Many scientists believed that our brain does not change from childhood. Since growing up, he no longer transforms. New discoveries made in recent decades show that the old claims are not true. The theory of neuroplasticity of the brain confirms that this organ can change and does it, because it is flexible, like plasticine.
What is neuroplasticity?
Neuroplasticity is the ability of the brain to change itself throughout life. Metamorphoses can be both physical and functional; occur under the influence of both external and internal factors.
The concept of brain neuroplasticity is a very new vision, because scientists used to believe that this organ has the ability to change only at an early age and loses this ability in adulthood. They were partly right, because in childhood it is much more plastic, but this does not mean at all that the adult human brain is a static organ.
Plasticitybrain determines our ability to learn. If a person can acquire new knowledge, skills, get rid of old bad habits - his brain is plastic. It is attention and the ability to concentrate it that helps in acquiring new ways of thinking.
How does neuroplasticity work?
Our brain is an integral energy system, in which there are a large number of different labyrinths and moves. Some paths are well known to us, we move along them with a certain regularity - these are our habits.
It's not worth the trouble for us to repeat this action again, because it has been brought to automatism and moved to an even higher supraconscious level, when we do not need to connect consciousness. These automatic actions that we do correctly, easily and without effort, do not develop our brain in any way.
For example, if a musician confidently owns an instrument, he does not look at the keys, but a beginner has to watch his fingers all the time. Also, the familiar paths of our thinking include the methods that we resort to to solve certain problems, our emotions and feelings that we experience every day. This road has already been trodden and well known, it is now easier for our brain to overcome this path.
How does the brain react to new tasks?
If we have to solve previously unfamiliar tasks, experience new emotions or feelings, our thinking leads us in a different way. The first step on unfamiliar roads is always difficult, you can even physically feel how your convolutions began to work, maybeto get a headache or to pulsate in certain areas - this includes those neurons that, until recently, were sleeping soundly. This is neuroplasticity. By rebuilding the brain, we can achieve a qualitatively new level of its functioning.
While we are mastering new routes and not using the old ones, the second ones start to "overgrow with moss". The brain is plastic: if you do not make efforts on yourself and do not develop it, it is prone to degradation; if you train, "drill" new "wells" in it, then there will be more neural connections, in addition, their strength will increase.
The uniqueness of a person is that the brain controls him, but you can learn to control the insidious organ yourself. It's harder than you think, but it's absolutely real for everyone. If we got rid of a bad habit and learned to think more positively, this is the use of brain plasticity in practice. If you can focus on the ability you wish to acquire, you can change how your brain functions.
Principles of remodeling
- Motivation and commitment are the best helpers of neuroplasticity.
- The more effort you put in, the more noticeable the change.
- The first result is temporary. For changes to become permanent, you need to convince the brain of their significance.
- Neuroplasticity is not only positive changes that occur due to our efforts, but also negative ones. If you made an effort on yourself - this is a step forward, if you didn’t, then you didn’t stay standingin place, but took two steps back.
Why does it get harder to acquire knowledge over the years?
It depends not only on the development of neuroplasticity of the brain, but also on the experience gained. During our school years, we acquire a lot of knowledge. Some people get it easily, some take more time. The consciousness of most diligent students is convinced that these skills will become useful, so memory "begs" the brain to remember a certain amount of information, which it does with pleasure.
If in the future this information does not find practical application, then the brain says: "Well, why do I need this knowledge that I kept in my archives for so long?". It turns out that this data occupied a serious niche in our head, it’s good if at least once they managed to show off in front of friends or superiors.
Next time the brain will no longer be able to take into its "library" information that cannot be practically applied. Now he selects only vital knowledge. If skills or facts lie idle in our heads, they will at some point begin to "decompose" and harm our mental he alth. All knowledge must be involved. How to do it? Read the next paragraph.
How to train your brain?
Training will help keep the material in our head from stagnating. The neuroplasticity of the brain depends not only on external factors, but also on ourselves.
So here are a few ways to keep your mind sharp:
- DecideSudoku and crosswords every day. They will help make your thinking more flexible.
- Read as much as possible. This applies not only to fiction, but also to cognitive literature. It is very good if the material is unfamiliar and forces you to open a dictionary or Google. It is important that it is relevant and interesting.
- Communicating with other people. Any information remains in our brain forever, whether it is reading, communication, something heard or seen. We may not be aware of this for the time being, but it has been deposited in our subconscious and sooner or later will make itself felt. Connect with people who are better than you. If, as part of your profession, you have to contact dysfunctional individuals, then try to control yourself as much as possible in the process of communication and abstract yourself.
- Reading is useful, but an even more fruitful activity is writing. Get into rewriting or copywriting, write a fictional story or a poem, even if you think you have no talent.
- Don't watch TV and useless Youtube channels. The media offer us fully processed information, which is chewed as much as possible. It passes by the brain and immediately "swallows". If you really choose a program, then one that will not relax.
- Solve puzzles, collect Rubik's cube and puzzles.
- You can devote your free time to games to develop logic, speed of thinking or concentration.
- Use your skills in everyday life.
- Use both hands more often.
- Brain functiondepends on the general physical form, so you need to exercise and eat right.
- Sleep is the best way to "reset" the brain. During this period, it is cleared of toxins and processes the information accumulated during the day, sorts it. No wonder they say that the morning is wiser than the evening.
- Master a new musical instrument or start learning a new language. You should not improve your English if 10 years at school and 5 at the institute did not give proper results. You may not have been taught the way your brain would like. You need to choose a language and try to master it by your own methods. When you manage to open a personal study algorithm, you can use it to collect the rest of the scattered knowledge.
Check how your brain works
- Walking around the supermarket, for example, in the tea department, close your eyes and name 10 brands of goods. If you managed to remember 7 or more, this is a good result.
- Ask someone to write the names of 10 different items, study the list for 30 seconds and set it aside. Try to remember all the things in the specified order (8 or more is a good result).
- Decipher the anagrams: fetenol, iatrag, demachon, kachsha.
- Continue the pattern: 1 4 9 16 25 …
- Remove three matches to make 4 even squares.
Neuroplasticity of the brain. Exercise
1. What number is not in this picture?
2. Find 2 identical pictures.
3. Solve the example.
4. Count all the triangles in the picture.
5. What numbers do you see?
Answers
1. Number 51 is missing here.
2. Simple enough!
3. If you thought that the correct answer is 12, then you are mistaken. After the last unit in the first and second row there is no "+" sign. It is correct to consider this as the number 11, which was moved to the second line.
4. The correct answer is 35.
5. See now?
