brain plasticity: learning spatial relations (Introduction)

by David Turell , Tuesday, October 27, 2015, 20:00 (3106 days ago) @ David Turell

The hippocampus enlarges. First seen in London cabbies:-http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151027123859.htm-"The researchers found that the group that practiced the same route over and over -- the spatial learning group -- increased their speed at completing the driving task more than the group practicing on different routes, indicating that they learned something specific about the spatial layout of the virtual environment. The spatial learning group also improved their ability to order a sequence of random pictures taken along the route and to draw a 2-D map representing the route.-"Importantly, only the spatial learning group showed brain structural changes in a key spatial learning part of the hippocampus, the left posterior dentate gyrus. There also were increases in the synchronization of activity -- or functional connectivity -- between this region and other cortical areas in the network of brain regions responsible for spatial cognition. And, the amount of the structural change was directly related to the amount of behavioral improvement each person showed on the task.-"'The new discovery is that microscopic changes in the hippocampus are accompanied by rapid changes in the way the structure communicates with the rest of the brain," said Just, the D.O. Hebb University Professor of Psychology in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences and director of the CCBI. "We're excited that these results show what re-wiring as a result of learning might refer to. We now know, at least for this type of spatial learning, which area changes its structure and how it changes its communication with the rest of the brain.'"-Comment: We work the brain and the brain works for us.