Monday, May 04, 2009

Michael Merzenich: Exploring the re-wiring of the brain

Michael Merzanich studies brain's ability to reconfigure itself also known as Brain Plasticity. He also studies how to use this ability of the brain to help it grow for useful purposes.

His bio
One of the foremost researchers of neuroplasticity, Michael Merzenich's work has shown that the brain retains its ability to alter itself well into adulthood -- suggesting that brains with injuries or disease might be able to recover function, even later in life. He has also explored the way the senses are mapped in regions of the brain and the way sensations teach the brain to recognize new patterns.

Merzenich wants to bring the powerful plasticity of the brain into practical use through technologies and methods that harness it to improve learning. He founded Scientific Learning Corporation, which markets and distributes educational software for children based on models of brain plasticity. He is co-founder and Chief Science Officer of Posit Science, which creates "brain training" software also based on his research.

Merzenich is professor emeritus of neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco.
and his talk



The discovery of Brain Plasticity displaces the old thinking that brain connections get set early in life in life. Once set they can not be altered and in the old age we experience weakening of these connections.

No comments:

Labels

Brain (12) Education (12) Social Sciences (11) Human (9) Health (8) Psychology (8) neuroscience (8) Stanford University (7) Decision making (6) Human brain (6) cognitive neuroscience (5) emotion (5) neuron (5) Google (4) Meditation (4) consciousness (4) happiness (4) learning (4) visual Thinking (4) Behavioral Economics (3) Biology (3) Business (3) Charles Darwin (3) Cognitive science (3) Economic (3) Harvard University (3) Medicine (3) Neurological Disorders (3) Rationality (3) TED (3) United States (3) chimpanzee (3) cognitive neuroscience mindfulness meditation (3) love (3) monkey (3) philosophy (3) social media (3) stephen colbert (3) stress (3) Africa (2) Barry Schwartz (2) Blank Slate (2) CBS (2) Cognitive Psychology (2) Dan Ariely (2) Daniel Kahneman (2) Distance Learning (2) Duke University (2) Economics (2) Evolution (2) Helen Fisher (2) Internet Marketing (2) Language Instinct (2) Lion (2) Mental Health (2) Mindfulness (2) Nobel Prize (2) Open source (2) Optical Illusion (2) Organizations (2) Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less (2) Primate (2) Robert Sapolsky (2) Seth Godin (2) Society and Culture (2) Steven Pinker (2) Yale University (2) affection (2) ape (2) behavior (2) brain praise cash money reward (2) creation (2) emotional intelligence (2) happy (2) japan (2) life (2) lions (2) magic (2) memory (2) mind (2) primatologist (2) psychocative drugs (2) reality (2) subconscious (2) visual perception (2) "public relations" marketing advertising (1) 2001: A Space Odyssey (1) 60 minutes (1) Abraham (1) Addiction (1) Al Gore (1) American Psychological Association (1) Animal (1) Animation (1) Antibiotic resistance (1) António Damásio (1) Art (1) Arthur C Clarke (1) Articles (1) Author (1) Autodesk (1) BBC (1) Bacteria (1) Benjamin Libet (1) Biological Sciences (1) Bonnie Bassler (1) Buddhism (1) Carnegie Mellon University (1) Centers and Counseling Services (1) Chaos theory (1) Cheetah (1) Choice (1) Cognitive bias (1) Colleges and Universities (1) Computers (1) Computing (1) Conditions and Diseases (1) Connexions (1) Consulting (1) Copyright (1) Corpus Callosum (1) Creative Commons (1) Creativity (1) Csikzentmihalyi (1) Daily Show (1) Dalai Lama (1) Daniel Goleman (1) Darwinism (1) Death (1) Dominance hierarchy (1) Drug abuse (1) Drug addiction (1) Edward Bernays (1) Effects (1) Efficient-market hypothesis (1) Electronic learning (1) Emotiv Systems (1) Eric Kandel (1) Ethics (1) Eye tracking (1) Facebook (1) Family (1) Fates of Human Societies (1) Gene expression (1) George Eman Vaillant (1) Gird Gigerenzer (1) Gram-negative bacteria (1) Gram-positive bacteria (1) Guns Germs and Steel (1) Herbert Benson (1) Here Comes Everybody (1) Heuristic (1) Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (1) Hierarchy (1) History (1) Human evolution (1) IBM Blue Gene (1) Innovation (1) Intel (1) Interactivity (1) Internet (1) Israel (1) James Fowler (1) James randi (1) Janine Benyus (1) Jared Diamond (1) Jay Cross (1) Jeff Hawkins (1) John Bargh (1) John Medina (1) Jon Kabat-Zinn (1) Jon Stewart (1) Kandel (1) Keith Barry (1) Languages (1) Last Lecture (1) Libet (1) Library of Congress (1) Linguistics (1) MIT Media Lab (1) Mammalia (1) Mammals (1) Marketing (1) Marketing and Advertising (1) Marriage (1) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1) Max Planck Institute (1) Max Planck Society (1) Media (1) Medical school (1) Metaphor (1) Michael Gazzaniga (1) Michael Merzenich (1) Mihaly (1) Mihaly Csikzentmihalyi (1) Mimicry (1) Moral hazard (1) Morality (1) Motivational speaker (1) Motor cortex (1) Multimedia (1) Music (1) Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain (1) NIDA (1) National Geographic magazine (1) National Institute on Drug Abuse (1) National Medal of Science (1) Nature (1) Nature Reviews Neuroscience (1) Nervous system (1) Neurology (1) Neuroplasticity (1) Neuroscientist (1) Neurosurgery (1) New York University (1) Nicholas Carr (1) Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Science (1) Obedience (1) Oliver Sacks (1) Online (1) Online Communities (1) Online Teaching and Learning (1) Online Training (1) Operating system (1) Pancreatic cancer (1) Panthera (1) Paul Maclean (1) Peer-to-peer (1) People (1) Peru (1) Philip Zimbardo (1) Pioneers (1) Plato (1) Podcast (1) Politics (1) Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (1) Princeton University (1) Programming (1) Project management (1) Public Broadcasting Service (1) Pulitzer Prize (1) Qualia (1) Quorum sensing (1) Rajesh Khanna (1) Ralph Metzner (1) Randy Pausch (1) Rational choice theory (1) Religion and Spirituality (1) Remixed (1) Research (1) Richard Dawkins (1) Rom Brafman (1) Rutgers University (1) Science of love (1) Search (1) Search Engines (1) Seizure (1) Shamanism (1) SlideShare (1) Social Intelligence (1) Social Neuroscience (1) Social network (1) Social psychology (1) Southern California (1) Stanford (1) Stanley Kubrick (1) Stanley Milgram (1) Stimulus (1) Storytelling (1) Stuff of Thought (1) Sub-Saharan Africa (1) Substance abuse (1) Susan Savage-Rumbaugh (1) Swarthmore College (1) Television (1) Terence Mckenna (1) Thomas Jefferson (1) Time Paradox (1) Tom Cruise (1) Tony Robbins (1) Tools (1) Twitter (1) University of California (1) University of California San Francisco (1) Université de Montréal (1) Vice president (1) Web page (1) Web search engine (1) Why We Love (1) Wired News (1) YouTube (1) Zebra (1) ageing (1) alan kay (1) alankay (1) arousal (1) attention (1) ayahausca (1) baboon (1) bangladesh (1) barney (1) behavioral finance (1) biomimicry (1) blue brain (1) brain sex love neuroscience anthropology relationships (1) carl sagan (1) cat (1) cell (1) cerebral cortex (1) cheating (1) chracter traits (1) classroom (1) clayshirky (1) collaboration (1) computation (1) computational neuroscience (1) computer (1) conjurer (1) conjuring (1) content (1) cooperation (1) dan dennett (1) dan gilbert (1) deconstruction (1) depression (1) design (1) eat (1) elearning (1) energy (1) exercise (1) explanation (1) fairness (1) firewalking (1) fisherman (1) flow (1) food (1) foresight (1) frames (1) free (1) free will (1) freud (1) future (1) game (1) games (1) george lakoff (1) good (1) group (1) gut feelings (1) healing (1) henrymarkram (1) heuristics (1) hugs (1) human apes similar Professor robert sapolsky stanford (1) hypermedia (1) ibm (1) image (1) information (1) institution (1) interaction (1) interface (1) intuition (1) iqbal qadir (1) irrational (1) jonah lehrer (1) kenrobinson (1) knowledge (1) leadership (1) learner (1) left brian (1) limbic system (1) longitudinal studies (1) machine (1) management (1) mass media (1) mathematics (1) message (1) mice (1) mind control (1) money (1) new media (1) non-monetary collaboration (1) nothing (1) old (1) opinion (1) orangutan (1) paradox (1) paranormal (1) parrot (1) paul roem (1) persuaders (1) persuasion (1) philipzimbardo (1) pleasure (1) presentation (1) profitability (1) propaganda (1) psychology today (1) public relations (1) rational (1) rational actor model (1) reseach (1) reward (1) rice university (1) richard davidson (1) right brain (1) robert horn (1) robert spalosky (1) rodent (1) rule (1) scientific (1) segway (1) slidecast (1) social organization (1) south africa (1) spear (1) spider (1) statistics (1) stealing (1) story (1) surfing (1) swirzerland (1) teaching (1) text books (1) think (1) thoughts (1) tips (1) tom wujec (1) tool (1) tribe (1) tricks (1) triune theory (1) twiiter (1) user experience and usability (1) visual language (1) web (1) well being (1) widgets (1) will (1) wisdom (1)