eLife: Learn something complicated, our brains will be more flexible

eLife: Learn something complicated, our brains will be more flexible

Release date: 2016-03-22

Although our brain gray matter is divided into several isolated cortical areas to deal with different types of problems, such as vision, hearing, touch and so on. A new study shows that the "isolation zone" between these regions is actually liquid, and this discovery makes us need to re-examine our brains.

Researchers from the Jagiellonian University in Poland believe that complex learning tasks can make our cerebral cortex areas large enough to change the way we routinely feel and process information.

In fact, there have been cases in this area, such as people who are suffering from a stroke or blinding, will rely heavily on certain organs.

"The textbook tells us that the visual cortex deals with visual information, while the tactile cortex deals with tactile information," says cognitive scientist Marcin Szwed. "Our findings break this view. Through complex learning tasks, we Ability to establish new connections between different areas."

To validate their hypothesis, the researchers recruited 29 volunteers to train them to learn Braille in a dark environment. In the experiment, the participants' reading speed reached 17 words per minute.

The results themselves may not be very attractive, but before and after the training, the researchers scanned the brains of these participants and compared the characteristics of brain activity before and after training.

The results showed that the visual cortex of the brain, especially the Visual Word Form Area, was activated after training, and the connection between the area and the tactile cortex was established.

This result may still be nothing new. After all, blind people have long been able to connect touch and visual word processing. But there is no clear evidence that healthy people can have the same ability. In other words, anyone who wants to practice can reshape the functional division of the brain.

When the researchers suppressed the activity of the visual composition by the magnetic stimulation of the brain, the results showed that their ability to read Braille was suppressed, which further proved that the visual cortex has established contact with the tactile cortex.

The results were published in the latest issue of elife magazine.

Source: Bio Valley

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