10 Principles of Neuroplasticity: Part 1
Neuroplasticity – What is it and why does it matter?
Neuroplasticity (or neural plasticity) is a buzzword that is often used to advertise particular therapies or techniques, so-called “gurus” of neuroplasticity, or products. In order to make educated decisions about what kind of therapy will be most beneficial for your child, and to use your family income wisely, best to really know what this word means and why you need to care about it.
In this three-part series, I’m first going to define what neuroplasticity is, and introduce ten principles of neuroplasticity. In the next two parts, I’ll go into greater detail with each principle to help you understand what activities and experiences will make the biggest difference as it relates to neuroplasticity. The information I’ll present to you is based largely on research summarized in this article, titled “Principles of Experience-Dependent Neural Plasticity: Implications for Rehabilitation After Brain Damage.”1 If you want to do a deep dive into this concept, reading the full article is a great place to start.
So first, allow me to define Neuroplasticity. The term is a mash-up of two words.
Neural: relating to the nervous system
Plasticity: the capacity to adapt or change
In other words, it refers to the brain’s ability to change itself. As the authors of the article put it, “neural plasticity is the mechanism by which the brain encodes experience and learns new behaviors. It is also the mechanism by which the damaged brain learns lost behavior in response to rehabilitation.” Neuroplasticity is the process in which the brain forms new neurons and lays down new connections between neurons, in response to learning, in order to form a pathway to repeat the learned behavior.
This video does a great job of explaining how neuroplasticity works, too.
Neuroplasticity is a relatively new concept. As recently as a few decades ago, it was believed that our brains were “hardwired” and what we could and couldn’t do was essentially fixed, especially after a certain age, and certainly after an injury to the brain. Good news – researchers have found that this is not true!
However: neural plasticity does not happen In a vacuum. It is experience dependent, and some experiences are going to make a bigger difference than others.
Here’s where it gets interesting! Allow me to introduce you to the ten principles of neuroplasticity, the factors identified as especially important in facilitating neuroplasticity in the context of brain injury.
- Use it or lose it
Failure to drive specific brain functions can lead to loss of abilities. - Use it and improve it
Training that drives a specific brain function can lead to improving abilities. - Specificity
The nature of the training experience dictates the nature of the change in the brain (plasticity). - Repetition matters
Change (plasticity) requires sufficient repetition. - Intensity matters
Change (plasticity) requires intensive training. - Time matters
Different forms of change (plasticity) in the brain happen at different times during training. - Salience matters
The training experience must be meaningful to the person in order to cause change (plasticity). - Age matters
Training-induced change (plasticity) occurs more readily in younger brains. - Transference
Change in function as a result of one training experience can even lead to learning other similar skills. - Interference
Brain changes (plasticity) that result in bad habits can interfere with learning good habits.
Stay tuned for Part 2!
1. Kleim, JA, Jones, TA. (2008). Principles of experience-dependent neural plasticity: Implications for rehabilitation after brain damage. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 51, S225-S239.