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Unlearning Neuromyths — The Learning Scientists

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One of our goals as Learning Scientists is to make sure that research is communicated in an accessible but accurate way. Unfortunately, many times science dissemination results in miscommunication and translation such that the original results and message are skewed.

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A Powerful Way to Improve Memory and Learning

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A Powerful Way to Improve Memory and Learning

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The movie "Inside Out" (2015) takes us inside the mind of its young protagonist, an 11-year-old girl named Riley, and depicts memory in a way that is sure to resonate with many people. In Riley's mind, her memories are objects - globes colored with emotions - that are stored in a mental space, just as physical objects are stored in a physical space. When Riley experiences an event and creates a new memory, a new globe is produced in her mind, rolling down a ramp like a ball returning in a bowling alley. When Riley re-experiences a past event, a globe is placed in a projector and events are replayed, projected on a screen in her mind. Cognitive psychologists refer to the mental processes involved in the creation of new memories and the recovery of past memories as encoding and retrieval, respectively. The depiction of the mind in "Inside Out" follows centuries of thought on how mind and memory work. Throughout history, scholars have used a common metaphor to talk about memory: The mind is a vast storehouse or space; memories are objects stored in that space; and retrieving a memory is akin to searching for and finding an object in a physical space (Roediger, 1980). To learn something new, according to this view, the challenge lies in getting knowledge "in" one's mental space. Getting it back "out" when needed is important, too, but learning is usually identified with the encoding of new knowledge in memory. Retrieval is assumed to be neutral for learning; retrieval is needed to assess what a person has learned, but retrieval processes themselves are not thought to produce learning. Recent advances in the science of learning and memory have challenged common assumptions about how learning happens. Specifically, recent work has shown that retrieval is critical for robust, durable, long-term learning. Every time a memory is retrieved, that memory becomes more accessible in the future. Retrieval also helps people create coherent and integrated mental representations of complex concepts, the kind of deep learning necessary to solve new problems and draw new inferences. Perhaps most surprisingly, practicing retrieval has been shown to produce more learning than engaging in other effective encoding techniques (Karpicke & Blunt, 2011). This approach, which recognizes the central role of retrieval processes in learning and aims to develop new learning strategies based on retrieval practice, is referred to as retrieval-based learning.
Retrieval Creates Learning:
Research dating back a century has shown that retrieval contributes to learning (for a historical review, see Roediger & Karpicke, 2006a), but the past decade has seen a renewed, intense focus on exploring the benefits of retrieval for learning. This recent research has established that repeated retrieval enhances learning with a wide range of materials, in a variety of settings and contexts, and with learners ranging from preschool ages into later adulthood (Balota, Duchek, Sergent-Marshall & Roediger, 2006; Fritz, Morris, Nolan & Singleton, 2007). A word-learning experiment illustrates some key points about retrieval-based learning. In the experiment (Karpicke & Bauernschmidt, 2011), students learned a list of foreign language words (e.g., Swahili vocabulary words like "mashua - boat") across cycles of study and recall trials. In study trials, the students saw a vocabulary word and its translation on the computer screen, and in recall trials, they saw a vocabulary word and had to recall and type its translation. The students studied a list of vocabulary words, then attempted to retrieve the whole list, studied it again, retrieved it again, and so on across alternating study and retrieval practice blocks. There were several different conditions in the experiment. In one condition, students simply studied the words once, without trying to recall them at all. In a second condition, students continued studying and recalling the words until they had recalled all of them once. After a word was successfully retrieved once, it was "dropped" from further practice - the students did not see it again in the learning session. Other conditions in the experiment examined the effects of repeated retrieval practice. Once a word was recalled, the computer program required the students to practice retrieving the items three more times. One repeated retrieval condition had the three recall trials happen immediately, three times in a row. This condition, referred to as massed retrieval practice, is akin to repeating a new piece of information over and over in your head right after you experience it. Finally, in the last condition highlighted here, the students also practiced retrieving the words three times, but the repeated retrievals were spaced throughout the learning session. For instance, once a student correctly recalled the translation for mashua, the program moved on to other vocabulary words, but prompts to practice retrieval of the translation for mashua would pop up later on in the program. In this way, the retrieval opportunities were spaced throughout the learning session. The key question in this research was, how well would students remember the vocabulary word translations in the long term? Figure 1 shows the proportion of translations that students remembered one week after the initial learning session. Merely studying the words once without ever recalling them produced extremely poor performance (average recall was 1 percent, barely visible on the figure). Practicing until each translation was recalled once was much better. But what about the effects of repeated retrieval practice? Massed retrieval - repeating the translations three times immediately - produced no additional gain in learning. Repeated retrieval enhanced learning only when the repetitions were spaced, and indeed, the effects of repeated spaced retrieval were very large. In a single experiment, simple changes that incorporated spaced retrieval practice took performance from nearly total forgetting to extremely good retention (about 80 percent correct) one week after an initial learning experience (see also Karpicke & Roediger, 2008; Pyc & Rawson, 2010).

Figure 1. Data from Karpicke & Bauernschmidt (2011).

Retrieval Practice is Underappreciated as a Learning Strategy:
If retrieval practice is such a potent learning strategy, one would hope that many learners would practice retrieval to learn many different things in many situations. However, as noted earlier, retrieval is not typically considered an important part of the learning process, and unfortunately, many learners do not practice retrieval as often or as effectively as they could. An emphasis on getting knowledge in memory shows up on surveys of students' learning strategies. In one survey (Karpicke, Butler & Roediger, 2009), college students were asked to list the strategies they use while studying and to rank-order the strategies. The results, shown in Figure 2, indicate that students' most frequent study strategy, by far, is repetitive reading of notes or textbooks. Active retrieval practice lagged far behind repetitive reading and other strategies (for a review of several learning strategies, see Dunlosky, Rawson, Marsh, Nathan & Willingham, 2013). A wealth of research has shown that passive repetitive reading produces little or no benefit for learning (Callender & McDaniel, 2009). Yet not only was repetitive reading the most frequently listed strategy, it was also the strategy most often listed as students' number one choice, by a large margin.

Figure 2. Student study strategy usage. Survey data from Karpicke, Butler, & Roediger (2009).

Why don't learners use repeated retrieval practice more frequently? Many students view retrieval as a "knowledge check"; they test themselves to see if they know something, rather than out of the belief that practicing retrieval itself will help them learn. This means that many students will use a "one-and-done" strategy: If they can recall something once, they believe they have learned it, so they remove it from further practice. Many students study this way when they regulate their own learning (Karpicke, 2009), even though their long-term learning will not benefit from repeated retrieval practice. Instead, a one-and-done strategy will produce long-term performance similar to the recall-once condition in Figure 1. There is some evidence that instructing learners about the benefits of retrieval leads students to report using retrieval practice more frequently when they study on their own (Einstein, Mullet & Harrison, 2012), but the best ways to influence students to practice retrieval remain to be discovered.
Practicing Retrieval Promotes Meaningful Learning
Perhaps another reason retrieval practice is not used more widely is because repeated retrieval may seem like "rote learning." Rote learning - simple memorization based on repetition - is short-lived, poorly organized and does not support the ability to transfer knowledge, make inferences or solve new problems. The outcome of rote learning is obviously not what students and educators aim for. Meaningful learning is essentially the opposite of rote learning: It is long-lasting and durable, coherent and well organized, and supports transfer, inferencing and problem solving. In fact, the past decade of research on retrieval-based learning has firmly established that retrieval practice promotes meaningful learning. Retrieval-based learning may be a more effective means of achieving meaningful learning than other popular active learning strategies. In one example of this (Karpicke & Blunt, 2011), students studied educational texts about science topics using one of two strategies. In a retrieval practice condition, students read a text, then set it aside and spent time recalling and writing down as much as they could remember from it (Roediger & Karpicke, 2006b). They then reread the text and recalled it a second time. In a second condition, students created concept maps while they read the texts. Concept maps are node-and-link diagrams that require learners to think about the relational and organizational structure of materials (Novak, 2013). The students spent the same amount of time studying in the two conditions; the difference was whether they created concept maps or practiced actively retrieving while learning. Figure 3 shows the results of two different final assessments given one week after the learning session. On one assessment, students answered two types of short-answer questions aimed at measuring meaningful learning: verbatim questions, which assessed concepts stated directly in the texts, and inference questions, which required students to make new connections across concepts. On another assessment, the final assessment involved creating a concept map, because concept mapping is often used as an assessment of the coherence and integration of students' knowledge. On the final verbatim and inference questions and on the final concept map assessment, practicing retrieval during learning produced the best performance, even better than studying the material by making concept maps.

Figure 3. Data adapted from Karpicke & Blunt (2011) (from Figure 2, panels A and C).

Several additional studies have established that retrieval practice promotes meaningful learning. Retrieval practice enhances the learning of educationally relevant materials, including educational texts, multimedia presentations, material explained in classroom lectures and a variety of other complex concepts (Jensen, McDaniel, Woodard & Kummer, 2014; Johnson & Mayer, 2009; Larsen, Butler, Lawson & Roediger, 2013; Lyle & Crawford, 2011; Roediger, Agarwal, McDaniel & McDermott, 2011). Retrieval practice also supports students in making inferences, solving new problems and transferring knowledge (Butler, 2010; Chan, 2009; Hinze & Wiley, 2011; McDaniel, Howard & Einstein, 2009; Smith & Karpicke, 2014). Retrieval-based learning is an effective method for improving meaningful learning.
Creating Retrieval-based Learning Activities
Perhaps the best aspect of retrieval-based learning is that it is free. Although there are sophisticated tools that can be used to implement retrieval practice, like classroom clicker systems (Roediger et al., 2011) and other computer-based learning systems (Grimaldi & Karpicke, 2014; Lindsey, Shroyer, Pashler, & Mozer, 2014), retrieval practice does not require special equipment or technology. The essence of retrieval-based learning is taking material you are trying to learn, setting it aside, and spending time actively retrieving the information. Existing educational activities can be converted into retrieval-based learning activities. For instance, answering questions and taking quizzes are effective ways to practice retrieval. In some circumstances, students might answer questions on quizzes or practice worksheets by looking up answers in their notes or books, rather than by attempting to retrieve the answers. One study directly compared this type of open-book questioning to closed-book conditions in which students were required to retrieve the answers to questions rather than looking them up (Agarwal, Karpicke, Kang, Roediger & McDermott, 2008). Answering questions in open-book conditions led to more forgetting over one week than did attempting to retrieve the answers, closed-book and then studying the answers. In other words, closed-book quizzes, which required retrieval practice, were more effective than open-book quizzes, which did not require learners to engage in retrieval. Another study (Blunt & Karpicke, 2014) examined the effectiveness of using concept mapping as a retrieval practice activity. In the experiment, students read texts about science topics and then created concept maps either with or without viewing the texts. In other words, some students created maps while studying the texts whereas other students had to engage in retrieval to create their maps. On a short-answer assessment one week after the learning session, students did better when they had learned by creating concept maps without viewing the texts, as a retrieval practice activity, than by creating maps while studying the texts. Thus, educational activities can be enhanced when they involve retrieval-based learning.
Take Home Points About Retrieval-based Learning
This article has made the case for four take-home points about retrieval-based learning:

Retrieval is a learning event. Practicing retrieval is a simple and effective way to enhance long-term, meaningful learning.

Some effective learning strategies, like retrieval practice, are underutilized. Conversely, the most popular learning strategy among college students - repetitive reading - leads to very limited levels of learning.

When practicing retrieval, retrieve more than once and space your retrievals, rather than massing them all together. Self-testing as a knowledge check is a good idea, but don't stop at just one successful retrieval (one-and-done). Two or three additional spaced retrievals will bolster long-term learning.

Retrieval can happen in a variety of ways, and many existing activities may be converted into retrieval-based learning activities. The key ingredient is to spend time actively retrieving when trying to learn something new.

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A powerful way to improve learning and memory

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The movie "Inside Out" (2015) takes us inside the mind of its young protagonist, an 11-year-old girl named Riley, and depicts memory in a way that is sure to resonate with many people. In Riley's mind, her memories are objects - globes colored with emotions - that are stored in a mental space, just as physical objects are stored in a physical space.

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The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers

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The Surprising Habits of Original Thinkers

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The surprising habits of original thinkers | Adam Grant | TED

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Learning and memory under stress: implications for the classroom - npj Science of Learning

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npj Science of Learning - Learning and memory under stress: implications for the classroom

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The human brain is one of the most incredible and intricate parts of the human body. In fact, it's capable of creating more ideas than there are atoms of the universe.

Did you know that the brain changes constantly through a process called neuroplasticity?

But, what is neuroplasticity?

Through neuroplasticity, the brain is consistently rewiring itself and modifying its connections. It can reorganize itself both in structure and how it functions.

Without neuroplasticity, we wouldn't be able to do many of the things that make us human. This includes learning, developing, and forming memories.

So if the brain is malleable, can we rewire it?

Can we "rewrite" patterns in our brain to improve well-being?

Here's everything you need to know about how neuroplasticity works. Plus, we'll show you how you can improve your brain's plasticity.

What is neuroplasticity?

Let's start with a plasticity definition.

Neuroplasticity is also known as neural plasticity or brain plasticity. It's the brain's ability to reorganize and restructure itself on a cellular level.

This reorganization allows our brains to adapt to changes. These changes could come from:

New experiences

Environmental changes

Brain damage

Environmental pressure

Physiological changes

New experiences

How does neuroplasticity work?

The human brain consists of vast networks of neurons. These are the single individual working units of its structure.

Even the simplest of tasks require millions of interconnected neurons. These neurons function as connectivity networks to accomplish the action at hand.

The neural network is a unique and specific pattern of neural connections. They fire in equally specific sequences to allow you to accomplish different tasks.

From raising your hand to playing "Chopsticks" on the piano, they are always working. The ability of the brain to adapt is based on the alteration of existing neural networks. And the generation of new ones.

Psychologists have found that there are two primary types of neuroplasticity:

Functional neuroplasticity.This refers to the permanent structural changes in neural synapses. It's brought on by development and learning.

Structural neuroplasticity.This refers to the strength of the connections between neurons and changes to this strength.

Synapses between neurons alter through a process called synaptic pruning. This occurs mostly between early childhood and your mid-20s.

In this phase of nervous system development, synapses are removed.

5 benefits of brain plasticity

Neuroplasticity is beneficial to our cognition in every way.

It shapes our views of the world and how the brain works. It also impacts our:

Memories

Learning abilities

Subconscious beliefs

These are the five significant benefits of improving your brain plasticity.

1. Helps you learn new things

Every time you learn a new skill, you have your neurons to thank for it.

Activity-dependent neural plasticity is a form of functional and structural plasticity. It comes about due to the use of cognitive function and our personal experiences.

Essentially, it's the biological mechanism for learning and creating new memories.

2. Helps with depression

Neuroplasticity deficits are a possible contributor to conditions like anxietyand depression.

Studies show that the brains of people with depression indicate problems with plasticity. Plus, many antidepressants are believed to work because they promote neuroplasticity.

Experts suggest that certain lifestyle changes could cause neuroplasticity enhancement. In turn, this could potentially improve the symptoms of depression. These changes include:

3. Helps you engage in activities more thoughtfully

Mental exercises help create new connections between neurons and generate new brain cells. This develops plasticity.

It builds a functional reserve to guard against future brain cell loss. It also enables you to engage in activities more thoughtfully and consciously.

All mentally stimulating activities can help boost your brainpower and improve focus. This includes everything from Sudoku puzzles and reading to mindful breathing and math problems.

You can engage in activities that require manual dexterity. This includes activities like:

4. Aids recovery from strokes and other traumatic brain injuries

After suffering a traumatic brain injury, neuroplasticity can help you regain brain function.

A neuroscience study found that task-specific activities promoted stroke patients' recovery. It encouraged increased neurogenesis and neural plasticity.

5. Increases brain volume and memory

Improving your neuronal plasticity also boosts neurogenesis. This is the formation of new cells in your brain. This can boost your brain's volume considerably.

A high rate of neural plasticity strengthens the connections between these new neurons. This can further enhance your memory and learning abilities.

Key characteristics of brain plasticity

It was once thought that as we age, our brains' neural networks become fixed and rigid. But recent research shows that our brains never stop adjusting and changing.

Younger people are generally more sensitive to changes in their plasticity. But even seniors can learn new things and boost the plasticity of their brains as well.

If you play an instrument often, you're likely to become better at playing that instrument. This is due to your constant use of those neural networks.

Likewise, if you were to stop playing your instrument for a while, and you take it up again in a few months, you might find your playing rusty.

Although neuroplasticity is a promising scientific field, it does have its limitations. Brain plasticity cannot fix everything. Unfortunately, it cannot fix brain damage in severe cases.

For example, most of the evidence of neuroplasticity is around the cerebral cortex. When this area is damaged, other areas of the brain can often compensate for the loss.

However, the cortex cannot replicate the functions of more complex brain regions like the hippocampus.

Neuroplasticity is an ongoing process. It's hindered or promoted by factors like:

Practices such as neuroplasticity training can promote ongoing brain plasticity. They increase your brain's formation of strong synapses between neurons.

Neuroplasticity and psychology

People who undergo therapy need to learn vital new coping skills to handle life's challenges. As they do, they build new neural connections that promote lasting emotional regulation and resilience.

As you learn new habits, your synapses will replace the neural pathways that prompted unhealthy behaviors.

Once these synapses are removed, your counseling will rewire your brain. New coping mechanisms that you need to practice to turn into a habit will emerge.

Conditions such as depression and chronic stress have been associated with suppressed neurogenesis. Psychiatry experts believe that promoting this process could reduce their symptoms. It could even prevent the conditions in some cases.

Certain psychiatric medications can also improve neuroplasticity.

The reasons behind the efficacy of antidepressants were long thought to be a mystery. But today, neuroscientists know that they are at least in part based on brain plasticity.

SSRI and SNRI antidepressants often boost neuroplasticity. They may even reverse some of the negative effects inflicted on the brain during a depressive episode.

Often, boosting neuroplasticity can form part of a mental health treatment regime. Brains in the first stages of dementia use neuroplasticity to compensate for rapid cognitive declines.

Does neuroplasticity change with age?

As kids, our brains are more capable of change. Children are constantly learning and experiencing new things. This creates extraordinary changes in their brain's structure.

At birth, a baby's brain has 100 billion neurons. As the neurons mature, more synapses are made. When we're born, there are 2,500 synapses per neuron. But by age two or three, it's about 15,000 per neuron.

That's more than double the number of synapses of the average adult brain.

This explosion of synapse formation is called synaptogenesis. It plays a crucial part in early brain development.

Neuroplasticity continues to happen throughout our lifetime. But different types of plasticity are more prevalent during certain periods.

There are four main types of neuroplasticity observed in children:

Adaptive plasticity.This happens when children practice a skill or learn new information. It enhances skill development and recovery from brain injury.

Impaired plasticity.This type of neuroplasticity happens due to an acquired or genetic disorder. It's associated with cognitive impairment.

Excessive plasticity.Also known as maladaptive plasticity, this process involves the reorganization of maladaptive pathways. This can cause disorders or disabilities. The best example of maladaptive plasticity isfocal dystonia. It is a rare neurological disorder that involves involuntary spasms in small muscles in the body.

Injury vulnerability plasticity.This type of neuroplasticity involves the formation of harmful pathways in the brain. This makes the brain more vulnerable to injury.

As we age, the brain starts to remove synapses that it no longer needs. Old connections are deleted through synaptic pruning. This happens when we are about 2 to 3 years old, after the number of synapses reaches a peak level.

Our brain's plasticity is at its highest during the first 20 years of life. What's more, we are constantly losing neurons as we age.

But the adult brain can still create new neuronal connections. Neuroplasticity is not only prevalent in children.

With the right lifestyle, adults can increase their brain's plasticity.

How to rewire your brain with neuroplasticity training

Neuroplasticity training includes lifestyle choices that promote the regeneration of nerve cells. With regular practice, it helps to improve:

Let's look at five ways you can promote neuroplasticity.

1. Utilize brain games

Brain training exercises create targeted mental stimulation and activation. This reorganizes the connections between neurons and improves brain plasticity.

A study found that younger adults who enjoyed brain training games had better executive function. They also had improved memory, self-control, and brain-processing speed than their peers.

Nowadays, you can easily use apps like CogniFit and BrainHQ for mental stimulation.

2. Rest when you need to

A good night's rest helps to create lasting memories. It also generates synapses to store skills and information that you learned in the day.

3. Exercise regularly

Research shows that daily exercise is essential for focus, concentration, and mood. It's recommended that you get in 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise each week.

Exercise boosts the density and size of cortical neurons. This can benefit:

Attention

Perception

Memory

There's even some evidence that it can delay Alzheimer's disease.

Physical activity also helps to decrease inflammation and improve your quality of sleep. Both of which are factors that can impact your cognitive function.

4. Adopt a healthy diet

Nutrition plays a role in so many areas of our lives, and it's important for brain health too. You can promote neuroplasticity by eating a healthful, anti-inflammatory diet. This should include plenty of essential antioxidants and brain-fuelling omega-3 fats.

Improving the health of your gut microbiome can also promote neuroplasticity.

Eat unprocessed foods with prebiotic fibers to feed the good bacteria in your gut. Consider adding fermented foods such as kimchi to your daily menu.

5. Connect with others

Positive social experiences prime our neural connections to make meaningful connections with others.

The more we make an effort to connect with and care for others, the stronger these impulses will become. And the more naturally we'll find ourselves gravitating toward our peers.

History and research of neuroplasticity

Let's take a look at both early and modern theories surrounding the concept of neuroplasticity.

Early theories

The idea that the brain is not fixed was first proposed by William James in 1890. Later in the early 1900s, the father of neuroscience, Santiago Ramón y Cajal, used the term 'neuronal plasticity.' This referred to non-pathological changes in the structure of adult human brains.

In 1923, Karl Lashley performed experiments on rhesus monkeys. He noted changes in their neural pathways, which he believed was evidence of plasticity.

Then in 1945, Justo Gonzalo theorized that the central cortical mass was a 'maneuvering mass.' It could reorganize its functions with its neuroplastic properties.

Modern theories

One of the key founders of the modern field of neuroplasticity was Dr. Michael Merzenich. In the early 1970s, Merzenich conducted experiments to prove that the brain was fixed. He tried to prove that the brain was not capable of structural or functional change.

Interestingly, he proved his own theories incorrect. He discovered that the brain and its neurons are plastic. Lost skills stored in damaged tissue could be relearned in other parts of the brain.

Merzenich also found that the human brain has a 'cortical map' of the physical parts of the body. If one map was deprived of its information inputs, it could become active again in the future if other maps close to it were stimulated.

Merzenich suggested that neuroplasticity could happen beyond developmental periods and into adulthood.

In a study with Clinton Woosley, Merzenich tried to observe what happened in the brain when one peripheral nerve was severed and then regenerated. The pair micro-mapped the hand maps of monkeys' brains before and after severing the nerves and reattaching them.

They found that the brain maps could normalize their structure, even in response to abnormal inputs. This proved that the brain had to be plastic in order to reach this degree in compensation.

Merzenich was awarded the 2016 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience for his work in discovering adult brain plasticity.

Healing the brain with neuroplasticity after trauma

People with varying degrees of brain trauma can recover full functionality thanks to neuroplasticity. Based on research published in Translational Research in Traumatic Brain Injury, the brain goes through three main phases of neuroplasticity after experiencing trauma:

Phase 1

Directly after the injury, neurons start to die. Cortical inhibitory pathways are decreased. This initial phase lasts 24-48 hours.

It may stimulate secondary pathways that had rarely been used before the trauma.

Phase 2

The second phase takes place a few days after the trauma. The activity of these cortical pathways changes from inhibitory to excitatory.

New synapses are created. Neurons and other brain cells replace the damaged cells to facilitate healing.

Phase 3

The final phase takes place after a few weeks. The new synapses continue to be generated to remodel the brain.

During this phase, therapy and rehabilitation can help the brain learn new neural pathways. This allows for the brain to reduce the effects of the trauma.

There are several medical treatments in development that encourage neuroplasticity after brain injury. There are also therapies involving stem cellsand gene expression being studied for their potential to treat trauma.

Neuroplasticity rehabilitation for stroke recovery

A stroke causes damage by cutting off the flow of blood to certain parts of the brain. This deprives the brain of oxygen and essential nutrients.

Depending on the severity of the stroke, volumes of brain cells may die. Brain volume may be reduced, and dysfunction may occur as a result. The recovery process after a stroke relies on the brain's ability to heal itself.

The brain works around the dead brain cells. It attempts to build other neural pathways to compensate for lost function.

Physical, occupational, and speech therapies are all designed to promote neuroplasticity. They encourage the brain to overcome any mental and physical deficits.

It's important to begin the rehabilitation process as soon as possible after a stroke. This will make use of the brain's natural increase in neural plasticity after the trauma.

Stroke victims can promote recovery by participating in therapies that:

Focus on massed practice. This is the consistent repetition of a movement or skill that promotes fast learning.

Include physical exercises and therapies to improve patient mobility and strength.

Reteach them the skills they will need to go about their daily lives. This includes standing up, basic personal hygiene, simple cooking, andcommunication skills.

Include speech therapies. This will enable patients to practice their language skills while stimulating their brains.

How can neuroplasticity help with anxiety and depression?

Depression and anxiety have both been linked to a decrease in neural plasticity in the brain.

Modern therapies are aimed at encouraging neuroplasticity. This is so that patients can learn valuable coping skills for life's many challenges.

Neuropsychiatry's understanding of neuroplasticity can be summed up as follows:

Our daily behaviors can have remarkable effects on the structures of our brains. Anxiety and depression can, at least to a degree, be "unlearned." Their tendencies can be replaced with more constructive pathways through professional neural training.

COVID-19 PTSD is set to become a significant public health concern in the future. Prolonged exposure to stress and anxiety can lead to PTSD. But therapies focusing on promoting neural plasticity may induce positive plasticity.

This could help combat these conditions before they have a chance to develop into a disorder.

Simple neuroplasticity exercises can all promote neural plasticity. These include:

Regular exercise

Healthy diet

Connecting with your loved ones

They also help reduce the symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Experts recommend activities like learning a new language or skill. You could also perform a manual motor activity like painting or building a model. Or you can try playing brain-training games to promote neuroplasticity training.

The power to change your mind

Neuroplasticity and synaptic plasticity are intrinsic in every facet of our lives. Our brains are constantly performing synaptic pruning and making new neural connections. This is true regardless of what we happen to be doing at any given time. Or even whether we are awake or asleep.

Improving your brain's plasticity will sharpen your memory, concentration, and cognitive skills. Plus, it can help you address depression and anxiety. It may even promote healing in the case of adult brain trauma or injury.

BetterUp Coaches can help you understand the amazing ability of your brain to constantly learn. Coaching can guide you with how to put plasticity to work to your advantage to change behaviors and show up at your best. Use your brain's innate healing abilities to perform better and unlock more of your human potential.

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What is Neuroplasticity and Why is It Important?

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The human brain is constantly building new connections using its neuroplasticity. Read on to learn about what neuroplasticity is and how it benefits you.