I just changed the structure my brain--
or broke something up there.
We should have an ambulance standing by, guys.
Anthony here for D News.
And your brain is adapting and changing all the time
based on everything you do.
A new study from Imperial College London
shows that ballet dancers' brain structures actually
change to keep them from getting dizzy.
They just suppress the signal from the inner ear
that tells them to get disoriented.
Just, nope, not needed.
Filter that information, please.
But it's not just a switch or a filters.
The bits of the cerebral cortex that
process those signals actually shrink.
They get out of the way to allow other bits to get stronger.
This is neuroplasticity, and is the jam.
It's a fairly new idea, even though it
was proposed in 1890 by William James.
Up until the 1960s, everyone pretty much
thought that once childhood was over,
your brain just froze, stopped developing.
Not only is that false-- the extent
to which your brain can change is crazy.
A study of London cab drivers actually
found that they have more fully developed hippocampuses
than most people.
That's the part of the brain associated
with space and memory.
Animals that hide food for the winter and have to find it
later have more fully developed hippocampuses than animals that
don't.
And years of having to know their way around all 25,000
streets of London made the cab drivers' brains restructure
to become good at it.
Studies of the brains of high-level athletes
have showed that having to focus on precision
and constantly integrate feedback into their routine
actually thickens the outermost layers of their brains.
Scientists can actually tell how long
somebody has been intensely practicing a sport by how thick
those layers are.
But it doesn't take years of practiced routine
to make this stuff happen.
Your brain is insanely adaptive, even in the short-term--
even if you just think about changing it.
A Harvard study a few years back gave two groups of people
a couple days of piano lessons.
Then one group practiced for another five days
and the other group imagined practicing for five days.
They just mentally went through the steps
of playing the song in their head.
And after scanning everyone's brains,
they found that the motor cortexes of both groups
expanded just as much, at least for the first few days.
Now, on the other hand, neuroplasticity could
be part of why habits can be so hard to break,
and might also have a hand in addiction.
Mice given cocaine just once grew new brain circuitry
within two hours.
They adapted quickly to love the drug
and to seek out the environment where it was given to them.
But it also means that if you need
to change a habit that seems impossible to kick,
you might still be able to strengthen
the parts of your brain you need to get rid of it.
A study of musicians' brains show
that they have highly developed frontal lobes
and are more likely to be calmer and open-minded.
So if you have anger or defensiveness issues,
you could potentially take up an instrument
to help train yourself out of them.
Basically, your brain becomes the brain
you make it through what you do every day.
You can train it just like any other part of your body.
Now I just need to know which part of my brain
hits the snooze button too many times in the morning.
What would you like to train your brain to do?
Let me know down in the comments and subscribe for more D News.