Brain Regions and Information Stimulus

There has been a pretty significant amount of frustration among foreign language educators of older adults. It takes a significant amount more time in older students than in the younger. It has long been known that a young child has a greater ability to learn things. I believe the term is called plasticity. But why is this? How are these connections made, and why does it seem to degrade with age? Many of these questions are extremely hard to answer because of the lack of understanding available as to how the brain learns and wires connections.

Some pretty interesting new research has been done with the ever hastening advancement in the understanding of physiology. It has been known for some time that there are certain areas of the brain that process certain kinds of information. The frontal lobes are used for abstract thinking/reasoning and planning. While at the back of the brain, or posterior lobes, are involved in processing visual stimulus. While this has been known, why it is the way it is has not necessarily been known too well.

It was believed that we had this genetic imprint from birth of the way that our brains would develop. That this area here would be designated for this kind of information processing and etc… The recent studies, however, have shown that this is not the case. The studies show that specialized functions in the specific locations of the brain are not due to location, but rather the stimulus that is being processed.

When neurons in the visual cortex were transplanted, in a young animal, to regions of the brain involved in sensory functions, they would lose their capacity for processing visual information and began acting like sensory neurons. Also, if stimulus input from the eyes was rerouted to the auditory region of the brain, the region being stimulated would develop the capacity to process visual information.

This is quite interesting and reveals that it is not so much the specific region of the brain but the actual information type that is being processed. It shows the nature of the brain as being a super processor that is like a blank slate and learns to program itself based on the type of stimulus it’s receiving.

How does this all relate? While fully understanding learning and memory is still very far off, more and more research into how the brain works may lead to an ability to get around problems such as slow learning due to age. However, it is clear that it is possible for the brain to reroute, rewire and has great capacity at any age to learn, even things as complex as language. So take that frustration you educators and rest in that advancements are made every day to understanding these problems, and that the labor put into the oldest student is not in vain.

http://www.ericdigests.org/2001-3/brain.htm