Reprogramming the Machinery of the Brain

According to  Dr. Norman Doidge in The Brain that Changes Itself, “Michael Merzenich is a driving force behind scores of neuroplastic innovations and practical inventions.”  One of the groundbreaking devices he developed enabled cognitively deaf children to hear.    He supports that “brain exercises may be as useful as drugs to treat diseases as severe as schizophrenia; that plasticity exists from the cradle to the grave; and that radical improvements in cognitive functioning–how we learn, think, perceive, and remember–are possible even in the elderly…Merzenich argues that practicing a new skill, under the right conditions, can change hundreds of millions and possibly billions of the connections between the nerve cells in our brain maps….that when learning occurs in a way consistent with the laws that govern brain plasticity, the mental “machinery” of the brain can be improved so that we learn and perceive with greater precision, speed, and retention.” (46 – 47).  In fact, we are rewiring everyday, reinforcing and rehearsing old scripts that may no longer be useful.  What if you began to rewire with some new scripts–ones you chose, articulated, exercises and committed to until the neural maps became embedded patterns, behaviors and even beliefs?  What more is possible for you?

Michael Merzenich