Old dogs can learn new tricks!
I was recently at a conference in New Zealand and the speaker before me was a neuro-anatomist who was speaking on Neural Plasticity. Neural Plasticity means that the brain has an amazing capacity to alter how its neurons are organised. For many years it was thought that after we reached adulthood, the neurons in the brain were set. However we now know that you can change the density and capacity of neurons in your brain.
For example when you first started to drive the neural patterns for this activity was quite weak and unco-ordinated, the more you drove the stronger this neural pattern became and the better you got at driving.
Further evidence comes from stroke patients. A stroke is where part of the brain dies due to a lack of blood flow. Following a stroke, researchers observed that other regions of the brain took over the function of the part of the brain that had died. For example if they lost the ability to speak, over time with rehab and concerted effort, surrounding areas of the brain took up this function and they regained the ability to speak.
Talents
We all have different talents! We are good at some things and terrible at others. Some people are good at artistic things like music or languages, while others are better at analytical endeavours like maths and science.
Here’s why!
The brain is divided up into specific regions, one for planning, one for language, one for co-ordination, etc.
A talent is just a higher density of neurons in a certain part of the brain. Sporty people have a high level of neurons in the co-ordination areas of the brain, while some one with a good memory got more neurons in the memory area of the brain. Simple!
When we try something that we don’t have a talent for, we find it difficult and most people quit and never try it again. Because of this the neurons in that area of the brain fail to develop. This is the wrong approach as with effort you can increase the density of the neurons in every area of the brain and get better at any task.
For example if you do not have a flair for languages and you try to learn one, it tends to be difficult for you and you most likely give up. However if you persevered it would get easier for you.
What does this mean for us? No matter what your current ability, with effort you can always develop it and improve your performance.
Don’t focus on whether you are talented at something focus on how much effort you are putting into it. Accept that some things take more time than others, but it will become easier.
Posted by Dr Adam fraser
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