The more we repeat something, the better we get at it; this much is uncontroversial. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth examining. The connection between repeating an action or a skill and then improving because of that repetition is a concept that is so natural and intuitive, so well accepted as common knowledge, that we often fail to appreciate the fascinating mechanics behind the process of skill acquisition. It follows the old adage, 'practice makes perfect!'
On the most basic level, learning a new skill or improving a skill involves changes in the brain. There are a few different ways that our brains adapt to picking up new skills and changing environmental conditions. The first involves a rewiring of the networks of neurons in the brain. Each skill or action that a child performs involves the activation of neural pathways. In Norman Doidge’s book on neuroplasticity, The Brain That Changes Itself, Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone has a beautiful little analogy for the way that these pathways relate to skilled performance (Page 209):
"The plastic brain is like a snowy hill in winter. Aspects of that hill–the slope, the rocks, the consistency of the snow–are, like our genes, a given. When we slide down on a sled, we can steer it and will end up at the bottom of the hill by following a path determined both by how we steer and the characteristics of the hill. Where exactly we will end up is hard to predict because there are so many factors in play." “But,” Pascual-Leone says, “what will definitely happen the second time you take the slope down is that you will more likely than not find yourself somewhere or another that is related to the path you took the first time. It won’t be exactly that path, but it will be closer to that one than any other. And if you spend your entire afternoon sledding down, walking up, sledding down, at the end you will have some paths that have been used a lot, some that have been used very little.”
Every action we perform, every new skill we pick up, involves beating down and refining a kind of neural trail. We are making real changes in the brain. And our brains are remarkably efficient to change in response to training. In one study, video game players who played the dark, fast-moving action-based game Call of Duty for 9 weeks were not only better at the game, but were able to see significantly more shades of gray, post-training, than a group who played a simulation strategy game that did not exercise those skills.
Over a longer time span, it is also possible to see significant structural changes in the brain. For example, the brain area associated with motor control of the right index finger in blind subjects who are braille readers has been found to be significantly larger than that of sighted individuals. Similarly, a famous study of london cabbies, famous for their ability to navigate the twisting streets of the city, found that they had greater brain volume in the hippocampus, a structure heavily involved in both memory and spatial navigation, than bus drivers who followed a predefined route every day.
With respect to the brains of children who have developmental disabilities, the brain injuries or abnormalities they suffer might slow that response to training down a little, but the response is still possible.
Evidence for neuroplasticity abounds, - from the structural differences which have been found between experienced athletes and novices, through to the Chinese study of expert divers which found increased gray matter volume in brain areas associated with skilled motor control. Along the same lines, an Australian study of skilled racket-sport players found that brain areas associated with the racket arm were larger than in a matched group of non-athletes. The evidence is irrefutable!
The overarching theme here is that the brain is malleable–it changes with training. It is an interesting concept to keep in mind, especially with respect to brain injured children and it is the overarching principle of the Snowdrop programme.
It’s easy and natural to think about training in terms of muscles, the body and physical skills. But every new skill that a child learns is accompanied also by neural changes that may be harder to see, but are equally important.
If you would like more information about the Snowdrop programme, go to our website at http://www.snowdrop.cc or email us at andrew@snowdrop.cc
Doidge, N. The Brain that Changes itself. Viking Press. 2007
Zuo, Y. et al. (2012). Spine tuning. Finding physical evidence of how practice rewires the brain. http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/04/16/spine-tuning-finding-physical-evidence-of-how-practice-rewires-the-brain/
