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In his book The Human Brain That Changes Itself Dr Norman Doidge explains how the human brain is as malleable, not only in infancy as previously understood but well into adulthood and old age.

In classical neuroscience, the adult brain was considered an immutable machine, it was all about evolution and genes, what you got you were stuck with. Additionally it was believed that every part had a specific purpose, none could be repaired, IQ was fixed and that was that. Great news IT’S NOT TRUE!

Myths of the Brain

Old theory: Different parts of the brain control different parts of our body. Wrong.

Past belief: After a serious stroke, a person was crippled for life with minimal improvement likely. Wrong.

You have been told: That mental decline in old age is inevitable and if you are predisposed to it’s just bad luck. Wrong.

The Positive Side

Today’s much more sophisticated equipment and modern experiments have proven that the brain is malleable and able to change and grow. Not only is it able to respond to injury with amazing functional reorganization, it can actually respond to changes in input by coming up with a new anatomic configuration. It’s a “use it and grow it” versus ‘use it or lose it” deal, pretty much the same rule that applies to every other organ and muscle in the body.

Knowing this we, if we are smart can come up with various methods that we can consciously apply to reshape and ‘improve our brain. Dr Doidge’s book “The Brain that Changes Itself” gives insights about learning and shaping our mind and if applied in a positive way how we can help us improve our chances for a more successful rewarding and even happier life. The book is very uplifting as we explore all the possibilities we can exploit because of the way we can improve our brains performance and even repair it through mental exercise if it is damaged. ‘Doidge is positive in his outlook presenting ideas on how our thoughts can switch on specific genes and alter our brain anatomy.  He presents a sound case for how intelligence can be improved with brain exercises, how we can improve our cognition, perception and talents even by allowing our imagination shape our minds’. I guess this is similar to the old idea of imagined performance which is all positive in outcomes and how mental practice can be a great adjunct to actual physical practice which creates varying inputs based on actual outcomes that will range from poor to excellent.

There are many therapies explained in the book however the one that stands out for me is the story of the amputee that has 10 years of excruciating “phantom” pain in his missing elbow. When he is assisted by putting his good arm into a box lined with mirrors his brain is fooled into thinking it is his missing arm and he does some stretching exercises and the within a month his brain reorganizes its misfiring brain circuits and the illusion of the arm and its pain vanishes. Pretty powerful stuff.

What it Means for Managers Insights from: Agile Advice Dot Com

Agile Brains – Agile Teams

http://www.agileadvice.com/archives/2007/07/the_brain_that.html

‘Insight: Practice and practice. The method here is to follow an exact and complete set of rules until they are perfected and only after that try variations. By perfecting the rules, we allow our brains to demonstrate that we have truly internalized (or mapped) the knowledge’ i.e. put it into long-term memory and created a habit.

‘Insight: Practice as it relates to time and frequency. Shorter iterations allow for more repetition of the basic rules and structures, which allows for more effective internalizing. Under the right conditions, brain maps change quickly (minutes), but in order to “stick”, the changes have to be reinforced over the course of months.’

‘Insight: The importance of practice when we are delivering training (rather than when we are coaching a team). Instruction will be much better if it is simply packed with a mini project that is executed over multiple extremely short iterations.’

The Learning Mind has a Downside

Doidge also explains how the plastic nature of the mind affects mental mind maps in even mundane daily activities.  Societal and cultural differences and behaviors can have as much impact on the mind as trauma and physical injury which means our attitude and abilities are constantly changing in line with our personal experiences, indoctrinations, social differences or environment.

As one reviewer of the book put it: “These implications of rewiring the mind however, are also to be cautioned.  The brain is actually so malleable it is also quite vulnerable to its surroundings and seemingly little impact input to the mind can make a drastic change to the way we perceive and handle the world around us.  The impact of media and television are showing significant impact and damage on the mind leading to disorders become more and more prevalent in today’s young people. This is something to be cautious of as people can highly influence and shape the mind as well.  Parents, peers, and leaders all make a significant contribution to the structure of our brains and while it can be changed, it is not always easy to do so.”

From this still relatively new experimental data,  “the entirety of human experience: creativity, love, addiction, obsession, anger” and particularly the all important issue of human empathy and compassion “can be seen as a series distinct electrical associations are manipulated by the brain itself and of course by the brains, thought and actions of others… for better or worse”.

Neuroplasticity well may prove a curse as the brain can also as Doidge puts it “think itself into ruts”, ‘with electrical habits difficult to eradicate’.

So here’s the reason for the headline: ‘the implications for external re-engineering of the human brain are ominous, for if the brain is malleable it is also endlessly vulnerable, not only to its own mistakes but also to the ambitions and excesses of others, whether they are misguided parents, well-meaning cultural trendsetters or despotic national leaders’.

The real cruncher comes in the Appendix which is a must read where Doidge explains the indoctrination techniques of North Korea and how the brains of the North Koreans have been physically altered to such an extent that no reasonable use of logical argument will ever change their attitude to the outside world. So what you might think… then ask yourself what is happening to home schooled kids in America or Madrassa indoctrinated single view kids in Pakistan or single view of the world children of some other Middle Eastern countries.

Suddenly your optimism may dissipate.

Doidge’s book tells us that our brains are remarkably flexible, malleable… plastic and provides an enlightening and hopeful portrait of the endless adaptability of the human brain, until you think about the ramifications of the information presented in the Annexure.

This “neuroplastic revolution,” (or discovery) has dramatic implications for the future of our children in a more and more polarized and violent world. There is great potential for misuse of the brain’s plasticity – brainwashing being the assumption – Doidge leaves speculations about the future of neuroplasticity to us, the readers.