Dendritic Spines (Credit: Yi Zuo, University of California, Santa Cruz)
We have been told our entire lives that "practice makes perfect"; that the more we work for something, the better we will become. However, a lot of the time we become discouraged because we do not see immediate results. In his book, Guitar Zero, Gary Marcus discusses the importance of practicing when trying to learn an instrument.
Marcus writes how learning to play the guitar was a long and difficult process. He explains how the "maddening irregularities" (Marcus 40) that are involved in music make it extremely difficult to learn. The brain functions much better when presented with patterns or commonalities. However, music requires skills that are involved in, "precise perceptual mastery, such as recognizing particular sounds or shapes; it may require precise coordination in time between multiple muscles; and it may require development on the part of the muscles themselves" (Marcus 43). The integration of so many different skills that are not typical for individuals causes some of the difficulties that beginner musicians face.
Facing such intimidating tasks at the same time as not seeing immediate effects is one of the greatest obstacles individuals face when learning something new. However, a recent article in Scientific American called "Spine Tuning: Finding Physical Evidence of How Practice Rewires the Brain," discusses a study from University of California, Santa Cruz that offers proof that practice, does indeed, make perfect.
Researcher Yi Zuo lead the study at the University of California by looking at the neural development as rats preformed various tasks at different levels of practice over four days. The first group of rats practiced the same task every day, while the second and third group preformed two different tasks and played with several different toys, respectively. Lastly, the fourth group of rats simply went about their days without doing any sort of practice. Zuo and her colleagues looked at the motor cortices of the rats through a two-photon microscope and discovered that the rats who practiced regularly grew significantly more clusters of dendritic spines than the other groups of rats.
Neurons receive information through their dendritic spines, which are extremely dynamic. Thus, the more one practices, the connections between neurons strengthen and cause learning to take place. The other three groups of rats did grow new spines on their neurons; however, the rats that repeatedly practiced grew more clusters. Zuo showed that the dendritic spines developed very quickly, some appearing within an hour of training. However, her study leaves us with the question: is it the number of spines or the size of spines that cause the strongest connections?
While there may not yet be an answer to this question, Marcus explains that, "Existing neural connections (synapses) must be made more efficient, new dendritic spines may be formed, and proteins must be synthesized" (Marcus 52). As this happens, an individual experiences learning, making him/her better at a particular task. In order to do this, one must repeatedly practice a task until it becomes encoded into higher levels of cognition of the brain, such as the hippocampus and the basal ganglia. Marcus writes that, "mastering time can literally take years" (Marcus 49) when it comes to music. Professional musicians reach a level where things become automatic - the movement of their fingers as they play music feels natural, developing the ability to differentiate between pitches, etc - thanks to persistent and focused practice.
Marcus explains the importance of practicing in order to excel in activities such as music while Zuo offers evidence that the brain changes as soon as one starts to practice. Many individuals may be discouraged to stop practicing just because they don't see immediate results; however Zuo helps us see that the brain is, in fact, immediately changing, showing that learning is occurring.
Maybe we should all start taking advice from our Disney friend, Dory, to not give up and "just keep swimming."
No comments:
Post a Comment