The Brain That changes itself.

Author: Norman Doidge, M.D.
Publication: Penguin

Plasticity. This has been a controversial word when used to describe the characteristic of Brain. We have always seen or rather made to see the development of Brain as something that starts and ends before adoloscent age. Even there is a Tamil saying that translates to 'Whatever you learn in Cradle will come till your death'. That is all true and proven. We learn things during our childhood years when the Brain is fresh and open like a clean slate. That is how we easily learn new languages, learn to play new musical instruments and lot many things that shape us up. The common notion is that at a certain point during our adoloscent age all these stop. Our Brain gets molded and everything gets solidified. There is no big learning or change occuring in the Brain from that moment onwards. This is the reason we are forced to learn in schools, play sports etc.. and the whole education system is build around this belief. Basically, the brain will loose its ability to shape up after certain age.

This book contradicts all those common beliefs by saying the most vulgar word for neurologists - Brain is Plastic. That is, Brain is ever flexible, adaptable and changeable. The subject is so controversial that whoever tends to be persuasive in this field are medical rebels. Norman Doidge in this book gives us lot of real life stories that supports that Brain is plastic and it is upto us to make it bend. He starts with a classic case of a lady whose brain has lost its ability to interpret the ear canal's balancing mechanism. All our balance is dependent on the fluid mechanism inside our inner ears. It is similar to a mason's balance apparatus. When we lean the fluid shifts and all the sensory nerves deduct the movement and send the message to the brain on which direction and at what rate the movement is. If we lean forward, thus it sends the message to the brain and the brain sends a message to the legs to move forward. That is how we save ourselves from falling down. Well, by saving ourselves by falling down, we basically walk. This all happens involuntarily.

For this lady, that power is lost. So, if she gets up and tries to walk, there is no message sent to the legs and she just misses her center of gravity and falls down. All traditional neurologists diagnosed and told her that the portion of the brain that controls this activity is damaged and she cannot do anything about it. Then she went to the Plastic Rebels. They treated her by a device that mimics the ear canals activity and sends a message to her tongue. The device is nothing but a accelerometer that changes the orientation of the images vertical or horizontal, on the screens of ipads and iphones or any other smartphones. The device that she wores on her head sends a small tickling electric pulse to her tongue baded on how she moves. She learnt how to use this electric impulse in her tongue to interpret movement. Simply, if left of the tongue gets the impulse then her head is moving left, back means back etc.. Amazingly she was able to open her eyes and slowly stand and walk a few steps with the help of the device. What astonished anyone is that, she had a residual effect, meaning, even after she removed the device, she was able to still have that impact for a couple of minutes. She was able to stand and walk without the device. This residual effect increased proportionately. If she wore the device for 10 minutes, then the residual effect lasted 20 minutes etc.. She kept on wearing it for hours and the residual effect lasted days. And finally one day, she stopped wearing the device completely and she became a normal lady who was once given up by everyone and destined to waste her life in bed is now able to do walk on her own and even dance.

Still more astonishing is the story of a Blind man who was able to see. He had no issues with his eyes. Retina and other were really good. The issue was with his Brain that interprets the signals. Again the traditional neurologists ruled out recovery citing that the brain has lost its control. Again came the rebels. They created another device that is nothing but a highly sensitive camera. The camera was connected to a device that occupied the blind persons back. If the camera sees light, it tickled him. If the camera sees darkness there was no tickle. So light tickle, dark no tickle based on the entire profile of the object. With the alternate tickle and lack of tickle in his back, the blind person was able to vaguely read the profile of the object in front of him. With more research and advancement of the device, he was able to read the profile more and more clearer to a point that he was able to identify what that object is in front of him. This is all with the use of the camera and the device.

So what makes these work? In both the cases there were no issues with the organs. The issue was with the Brain that losts control of that particular functionality. How this is possible then? How a Blind person can read when that particular portion of the brain is totally damaged? The author's father had a stroke and the portion of the brain that controls his movement got totally damaged. The author with the help of the plastic rebels taught his father's brain to learn walking completely afresh. That is they made the 60+ year old man to learn how to walk starting from crawling, trying to stand up using support and eventually walking like a baby. The answer is simple as the author says, Brain Is Plastic. It can adapt and change itself in unbelievable ways. All we need is a training and the belief that Brain can change itself. This will change each and everyone of our perceptions and we can discover new things that we have not known that we can - our brain can - do.

More impressive stories and explanations are given in the book that will open a whole new world of opportunities in front of us. This is not the usual medical book that will fly past our head. This book is written simple enough and easy enough for us to read and understand the complex world of neurons. Do read when you get a chance. It should be available in libraries. Cost of the book (estimated) 16 USD // 600 INR.