Brain and neuroplasticity
Researched and written by Faizan
Give a warm welcome to Faizan for sharing his research and enriching the tomes of knowledge in Al-bayt Al-Hikmah! Here he is, in his own words!
Have you ever heard the proverb "Everyone is the product of their environment" and wondered if there is any truth to it? Well, Science says yes. It is well known that genetic and environmental factors shape our brains and personalities. This would mean that our personality is contingent on our experiences. For example, a study has shown that children raised/institutionalized in orphanages tend to have higher symptoms of anxiety as compared to children who were raised in normal households. This happens because of something called neuroplasticity.
What is Neuroplasticity?
Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to change and adapt to respond to the external and internal factors that eventually shape it.
There are two kinds of plasticity: experience-expectant and experience-dependent.
In experience-expectant plasticity, external inputs during critical developmental windows guide normal development of the brain. For babies, this includes things like hearing language, seeing faces, and being held. Without these inputs, the brain fails to properly mature.
Experience-dependent plasticity is the remodelling of the brain in response to unique life experiences. These changes are not linked to normal patterns of development and can occur throughout life, both during and outside of critical periods. They even happen in adulthood, as our brains are constantly changing in response to our experiences. For example, people who learn to play the violin show greater cortical development in brain regions controlling the left hand.
What does it mean?
Our brains consist of something have something called neural pathways which are made up of neurons. The neurons are responsible for communicating information in our brain, the brains of children are more neuroplastic, meaning, that they are quick to form new neural pathways and hence children are better equipped to learn new languages and absorb behavioral patterns and this brings us to our next concept called Automaticity.
What is Automaticity?
When certain actions, responses or behaviors become ingrained and performed almost instinctively, without a conscious and deliberate decision-making process, we call this automaticity. For example, brushing or driving. Often times you must find yourself lost in your train of thought while walking down a familiar road, this is because the brain does not need to invest effort in mapping the road and the environment as this has been already automated in your brain.
What are it’s implications?
The major takeaway is that since our brains are neuroplastic, we can create new neural pathways and change our habits, reactions, personalities and experiences. As Vignola Nicole writes in her book Rewire “There is a study which suggests that Similarly, if you want to change a habit or unlearn a particular behaviour, you must pay attention to it regularly and then repeat it until it becomes as automatic as brushing your teeth. On average it can take anywhere from 18 to 254 days to form a depending on the individual. And on average it takes around 66 days for a behaviour to become automatic”
There is a word of caution though, as noted in a brainfacts article “Despite what the currents of our culture might insistently beckon us towards believing, the brain is not Play-Doh. “You can’t open up new areas of it, You can’t extend it into different parts. The brain isn’t a mass of grey gloop. You can’t do anything you like.”.
But what we can hope to do is to make small yet significant change in our habits, thinking and actions which would in turn have a positive impact on our well being.
References
Vignola, Nicole. Rewire: Break the Cycle, Alter Your Thoughts and Create Lasting Change.
Can You Think Yourself Into a Different Person? – Brainfacts.org
The plastic brain – Brainfacts.org
Lally, P., W. Potts, H. W., & Wardle, J. (2010). How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. European Journal of Social Psychology, 40(6), 998-1009. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.674
Rilling, J. K., & Young, L. J. (2014). The biology of mammalian parenting and its effect on offspring social development. Science (New York, N.Y.), 345(6198), 771. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1252723
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