Brain Structure

The brain is a fascinating collection of cells that is designed to regulate the body, make connections, and track all of the events and experiences that happen to a person. It has the ability to shape and reshape itself during a person’s lifetime. I am fascinated by what Douglas Hofstadter calls the “strange loop” of the brain examining itself and determining consciously what is consciousness. Scientists can study the brain by examining blood flow to different parts of the brain, by observing electrical neural activity, and by looking at effects of damage to the brain. There is the famous case described by Dr. Oliver Sacks of the man who received brain damage in a car crash, but was able to function quite well. However, he was unable to recognize his wife and in one test, identified her as a hat, ironically a hat he cared for dearly. The brain damage was located in the rear of the brain where facial recognition occurs. There was no damage to his emotional center of his brain, so he cared dearly for his wife, but wasn’t sure who, or what, she was. Such damage is fascinating and horrible to imagine. Yet, we also know that many people with brain damage are able to overcome the effects through the “plasticity” of the brain, or its ability to rewire and form new circuits.

Plasticity

There’s a myth that the brain you’re born with the brain you live with. Numerous recent studies have found that the brain, in fact, changes its structure every time you learn something, try something different, and experience something new. There is no longer an issue of “nature v. nurture” since the experiences you have change the brain you’re born with. This ability to change itself is called “plasticity” and younger brains tend to be more able to change. However, numerous studies have shown that Alzheimer’s is able to be delayed for a time when the brain is activated by new experiences. The plasticity of the brain can fend off crippling tangles of neurological “plaque” by rewiring itself.

This plasticity of the brain allows people to change their own brains as well. In a landmark study cited by Begley, Schwartz and colleagues found that people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) were able to physically re-wire their brains by examining their own brain thoughts. “My brain is generating another obsessive thought. Don’t I know that it is just some garbage thrown up by a faulty circuit?” As a result, the obsessive thoughts decreased, and activity in the orbital frontal cortex decreased dramatically.

Such therapies have been found to be effective in the control of depression as well, and physical, structural changes are noted in the brain afterwards. A study in which depressed patients were given “cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) activities instead of medication found that medication muted activity in the parts of the brain associated with negative thinking. CBT, in contrast, raised the activity in the brain known for positive emotions. As Schwartz said “the mind can change the brain”.

While the brain can reshape itself when confronted with OCD or depression, some researchers have also found that ordinary people who have been trained to focus on positive things can also reshape their brains. A study of students who were trained in positive, meditative thinking found that their brains changed in the pattern of neurons that fired from particular areas. An old saying that I grew up with was “Don’t cross your eyes — they’ll stick that way”. The recent brain studies suggest that “Think positive thoughts — your brain will stick that way”!

Stress

Stress is one of the critical issues facing all people today- children are stressed in school; parents are stressed trying to make a living; teachers are stressed trying to work within government requirements. Recent studies of stress management find that people feel the most degree of stress not when the workload is “too much”, but when they feel no power. Even little children are reporting feeling stress today. When events in the world are so much a part of our lives through television and the internet, young children can perceive the level of powerlessness that they have on the world around them. Studies have also found that continued, long-term stress can alter your blood chemistry. The adrenaline “shot”, the comfort food that we turn to, the sleeplessness, the shortness of breath — over a long period of time, all of these can alter blood chemistry with too much cortisol, a hormone produced that is supposed to alert us to danger and other “fight or flight” reactions. When the cortisol in our body does not decrease, our bodies are not balanced, even when the immediate stress eases off.

It is important to note that we cannot avoid stress. Just waking up activates the body’s stress reactions and cortisol production. That explains the jerk I have most mornings when the alarm goes off. In most people, that initial stress decreases during the day. However, when people are depressed or sleep-deprived, the stress level does not decrease. When this happens over time for a long period of time, the body adjusts, and does not decrease the level of cortisol in the system.

However, when the brain becomes aware of its own reactions to stress, it can make choices that reduce the effects of stress. Deep breathing, meditation, relaxation, social connections — all of these well-known strategies involve physically altering the neurological connections being made. Thus, when a person realizes that they are stressed, they have the ability to change their own biological patterns.

Mirror Neurons

The brain learns from direct experience. Anyone who has touched a hot stove can tell you this. However, the brain also learns from observing others. A child watching a brother touch a hot stove learns that the hot stove hurts and will avoid it. This type of learning that occurs because of observation, and mimics’ learning from experience is a result of a neurological discovery of “mirror neurons”. Brain scans on people show activity in the same areas that macaque monkeys, monkeys with similar brain structures to humans, have been found to have mirror neurons. These neurons fire when a child learns from the environment around them, and when they observe someone else learning. Thus, when you see someone smile, you understand that they feel happy because you know that you smile when you’re happy; when you see someone crying, you know that they feel sad. These neurons allow children to understand other people’s actions and emotions. They also allow children to understand other’s perspectives, so a child seeing a friend say “ouch” assumes that the friend feels pain.

In some of the most fascinating research today, it is hypothesized that children with autism have limited mirror neural activity. Thus, a child with autism may not immediately learn from another child, nor be able to comprehend what someone else is feeling or thinking. Also, in terms of their location, mirror neurons are active near the language center, another area of challenge for students with autism.

What Happened in School Today? Nothing…

How many times have you asked your child what happened in school today and their response was “nothing”? How many times have you caught yourself staring into space daydreaming? Both of these are part of the “nothing” phenomena, in which people are not aware that brain activity is actually going on. When the brain is not actively engaged in a task, such as adding numbers, talking to someone, or typing, different parts of the brain called the “dark network” become activated. Using this tangled network of neurons, the brain switches into “time travel”. The human body travels through space at the rate of one minute per minute; a concept called aging. However, the brain travels around and across the spectrum of time, remembering events from the past, planning the future, and seeing the connections between the present, past and impact on the future. I can remember where I was on September 11, 2001. I can plan what I need to get when I go grocery shopping. I can remember the day of my daughter’s birth, know that her birthday is coming up, and I need to get her a present. This ability to maneuver through time is often called other things: learning, planning, preparing, predicting- all of those skills that are impacted by illness, age or accidents.

Young children are learning to maneuver through this time travel and are often confused about time value and when things happened. My son used to call anything in the past “yesterday” and anything in the future “tomorrow”. As we age and the brain forms itself into logical neural networks, this ability to time travel more accurately improves.

Implications for Parenting and Schooling

As a parent myself and as an educator, I read this edition of Time Magazine with fascination. There are several suggestions that come out of this research. Most of these insights are types of insights that my mother and grandmother provided me while I was growing up, but the neurological foundations are better explained now. Suggestions include:

• “Look on the bright side” — Encourage your children to have a positive outlook. The more often they see the “bright side” of things, the better they’ll get at it.

• “Monkey see- monkey do” — Children will learn from what they see others doing. The old phrase “do as I say, not as I do” does not hold true.

• “Don’t watch that stuff” — Keep children away from violent images. Seeing others delight in or become blase about violence decreases empathy.

• “Make a plan” — Encourage children to observe their own “time travels” in their minds. They can become better planners and strengthen their memory.

• “Make a choice” — Give your children a set of choices that you have selected. When they are presented with choices, they feel more power, and consequently, less stress.

• “Take a deep breath” — Encourage children (and yourself!) to “take a deep breath” when things get stressful. The body decreases cortisol production when there is more oxygen in the system. More oxygen = less stress.

• “Love your neighbor” — Encourage your children to think about what they’re seeing and what others might be feeling. By encouraging them to use their mirror neurons, they can activate empathy and understanding to a better degree.

It is important to note, however, that while the articles in Time Magazine all consistently discussed the brain’s amazing power to restructure itself and change levels of stress, obsessive-compulsive behavior and depression, many of these changes needed the assistance of professionals. If someone is clinically depressed and stressed, merely telling them to “buck up- life gets better” cannot produce effective results. Many people need medication or therapy to assist them in restructuring their brain. But in the end, we have the opportunity to “make up our own mind” by the thoughts we choose to think!

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References

Begley, S. 92007). How the brain rewires itself. Time Magazine, 169(5), 71-79.
Gilbert, D. & Buckner, R. (2007). Time travel in the brain. Time Magazine, 169(5), 91.
Gorman, C. (2007). Six lessons for handling stress. Time Magazine, 169(5), 80-85.
Nash, I. M. (2007). The gift of mimicry. Time Magazine, 169(5), 109-113.
Pinkner, S. (2007). The mystery of consciousness. Time Magazine, 169(5), 59-70.