Kombat and others. The only difference between Brice and his peers is that Brice is blind. The following excerpt is from the article and is an exceptional example of neuroplasticity or Brice’s ability (his brain’s ability) to compensate for his loss of sight.

And as he easily dispatched foes who took him on recently at a Lincoln gaming center, the affable and smiling Mellen remained humble.
“I can’t say that I’m a superpro,” he said, working the controller like an extension of his body. “I can be beat.”
Those bold enough to challenge him weren’t so lucky. One by one, while playing “Soul Caliber 2,” their video characters were decapitated, eviscerated and gutted without mercy by Mellen’s on-screen alter ego.
“I’m getting bored,” Mellen said in jest as he won game after game.
Blind since birth when his optic nerve didn’t connect because of Leber’s disease, Mellen honed his video game skills over the years through patient and not-so-patient playing, memorizing key joystick operations and moves in certain games, asking lots of questions and paying particular attention to audio cues. He worked his way up from games such as “Space Invaders” and “Asteroid,” onto the modern combat games.
“I guess I don’t know how I do it, really,” Mellen said, as he continued playing while facing away from the screen. “It’s beyond me.”
Mellen knows this much: He started playing at home when he was about 7.”
Brice has learned how to control play through adaptation. He can play with his back to the screen and use finely tuned listening skills to calculate distance and position. Applying this with exquisitely tuned kinesthetic skills on the joystick, and he has a powerful combination that few can beat.

His mastery is a mystery; however, it is a true example of the human brain’s ability to adapt when given the correct stimulation and learning environment. It remains unfortunate, at the time of this blog, that science has yet to catch up or tap into the immense innate capacity of the human brain.

When I developed Play Attention, I was acutely aware that cognitive training/development through video game usage was an incredibly motivating discipline. The intrinsic interest in computer video gaming provides a tremendous teaching environment.

Off-the-shelf commercial video games provide little cognitive improvement, if any according to recent research. They do teach the user to identify screen objects quickly and accurately. They may quite likely decrease one’s ability to control sustained attention, impulsivity, and aggression as well.

Thus, it is imperative to provide specific goals for game play. Play Attention teaches and increases specific cognitive skills typically deficit in persons with attention problems. I systematically structure the teaching/learning process to produce cognitive and behavioral changes. This, of course, does not happen in off-the-shelf games where violence is the objective. It is important to remember that our brains are ALWAYS affected by what we input into them.

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Mental Processing is Continuous, Not Like a Computer

Posted by Peter on July 25th, 2005 | No Comments

The following research, New Cornell study suggests that mental processing is continuous, not like a computer appeared recently in a number of major publications.

Through computerized testing, the researchers essentially confirmed AND disputed work theorized by computer scientist, Marvin Minsky, in his book, The Society of Mind. Minsky theorized that the brain processes information through a variety of separate, distinct agents that work together in various capacities. Thus, according to Minsky, information processing is somewhat linear as in our working computers. The researchers seem to confirm the linear biological processing (input) of information, yet claim their findings demonstrate that the “neural activation patterns flow back and forth to produce nonlinear, self-organized, emergent properties – like a biological organism,” when processing (outputting) information.

There are many similarities between Minsky and Cornell’s group, however, they seem different possibly only by semantics. Once again, the mind seems to have a difficult time describing its own activities.

June 27, 2005
New Cornell study suggests that mental processing is continuous, not like a computer
By Susan S. Lang ITHACA, N.Y. – The theory that the mind works like a computer, in a series of distinct stages, was an important steppingstone in cognitive science, but it has outlived its usefulness, concludes a new Cornell University study. Instead, the mind should be thought of more as working the way biological organisms do: as a dynamic continuum, cascading through shades of grey.
Kevin Stearns/University Photography Cornell psycholinguist Michael Spivey asks Florencia Reali to listen for a word and then click on its picture. By studying the curvature of the trajectory of the mouse, he can analyze language comprehension processes. Copyright © Cornell University
In a new study published online this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (June 27-July 1), Michael Spivey, a psycholinguist and associate professor of psychology at Cornell, tracked the mouse movements of undergraduate students while working at a computer. The findings provide compelling evidence that language comprehension is a continuous process.
“For decades, the cognitive and neural sciences have treated mental processes as though they involved passing discrete packets of information in a strictly feed-forward fashion from one cognitive module to the next or in a string of individuated binary symbols – like a digital computer,” said Spivey. “More recently, however, a growing number of studies, such as ours, support dynamical-systems approaches to the mind. In this model, perception and cognition are mathematically described as a continuous trajectory through a high-dimensional mental space; the neural activation patterns flow back and forth to produce nonlinear, self-organized, emergent properties – like a biological organism.”
In his study, 42 students listened to instructions to click on pictures of different objects on a computer screen. When the students heard a word, such as “candle,” and were presented with two pictures whose names did not sound alike, such as a candle and a jacket, the trajectories of their mouse movements were quite straight and directly to the candle. But when the students heard “candle” and were presented with two pictures with similar sounding names, such as candle and candy, they were slower to click on the correct object, and their mouse trajectories were much more curved. Spivey said that the listeners started processing what they heard even before the entire word was spoken.
“When there was ambiguity, the participants briefly didn’t know which picture was correct and so for several dozen milliseconds, they were in multiple states at once. They didn’t move all the way to one picture and then correct their movement if they realized they were wrong, but instead they traveled through an intermediate gray area,” explained Spivey. “The degree of curvature of the trajectory shows how much the other object is competing for their interpretation; the curve shows continuous competition. They sort of partially heard the word both ways, and their resolution of the ambiguity was gradual rather than discrete; it’s a dynamical system.”
The computer metaphor describes cognition as being in a particular discrete state, for example, “on or off” or in values of either zero or one, and in a static state until moving on. If there was ambiguity, the model assumed that the mind jumps the gun to one state or the other, and if it realizes it is wrong, it then makes a correction.
“In thinking of cognition as working as a biological organism does, on the other hand, you do not have to be in one state or another like a computer, but can have values in between – you can be partially in one state and another, and then eventually gravitate to a unique interpretation, as in finally recognizing a spoken word,” Spivey said.
Whereas the older models of language processing theorized that neural systems process words in a series of discrete stages, the alternative model suggests that sensory input is processed continuously so that even partial linguistic input can start “the dynamic competition between simultaneously active representations.”
Spivey’s co-authors are Marc Grosjean of the University of Dortmund, Germany, and Günther

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Video Games Improve Reading Scores for Children with ADHD

Posted by Peter on July 14th, 2005 | No Comments

Essentially, the researchers used a computerized dance program to stimulate neural pathways thus increasing attention and therefore reading comprehension. Another example of neuralplasticity.

The story from ABC News:

Get Out! Popular Dance Video Game Helps Kids with ADHD
The same video game that endlessly distracts kids from schoolwork may improve concentration and memory, according to a study on a small group of children with attention deficit disorder. Researchers found that playing Dance Revolution, the arcade hit from Japan where dancers try to match the steps of a gyrating computer animation, led to an intriguing boost in reading comprehension.
“We’re still in the beginning stages,” cautioned Tammy McGraw, an education specialist with the Appalachian Educational Laboratory and lead author of the study. “But if we can demonstrate that video games help, we can find solutions that do not require us to medicate children as much.”
The game McGraw and her colleagues tested is a far cry from the gang violence found in Grand Theft Auto or the bloody martial arts action of Mortal Kombat. There isn’t even any bumping or grinding. Available for such popular home gaming systems as Sony’s PlayStation II and Microsoft’s Xbox, Dance Revolution involves stomping on four large buttons to a danceable beat in what educators describe as a mix between Twister and Simon Says.
McGraw, who presented her findings at a recent Digital Games Research Association conference in Vancouver, Canada, said that she first got the idea to study the game after seeing a long line outside a mall. Following the endless convoy of adolescents, McGraw was surprised to find what everyone was waiting for: a chance to shake it against a virtual dancer.
McGraw had recently read about research suggesting visual and rhythmic stimulation could improve reading and attention. Perhaps, she thought, this emerging theory about learning could be matched with the latest video game craze.
“There are a lot of ways to help kids read better,” said McGraw, adding that few children find them interesting. “Kids naturally gravitate toward video games.”
As part of the study, McGraw and colleagues recruited 62 sixth graders who suffered from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). First, the children were given a series of reading tests. Half the kids were then instructed to play Dance Revolution for about an hour a week. The other children continued with their normal routine.
Just to ensure that no parent was taken aback by the unusual educational aid, McGraw said they chose the Disney version of the game, which includes a dancing Mickey Mouse and songs by Chubby Checker.
Three months later, the kids took the same reading tests again. The scores were largely the same for both groups, but those who played Dance Revolution did slightly better with so-called receptive coding skills, the ability to immediately recall a word or series of numbers. This type of testing indicates greater focus and attention, a key issue for children with ADHD. The more times the kids played the game, the better they did.
“This was the real hot spot,” said McGraw. By quickly matching their movements to visuals and music, children who play Dance Dance Revolution seem to strengthen the areas of the brain that are necessary for better memorization, McGraw explained. Since the game is exciting, these skills are more easily improved.
McGraw hopes to press ahead with her research to find a broader educational role for Dance Revolution, as well as other video games.
“Everyone is playing them,” she said, “And it’s something schools can afford.”

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ADHD: Retrain the Brain

Posted by Peter on April 14th, 2005 | Comments off

Scientific American, Ocotober 2004 reports that learning retunes the brain, so that more cells respond best to behaviorally important sounds. The researchers also maintain that training responses also depend on the experiences and training of the listener. Even a little training can quickly alter the brain’s reactions. This contradicts previous brain theory that held until about 10 years ago that tuning was “fixed” for each cell in the auditory cortex. The scientists’ studies on contour, however, made them suspect that cell tuning might be altered during learning so that certain cells become extra sensitive to sounds that attract attention and are stored in memory. The retuning was remarkably durable: it became stronger over time without additional training and lasted for months. These findings initiated a growing body of research indicating that one way the brain stores the learned importance of a stimulus is by devoting more brain cells to the processing of that stimulus.

While this research confirms current knowledge about brain reorganization (neuroplasticity) during learning, their research also found that “the pattern of a melody matters: processing in the auditory system is not like the simple relaying of sound in a telephone or stereo system.” For many years scientists have held that certain sites are responsible for reading, listening, etc. But researchers have found that listening, especially to music, “But in recent years we have begun to gain a firmer understanding of where and how music is processed in the brain, which should lay a foundation for answering evolutionary questions. Collectively, studies of patients with brain injuries and imaging of healthy individuals have unexpectedly uncovered no specialized brain “center” for music. Rather music engages many areas distributed throughout the brain, including those that are normally involved in other kinds of cognition. The active areas vary with the person’s individual experiences and musical training. The ear has the fewest sensory cells of any sensory organ–3,500 inner hair cells occupy the ear versus 100 million photoreceptors in the eye. Yet our mental response to music is remarkably adaptable; even a little study can “retune” the way the brain handles musical inputs.”

Localization is the foundation for fMRI and other imaging techniques in that many fMri proponents claim to be able to locate 6 – 8 different types of ADHD via analysis of these scans. If non-localization is true, i.e., the brain processes using a variety of modalities, subcortical as well as cortical tissue, then the superficial images exposed via fMRI may be a dead end as they can only reveal tiny pieces of a very large puzzle.

The bottom line is: The brain can be retrained to overcome learning disabilities, cognitive impairments, ADHD, etc. What we now know is that this is done over a vast network in the brain that encompasses many other minor and major networks. You could think of retraining as the confluence of several telephone companies coming together to in order to overcome a limitation. Each has its own network and substructure but can become bigger and stronger (overcoming their respective limitations) by merging with the other network (think AT&T and Cingular). In the brain, this is done over a wide area of networks – not locally in distinct surface areas as superficial brain imaging might indicate.

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Using NASA Technology to Increase Attention and Cognitive Function

Posted by Peter on April 14th, 2005 | Comments off

Play Attention CEO to Speak at NASA Benefits of Space Exploration Brought to Earth

ASHEVILLE, North Carolina April 13, 2005

WCU graduate, Peter Freer, Founder and CEO of Unique Logic and Technology, Inc. will speak at the National Space Society 2005 International Space Development Conference in Washington, DC. His presentation is entitled, “From Outer Space to Inner Space: Using NASA Technology to Increase Attention and Cognitive Function.”

Freer holds a Master’s degree in education from Western Carolina University. He is a former educator in both Jackson County Schools and Asheville City Schools in NC. During his tenure as a teacher, Freer encountered an increasing number of AD/HD students. Combining NASA research and his background in educational computer programming, he developed Play Attention®, the nations leading educational attention training system used in schools, homes, and professional offices.

NASA currently uses feedback technology to increase astronaut and pilot attention during flight simulator training. Freer augmented this technology to accommodate educational needs and received four patents for his pioneering efforts. Freer adapted sophisticated instrumentation to fit the personal computer and then incorporated a sensor lined space-age helmet to process brain output and translate it onto a computer screen. This new learning system allows control of game action via the powers of concentration alone – no keyboard, no mouse, no joystick! Users practice paying attention by making video games respond to their brainpower at home or under the guidance of a teacher at school.

Just as NASA astronauts and pilots train to increase attention, Play Attention literally teaches the user to increase concentration, complete tasks, visual tracking, short-term memory, and to filer out distractions – all the skills necessary to be successful in the classroom. The learner directly observes his mind’s ability to command the computer screen in real-time.

”Play Attention,” says Freer, “is popular with students because of its entertaining game format. It keeps the student engrossed while he or she practices reaching new levels of concentration.” The inventor adds, “The system is success based and includes behavioral shaping techniques.”

He further notes studies demonstrate that children trained on Play Attention experience a greater sense of self-esteem, enhanced social interactions, and improved grades as a result of their own newly developed abilities.

Freer says that, “Both NASA and Play Attention have proven that feedback-based learning empowers individuals to deal with their personal challenges by learning how to use their own resources. This produces a sense of accomplishment, self-worth, and success. We owe NASA a great debt.”

The National Space Society 2005 International Space Development Conference is scheduled for May 19 – 22 at the Sheraton National Hotel Arlington, Washington, DC. The conference theme, “Your Ticket to Space” refers to the new opportunities for citizens to participate in space exploration and realize the benefits on earth.

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The Controversy Over Brain Imaging – Introduction

Posted by Peter on December 18th, 2004 | Comments off

Has brain scanning become the new phrenology? It’s an interesting prospect that may be clarified by an historical perspective.

In the early 1600’s, Rene Descartes’ quest to find truth caused him to explore his consciousness and question reality. He became aware that his perception of his environment could be deceptive and depended on his sobriety, fatigue, etc. Therefore, all external things could be doubted but the consciousness that perceived those external things could not be doubted. Thus, he concluded, cogito, ergo, sum; I think, therefore I am. Consciousness was self-evidently different from and more important than the external world. This was perhaps the historical beginning of mind/brain separation or mind as separate from matter which later became known as Cartesian dualism.

Descartes wrote in The Passions of the Soul, “Let us then conceive here that the soul has its principal seat in the little gland which exists in the middle of the brain, from whence it radiates forth through all the remainder of the body…” Most likely, Descartes was referring to the pineal gland as location of the mind in the brain. Again, mind is definitively separate from the brain and thus could ostensibly exist without the brain. Cartesian dualism has persisted in the medical profession, as well as others, to this day. If one suffers from depression, social anxiety, or insomnia, we’ll seek out the guidance of a psychiatrist – one who specializes in the mind. However, if we suffer a stroke, have a palsy or migraine, then we seek out the guidance of a neurologist. It has been only recently that this schism seems to be constringing as psychiatrists embrace neurophysiology and neurologists embrace the fact that unacceptable behaviors are not solely the product of nervous system dysfunction. Cartesian dualism has been embedded in our consciousness for over 300 years and will only slowly die away.

While hot debate ensued regarding consciousness and God – and still does in some circles – another interesting figure appeared in the early 1800s who would directly influence brain research. Anatomist Franz Joseph Gall published Anatomie et Physiologie du Systeme Nerveux. Gall was convinced that the brain was the epicenter of all mental functioning. He classified twenty-seven distinct functions associating each with a specific area of the brain. All this was surmised on a predilection for observation Gall experienced since childhood. Gall meticulously studied the skulls of the famous, infamous, mentally handicapped, scholarly, gifted musician, and artist. He made hundreds of casts. By looking at the similarities of all of these skulls, their bumps, contours, and general shapes, he convinced himself and much of the general public that he could determine brain function by observation of the superficial.

Gall’s phrenological approach has since become a laughable topic. However, it did influence brain research in creating the notion of locality – the notion that certain functions in the brain occur in specific areas. This notion seemed to be reinforced by medical doctors treating injured soldiers. Certain areas of the brain that were damaged by concussion or shrapnel caused blindness, memory loss, or loss of function in a specific region of the body.

While the connection between phrenology and brain scanning may not be readily apparent, certain similarities will be explored in upcoming blogs.

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Stimulation and Continued Brain Development

Posted by Peter on November 11th, 2004 | Comments off

Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.
–Hebrew Proverb

Learning takes place by construction of neural networks. Neural networks are the “whispering” of neurons to each other. Neurons are brain cells that communicate with each other via an electrochemical process that carries neurotransmitters across the division between the neurons (the synapse). Our five senses process information (external stimuli) and then select certain neural connections to become active.

In the recent past, scientists believed this network building or neural activation to be deterministic – the genes you are born with would determine the networks that could develop. However, it has been proved that activation is a random selection among many possible neural connections that could occur. It is not something that happens by deterministic design.

The ADHD Connection

No one, that’s right, no one, knows why people have attention problems. Theories abound, but since there is no real pathology associated with attention problems (other than theoretical) it cannot be physically located to be surgically corrected. However, we do know that new information (sensory input) enters the brain through preexisting networks, which is why it is imperative to provide challenging stimulation in early childhood. If the input is not new, it can trigger memory. If it is new it can trigger learning. Cognitive psychology refers to this process as constructivism: The learner builds his or her own knowledge on his current knowledge base, but only in response to a challenge. It is evident that some persons are not born with the neural networks that facilitate focused attention.

Furthermore, the old notion that early childhood experiences have little impact on later development has been proven false. We now know that the brain is directly and decisively affected by early experiences. This includes the architecture of the brain and the nature and extent of adult capacities; the actual capacity to form new neural networks is directly affected by early childhood experiences.

It was also thought that brain development is linear: the brain’s capacity to learn and change grows steadily as an infant matures into adulthood. It is now known that brain development is non-linear: there are optimum times for acquiring different kinds of knowledge and skills. For example, it is often easier for a very young child to learn a new language than a person past the age of 25.

However, the brain can grow and continue development through death provided the right conditions are met. In light of this, a recent research study quoted by WebMD Medical News shows that fluency in two languages or more prevents some of the effects of aging on brain function. The study reports that bilingual people have a greater capacity to stay focused on a task than people who spoke only one language. Inability to stay focused on a task is a hallmark of the aging brain’s decline. Bilingual people also seemed more readily able to filter out distraction or irrelevant data. This suggests that the function, capacity, or neural network involved in bilingual language processing may be the same processing needed to stay attentive. The study appears in the June, 2004 issue of the Journal Psychology and Aging.

It’s essential that early stimulation be provided as it seems to lay the foundation for growth and capacity in later life. It appears that stimulation in utero may be a good beginning.

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Neurogenesis: Mechanisms of Change

Posted by Peter on November 11th, 2004 | Comments off

Until the recent past, the exact mechanism of the brain’s reorganization, learning, and memory was unknown. With the advent of the human genome project and its subsequent research findings, we now have a greater understanding of how genetic factors contribute to human learning. The draft sequence of the human genome provides us a fundamental roadmap to understanding how the brain stores information beginning from at the genetic level which alters neural networking (our cognitive faculties), and culminates in behavioral change. In upcoming articles, I’ll shine a light on various mechanisms of change beginning with neurogenesis.

Neurogenesis

In the past, it was thought that the brain did not create new brain cells after early childhood development. Scientists were convinced that humans were born with a set of brain cells that steadily decrease as we age. Research at the Salk Institute found that patients as mature as 72 were actually creating new brain cells. The formation of new brain cells is termed neurogenesis. Furthermore, the Salk Institute’s research revealed that mice that were stimulated environmentally – for instance made to run – produced more new cells than did their counterparts who were sedentary. This growth was witnessed significantly in the hippocampus, the brain’s center for memory and learning.

While Dr. Fred Gage of the Salk Institute found neurogenesis commonplace, he did not know whether the new cells became functional neurons taking an active role in the brain to aid in learning or memory until it was revealed in later research that these cells do indeed become active neurons that grow axons for communication between other neurons and produce dendrites to receive more messages from other neurons.

Use it or lose it!

This finding presents possibility that the mature brain may be more flexible and dynamic than had previously been thought. Experience seems to shape this flexibility – we have a use it or lose it proposition. This new growth may be due to the brain’s need to replace dying cells. However, Dr. Gage says, “Another possibility is that young neurons provide a greater degree of plasticity to the mature brain. This enhanced plasticity would become apparent from the integration of new functional units whose connectivity may be shaped by experience.”

Dr. Gage’s work coincides with our current understanding of neuroplasticity and is but one wonderful example of how the brain grows and adapts to environmental challenges.

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ADHD: The problem is simply diffused attention

Posted by Peter on November 8th, 2004 | Comments off

To the man who only has a hammer in the toolkit, every problem looks like a nail.
–Abraham Maslow

As I’ve maintained for years, if we keep thinking of ADHD as unalterable brain damage, dysfunction, or dysregulation, it will be difficult to move forward with positive change. I contend that ADHD is a trait in the spectrum of human neurological variation. It is essentially no different that other genetic traits like intelligence, or eye and hair color, etc. Therefore, a new conceptualization of the basic nature and etiology of ADHD behaviors is necessary in which current known research about human potential and learning are incorporated to produce a scientific, systematic approach to teach sustained attention and improve subordinate deficits in related cognitive skills like short-term memory.

The problem is simply diffused attention. While this statement is quite simple, diffused attention greatly affects every aspect our one’s life. It makes the learning process much more difficult and therefore subsequently affects one academically, socially, and personally. However, having focused attention to a task, currently termed fluid intelligence, can be improved by providing correct challenges – both cognitive and behavioral. Therefore, one can learn to focus on any level of stimulation. The brain has a remarkable ability to compensate by either strengthening current neural networks.

In the very recent past, the brain was considered a gray lump that declined in function as it aged. We now know that this is entirely false. The brain is in a constant state of reorganization. This restructuring/reorganization of the brain is termed neuroplasticity. One of the root words is plastic. Its denotation is moldable or pliable like clay. It is not used in the sense of the hard plastic case covering a computer. Recent advances in brain scanning and analysis have revealed that the brain is plastic – always reorganizing not just in a sense of shuffling files, but architecturally as well. The wiring or neural circuitry is constantly changing depending on external challenges.

Children and adults with brain injury or developmental difficulties offer dramatic proof of the brain’s amazing capacity to compensate if provided a correct challenge that will stimulate the growth of a compensatory neural network or strengthen a previously existing one. Many neurological journals report cases where children who lose language due to a stroke at a young age often recover the ability to speak. This is due the fact that the brain is able to shift this function to another area (compensation through adaptive neural networks). According to UCLA pediatric neurologist Dr. Donald Shields, “if there’s a way to compensate, the developing brain will find it.”

Scientists apply the term neuroplasticity to the action of brain growth and adaptation in response to challenge. Provided the correct challenge and environment, children and adults frequently compensate (shift brain function from one area to another) when a certain area of the brain cannot function correctly. It is documented in many medical and neurological journals that the brain will increase activity in another region to overcome loss of another region.

Implications for ADHD

There is no question that the brain can compensate even if it has problems focusing attention. However, it has to be provided the correct environment prompting challenge. As recently as twenty years ago, scientists believed that the genes we were born with wholly determined the structure of our brains. However, current extensive research performed by scientists worldwide proves that how our brains develop, learn, and grow depends on the vital interaction between nature and nurture. Nature, or more accurately, genetic endowment, is directly affected by the environment, care, challenges, and teachings received (nurture).

As recently as twenty years ago, scientists believed that the genes we were born with wholly determined the structure of our brains. However, current extensive research performed by scientists worldwide proves that how our brains develop, learn, and grow depends on the vital interaction between nature and nurture. Nature, or more accurately, genetic endowment, is directly affected by the environment, care, challenges, and teachings received (nurture). Furthermore, the old notion that early childhood experiences have little impact on later development has been proven false. We now know that the brain is directly and decisively affected by early experiences. This includes the architecture of the brain and the nature and extent of adult capacities; the actual capacity to form new neural networks is directly affected by early childhood experiences.

When I was training at university, psychologists contended that an infant’s brain was very inactive. However, scans now reveal an infant’s brain to be three times as active as that of a college student. Much has changed in the last ten years. In upcoming commentary, I’ll describe how learning takes place, its connection to neural networks and neuroplasticity, and site studies which support that brain development can be greatly enhanced via cognitive re-education.

In upcoming articles, I’ll discuss how we learn. We’ll look at this perspective from an external cognitive approach to learning and then proceed to an internal perspective involving the actual structural neural changes that occur when we learn. Finally, I’ll examine the molecular (DNA) changes that trigger the learning process and encode it to long-term memory.

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ADHD, Brain Growth and Development

Posted by Peter on November 3rd, 2004 | Comments off

Neuroscientists now generally agree that the brain is always changing and reorganizing (neuroplasticity). Equally important is the realization that the brain’s actual fundamental architecture is subject to change in relation to internal and external challenge or stimulation. This includes the brain’s wiring or neural connections, even its shape, and size.

It was believed in the recent past that our genetic makeup was the only factor in determining how our brain develops and forms its neural connections. We now know that brain development relies on a complex interplay of nature (genetic endowment) and nurture (environmental challenges)]. The formation of neural networks can be affected by good social interactions and even good exercise. Conversely, just as the brain responds favorably to good stimulation, it can also respond unfavorably to negative stimulation.

Lack of stimulation affects the architecture of the brain

Romanian orphans offer a primary example of pernicious effects due to lack of stimulation. Studies on human children demonstrating the impact of stimuli deprivation on brain function are scarce. Many stimuli deprivation studies have been performed on animal populations resulting in deleterious brain function. Romania does not adequately fund staffing for its orphanages as is the case for many of its bureaucratic institutions. Thus, there is a shortage of staff to nurture and stimulate the great number of orphans in their care. Infant stimulation is restricted to changing and feeding. However, even the feeding process is automated; the infant is turned on its side, a bottle is placed on a towel, and the child is left to suckle. The bottle is removed when empty. A study performed on these infants performed by Wayne State University, Detroit, found that Romanian orphans had dysfunction in a number of brain regions that caused both short-term and long-term detriments. It clearly demonstrates that nature and nurture play significant roles in brain development. Lack of stimulation actually affects the architecture of the brain – its fundamental wiring does not develop appropriately.

Appropriate stimulation affects the brain positively

Recent research suggests that appropriate stimulation affects the brain positively. In a study performed by psychology professor, Frances Kuo of the University of Illinois, and reported in the American Journal of Public Health children with ADHD were placed in an outdoor ‘green’ environment. Researchers wanted to explore the possibility that exposure to nature and challenges presented by being outdoors could mitigate attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms. The results, reported by parents, showed that children who spent a few hours playing outside in green, natural settings showed a significant reduction of symptoms compared with children who had spent time indoors or surrounded by asphalt and pavement. These results were reported regardless of whether the children in the study were on medication. The study did not indicate the degree by which symptoms were reduced; it reported only that the symptoms were reduced. The author of the study, Dr. Kuo, says, “Unfortunately, all we can say is that (the effect of nature) is a real effect that is big enough that parents were noticing it, and they were not looking for it.”

Taxi drivers’ brains ‘grow’ on the job

Another noteworthy study performed by University College, London and reported by BBC News, compared the brains of London taxi cab drivers with non-taxi drivers. London is a very old city. Its buildings were built around very old streets and closes. Thus, navigation in London is more challenging than a city like New York whose streets have been laid out in a grid or matrix. London taxi drivers must apprentice for at least two years and then pass rigorous police examinations before they can be licensed. This period is colloquially termed ‘Being on the Knowledge.’ The driver must develop extraordinary spatial navigational skills to be able to accommodate his passenger’s requests. Most drivers can not only find the most arcane location, but can describe the scenery and history of the sites en route. Brain scans of the taxi drivers pre and post apprenticeship and over long terms of duty revealed that their brains had changed from their peers. A region of the hippocampus, center of memory, emotion, and learning, had nearly doubled in size compared to others who had not undergone training. As I’ve noted previously, the constant reorganization and changes in the connections between linked neurons in the brain is termed neuroplasticity. New neural connections are actually made through the mechanism of axonal sprouting where axons grow new nerve endings to reconnect the neurons. Particular to the hippocampus, the center of memory, emotion, and learning in the brain, axons can also sprout nerve endings and connect with other neurons to form new neural pathways. While new connections can form quickly, the process must be initiated by appropriate challenge/stimulation. The extraordinary challenge provided to the taxi drivers during their apprenticeships resulted in the increased development of posterior sections of their hippocampi. The study suggests that the growth became greater in correlation to the time spent on the job or ‘On the Knowledge.”

Rethinking ADHD

Two significant conclusions can be drawn from this research. The first is that the brain is always changing and reorganizing (neuroplasticity), and due to this, it can actually change its fundamental architecture. Secondly, such fundamental changes come from external challenges and can result in behavioral changes like finding one’s way through a city or mitigating ADHD symptoms. The ramifications of this are significant because at this time ADHD is considered to be a neurobiological disorder. If mitigation of ADHD symptoms can be induced by external challenges, we may very well have to rethink its etiology or concede that it a normal characteristic on the spectrum of human traits which can be dealt with, at least in part, by external challenges.

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