Cognitive science is the study of the brain mechanisms
responsible for an individual's thoughts, moods,
decisions, and actions. Cognition refers to everything
that takes place in an individual's brain that helps him
understand the world around him. To accomplish such an
understanding involves mental processes such as
concentration, memory, conceptualization, creativity,
and emotions.
In his book
The New Brain,Dr. Richard Restak uses the term
"plasticity of the new brain" to refer to the capacity
of the brain to transform itself. This is an incredibly
exciting notion, and one that has endless positive
ramifications.
Until recently, it was generally believed that the
brain's plasticity peaked out at young adulthood, if not
earlier. But researchers now believe the brain is
subject to transformation throughout life, which is why
Restak appropriately refers to it as a "lifetime work in
progress."
Now that I've become a born-again behavioral
modificationist, this makes perfect sense to me. When I
was a Freudian laymanologist, I assumed that genetics
and childhood experiences set everything in stone. It
wasn't until the headmaster at my son's school told me
that he had based his entire career on his belief in
behavioral modification that I allowed myself to
consider its merits.
That led me to read
Reality Therapy, which I wrote about in Message
#1552. The essence of that book,
and of my article, is that no matter what happened to
you in your childhood, no amount of rehashing the past
can ever change it. On the other hand, by focusing on
being a responsible adult today, you can change the way
you feel about yourself, and about life, in the present.
Thus, whether you want to learn a foreign language, how
to play tennis, or the techniques for writing good ad
copy, you first have to make changes in your brain. And
the key to making such changes is repetition.
Repetition makes repeated impressions on your brain, but
there's a catch: If the repetitions are wrong (e.g.,
swinging a golf club incorrectly), you are not going to
excel at the skill you have targeted. From whence comes
the worn-out but true observation that only an insane
person would continue to repeat the same thing over and
over again and expect to achieve different results.
Which brings yet another question to the fore: If you
continue to get negative results, should you invoke
persistence ... or is it more sane just to give up and
move on to something else? The answer is that you
definitely should be persistent, but, based on what you
have learned through your experiences, you should try a
different methodology.
Restak's main point is that regardless of how much of
success is due to genetics and how much is due to
practice, the level of success one achieves is based on
the plasticity of the brain. My take on this can be
summed up in what I call the "C" Student/"A" Student
Theory, which simplistically states: In a majority
of cases, a student with "C" intelligence who is willing
to put forth the required effort can achieve "A"
results.
I know this from firsthand experience, because I went
from a 0.8 average in college to a 4.0 after a stint in
the army. My military experience was so unpleasant that
it made an indelible impression on my brain - and highly
motivated me to get good grades.
In other words, my brain's plasticity made it possible
for me to transform my view of the world. It was a
cerebral transformation that made it possible for me to
recognize that there is more to life than girls, booze,
and playing poker. Once I redirected my energy from such
trivial pursuits to studying every waking moment that I
wasn't in class, I was able to achieve "A's" in such
difficult subjects as physics and organic chemistry.
The plasticity of the brain is why you can accomplish
great things without being born with superior
intelligence or natural talent. Dr. Restak maintains
that a transformation of the brain can be achieved by
sheer determination.
Fair enough, but begs the question: What if your brain
isn't wired to be determined? That's where one's
experiences and environment come into play.
For example, notwithstanding imbecilic arguments to the
contrary, what you see and hear around you (such as in
movies and on television) has a huge impact on how and
what you think about all day long. When people -
children in particular - see violence, "alternative
lifestyles," and explicit sex on the screen, or hear it
by listening to rap-crap, the power of suggestion is
planted with each repetition.
So-called intelligence is plastic, because scientific
research has shown that experiences cause neuronal
circuits to form and become denser. Therefore, no matter
what your age, the more you exercise your brain, the
higher the density of the neurons in your frontal cortex
- which makes you more "intelligent." ("General
intelligence" is believed to be directly related to the
amount of gray matter in the frontal lobes of the
brain.)
You have heard this phrased in laymen's terms as "Use it
or lose it." The less I write, the more difficult I find
it to write. The more I write, the more easily the words
fly off the keyboard. Which is why every writer should
make the words of Michael Masterson's father his/her
mantra: "A writer is someone who writes. Not now and
then, but every day." The substance of this philosophy
is true whatever your profession may be.
The corollary to the "C" Student/"A" Student Theory
might well be stated as: In a majority of cases, a
student with "A" intelligence who is unwilling to put
forth a reasonable amount of effort is likely to achieve
"C" results. To me, then, intelligence has more to
do with how close you come to performing at your maximum
capacity than it does with IQ.
Finally, it's important to recognize that native
intelligence is not nearly as important as such traits
as social skills, the ability to persuade, and the
willingness to take action. Our universities are
overflowing with top-heavy frontal-cortex types who
would surely be lost in the real world (i.e., the world
beyond the ivy-covered gates guarding a weird mixture of
academic pinheads and illiterate semi-pro athletes).
There's no question that whoever came up with the term
"personal best" definitely was onto something. It's not
what you have, but what you do with what you have. No
matter how old you are, no matter what your financial
condition may be, and no matter how many bad experiences
you may have had in your past, it's never too late to
become "smarter."
Consciously and continuously make it a point to push
your plastic brain to the limit - and beyond - until the
day you breathe your last breath. The human brain is the
most powerful collection of atoms on earth, but it
requires constant exercise.
And what if you're not motivated to exercise your brain?
I'll say it again: You have free will! Force yourself to
take action. That will get those atoms in your plastic
brain vibrating at ever-higher rates of speed. And that,
in turn, will produce motivation. I guarantee it.
Robert Ringer -
The
voice of sanity in an insane world
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