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Brain Anatomy and Learning Physiology
100 Billion Neurons
You are born with at least 100 billion brain cells, called neurons. As you listen to,
talk about, or practice something, fibers called dendrites grow out of your
neurons. Learning is built, as your network of dendrites grows higher and higher,
with new dendrites sprouting from existing dendrites. In other words, you’re
building new knowledge upon the things you already know (like a tree sprouting
twigs from existing branches).
Growing Strong Dendrites – And Synapses
Growing your dendrites takes time and practice. When two dendrites grow
close together, chemical or electrical messages can be sent from one neuron to
another, through the contact point between the dendrites, called the synapse.
Learning a subject or skill involves growing topic-specific dendrites to connect
specific neurons at specific synapses. Your neurological network grows more
and more massive with each new piece of information learned. You can grow
as many as 10,000 connections (synapses) for each of the 100 billion neurons
you have! Do the math… it’s “mind-boggling” (if you pardon the expression).
Practice Makes Perfect
As you practice something, your related dendrites develop a thick fatty coating.
Thicker dendrites pass signals over the synapses more quickly. The coating also
reduces interference, enabling you to come up with answers more quickly.
Your volume of synapses is constantly changing, too, and some are stronger
than others. Weak synapses become stronger through practice and learning.
No matter how many synapses a neuron has, it still has the potential to grow
more. Scientific proof that “practice makes perfect”!
The brain is constantly changing and reorganizing itself by forming new neural
connections. That’s called brain – or neuro – plasticity. This process takes place
throughout our lives, as we learn from and react to sensory inputs of all kinds. This
is an extremely important point to understand! Your intelligence level is not
fixed; it can grow and change.
Your Brain on Stress
Neurons adjust their activities in response to new situations and changes in your
environment. Scans of people’s brains in times of stress shows that the increased
stress (or metabolic state) blocks processing in the brain’s prefrontal cortex
(PFC). New learning can only get incorporated into long-term, conceptual
memory when the information is processed in the PFC. When stress blocks the
PFC, the lower brain’s reactive behaviors take over.
The limbic system, located in the lower part of the brain, controls emotions.
Depending on the limbic system’s interpretation of the stimuli, it either opens or
closes access to the cortical function in the higher parts of the brain.
The limbic system operates in “fight or flight” mode. If it senses “danger” certain
chemicals flow into the synapses to shut down access to other brain functions.
“Danger” means flight: there’s no time to think. You might mistakenly think you
have a poor memory, but in reality, your emotions may have sabotaged your
memory.
Conversely, if the limbic system says, “safe” or “happy,” the brain opens up to
knowledge, imagination and creativity. When you feel confident, a different set
of chemicals flow into the synapses, enabling them to work quickly and well. This
is the “fight” reaction: the belief that “I can handle this.”
What Can You Do to Grow Your Brain?
Stay positive and optimistic! Remember! Your brain can grow! If something
seems hard, you just need to try again! You can get it!
You don’t need to be better than anyone else! You just need to be better than
you were yesterday!
Effort is worth more than intelligence! Remember! Your intelligence can
increase!!
“I can accept failure. Everyone fails at something. But I can’t accept not trying.” –
Michael Jordan
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try Again. Fail again. Fail better.” - Samuel
Beckett
“You only fail when you stop trying.” – Unknown
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.” – Unknown