The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (James H. Silberman Books) by Norman Doidge Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science (James H. Silberman Books)
Book Review: Every time we consciously focus our attention .....
Summary: 5 Stars
I was surprised by how interesting I found this book about neuroplasticity. It grabbed my interest right away with a desciption of the work by Paul Bach-y-Rita, a great pioneer in the field of the neuroplasticity. He has demonstrated many times the process of SENSORY SUBSTITUTION: when one of our senses is damaged, another one can sometimes take it over for it. Bach-y-Rita claims that any part of the cortex should be able to process whatever electrical signals that were sent to it and that our brain modules are not as specialized as we have long thought at all. There are different types of application of the principle of sensory subsitution. For instance, Bach-y-Rita has provided people with devices that deliver sensory information to the brain so that they regained there senses (for instance sight). Another example is, when a certain part of the brain is damaged, to lead sensory information to another part of the brain and let that part process that information (for instance to led visual sensory input be processed by the auditory cortex).
Chapter 2, Building herself a better brain, is perhaps the most inspiring chapter of the book. It is the story of Barbara Arrowsmith Young. As a child she suffered from a brain dysfunction. The part of the brain that helps us understand relationships between symbols did not work well. The chapter tells about how she struggled to perform normally and how she eventually invented a treatment that helped her overcome her cognitive difficulties. After that, she has developed many specific exercises for each of the 19 brain areas that under-perform in people with learning disabilities.
Then the book moves on to another pioneer of the field, Michael Merzenich, who has made many important contributions. Through a series of experiments he proved the pasticity of the brain. It was interesting to read how his research was not taken very seriously at the time but is now, a few decades later, considered the norm. One of the important points made by Merzenich is that paying close attention is a prerequisite to long-term plastic change. The findings by Merzenich and his colleagues have many pratical implications. One is that we may improve and maintain memory at old age by actively staying in a learning mode (for instance by learning a new language) so that our control system for plasticity stays in good shape (read the chapter for the details).
The rest of the book also contains some very interesting material but the first three chapters were the best according to me. The least convincing and interesting part I found the part about Freud, but maybe that says more about me than about the book?
All in all, I highly recommend this book. More and more, a hopeful perspective on human development is emerging. Our characteristics are less carved in stone than we tend to think. Dysfunctions are often less definitive than we have long thought. We can consciously keep on developing our brain and our functioning in general. And we do. Everything we do and think shapes how we further develop. Everytime we consciously focus our attention, we change structurally. Just think of the possibilities.... and the responsibilities...
Book Review: deserves the rave reviews
Summary: 5 Stars
as someone who has done signicant repairs to my own brain functioning i can relate to several of the stories in this book. Book Review: The Resurrection of Sigmund Freud
Summary: 5 Stars
The history of Sigmund Freud's approach to the mechanisms of the mind has exhibited some tumultuous changes over the past century. Norman Doidge reminds us that Freud developed a thesis about the mind's plasticity over time. Freud's psychotherapy - irrespective of some questionable methods - was designed to allow the mind to search within itself and change outward behaviour by identifying memories hidden or repressed. However, after Freud, researchers using diagnoses of stroke or brain-injury victims, "mapped" areas in the brain for function. The first of these was the speech-producing region now named Broca's Area, after Paul Broca, its discoverer in the mid-19th century. Brain modularity, or "localization" as Doidge deems it, became the norm in brain research for decades following Broca. In this fine account of the history or recent brain studies, Doidge addresses a new concept being used to both treat and train - brain "plasticity".
Rewiring of the brain isn't a new concept. Among the more famous examples of how the brain reacts to challenges from the rest of the body is the concept known as "phantom limbs". Patients suffering amputations have complained of itchiness or pain seeming to emanate from the lost limb. V.S. Ramachandran and his colleagues have described this phenomenon in detail. "Rama" is but one of the researchers Doidge parades in a receiving line of innovative cognitive specialists. One of his more noteworthy is Michael Merzenich, who Doidge declares is the "world's leading researcher in brain plasticity". Merzenich followed the work of Wilder Penfield at McGill University in Montreal. Penfield used electrical probes to map the regions of the brain to identify which areas produced specific reactions. Penfield's work reinforced the consensus regarding "localization". Doidge goes so far as to deem neuroscience as long dominated by "localizationism" - a form of dogma. Merzenich, on the other hand used more refined equipment than available to Penfield, has made vast strides with closer detail. His work also demonstrated that "lost areas" in the brain have their duties taken up in other regions. The brain, he demonstrated, can "re-wire" itself - and in more than one way. The brain, then, isn't dominated by genetically assigned "localizations". It's "plastic" and able to change, through training or even using its own resources. In a sense, Freud's original concept has been vindicated by recent research.
Doidge follows the work of dozens of researchers who have revealed examples of this re-mapping activity. They investigate how stroke patients can learn to use limbs rendered unresponsive. The treatment seems bizarre - restrain the good limb so it will not replace the useless one. In a short time, the unresponsive limb begins to respond as the brain is forced to seek new pathways. Patient recovery has been almost spectacular, according to Doidge. He stresses that the theme is "use it or lose it" throughout the book, but is especially true in stroke victims. Where traditional therapy enhanced the capabilities of the working limb, brain plasticity demonstrates that recovering use of an affected limb should be favoured. This new therapy can be successfully applied months, or even years, after the stroke event. In this author's hands, these accounts read like a script for a car-salesman sitcom. He may be correct in his views, but nothing in brain sciences is entirely positive, as history has demonstrated.
There's more than just therapy in brain plasticity achievements. In Asia, particularly Japan, babies are born with ability to form the sound for the letter "L". Since Japanese doesn't contain any words with that sound, children lose the capacity to pronounce it. A new programme, using slowly sounded words can actually recover the pronunciation in immigrants to North America. The technique is an indicator of what Doidge refers to as "plasticity competition". Although the brain appears to re-route signals throughout the brain simply during daily use, there is also the possibility of patterns settling in and resisting change. Doidge refers to this as the "plastic paradox", and sees it as the way habits are formed and retained - even against good sense.
While Doidge has provided a comprehensive look at how recent research has overthrown the notion of "one area - one behaviour", there are numerous questions remaining. How does the mechanism work? What triggers neurons to reach out to make new connections? Is anything already in place displaced, or are idle synapses or dendrites now put to work? Does the old notion of our using "only 10 per cent. of our brain" - an clich? long dismissed by neuroscientists - have some validity, after all? Although two Appendices enlarge greatly on this overview - one on culture and another on "Progress", brain mechanics in this process remain obscure. This shortcoming requires vast amounts of further research but in no way diminishes Doidge's accomplishment. This book will remain a major element in the history of brain studies for some time. Written for any reader who has a brain, the author deserves the fullest praise for his accomplishment. The five stars is given a bit grudgingly, but this book requires the widest exposure possible. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Book Review: The Brain That Changes Itself review
Summary: 5 Stars
I can't praise this book enough! I highly recommend it. I'm just sorry all of this research got started so late.Book Review: The Brain that Changes Itself...
Summary: 5 Stars
This is an excellent book that gives you hope, not only through real experiences but through the new brain research developments. It is easy to understand and read. At first I thought it was just going to be about case studies but the author gives you research based information in laymen's terms so it's easy to follow and understand. It gives you hope that today brain injury is not the end of the world.
Love this book.