Neuroplasticity and Growth Mindset

Neuroplasticity - the science:

Neuroplasticity, also known as neural plasticity or brain plasticity, is a process that involves adaptive structural and functional changes to the brain. A good definition is “the ability of the nervous system to change its activity in response to intrinsic or extrinsic stimuli by reorganizing its structure, functions, or connections.”. Clinically, it is the process in which the brain changes after injuries such as a stroke or traumatic brain injury and is utilised in rehabilitation post event.

It was once widely accepted that the brain stopped developing after the first few years of life, and only during this early "critical period" that connections formed between the brains nerve cells (neurons) and remained fixed from this point. It was therefore considered that only young brains were 'plastic' and able to form new connections. Because of this belief, scientists also thought that if a particular area of the adult brain was damaged, the nerve cells could not form new connections or regenerate, and the functions controlled by that area of the brain would be permanently lost.

The first theory of neuroplasticity, was hypothesized by the psychologist William James over 100 years ago. However it was not until 1948 when the term Neuroplasticity was first coined by Polish Neuroscientist Jerzy Konorski. He suggested that over time neurons that had 'coincidental activation due to the vicinity to the firing neuron would after time create plastic changes in the brain'.

It was not until second half of the 20th century that the term Neuroplasticity became widely used and it became accepted that changes to the brain that happen throughout our lifespan in response to new experiences and even to damage to the brain itself.

How does it benefit us?

Now that we understand a little bit about neuroplasticity, we can consider its implications when it comes to learning. It has been suggested that by learning new things such as languages, art or a musical instrument, our brains create new synapses and forces us to expand our intellect (brain power). A synapse is the gap between one neuron cell and another. It is this synapse that carries electrochemical information between neurons. In other words, synapses are the key to neuroplasticity in learning.

It is found especially when learning a new language, the brain’s grey matter grows and forms new synapses and forces neuroplasticity . It was also found that those people who practice more on a particular skill such as learning music have bigger hippocampus and have greater grey matter in their brains as compared to those who practice less.

A hippo-What-us?

Deep within the centre of the brain lives a thumb sized, seahorse shaped structure that helps us learn and remember new things. This Hippocampus generates new neurons every day.

How can I use it during my EDA learning journey?

Learning how to code IS like learning a new language. Knowing what I know now, I have listed the four most impactful things I can do for my own neuroplasticity while at EDA.

Life hacks to increase my neuroplasticity

• Aerobic exercise - Aerobic exercise helps the brain as much as the heart. To get sciency on it - exercise stimulates the release of the substance known as brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF), which opens the 'window of plasticity', promotes the growth of new synaptic connections and strengthens exisitng neural pathways.
• Mindfulness meditation- It has become evident over the last couple of decades that a meditation practice can play substantial role in the molding and shaping of the brain.
• Positive social interactions- Specifically with my coursemates during the next few month. Learning from others and sharing my own knowledge on this journey will help strenghthen both human and neuronal connections.
• Practice Practice Practice- There's no way around it, when learning something new and forming new neuronal pathways - repetition is key!

What is growth mindset and why is it relevant?

There are two main mindsets we can navigate life with: growth and fixed. Having a growth mindset is essential for success.

Every piece I read while researching for this blog lead me back to the works of the mother of all mindset - American Psychologist Carol Dweck.

Dweck maintains that at the heart of what makes the “growth mindset” so powerful is that it creates a passion for learning rather than a hunger for approval. At its core it is the understanding that human qualities like intelligence ( both EQ and IQ) and creativity can be cultivated through effort and practice. It runs counter to the idea that intelligence is predetermined or fixed, or the idea that some people are just 'naturally gifted'. Crucially, individuals that subscribe to growth mindset are not discouraged by failure. In fact, they don’t see themselves as failing but rather as learning. It is a powerful shift in framing to percieve challenges and failures as opportunities for growth and progress, rather than being discouraged.

Growth Mindset and my own learning journey

Growth mindset is a powerful reframing for me at this point in my life. Leaving one career path and diving in to someting completely different requires stepping out of my comfort zone in all sorts of ways and tackling perceptions about my own abilites and limitations head on. As someone who gave themselves a mental block for anything remotely mathematical in primary school, and never considered themselves a 'computery person', this is pretty unchartered waters. I hope to not only prove to myself that practice and effort will allow me to achieve things I wouldn't previously have thought myself capable of, but I also hope to do some rewiring of unhelpful thought patterns I developed during university and my subsequent career in medical science. Thoughts of not being good enough, or being an imposter in my own academic or professional life are extremely limiting and harmful to my wellbeing. I want to enter this new world of web development with a growth mindset from the get go, and to work on this rewiring with the same intentionality as learning JavaScript.

The more you know - how may these concepts shape my learning plan going forward?

Having just re-read the learning plan I developed during Sprint-2, I am drawn to two particular lines I wrote on my learning limitations:

• My perfectionism is a double edged sword that serves as both a strength and a weakness.
• I have a sharp attention to detail and am sometimes too focused on what I can’t do or haven’t done rather than what I can do or have achieved.

Knowing what I know now, I can see how intentionally applying a growth mindset to my learning journey will help me with my need to be great at someting straight away, and to consider feeling challenged to be a reflection of my inability. Being told you are a 'gifted' as a child is pretty unhelpful as it leaves you very ill equipped to deal with anything that doesn't come easily to you, in fact I think it made me lazy and self sabotaging when it came to the 'grind' of learning. Luckily we have these spongey stretchy malleable things called brains and it's never too late to reshape them as we learn and grow! Thanks EDA and thanks Neuroscience ♥