BrainPlasticity

It used to be believed that the structure of the brain was fixed from early childhood onwards. Nowadays science has revealed that the brain is constantly changing and adapting to new situations - this is brain plasticity.

Sometimes these changes can be spectacular. For example this video from Wired science shows a blind man who has learned to "see" through a device that translates a camera image into stimulation on his tongue. Through training, his brain has been "rewired" so that the stimulus from his tongue goes to the visual centres of his brain.

A briefing from the Society of Neuroscience gives lots more information on this topic, including neurogenesis - the production of new brain cells in the brain - which is now known to occur throughout adult life, and not just in children as used to be believed.

See also

• GrowthMindset