I never felt comfortable explaining how the brain works, as the brain is an extremely complicated thing that's virtually unknowable even to experts, but never-the-less, when I read research pertaining to discoveries of the brain, I can't help but try to correlate the information to my own intuition of how my own brain works.
For example, an interesting excerpt about the function of new neurons in the hippocampus suggests that the reason neurons are generated in the adult brain (Popular science usually suggests the brain is pretty much complete and static by the time it reaches adulthood) is so that they give contextual cues to your brain for new short-term memories. The neural circuitry that develops as a result helps give the individual a general time-line for their new memories.
The interesting thing about this for me is that the brain is already equipped to deal with extremely complex things, there's virtually no limit to what the brain can accomplish, but is self-limited by the context of perception that cues the brain to function dependent on its environment. The more experiences we attain, however, the more neural pathways that are constructed between different parts of the brain and emergent memory properties are constructed. For example, taxi drivers develop a relatively large hippocampus because they not only have to remember a large quantity of locations and city details, but also how to get to any one place from any one other place. The implication is that these neural pathways are much more structurally complicated, and it's easy for me to imagine how this is relevant for other areas of our brain.
However, I would suggest that maybe it's not only the hippocampus that is capable of growing within the adult brain. Recent research heavily suggests the nearly endless potential for plasticity in recovering patients brains. (Plasticity refers to the brain's ability to use sections of the brain that were previously defined as being single-functioned, and using that part of the brain for completely different functions) People that have lost their sense of vertigo, for example, can change their brain's frame-work to use their other senses to help balance them out. This is complicated and difficult of course, but with the help of therapists and machines, is quite possible. The implications have even spread over to people with hearing loss, blindness, and other lost senses as well. So maybe if we learn enough about how the brain works and how to maximize efficiency in different areas of the brain, we might also be able to grow our entire brain by implementing certain life-style choices.
However the key-word here is efficiency. Take this guy for example, since he was 14 he's been losing huge percentages of his brain, about 50% - 75% smaller than the average brain, but he lives a relatively average life with only a slight decrease in the average IQ but by no means mentally disabled. I would imagine this person could even retain a higher IQ given his limited resources, but the fact that most brain scientists prior to the discovery of this man's brains would say that such a reduction in brain matter would be naturally incapable of basic survival speaks wonders to me about how little we know about how capable the brain is.
Anyway, enough about brains. I didn't make it clear in my first post, but I missed out on school this quarter. (I currently attend Seattle Central Community College) My procrastination led me to be too late to register for any of the classes I really needed, so I took a break this quarter altogether to help replenish my funds. (I have to pay for school all by myself, which I imagine is going to be hard on me when I transfer to a university) Not a good excuse, I know, I wish I hadn't missed the deadline and I probably could have done more to get in a class, but... February 17 is when I'll be able to register for spring quarter, I'll make sure I register the first chance I get.
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