“...nothing worth knowing can be taught.” – Oscar Wilde
“We would accomplish many things if we do not think of them as impossible.” – Vince Lombardi
All of the research and studies that has been conducted on the human brain for the past couple of decades has opened the door to interesting knowledge about this gray matter lodged in our heads. Neuroplasticity, for instance, is an exciting concept that took the world by storm.
Neuroplasticity, in layman’s terms, is the brain’s ability to form and create new neurological connections that allow the brain to adapt, change, and grow. Neuroplasticity offers limitless possibilities for humans to course its destiny. It suggests primarily that by controlling our brain, we control our own fate. Several people have testified as to how they restored their lost functions[1] by tapping into the potential of the brain to rewire itself.
One living testament to this was Barbara Arrowsmith, a young woman in the 1970s who suffered from learning disabilities. In her autobiography The Woman Who Changed Her Brain, she recounts her own dramatic transformation from being a slow and struggling learner into a normal one by doing cognitive exercises, some of which we will cover later.
She was born with a formidable memory but without the ability to retain anything for the long-term. She has a hard time following directions and gets lost even in familiar places. But with years of hardship, struggle and determination, she was able to finish a graduate’s degree.
The story of a brain-wounded Russian soldier Lev Zasetsky and the works of a psychologist Mark Rosenzweig on neuroplasticity inspired her to embark on a mission of doing the experiment on her own brain. She spent time in libraries trying to read challenging books – particularly on the subject of philosophy - which are exceptionally hard to comprehend, much more for beginners as she was. The result was an incredible success.
One of the theories in neuroscience is that continuously engaging the brain with mentally challenging tasks causes it to make new neural connections and thus change its shape and composition. In short, she was able to fix her own inborn brain glitch.
Neuroplasticity proposes that you can actually shape the brain by doing activities which help you to improve cognitive abilities. It’s like exercising the body where the brain is like the muscles, which when worked and trained, gets better. It is limitless. But unlike the brain, muscles may be stretched only up to a certain limit. The capacity of the brain is intangible.
The brain is a physical thing. But the growing knowledge about the brain which we have now is just the beginning as neuroscience is still very young. The capacity of the brain is still undetermined and the possibilities about it are endless.
Come to think of it: given the certainty that there are physical changes that happen to our brain, isn’t it exciting that by sheer will, we have the power to mold it according to what we engage it in?
In this book, we look into the latest scientific studies on the brain and lay them as the foundation for the tips and strategies suggested here for stronger memory and better learning. Please enjoy.