The Plastic Brain (Part 1)

As children, we were made to believe that our brains remain static, once they have been programmed and fed information or exposed to the necessary knowledge or language during childhood. Another misconception is that when we are young, our brains are capable of learning and developing, but after a certain age, our mental faculties automatically decline, get wasted and shut down. An old Arabic saying was drilled into my head as a child. It says: “While childhood learning is like engraving on stone, adulthood learning is like writing on sand.” It sounds plausible, because we see older people around us rapidly declining physically and mentally. However, seeing certain seniors in my community, on television and in the newspapers with mental faculties sharper and intellect richer than that of their younger peers, makes me question this particular conventional wisdom. To support my doubts, more middle-aged people are seen finishing high school and higher studies, becoming successful even after the age of 40 and 50. I am wondering if the above saying is still valid. If these individuals can acquire education, knowledge and new skills as well as excel at the age of decline, we should refute such faulty concepts in order not to succumb to hopeless fates and accept memory loss and inability as an undisputable fact. We should embrace innovative ideas and try to learn new skills and languages at any age. We should not accept mental degeneration as a (ital) fait accompli (ital.). Such a flawed notion should be rejected in order for us to retain, develop or regain our cognitive faculties. Outdated understandings can be deleterious to our ever-changing brains. Fortunately, we still see a few diligent scientists who refuse the status quo and challenge such misconceptions of the past that could impede progress in this area of neuroscience. Let me explain that. Recently, when my dear friend Paula and I were discussing the human brain’s ability to adapt and adjust to certain harsh conditions, she mentioned a book that explained the elasticity of the brain. It is called “The Brain that Changes Itself” by psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Norman Doidge, M.D. The conversation became interesting as both of us agreed on the subject. The next day, she met me with the book in her hand. I appreciated the thought. Little did I know how grateful I am to her today for offering me this valuable book. Reading it led me to a new way of perceiving the brain. Now, you will see why I want to share with you the informative knowledge within its folds in spite of the skeptics who will reject the concept of the brain’s plasticity like many reactive mainstream neuroscientists and neurologists. The interesting content of the book drove me to write these brief articles. Fortunately, findings show that it is not hopeless for mentally and cognitively disabled patients to find the appropriate help from experts. Such scientists try to re-channel certain mental and physical brain functions to be performed by other healthy sections of the brain. The newly trained spots take over the operating power of the damaged areas. This can be achieved through continuous striving, hard training and resolve by stroke patients, family assistance and love and passionately involved experts. Allow me to share this real life story recounted by Dr. Doidge. The unfortunate Cheryl lost the function of her “vestibular apparatus, the sensory organ for the balance system,” due to the high doses of the powerful antibiotic, gentamicin, prescribed to her for a postoperative infection. The high doses damaged a section of her inner ear, the vestibular apparatus. Subsequently, she developed a rare case of anxiety and fear of constantly falling and losing balance. She became physically and mentally dysfunctional. She consulted Paul Bach-y-Rita, a forefront pioneering neuroscientist in brain plasticity. He and his team biophysicist, Yuri Danilov, came up with a device in the shape of a hat called the “accelerometer.” She was made to suck at a plastic chip attached to electrodes, connected to the accelerometer. The signals were sent to a close-by computer, which “send[s] balance signals to her brain from her tongue.” The contraption managed to reverse Cheryl’s nightmare and she recovered her sense of balance, thus the vestibular system and its functions. Eventually, Cheryl was able to remove the hat for longer periods, regaining her balance by activating different parts of her brain to perform the desired functions. Being “a basic scientist and a rehabilitation physician,” a rare combination, Paul Bach-y-Rita was also able to make congenitally blind people see for the first time in their lives. Their damaged retinas were unable to send back images. He devised stimulators that were put on the patient’s skin. These made camera-like pixels of the scene called “tactile-vision device,” enabling the blind to see faces, shadows and positions of objects as well as read through a computer. Though below normal standard is the resolution of the object, the blind were finally able to see. By making the camera do the work of the retina, he enabled the brain to adapt to these changes and make it see people and objects. He believes that “we see with our brains, not with our eyes,” contrary to “conventional wisdom.” It is a matter of reorganizing the brain. Unfortunately, very few in the medical community believed in his invention or in the sensory plasticity of the brain, making the machine a thing of the past. There are other stories and more conditions that demonstrate that there are ways to change your destiny and that you should neither remain hopeless nor helpless when it comes to the brain, only with a strong will and the proper know-how. It is all about using it or losing it and finding the right methods of developing alternative parts of the brain. Next week, inshallah, in Part 2, I shall continue with more examples that validate the plasticity of the human brain and how the healthy half of the brain can take over the functions of the affected or missing part, whether it is to recover speech, motor skills or any other. Together, science, technology and acceptance from the medical community, can work miracles to upgrade the life of the less fortunate. N.B.: Individuals with medical conditions or on medication should consult their physicians when they decide to introduce anything new in their diet even if it is natural.