Brainstorms

The premise of my research, speeches and workshops over the past three decades has been based on the question, "If it's your job to develop the mind, shouldn't you know how the brain works?"

Kenneth Wesson works as a keynote speaker and educational consultant for pre-school through university-level institutions and organizations. He speaks throughout the world on the neuroscience of learning and methods for creating classrooms and learning environments that are "brain-considerate."

Newly divided skin cells continually replace old skin on your body. Human blood cells live only for a few wee, after which time they die off and are recycled. Excessive visits to the dessert table will prompt the production of new fat cells. With high levels of food consumption, fat cells are kept exceptionally busy growing and dying off. Are brain cells any different from other cells in the body?

The centuries old “neuro-dogma” has assured us that mammalian neurons do not reproduce nor are they ever replaced through neural regeneration. Most brain tumors are gliomas not “neuromas.” The majority of neurons have never been considered to be postmitotic while glial cells are evidently mitotic. The “fact” that we all learned in neuroanatomy classes was that neurogenesis was restricted to prenatal development because there were no postnatal indications that neurons reentered cell division cycles, since they did not divide. It was also common knowledge that most people did not fully recover their pre-morbid abilities such as speaking and walking following a stroke or other brain traumas seemed to further support this view. However, the long-standing belief that, during neurogenesis, the mammalian brain produces all of the neurons that it will ever own, warrants a reconsideration.

Cortical plasticity refers to the brain's unique ability to continue exercising its adaptable nature by allowing different areas of the brain to modify their function and architecture as a result of new experiences, which the brain gets from the outside world. The human brain is not only sturdy, but it is also extremely delicate and remarkably flexible. A child's early interactions directly impact the ways in which his brain gets physically “wired-up.” With the acquisition of new skills, knowledge and behaviors the elaborate circuits and structures inside the brain go through constant alteration, reorganization, and cellular adjustments. Those changes are reflected in tangible transformations visible in the brain's interior terrain.

In a developing human fetus, brain cells are produced at the astounding rate of over 250,000 per minute. Once born, the young brain is so responsive to external stimulation that we can now safely say that nearly all experiences participate in literally sculpting a child's growing brain. This sensitive process tailor-makes his neuroanatomy and regional functioning capabilities in his developing brain. These unfolding events will determine how much, in what regions, when, if, and even where the greatest amount of development will take place in the blossoming infant brain. Until death, the brain is never actually finished building, modifying and reconstituting itself.

Many new competencies are often accompanied by a “brain spurt” (sponsored primarily by genetic programming) where brain components and capabilities mature and a higher degree of myelination is seen in those emergent regions. Initially, a child's brain has twice as many neural connections as an adult. The overproduction of neural networks (synaptic proliferation) sets an early stage for postnatal neural plasticity by guaranteeing that a young brain will be capable of adapting to virtually any environment into which it is born, whether that location happens to be San Francisco, the Sudan or Singapore. As all learning occurs, neurons respond by reaching out to one another in an elaborate branching process that connects previously unaligned cells creating complex neural circuits. The result is the creation of "magic trees," as UC Berkeley's Marian Diamond refers to the dense "neural forests" that are the physiological consequences of stimulation and learning. Recent findings, however, are more suggestive of neural forests that resemble massive root systems pushed together more than tree branches reaching upwards.

Kenneth Wesson (408) 223-6728
Kenneth.Wesson@sjeccd.org