“We are never finished!”: our brains can always learn something new…and unlearn it too!

Isn’t it incredible that we can accumulate vast amounts of new knowledge every day?   From a new fact about your favourite topic, to a phrase in a different language, a funky dance move you learned, where you hid the chocolate, and also more practical learnings like how to get back home from wherever you are, and how to find your way into bed after you turn the bedroom lights out.  The brain is really incredible, and yet we pretty much take it for granted that we can recall so much of our day, week, life, thoughts, and even what’s happening next week!

It was the neuroscientist, Prof. Michael Merzenich, who grasped a great significance from this ability to continually learn, for it was he who commented “we are never finished”, meaning that our brains can always learn something new.  Prof. Merzenich developed this realization through his insightful experiments and observations leading to the discovery of ‘neuroplasticity’.  In fact, his work led to him becoming known as ‘the father of neuroplasticity’.  This is because he discovered that there are actual observable changes in brain structure as we learn new things: our brains are like plastic which can be moulded, recycled, and remodelled into something new: great swathes of the brain are literally constructed due to neuroplasticity.

Prof. Merzenich discovered that the brain’s incredible ability to remodel itself is dependent on experience. The brain is comprised of many regions (often referred to as Brodman areas), each corresponding to different functions.  For example, the occipital lobe is at the back of the brain and is associated with our visual system. And our motor cortex (key for body movements) is located on the primary motor cortex of the precentral gyrus (a strip around the top of our brain).   If we have an experience this will stimulate at least one region of the brain.  For example if we play an instrument, then the areas of the brain associated with that skill will be used (stimulated) as we do that task (or, amazingly, even if we just think about doing that task!). When new learning is challenging enough (not too easy, not too hard), it will be building upon existing knowledge housed in the relevant brain areas. This biological construction occurs when new connections between neurons (brain cells) grow in those areas as a result of the new learning.  When we really want to get good at something, as we learn it, we will use the associated brain area/s more and more, thus creating more and more new connections between neurons there.  Eventually, with much practice, we may get to a level of excellence which requires more ‘brain real estate’ (neurons and connections) than is available in a region.  At this point, astonishingly, the brain can adapt or take over space in neighbouring regions (or even elsewhere in the brain) so that these become recruited for use in the task or function the person is becoming very skilled at.  These adaptations and growth of regions are neuroplasticity in action.

There is another aspect to neuroplasticity though, because when we stop doing a task for some time, very often the brain begins to stop maintaining the connections between neurons associated with that task.  Brains are very energy hungry, so they prefer not to unnecessarily maintain connections which are rarely used (unless the connections are key to survival).  So, when connections are unused for a certain period of time, they get dissolved, and precious brain energy is conserved because the connection is simply gone!  This can mean that skills, thoughts, memories we once had will then be lost. This forms the ‘use it or lose it’ principle of neuroplasticity: if you don’t use the connections, then you will lose the connections.

Understanding this process of what happens when we use brain regions, and what happens when we don’t stimulate them, and what this then means for the modelling and remodelling, and ever-changing physical structure of the brain, is crucial to understanding neuroplasticity.  It is very significant for neuroplasticity therapies to note that this re-mouldable nature of the brain is a lifelong ‘never finished’ process.  In his book, Soft Wired, Prof Merzenich writes that the changes in brain territory which his work initially revealed,

“also revealed the fundamental nature of the neurological processes that control brain remodelling. Most of all, they showed that the representation of the surfaces of the body in your brain and the wiring that sustained them are not cast in concrete.  To the contrary, they [are] continually revisable.”

Meaning that our brains are,

“Not hard-wired, but soft-wired.”

The brain can re-mould itself again and again and again.  In fact, throughout all our lives we can learn and unlearn information, skills and more. This incredibly important discovery is fundamental to neuroplasticity therapies.  These therapies are based in knowledge accumulated from neuroscience which enables an assessment of how well a person’s brain regions are functioning (separately and when they work together).  Based on these findings, (unique to each individual) relevant and specific therapies (exercises, lifestyle changes, etc) are then used to create a tailored programme for an individual which specifically targets region/s in their brain.

And the wonderful outcome from this is that with specific and sufficient stimulation, areas of the brain can significantly change enough and as a result a person can gain new skills, abilities, and function where perhaps there was little or none before. With the ultimate aim being an upshift in quality of life for that person – whether that is aiding recovery from a brain injury, stimulating neurodevelopment, enabling a person to become more adept at a sport, or simply learning at school: neuroplasticity therapies have the potential to help any brain to perform and function better.

The groundbreaking work of Prof Merzenich in neuroplasticity has really opened many doors, and is helping many thousands of people across the world, with the potential to help millions more as awareness of the potential impacts of his great neurological insights are embraced. Prof. Merzenich has won many prestigious awards for his work, and yet what is still inspiring about him is his passion to see all of his work put to good use, particularly in terms of advances in learning and medicine, because, also inspiringly, he feels everyone deserves to reach their highest potential, and his wonderful work is helping to make that happen.