After watching this, your brain will not be the same | Lara Boyd | TEDxVancouver — Transcript

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1. 0:00Transcriber: Jessica Lee Reviewer: Denise RQ
2. 0:14So how do we learn?
3. 0:16And why does some of us learn things more easily than others?
4. 0:21So, as I just mentioned, I'm Dr. Lara Boyd.
5. 0:24I am a brain researcher here at the University of British Columbia.
6. 0:28These are the questions that fascinate me.
7. 0:31(Cheers) (Applause)
8. 0:35So brain research is one of the great frontiers
9. 0:38in the understanding of human physiology,
10. 0:41and also in the consideration of what makes us who we are.
11. 0:45It's an amazing time to be a brain researcher,
12. 0:47and I would argue to you
13. 0:49that I have the most interesting job in the world.
14. 0:52What we know about the brain is changing at a breathtaking pace.
15. 0:56And much of what we thought we knew and understood about the brain
16. 0:59turns out to be not true or incomplete.
17. 1:03Some of these misconceptions are more obvious than others.
18. 1:06For example, we used to think
19. 1:09that after childhood the brain did not, really could not change.
20. 1:14And it turns out that nothing could be farther from the truth.
21. 1:18Another misconception about the brain
22. 1:19is that you only use parts of it at any given time
23. 1:23and it's silent when you do nothing.
24. 1:25Well, this is also untrue.
25. 1:27It turns out that even when you're at a rest
26. 1:29and thinking of nothing, your brain is highly active.
27. 1:33So it's been advances in technology, such as MRI,
28. 1:37that's allowed us to make these and many other important discoveries.
29. 1:40And perhaps the most exciting,
30. 1:42the most interesting and transformative of these discoveries
31. 1:45is that, every time you learn a new fact or skill,
32. 1:49you change your brain.
33. 1:51It's something we call neuroplasticity.
34. 1:54So as little as 25 years ago, we thought that after about puberty,
35. 1:58the only changes that took place in the brain were negative:
36. 2:01the loss of brain cells with aging,
37. 2:04the result of damage, like a stroke.
38. 2:06And then, studies began to show remarkable amounts
39. 2:09of reorganization in the adult brain.
40. 2:13And the ensuing research has shown us
41. 2:15that all of our behaviors change our brain.
42. 2:19That these changes are not limited by age,
43. 2:23it's a good news right?
44. 2:24And in fact, they are taking place all the time.
45. 2:27And very importantly,
46. 2:29brain reorganization helps to support recovery
47. 2:32after you damage your brain.
48. 2:34The key to each of these changes is neuroplasticity.
49. 2:39So what does it look like?
50. 2:41So your brain can change in three very basic ways
51. 2:44to support learning.
52. 2:45And the first is chemical.
53. 2:48So your brain actually functions by transferring chemicals signals
54. 2:51between brain cells, what we call neurons,
55. 2:53and this triggered a series of actions and reactions.
56. 2:57So to support learning, your brain can increase the amount
57. 3:00or the concentrations of these chemical signaling
58. 3:03that's taking place between neurons.
59. 3:06Because this change can happen rapidly,
60. 3:09this supports short-term memory
61. 3:10or the short-term improvement in the performance of a motor skill.
62. 3:15The second way that the brain can change to support learning
63. 3:18is by altering its structure.
64. 3:21So during learning, the brain can change the connections between neurons.
65. 3:25Here, the physical structure of the brain is actually changing
66. 3:28so this takes a bit more time.
67. 3:30These type of changes are related to long-term memory,
68. 3:33the long-term improvement in a motor skill.
69. 3:37These processes interact, and let me give you an example of how.
70. 3:41We've all tried to learn a new motor skill,
71. 3:44maybe playing the piano,
72. 3:46maybe learning to juggle.
73. 3:48You've had the experience of getting better and better
74. 3:50within a single session of practice,
75. 3:53and thinking "I have got it."
76. 3:55And then, maybe you return the next day,
77. 3:57and all those improvements from the day before are lost.
78. 4:01What happened?
79. 4:02Well, in the short-term, your brain was able to increase
80. 4:05the chemical signaling between your neurons.
81. 4:08But for some reason, those changes did not induce the structural changes
82. 4:13that are necessary to support long-term memory.
83. 4:17Remember that long-term memories take time.
84. 4:20And what you see in the short term does not reflect learning,
85. 4:23It's these physical changes
86. 4:25that are now going to support long-term memories,
87. 4:27and chemical changes that support short-term memories.
88. 4:32Structural changes also can lead to integrated networks of brain regions
89. 4:36that function together to support learning.
90. 4:39And they can also lead to certain brain regions
91. 4:41that are important for very specific behaviors
92. 4:44to change your structure or to enlarge.
93. 4:46So here's some examples of that.
94. 4:49People who read Braille
95. 4:51have larger hand sensory areas in their brain than those of us who don't.
96. 4:56Your dominant hand motor region, which is on the left side of your brain,
97. 5:00if you are right-handed, is larger than the other side.
98. 5:04And research shows the London taxi cab drivers
99. 5:07who actually have to memorize a map of London to get their taxi cab license,
100. 5:12they have larger brain regions devoted to spatial, or mapping memories.
101. 5:17The last way that your brain can change to support learning
102. 5:20is by altering its function.
103. 5:23As you use a brain region,
104. 5:25It becomes more and more excitable and easy to use again.
105. 5:29And as your brain has these areas that increase their excitability,
106. 5:32the brain shifts how and when they are activated.
107. 5:35With learning, we see
108. 5:37that whole networks of brain activity are shifting and changing.
109. 5:42So neuroplasticity is supported
110. 5:44by chemical, by structural, and by functional changes,
111. 5:48and these are happening across the whole brain.
112. 5:51They can occur in isolation from one or another,
113. 5:53but most often, they take place in concert.
114. 5:57Together, they support learning.
115. 5:59And they're taking place all the time.
116. 6:04I just told you really how awesomely neuroplastic your brain is.
117. 6:08Why can't you learn anything you choose to with ease?
118. 6:13Why do our kids sometimes fail in school?
119. 6:16Why as we age do we tend to forget things?
120. 6:20And why don't people fully recover from brain damage?
121. 6:23That is: what is it that limits and facilitates neuroplasticity?
122. 6:29And so this is what I study.
123. 6:31I study specifically how it relates to recovery from stroke.
124. 6:35Recently, stroke dropped
125. 6:36from being the third leading cause of death in the United States
126. 6:40to be the forth leading cause of death.
127. 6:42Great news, right?
128. 6:44But actually, it turns out
129. 6:46that the number of people having a stroke has not declined.
130. 6:49We are just better at keeping people alive after a severe stroke.
131. 6:53It turns out to be very difficult to help the brain recover from stroke.
132. 6:58And frankly,
133. 6:59we have failed to develop effective rehabilitation interventions.
134. 7:05The net result of this is that stroke is the leading cause
135. 7:09of long-term disability in adults in the world;
136. 7:13individuals with stroke are younger
137. 7:15and tending to live longer with that disability,
138. 7:18and research from my group actually shows
139. 7:21that the health-related quality of life of Canadians with stroke has declined.
140. 7:26So clearly we need to be better
141. 7:28at helping people recover from stroke.
142. 7:30This is an enormous societal problem,
143. 7:33and it's one that we are not solving.
144. 7:36So what can be done?
145. 7:38One thing is absolutely clear:
146. 7:41the best driver of neuroplastic change in your brain is your behavior.
147. 7:46The problem is that the dose of behavior, the dose of practice
148. 7:50that's required to learn new and relearn old motor skills,
149. 7:53is very large.
150. 7:55And how to effectively deliver these large doses of practice
151. 7:58is a very difficult problem; It's also a very expensive problem.
152. 8:03So the approach that my research has taken
153. 8:05is to develop therapies that prime or that prepare the brain to learn.
154. 8:09And these have included brain simulation, exercise, and robotics.
155. 8:14But through my research, I've realized that a major limitation
156. 8:18to the development of therapies that speed recovery from stroke
157. 8:21is that patterns of neuroplasticity are highly variable from person to person.
158. 8:28As a researcher, variability used to drive me crazy.
159. 8:32It makes it very difficult to use the statistics
160. 8:35to test your data and your ideas.
161. 8:38And because of this, medical intervention studies are
162. 8:41specifically designed to minimize variability.
163. 8:45But in my research, it's becoming really clear
164. 8:48that the most important, the most informative data we collect
165. 8:52is showing this variability.
166. 8:56So by studying the brain after stroke, we've learned a lot,
167. 9:00and I think these lessons are very valuable in other areas.
168. 9:06The first lesson is
169. 9:07that the primary driver of change in your brain is your behavior,
170. 9:11so there is no neuroplasticity drug you can take.
171. 9:15Nothing is more effective than practice at helping you learn,
172. 9:19and the bottom line is you have to do the work.
173. 9:23And in fact, my research has shown
174. 9:25increased difficulty, increased struggle if you will, during practice,
175. 9:30actually leads to both more learning,
176. 9:32and greater structural change in the brain.
177. 9:37The problem here is that neuroplastcity can work both ways.
178. 9:42It can be positive, you learn something new,
179. 9:45and you refine a motor skill.
180. 9:47And it also can be negative though, you forgot something you once knew,
181. 9:51you become addicted to drugs,
182. 9:53maybe you have chronic pain.
183. 9:56So your brain is tremendously plastic,
184. 9:58and it's been shaped both structurally and functionally by everything you do,
185. 10:03but also by everything that you don't do.
186. 10:07The second lesson we've learned about the brain
187. 10:09is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to learning.
188. 10:14So there is no recipe for learning.
189. 10:16Consider the popular belief that it takes 10,000 hours of practice
190. 10:20to learn and to master a new motor skill.
191. 10:23I can assure you it's not quite that simple.
192. 10:27For some of us,
193. 10:28it's going to take a lot more practice, and for others it may take far less.
194. 10:32So the shaping of our plastic brains is far too unique
195. 10:36for there to be any single intervention that's going to work for all of us.
196. 10:41This realization has forced us to consider something call personalized medicine.
197. 10:46This is the idea that to optimize outcomes
198. 10:49each individual requires their own intervention.
199. 10:53And the idea actually comes from cancer treatments.
200. 10:55And here it turns out that genetics are very important in matching
201. 10:59certain types of chemotherapy with specific forms of cancer.
202. 11:04My research is showing that this also applies to recovery from stroke.
203. 11:08There're certain characteristics of brain structure and function
204. 11:11we called biomarkers.
205. 11:12And these biomarkers are proving to be very helpful
206. 11:15and helping us to match
207. 11:17specific therapies with individual patients.
208. 11:20The data from my lab suggests it's a combination of biomarkers
209. 11:24that best predicts neuroplastic change and patterns of recovery after stroke.
210. 11:29And that's not surprising, given how complicated the human brain is.
211. 11:34But I also think we can consider this concept much more broadly.
212. 11:39Given the unique structure and function of each of our brains
213. 11:43what we've learned about neuroplasticity after stroke applies to everyone.
214. 11:50Behaviors that you employ in your everyday life are important.
215. 11:54Each of them is changing your brain.
216. 11:57And I believe we have to consider
217. 11:59not just personalized medicine but personalized learning.
218. 12:03The uniqueness of your brain will affect you
219. 12:05both as a learner and also as a teacher.
220. 12:08This idea helps us to understand
221. 12:11why some children can thrive in tradition education settings
222. 12:15and others don't;
223. 12:17why some of us can learn languages easily
224. 12:19and yet, others can pick up any sport and excel.
225. 12:25So when you leave this room today,
226. 12:28your brain will not be the same as when you entered this morning.
227. 12:32And I think that's pretty amazing.
228. 12:36But each of you is going to have changed your brain differently.
229. 12:40Understanding these differences,
230. 12:42these individual patterns, this variability and change
231. 12:46is going to enable the next great advance in neuroscience;
232. 12:49it's going to allow us to develop new and more effective interventions,
233. 12:53and allow for matches between learners and teachers,
234. 12:57and patients and interventions.
235. 13:00And this does not just apply the recovery from stroke,
236. 13:03it applies to each of us, as a parent, as a teacher, as a manager,
237. 13:08and also because you are at TEDx today, as a lifelong learner.
238. 13:13Study how and what you learn best.
239. 13:16Repeat those behaviors that are healthy for your brain,
240. 13:20and break those behaviors and habits that are not.
241. 13:24Practice.
242. 13:26Learning is about doing the work that your brain requires.
243. 13:30So the best strategies are going to vary between individuals.
244. 13:34You know what, they're even going to vary within individuals.
245. 13:37So for you, learning music may come very easily,
246. 13:40but learning to snowboard, much harder.
247. 13:44I hope that you leave today
248. 13:46with a new appreciation of how magnificent your brain is.
249. 13:49You and your plastic brain are constantly being shaped by the world around you.
250. 13:54Understand that everything you do,
251. 13:57everything you encounter, and everything you experience is changing your brain.
252. 14:01And that can be for better, but it can also be for worse.
253. 14:05So when you leave today, go out and build the brain you want.
254. 14:10Thank you very much.
255. 14:11(Applause)