"The real story of how our brains and nervous systems change throughout our lifetimes-with or without ""brain training.""Fifty years ago, neuroscientists thought that a mature brain was fixed like a fly in amber, unable to change. Today, we know that our brains and nervous systems change throughout our lifetimes. This concept of neuroplasticity has captured the imagination of a public eager for self-improvement-and has inspired countless Internet entrepreneurs who peddle dubious ""brain training"" games and apps. In this book, Moheb Costandi offers a concise and engaging overview of neuroplasticity for the general reader, describing how our brains change continuously in response to our actions and experiences. Costandi discusses key experimental findings, and describes how our thinking about the brain has evolved over time. He explains how the brain changes during development, and the ""synaptic pruning"" that takes place before brain maturity. He shows that adult brains can grow new cells (citing, among many other studies, research showing that sexually mature male canaries learn a new song every year). He describes the kind of brain training that can bring about improvement in brain function. It's not gadgets and games that promise to ""rewire your brain"" but such sustained cognitive tasks as learning a musical instrument or a new language. (Costandi also notes that London cabbies increase their gray matter after rigorous training in their city's complicated streets.) He tells how brains compensate after stroke or injury; describes addiction and pain as maladaptive forms of neuroplasticity; and considers brain changes that accompany childhood, adolescence, parenthood, and aging. Each of our brains is custom-built. Neuroplasticity is at the heart of what makes us human."
By:
Moheb Costandi Imprint: Massachusetts Inst of Tec Country of Publication: United States Dimensions:
Height: 178mm,
Width: 127mm,
Spine: 13mm
Weight: 181g ISBN:9780262529334 ISBN 10: 0262529335 Series:Neuroplasticity Pages: 192 Publication Date:19 August 2016 Recommended Age: From 18 years Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format:Paperback Publisher's Status: Active
Moheb Costandi writes the Neurophilosophy blog for The Guardian and is the author of 50 Human Brain Ideas You Really Need to Know.