We now clearly understand that the brain changes in response to its external and internally created environment and that over the years for many of us, our social conditioning around December has created physical changes in our brains that instruct us to go shopping. This principle known as neuroplasticity represents a malleability of the brain which in essence is the physical evidence of our ability to learn. In recent years, there has been increasing interest also in the role that myelination plays with our ability to learn. Myelin is a fatty substance that literally wraps itself around our axons – not all axons are myelinated but those that are, enable faster transmission of information and faster performance of any practised skills. When you find yourself being able to do something more easily or automatically, it is the practice or repetition that leads to greater myelination of the axons involved.

Christmas shopping aside, what does this mean for you? By now you have probably heard the expression ‘practice makes perfect’? In the context of myelination though it is probably more accurate to consider this statement “practice makes permanent”. The more you practise a skill, the more myelin that wraps around your axons and the faster you get at your practised skill. So here are 4 key pieces of advice around the neuroscience of learning that build upon our understanding of neuroplasticity and myelination [so far as we currently understand]…

1. Be careful who you consistently observe – select your role models carefully. The same circuits involved in using a skill are activated when observing someone else using the skill you are focusing on – all aspects of the neural circuit except the motor cortex if the skill you are trying to acquire is a physical skill. That is, every part of your brain involved in doing a skill is activated except the execution part when you observe someone else. Observing the skill and visualising a skill makes physical changes in your brain that helps the learning stick. You can thank your mirror neurons and neuroplasticity for this aspect of learning.

2. Be careful what you practice because you are embedding the skill into your nervous system. If over time, you continue to train incorrectly or consistently use poor technique, this is what you are teaching your brain and your body. The longer you work on something that is incorrect, the more myelin you are likely to encourage to grow around your axons and the more difficult it will be to improve, because myelin does not unwrap. If you have ever found it difficult to change something you have been doing for a long time, one of the reasons is because of the level of myelination [motivation and reward can also be involved]. In order to change a behaviour, you need to become more skilled at a competing or different behaviour rather than thinking that you can simply stop a problematic behaviour.

3. Make mistakes, receive regular feedback and train at the edge of your ability. According to Daniel Coyle in The Talent Code, training at the edge of your abilities produces results up to 10 times faster than regular practice. That is, making mistakes leads to better skill acquisition.

4. Surround yourself with people who are better and more skilled than you. You don’t want to be the smartest person in the room or the most skilled person in the room when you want to be become better – if you are, you probably won’t stay that way for very long. Constantly challenge yourself to look for and practice the key distinctions in doing something better.

On that note, I am off to surround myself with people who are far better at this Christmas shopping gig than I.  I am certain I’ll make some mistakes in the gift selection skill area, but I’m ok this with it.  Apparently failing better is the name of the game – for everything else there are post Christmas returns.

Have a wonderful festive season and I wish you are a very prosperous 2013.

Ackerman, P. L., Kanfer, R., & Calderwood, C. (2010). Use it or lose it? wii brain exercise practice and reading for domain knowledge. Psychology and Aging, 25(4), 753-766.

Lövdén, M., Bäckman, L., Lindenberger, U., Schaefer, S., & Schmiedek, F. (2010). A theoretical framework for the study of adult cognitive plasticity. Psychological Bulletin, 136(4), 659-676.

Tucker-Drob, E. M., Johnson, K. E., & Jones, R. N. (2009). The cognitive reserve hypothesis: A longitudinal examination of age-associated declines in reasoning and processing speed. Developmental Psychology, 45(2), 431-446.

Fedorova, I., Hussein, N., Baumann, M. H., Di Martino, C., & Salem, N. (2009). An n-3 fatty acid deficiency impairs rat spatial learning in the barnes maze. Behavioral Neuroscience, 123(1), 196-205.

Buschkuehl, M., Jaeggi, S. M., Hutchison, S., Perrig-Chiello, P., Däpp, C., Müller, M., . . . . (2008). Impact of working memory training on memory performance in old-old adults. Psychology and Aging, 23(4), 743-753.

Green, C. S., & Bavelier, D. (2008). Exercising your brain: A review of human brain plasticity and training-induced learning. Psychology and Aging, 23(4), 692-701.

Bialystok, E., & DePape, A. (2009). Musical expertise, bilingualism, and executive functioning. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance, 35(2), 565-574.

Mayr, U. (2008). Introduction to the special section on cognitive plasticity in the aging mind. Psychology and Aging, 23(4), 681-683.

Jessberger, S., & Gage, F. H. (2008). Stem-cell-associated structural and functional plasticity in the aging hippocampus. Psychology and Aging, 23(4), 684-691.

Dahlin, E., Nyberg, L., Bäckman, L., & Neely, A. S. (2008). Plasticity of executive functioning in young and older adults: Immediate training gains, transfer, and long-term maintenance. Psychology and Aging, 23(4), 720-730.

Li, S., Schmiedek, F., Huxhold, O., Röcke, C., Smith, J., & Lindenberger, U. (2008). Working memory plasticity in old age: Practice gain, transfer, and maintenance. Psychology and Aging, 23(4), 731-742.

Mercado, E. (2008). Neural and cognitive plasticity: From maps to minds. Psychological Bulletin, 134(1), 109-137.

Greenwood, P. M. (2007). Reply to grady (2007), raz (2007), and salthouse (2007): Can age and treachery triumph over youth and skill? Neuropsychology, 21(6), 680-683.

Salthouse, T. A. (2007). Comment on greenwood (2007): Functional plasticity in cognitive aging. Neuropsychology, 21(6), 678-679.

Raz, N. (2007). Comment on greenwood (2007): Which side of plasticity? Neuropsychology, 21(6), 676-677.

Grady, C. L. (2007). Comment on greenwood (2007): Solving the puzzle of structure/function relations in the aging brain? Neuropsychology, 21(6), 674-675.

Greenwood, P. M. (2007). Functional plasticity in cognitive aging: Review and hypothesis. Neuropsychology, 21(6), 657-673.

Van der Borght, K., Havekes, R., Bos, T., Eggen, B. J. L., & Van der Zee,Eddy A. (2007). Exercise improves memory acquisition and retrieval in the Y-maze task: Relationship with hippocampal neurogenesis. Behavioral Neuroscience, 121(2), 324-334.

Taub, E. (2004). Harnessing brain plasticity through behavioral techniques to produce new treatments in neurorehabilitation. American Psychologist.Special Issue: Awards Issue 2004, 59(8), 692-704.

Lesk, V. E., & Womble, S. P. (2004). Caffeine, priming, and tip of the tongue: Evidence for plasticity in the phonological system. Behavioral Neuroscience, 118(3), 453-461.

Fernández-Ballesteros, R., Zamarrón, M. D., Tárraga, L., Moya, R., & Iñiguez, J. (2003). Cognitive plasticity in healthy, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects and alzheimer’s disease patients: A research project in spain. European Psychologist.Special Issue: Psychology of Aging in Europe, 8(3), 148-159.

Kolb, B. (2003). The impact of the hebbian learning rule on research in behavioural neuroscience. Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, 44(1), 14-16.

Award for distinguished scientific contributions: Michael M. merzenich. (2001). American Psychologist, 56(11), 878-881.

Robertson, I. H., & Murre, J. M. J. (1999). Rehabilitation of brain damage: Brain plasticity and principles of guided recovery. Psychological Bulletin, 125(5), 544-575.

Johnson, M. H. (1999). Ontogenetic constraints on neural and behavioral plasticity: Evidence from imprinting and face processing. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue Canadienne De Psychologie Expérimentale, 53(1), 77-91.

Kolb, B. (1999). Synaptic plasticity and the organization of behaviour after early and late brain injury. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue Canadienne De Psychologie Expérimentale, 53(1), 62-76.

Foehring, R. C., & Lorenzon, N. M. (1999). Neuromodulation, development and synaptic plasticity. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue Canadienne De Psychologie Expérimentale, 53(1), 45-61.

Kesslak, J. P., So, V., Choi, J., Cotman, C. W., & Gomez-Pinilla, F. (1998). Learning upregulates brain-derived neurotrophic factor messenger ribonucleic acid: A mechanism to facilitate encoding and circuit maintenance? Behavioral Neuroscience, 112(4), 1012-1019.

Let’s begin with  some key terms that you may want to know… If you are familiar with the basics of the brain, please skip ahead to ***.

Brain Basics

Neurons are the cells in your brain that communicate with each other and control what you do, think and feel.
Neurotransmitters are the chemicals that neurons release in order to communicate with other brain cells.  Without neurotransmitters there is no communication.
Axons are the part of a brain cell that carry information away from it and onto other cells.
Dendrites are the receiving end of brain cells.  They accept the neurotransmitter and then turn it into an electrical signal.
The synapse is the gap between the axons of a neuron and the dendrites of a connected neuron.  It is within the space or gap that neurotransmitters pass.
The myelin sheath is the coating on the outside of axons.
Glial cells are like support cells that feed the neurons – they bring nutrition to the neurons and take waste away.  Interestingly when Einstein’s brain was examined after his passing, he was found to have a “normal” number of neurons but a larger amount of glial cells than was expected.
The blood-brain barrier is a tight mesh of cells outside of the brain that protects most nasties from getting in.  It allows water, glucose and oxygen to get in and allows CO2 to get out but it is very selective is what else it permits to access the brain.

***

Brain Fitness Basics

1. Neuroplasticity

Professor Michael Merzenich, Neuroscientist & Neuroplastician believes that  “radical improvements in cognitive functioning – how we learn, think, perceive and remember  – are possible even in the elderly.”  Baroness Susan Greenfield, a Neuroscientist at Oxford University, concludes that there is now good scientific evidence to show that exercising the brain can slow, delay and protect against age-related decline.   What allows these improvements and potentially protects your brain from decline is neuroplasticity -  your brain’s ability to change at all ages. Providing yourself with a stimulating environment can help reduce decline because the neurons are stimulated and repetition strengthens the connections between cells.  Dr Marion Diamond, and the scientist chosen to study the brain of Einstein, believes that a healthy older brain can function virtually as well as a healthy young brain, when supported by ongoing mental activity and a healthy lifestyle.

2. Neurogenesis

Research has shown that contrary to popular belief, the brain is constantly undergoing neurogenesis – the growth and development of new neurons or brain cells.  As you age a number of your brain cells die off, however it is possible to grow new brain cells at a greater rate than the rate of decline.  Learning, targeted mental and physical exercise promote neurogenesis – just as lifting weights promotes muscle growth.   If we are mentally and physically engaged, the rate at which we grow cells exceeds the rate of decline.  Labelled neurogenesis, this highly significant finding overturns a long-standing belief that the brain cells you are born with are the ones you have for life and that mental decline was inevitable.  We now know that by exerting and ‘working’ your brains you can facilitate and excite this new growth. Interestingly, physical exercise is being identified as one of the most important things that you can do for your brain in promoting the creation of new brain cells – Dr Elkhonon Goldberg, Clinical Professor of Neurology at New York University School of Medicine; Dr John Ratey,  Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Dr John Medina, Affiliate Professor at The University of Washington and Seattle Pacific University.

3. Neuroprotection & Brain Reserve

Like millions of intertwining spider webs, dendrites and axons create a density in your brain, a concept known as ‘neural reserve.’

It is proprosed that a brain that has a larger number of neural connections, a larger neural reserve, is less likely to develop degenerative brain diseases, such as Alzheimers.  In the concept of neural reserve, the size of the network of connections between brain cells matters–and more is definitely better.  Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia found people “who don’t engage in complex mental activity during their lifetime have twice the shrinkage [fewer connections] in a key part of the brain once they hit old age…”  In contrast, our cognitive connections can proliferate as a result of our individual experiences, what we have learned, and how much we challenge and stimulate ourselves.

According to Dr Yaakov Stern, Division Leader of the Cognitive Neuroscience Division of the Sergievsky Centre and Professor of Clinical Neuropsychology, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University, New York, stimulation consists of engaging in activities.  ‘In our research almost all activities are seen to contribute to reserve…no matter ones’ age, education and occupation, our level of participation in leisure activities has a significant and cumulative effect…different activities have independent, synergistic, contributions, which means the more things you do and the earlier you start, the better.  But you are never stuck: better late than never.

The fundamental lesson to be taken from current research in the area of brain fitness is not only understanding the ‘use it or lose it principle’ but living it and putting it into practice is as many varied ways as possible – physically, mentally and socially.