HOW OUR BRAIN WORKING

 

                              THE INTERESTING POINTS

                                     ABOUT OUR BRAIN

                                       ( OPPORTUNITY )

                            THE HUMAN BRAIN IS BY NO MEANS FULLY FORMED A BIRTH. IT CONTINUES TO SHAPE ITSELF THROUGH LIFE, WITH THE MOST INTENSE GROWTH OCCURING DURING CHILDHOOD. CHILDREN ARE BOTH WITH MANY MO NEURONS THAN THEIR MATURE BRAIN WILL RETAIN, THROUGH A PROCESS KNOWN AS "PRUNING" THE BRAIN ACTUALLY LOSES THE NEURONAL CONNECTIONS THAT ARE LESS USED, AND FORMS STRONG CONNECTION IN THOSE SYNAPTIC CIRCUITS THAT HAVE BEEN UTILIZED THE MOST. PRUNING, BY DOING AWAY WITH EXTRANEOUS SYNAPES, IMPROVES THE SIGNAL-TO-NOISE RATIO IN THE BRAIN BY REMOVING THE CAUSE OF THE "NOISE" . THIS PROCESS IS CONSTANT AND QUICK. SYNAPTIC CONNECTIONS CAN FORM IN A MATTER OF HOURS OR OR DAYS. EXPERIENCE., PARTICULARLY IN CHILDHOOD, SCULPTS THE BRAIN.

                         THE CLASSIC DEMONSTRATION OF THE IMPACT OF EXPERIENCE ON BRAIN GROWTH WAS BY NOBEL PRIZE-WINNERS THORSTEN WIESEL AND DAVID HUBEL, BOTH NEURO SCIENTISTS. THEY SHOWED THAT IN CATS AND MONKEYS, THERE WAS A CRITICAL PERIOD DURING THE FIRST FEW MONTHS OF LIFE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SYNAPSES THAT CARRY SIGNALS FROM THE EYE TO THE VISUAL CORTEX, WHERE THOSE SIGNALS ARE INTERPRETED. IF ONE EYE WAS KEPT CLOSED DURING THAT PERIOD, THE NUMBER OF SYNAPSES FROM THAT EYE TO THE VISUAL CORTEX DWINDLED AWAY, WHILE THOSE FROM THE OPEN EYE MULTIPLIED. IF AFTER THE CRITICAL PERIOD ENDED THE CLOSED EYE WAS REOPENED. THE ANIMAL WAS FUNCTIONALLY BLIND IN THE EYE. ALTHOUGH NOTHING WAS WRONG WITH THE EYE ITSELF, THERE WERE TOO FEW CIRCUITS TO THE VISUAL CORTEX FOR SIGNALS FROM THAT EYE TO BE-INTERPRETED.

                       THE HABITS OF EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT THAT ARE REPEATED OVER AND OVER AGAIN DURING CHILDHOOD AND THE TEENAGE YEARS WILL THEMSELVES HELP MOLD THIS CIRCUITRY. THIS MAKES CHILDHOOD A CRUCIAL WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY FOR SHAPING LIFELONG EMOTIONAL PROPENSITIES, HABITS ACQUIRED IN CHILDHOOD BECOME SET IN THE BASIC SYNAPTIC WIRING OF NEURAL ARCHITECTURE, AND ARE HARDER TO CHANGE, LATER IN LIFE. GIVEN THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PREFRONTAL LOBES FOR MANAGING EMOTION, THE VERY LONG WINDOW FOR SYNAPTIC FOR SYNAPTIC SCULPTING IN THIS BRAIN REGION MAY WELL MEAN THAT, IN THE GRAND DESIGN OF THE BRAIN, A CHILD'S EXPERIENCES OVER THE YEARS CAN MOLD LASTING CONNECTIONS IN THE REGULATORY CIRCUITY OF THE EMOTIONAL BRAIN. AS WE HAVE SEEN, CRITICAL EXPERIENCES INCLUDE HOW DEPENDABLE AND RESPONSIVE TO THE CHILD'S NEEDS PARENTS ARE, THE OPPORTUNITIES AND GUIDANCE AND CHILD HAS IN LEARNING TO HANDLE HER OWN DISTRESS AND CONTROL IMPULSE, AND PRACTICE IN EMAPTHY. BY THE SAME TOKEN, NEGLECT OR ABUSE, THE MISATUNEMENT OF A SELF-ABSORBED OR INDIFFERENT PARENT, OR BRUTAL DISCIPLINE CAN LEAVE THEIR IMPRINT ON THE EMOTIONAL CIRCUITRY.

                        ONE OF THE MOST ESSENTIAL LESSONS, FIRST LEARNED IN INFANCY AND REFINED THROUGHOUT CHILDHOOD, IS HOW TO SOOTHE ONSELF WHEN UPSET. FOR VERY YOUNG INFANTS, SOOTHING COMES FROM CARETAKERS, A MOTHER HEARTS HER INFANT CRYING, PICKS HIM UP, HOLDS AND ROCKS HIM UNTIL HE CALMS DOWN. THIS BILOGIAL ATTUNEMENT, SOME THEORISTS PROPOSE, HELPS THE CHILD BEGIN TO LEARN HOW TO DO THE SAME FOR HIMSELF. DURING A CRITICAL PERIOD BETWEEN TEN AND EIGHTEEN MONTHS, THE ORBITOFRONTAL AREA OF THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX TEN AND EIGHTEEN MONTHS, THE ORBITOFRONTAL AREA OF THE PREFRONTAL CORTEX IS REPIDLY FORMING THE CONNECTIONS WITH THE LIMBIC BRAIN THAT WILL MAKE IT A KEY ON/OFF SWITCH FOR DISTRESS. 

                          THE INFANT WHO THROUGH COUNTLESS EPISODES OF BEING SOOTHED IS HELPTED ALONG IN LEARNING HOW TO CALM DOWN, THE SPECULATION GOES, WILL HAVE STRONGER CONNECTIONS IN THIS CIRCUIT FOR CONTROLLING DISTRESS, AND SO THROUGHOUT LIFE WILL BE BETTER AT SOOTHING HIMSELF WHEN UPSET.

                      SOME OF THE MOST TELLING OF SUCH LESSONS COME FROM PARENT TO CHILD. THERE ARE VERY DIFFERENT, EMOTIONAL HABITS INSTILLED BY PARENTS WHOSE ATTUNEMENT MEANS IN INFANT'S EMOTIONAL NEED ARE ACKNOWLEDGED AND MET OR WHOSE DISCIPLINE INCLUDES EMPATHY, ON THE ONE HAND, OR SELF-ABSORBED PARENTS WHO IGNORE A CHILD'S DISTRESS OR WHO DISCIPLINE CAPRICIOUSLY BY YELLING AND HITTING MUCH PSYCHOTHERAPY IS, IN A SENSE, A RMEDIAL TUTORIAL FOR WHAT WAS SKEWED OR MISSED COMPLETELY EARLIER IN LIFE. BUT WHY NOT DO WHAT WE CAN TO PREVENT THAT NEED, BY GIVING CHILDREN THE NUTURING AND GUIDANCE THAT CULTIVATES THE ESSENTIAL EMOTIONAL SKILLS IN THE FIRST PLACE?