Up until now, this blog has discussed an overview of what brain plasticity is, and a specific insight into how it can be applied (language). Now, I'll pose a question that extends beyond the brain, and the physical human in generally, when it comes to plasticity. What if, there was something such as a 'cultural plasticity' that works similarly to how our brains and other things change. We must have a basis of which to start from, so we'll discuss memes and other ideas of cultural plasticity.
To start with memes, we should discuss what they are. Richard Dawkins coined the term in his book The Selfish Gene (1976) where he defines a meme as "a concept for discussion of evolutionary principles in explaining the spread of ideas and cultural phenomena." Which are analogous to our physiological genes that we inherit from our ancestors. So, what if 'cultural' plasticity was more than just a cultural gene (meme) getting diffused out into society? What if it was the mechanism that memes springboard off of?
A definition of Cultural Plasticity from an anthropologists standpoint.
You might be asking, what does this have to do with anything, especially my brain? Well, for one thing it's an interesting topic, and one that hasn't really been explored that much yet. Another reason could be, everyone is part of some culture, whether you want to believe it or not. So, how can we discuss (more than just "it's a meme") the subtle evolutionary changes that occur in cultures? The idea includes more than "it's a fade" and is more a "its a culture."
One account for Cultural Plasticity could be the topic of neural archaeology.
Neural archaeology came up in a discussion I had with Jimmy Eckert after a CogSci meeting when we were discussing plasticity as a main topic. Also, look at this paper to dig deeper into what neuroarchaeology and how it relates to cultural plasticity.
Plasticity, as a whole, is a very interesting topic and can be related to more than just our brains. For now, just discussing how it relates to our brains is good, but once we can apply to something that is more than just ourselves it becomes even more interesting.
I just want to say thanks for reading! Plus, if you ever are bored and want to chat about plasticity, just let me know!
-Bryan
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Boggle!
Have you ever played the board game Boggle before? (If not play it here! --> Boggle). Well, the object of the game is to connect and organize letters to make words. You are given a set amount of time to try and find as many of the words as you can. So, I thought, what a better way to break the ice with talking about linguistic plasticity than to talk about a game that involves both.
In Boggle, you have to organize the letters in the ever changing game to make words, but you also have to change the way you look at the game to find new words. This is exactly what the brain does when it comes to language and plasticity. There are numerous ways our brains shift and change when it comes to language. I'll talk about two in this post. The first one deals with the initial learning of language, and the other deals with how our brains change after some type of brain damage.
Noam Chomsky (link to a biography) was a forerunner in the idea that we have some innate predisposition to learn language as soon as we are born. This is the first step to how our brains shift and change to learn language. Humans go through different stages, some might know of the babbling stage (babble babble), then at some point a child will learn the correct way to say something ("Mommy hit the ball"). Then, there is a stage when a child will overlearn some part of the language ("Mommy hitted the ball"). Finally, the child will learn the correct way by being told correctly, or figuring out that "Mommy hitted the ball" is incorrect.
For more on the above go here: language acquisition
The way a child learns a language is due to the reorganizing and plasticity of the brain. Just as we have to change how we look at the Boggle game, a child has to change how they look at language.
At this point you should see that plasticity is a very important and powerful tool that our brain has at its disposal. To show another example of the plasticity of language in the brain we can look at damage to certain areas of the brain. I'll start with a picture of where the language areas are in the brain:
The most common aphasia's that are found to be the most talked about are Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia's. For an overview on Broca's aphasia (a really good one at that) I am going to revert you to Stacy Gioia's blog, (a fellow CogSci student herself!) which deals with case studies in Cognitive Science.
The main idea behind how plasticity and language occur in the brain is that other areas in the brain can take over some of the responsibilities that the damaged area had to do. It's shown that language is not only on the left side of our brains, but in some people it can be on both sides. So, the brain could reorganize on both sides of the brain after damage. To better explain this in I will give some links of interest on the topic.
Here are some articles on this very topic, that if you have time I would recommend reading. Reason being is, it's a lot more complex than a simple overview I can give you here. But, it's still fun to learn about.
Plasticity of Language
Experience-Dependent Neural Plasticity
Key to Harnessing Brain Plasticity
Also, if you are interested in neural networks, find me and we can discuss my small attempt at showing how an artificial neural network could recover from some type of damage.
For next time, I will discuss emerging areas in plasticity. Especially how it can relate to more than just the brain.
-Bryan
In Boggle, you have to organize the letters in the ever changing game to make words, but you also have to change the way you look at the game to find new words. This is exactly what the brain does when it comes to language and plasticity. There are numerous ways our brains shift and change when it comes to language. I'll talk about two in this post. The first one deals with the initial learning of language, and the other deals with how our brains change after some type of brain damage.
Noam Chomsky (link to a biography) was a forerunner in the idea that we have some innate predisposition to learn language as soon as we are born. This is the first step to how our brains shift and change to learn language. Humans go through different stages, some might know of the babbling stage (babble babble), then at some point a child will learn the correct way to say something ("Mommy hit the ball"). Then, there is a stage when a child will overlearn some part of the language ("Mommy hitted the ball"). Finally, the child will learn the correct way by being told correctly, or figuring out that "Mommy hitted the ball" is incorrect.
For more on the above go here: language acquisition
The way a child learns a language is due to the reorganizing and plasticity of the brain. Just as we have to change how we look at the Boggle game, a child has to change how they look at language.
At this point you should see that plasticity is a very important and powerful tool that our brain has at its disposal. To show another example of the plasticity of language in the brain we can look at damage to certain areas of the brain. I'll start with a picture of where the language areas are in the brain:
The most common aphasia's that are found to be the most talked about are Broca's and Wernicke's aphasia's. For an overview on Broca's aphasia (a really good one at that) I am going to revert you to Stacy Gioia's blog, (a fellow CogSci student herself!) which deals with case studies in Cognitive Science.
The main idea behind how plasticity and language occur in the brain is that other areas in the brain can take over some of the responsibilities that the damaged area had to do. It's shown that language is not only on the left side of our brains, but in some people it can be on both sides. So, the brain could reorganize on both sides of the brain after damage. To better explain this in I will give some links of interest on the topic.
Here are some articles on this very topic, that if you have time I would recommend reading. Reason being is, it's a lot more complex than a simple overview I can give you here. But, it's still fun to learn about.
Plasticity of Language
Experience-Dependent Neural Plasticity
Key to Harnessing Brain Plasticity
Also, if you are interested in neural networks, find me and we can discuss my small attempt at showing how an artificial neural network could recover from some type of damage.
For next time, I will discuss emerging areas in plasticity. Especially how it can relate to more than just the brain.
-Bryan
Sunday, October 3, 2010
The Beginning
Hi All! This blog "The Growing Mind" is an exploration into the plasticity of our brains. You may be wondering what "plasticity" is, and this blog will help you get a firm grasp on what it is. In short, plasticity is a way for something to be malleable and adapt to certain situations it is presented with. The term "neuroplasticity" is just that, but it deals mainly with the brain. Take a look at this website (with a really cool podcast with Norma Doidge!) about brain plasticity: http://www.positscience.com/human-brain/brain-plasticity/about-brain-plasticity. But mainly, since I am most interested in language, this blog will deal with how the shaping of our language and plasticity are related.
Check these sites out too for cool stuff on brain plasticity:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/plast.html - neuroscience isn't just for adults!
http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_merzenich_on_the_elastic_brain.html - a cool TED talk about rewiring one's brain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSu9HGnlMV0 - The Discovery Channel's take on brain plasticity
http://www.sfn.org/index.aspx?pagename=publications_rd_alzheimers - brain plasticity and Alzheimer's disease
Many more cool links to come...
P.S. The terms "neuroplasticity" and "brain plasticity" will be used interchangeably in this blog, so if anything doesn't make sense with terminology please leave a comment!
The next blog entry will deal with neuroplasticity and language.
-Bryan
"Good luck exploring the infinite abyss..." - Garden State
Check these sites out too for cool stuff on brain plasticity:
http://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/plast.html - neuroscience isn't just for adults!
http://www.ted.com/talks/michael_merzenich_on_the_elastic_brain.html - a cool TED talk about rewiring one's brain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSu9HGnlMV0 - The Discovery Channel's take on brain plasticity
http://www.sfn.org/index.aspx?pagename=publications_rd_alzheimers - brain plasticity and Alzheimer's disease
Many more cool links to come...
P.S. The terms "neuroplasticity" and "brain plasticity" will be used interchangeably in this blog, so if anything doesn't make sense with terminology please leave a comment!
The next blog entry will deal with neuroplasticity and language.
-Bryan
"Good luck exploring the infinite abyss..." - Garden State
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