Increase Neuroplasticity through Brainwave Entrainment

What is Brain Plasticity?

Experience constantly changes our brains. Most of us have very different behaviors and thoughts now than we did ten years ago. The original scientific term for this is neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity is a fairly simple concept. It describes how the brain, or more accurately portions of it (such as the synapses and neural pathways), is modified throughout our lives as a result of being exposed to changes in environment, emotions, and behavior. Recently, scientists have also concluded that brain plasticity can help the body cope better with the loss of extremities or body functions due to accidents.

How does Brain Plasticity work?

”Repetitio est mater studiorum”

There’s a reason the old Latin proverb “Repetition is the mother of learning” still holds true. By repeating a thought or emotion, we reinforce a neural pathway. And with each new thought that we reinforce, we begin to create a new way of being.

Neuroplasticity is very similar to ‘muscle building’. Do the same set of exercises with your body over and over again and as time passes it becomes automatic; a part of us. The same is true for the brain – we literally become what we think and do.

Why is Brain Plasticity important?

Plasticity is a key component of neural development and the normal functioning of the nervous system. As well as a response to the changing environment, aging, or pathological insult. It is necessary not only for neural networks to acquire new functional properties but also for them to remain robust and stable¹.

Neuroplasticity exists throughout our entire lives. Depending on how we use it, the connections in our brains are constantly growing stronger or weaker. Younger people change easily; their brains are very plastic.

With age, change becomes more difficult. The brain loses some of its plasticity and we become more fixed in how we think, learn, and perceive.

Before this concept, it was commonly believed that upon maturity the human brain was set. The principles of brain plasticity challenge this and claim that not only does the physiology and functional organization of the brain react to certain events or changes, but also that even the brain’s physical structure and appearance is malleable throughout adulthood.

Discoveries related to NeuroPlasticity

Here is a summarized list of amazing discoveries found through researching brain plasticity:

• The human brain can repair itself after being damaged.²
• Sleeping affects the brain’s processing power.³
• The human brain forms new pathways and strengthens existing ones in order to compensate for a loss of a function (like people’s hearing becoming better if they lose their eyesight).⁴
• Certain parts of the brain can expand or develop the more frequently they are used. For example, Researchers noted that taxi drivers have larger hippocampi than the average human. The hippocampus is the part of the brain associated with spatial memory.⁵
• Learning a new skill or an accident/illness are basically the two main factors that can generate a significant physical and organizational change in the human brain.⁶
• Both genetics and the environment we live in shape our brains. It’s not nature versus nurture, but nature and nurture.⁷
• During infancy and early childhood, our brains undergo rapid growth which leads to the formation of the brain’s basic physical and organizational foundation, but we don’t lose this ability as we become adults.
• There are two kinds of brain plasticity.⁸
  • One is structural plasticity. How we learn. Our experiences or accidents can change the physical shape and structure of the brain. Structural plasticity includes the theory that the repeated use of a skill or function enlarges or develops the portion of the brain responsible for it.
  • The other is functional plasticity which is the driving force behind the brain’s ability to cope with the loss or damage to a part of it by reassigning its functions to another portion entirely.
• Brain plasticity can vary throughout our lives. Certain life stages allow for changes more than others.⁹

A Brief History of Brain Plasticity

How it began

“Plastic” is derived from the Greek word πλαστός (plastos), which means molded. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, being plastic refers to the ability to undergo a change in shape. William James (1890) in “The Principles of Psychology” was the first to introduce the term plasticity to the neurosciences in reference to the susceptibility of human behavior to modification¹⁰.

“Plasticity [. . .] means the possession of a structure weak enough to yield to an influence, but strong enough not to yield all at once. Each relatively stable phase of equilibrium in such a structure is marked by what we may call a new set of habits. Organic matter, especially nervous tissue, seems endowed with a very extraordinary degree of plasticity of this sort; so that we may without hesitation lay down as our first proposition the following; that the phenomena of habit in living beings are due to the plasticity”

William James¹¹

Unfortunately, these ideas didn’t get any recognition at first.

Donald Hebb revised the theory in 1949 and established a theoretical framework describing the phenomenon that the brain adapts to its environment based on experience and development¹².

Shortly before him, polish neuroscientist Jerzy Konorski was the first to establish the term “neuroplasticity”¹³.

Paul Bach-y-Rita was the first to develop practical applications for the theory. He helped stroke victims regain their mobility. The motivation came from the desire to help his father, also a stroke victim, move his arms and legs again.

He designed a device called a “BrainPort” that treated balance problems caused by damage to the inner ear system and even developed a kind of technology that gave the visually impaired some semblance of vision by using a camera.

Bach-y-Rita’s efforts inspired other neuroscientists and neuroplasticity specialists to find practical ways to apply the field’s concepts.

How it’s going

Edward Taub¹⁴ focused his efforts on developing treatment methods for stroke victims that both integrated the latest technology as well as applicable neuroplasticity concepts.

Michael Merzenich¹⁵ would later take Taub’s work further by coming up with software programs for mental training exercises that helped developmentally delayed people overcome their learning impediments.

Ultimately, Merzenich and a fellow scientist named Clinton Woosley carried out a groundbreaking experiment that proved, once and for all, that the human brain was indeed plastic. By cutting up a peripheral nerve, sewing it back together, and then observing its functions after the alteration, they found that it had somehow found a way to regenerate and reprogram itself in such a way that it functioned in a near-perfect way.

Norman Doidge’s book describes the basic principles, advances, and practical applications of neuroplasticity¹⁶.

In recent years brain plasticity is rapidly gaining popularity and momentum in both the scientific and the medical world, with new technologies and studies popping up every day.

Persistent Misconceptions

Even with all of the research and new groundbreaking applications, some views are still hard to change.

Here are some common misconceptions about the brain:

• Once we reach maturity, the brain is unalterable – we actually go through about three stages of plasticity and we never stop learning.
• Our brains start deteriorating after middle age – aging does affect the brain and while our brain does not act the same way at 40 as it did at 2 years old, we can still form new neural pathways.
• Brain damage is irreversible – this is true in extreme cases where the whole brain or crucial parts of it are damaged. But for less severe trauma, the trick is to try different treatments that stimulate the brain to forge new connections.
• The portions of the brain handling specific functions are fixed and cannot change – there are certain areas of the brain responsible for particular things. Yet, for example, people who are born blind can hear better because their brains reassign that portion of the brain to auditory processing.
• We only have a fixed number of brain cells – the neurons are indeed formed in the womb before we are born. Yet part of the brain’s adaptability is that it can create new cells throughout our lifespan. Scientists have observed that the hippocampus and the olfactory bulb produce new brain cells.
• We are either “right-brained” or “left-brained” – for years the right side of the brain was associated with logic while the left side meant creativity. But mental functions exist throughout the brain. Damaging one side does not mean losing the aspect it associates to.

How to Train your Brain to be more ‘Plastic’?

So what does all this mean for you? And how do you get the best use out of all this information?

Well, as stated before – repetition is the mother of learning.

There are a lot of ways to train your brain – check out our articles on Other Brainwave entrainment methods, Brainwave Modulation and The Benefits of Mind Machines.

In the end, we’ve concluded that the best way to get consistent results is:

• Repetition – just like you work out your body to stay healthy, you should work out your brain.
• Practicing mindfulness – pay attention to your surroundings, see the world instead of just existing passively.
• Meditation – now made easy with the help of Mind Machines.
• Seek new hobbies, interesting skills you enjoy, or a new language – to ward off mental deterioration.
• Exercise at least half an hour a day to help your body and mind relax.
• Talk to people – find people you like and have things in common with. We are social animals after all.

---

References:

[1] What Is Neural Plasticity? by Rommy and Laura Eugenín-von Bernhardi, Jaime Eugenín
[2] Brain plasticity as a basis for recovery of function in humans by Paul Bach-y-Rita
[3] Sleep and plasticity by Sidarta Ribeiro
[4] Loss of Sight and Enhanced Hearing: A Neural Picture
[5] London taxi drivers and bus drivers: a structural MRI and neuropsychological analysis
[6] Understanding brain networks and brain organization by Luiz Pessoa
[7] Brain development and the nature versus nurture debate by Joan Stiles
[8] Brain Plasticity: Characteristics and Types
[9] Brain plasticity through the life span: learning to learn and action video games
[10] The Plastic Human Brain Cortex by Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Amir Amedi, Felipe Fregni, and Lotfi B. Merabet
[11] The Principles Of Psychology Volume I By William James (1890)
[12] D.O. Hebb: The Organization of Behavior, Wiley: New York; 1949 R G Morris
[13] Definition of Neuroplasticity by Jerzy Konorski
[14] UAB The University of Alabama at Birmingham – People – Primary Faculty – Edward Taub
[15] Dr. Michael Merzenich Professor Emeritus, UCSF Kavli Laureate in Neuroscience
[16] The Brain’s Way of Healing – by Nor a Doidge, M.D.