In childhood neuroplasticity is greater, the brain is more flexible than ever and continuously receives new stimuli. Now? A lot of neurons are born that accelerate the good development and learning of the child. In this way, childhood is a sensitive period of development, especially during the first five years.
However, the fact that our brain is more plastic and therefore flexible in the face of changes does not mean that with age this plasticity disappears and it is not possible to learn or create new synaptic connections. Thus, even in old age, the brain’s ability to learn is demonstrated.
- The brain has the ability to adapt to the environment and make changes to its own structure to meet the demands of the environment.
- One of the tests of brain adaptability is the fact that people who can’t see or hear develop more other areas of the brain dedicated to perception through other senses and brain functions are reorganized.
Spanish scientist Pascual-Leone demonstrated this ability through an experiment in which healthy individuals were blindfolded for five days, while individuals read braille and performed auditory discrimination activities, mri was observed to begin to activate by hearing. and touch, the brain adapted.
This experiment was conducted in adults, which means that, contrary to what was thought a few years ago, the human brain continues to undergo changes throughout its life, and this reorganization has a lot to do with the needs required by the environment and its resources. to deal with it.
We all know that children have a high learning capacity and that they have a greater capacity than adults for various new tasks, such as playing an instrument, learning a new language or memorizing a text, it is a reality the proliferation of new neurons (neurogenesis) in childhood is impressive and, as we grow, this capacity decreases.
However, neurogenesis continues even when we are older. The old belief that we were born with a number of neurons and that throughout our lives we do nothing but lose them is false. Yes, there is a decrease in neuroplasticity, but our brains are still largely malleable.
Several factors have been identified that can influence this neuroplasticity, first of all, we are talking about an enriched environment that offers challenges to our minds, secondly, it is also known that moderate exercise helps, on the other hand, senescence, chronic stress or certain components of the blood seems to alter it.
The proliferation of new nerve cells was a great discovery, there are two areas of our brain in which the phenomenon has been observed: the subventricular area and the hippocampus, the latter closely related to memory, it is possible to see this neurogenesis in the Hippocampus is stimulated when we acquire new learnings, favoring memory.
Neural plasticity is the mechanism that produces learning, on the other hand, the ability to learn from all is determined by both genetics and education, for example, each person’s IQ would be largely determined by genetics, but the intellectual effort made also has an impact on the plasticity of our brain and our abilities.
Although genetically we have a great capacity for learning, we will be indebted if we do not know how to develop it. If we keep him asleep and do not put it into practice, we not only lose the ability to develop it, but also the ability to do so to a high limit. So not only would we stop adding, but we would also subtract some of that potential from our future.
Cognitive stimulation is essential for our brain to be prepared to adapt to the demands of our environment. Neuroplasticity is a fundamental mechanism for treating brain damage; It is assumed that those who have benefited from plasticity through learning will have more resources to overcome or compensate for the damage suffered.