After providing all the funding for The Brain from Top to Bottom for over 10 years, the CIHR Institute of Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction informed us that because of budget cuts, they were going to be forced to stop sponsoring us as of March 31st, 2013.

We have approached a number of organizations, all of which have recognized the value of our work. But we have not managed to find the funding we need. We must therefore ask our readers for donations so that we can continue updating and adding new content to The Brain from Top to Bottom web site and blog.

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Bruno Dubuc, Patrick Robert, Denis Paquet, and Al Daigen




Monday, 7 November 2016
Norman Doidge and cerebral plasticity

This week, I want to recommend a Brain Science Podcast featuring Dr. Norman Doidge, first posted online in February 2015. This podcast was in a sense a sequel to one devoted to Doidge’s book The Brain That Changes Itself (links to both podcasts are provided below). Both of these programs discuss a fundamental characteristic of the human brain: its great plasticity, even in adults—in other words, the fact that the brain’s neural circuits reorganize themselves constantly throughout our lifetimes.

In the second of these podcasts, Dr. Doidge and host Dr. Ginger Campbell discuss the implications of the brain’s plasticity for rehabilitation following brain injuries. Although researchers have amply demonstrated this plasticity, clinicians unfortunately still tend to minimize its importance, possibly because the treatments based on it, such as those proposed by Dr. Doidge, require patients to participate actively, instead of just taking pills.

In the same conversation, Dr. Doidge also confirms two ideas that are making increasing inroads in the scientific community. The first is that in their discussions of human cognition, some scientists may be placing too much emphasis on the role of the cerebral cortex. Other scientists have made similar statements—for example, Merker in his writings on consciousness and Panksepp in his writings on emotions. The example that Doidge cites is the case of sub-cortical injuries for which the cortex may compensate in some way, but at the cost of experiencing a “work overload” that results in other problems. These problems are then mistakenly attributed to the cortex, because it is so important in the human brain (accounting for 80% of its mass).

The second idea that Doidge underscores is one that has been discussed frequently in this blog: that we are more than just our brain. But in no way is Doidge arguing for a return to some form of dualism He is simply acknowledging an undeniable fact: animals’ nervous systems have always evolved within their bodies, which are in turn situated in their environments. And it is this entire nested system, this embodied cognition, that lets individuals “think in the world”, or rather “think their world into being” the product of the traces stored in their nervous systems throughout their lives thanks to the plasticity of their neural connections.

i_lien Les Étonnants pouvoirs de transformation du cerveau
i_lien 9th Annual Review of Neuroscience (BSP 125)
i_lien BSP 116: Norman Doidge on Brain Plasticity
i_lien Neuroplasticity with Dr. Norman Doidge (BSP 26)

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