Monday, February 13, 2017

Brain Plasticity

In "A Woman Perpetually Falling" by Norman Doidge, different techniques are used to help repair brains that have been damaged. One woman has her cerebellum damaged and cannot stay upright due to a dysfunction in her balance in her brain. Another man cannot see. The scientists hook electrodes up to the people's brains and they communicate for the damaged tissue, helping the brain function normal at least temporarily. The woman can stand for longer after each treatment. The brain is able to set those connections for the electrodes and has a residual effect on the woman.
"But our brains also reconstruct themselves in response from the simplest tools, such a blind man's cane"(26).  This means that our brains are rewiring themselves as we live just based off of our environment.
"we see with our brains, not our eyes"(15). I have always associated the eyes with sight and forgot about the brain, but there are other ways to see instead of using eyes.
"Even zig-zags on the carpet topple her, by initiating a burst of false messages that make her think she's standing crookedly when she's not"(5). I have newer thought about the visual element of balance. This made me think about how when patterns make even normal balance people. I wonder if this has something to do with motion sickness.

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