This module talked about the specifics of brain development as well as the implications brain research has had on education. When children are younger they have a copious amount of neurons that are able to fire themselves anywhere in the brain. By the time an infant gets to be a young child she has made a lot of connections in her brain from the experiences she has had up until that point. When young adulthood comes around many of these connections are pruned because they are no longer used on a daily basis or hold little to no significance to the individual. The main factors that affect brain development are genetics, environmental stimulation, critical periods, plasticity (or adaptability) of the brain, nutrition, and teratogens (or outside substances that can cause abnormalities in fetuses)
A question that came up for me was how brain might scientists say that forgetting happens? Is it when a connection is lost? Or is it when a connection is not myelinated enough and the signal fails?
According to brain scientists development occurs when connections are made in the brain and when neurons develop a specified job in the brain. Especially in fetal and early infancy development many of the neurons rely on genetic coding to make it to the destination they were intended for. Once these initial connections are made learning can occur. Learning occurs when these connections are myelinated or insulated and electrical impulses can be sent through the synapses faster and without losing information.
According to brain research repetition is a good way to remember something because it causes the neurons in your brain to fire through the same connection multiple times and when that happens myelinations occurs. Myelination is what insulates axons to make the information that the electrical impulse is sending faster and more efficient. Myelination also helps keep the information contained in the electrical impulse from being lost.
I am not completely sure about this answer, but if I were to make an educated guess, I would say that it is because the information was not correctly encoded in the first place. This means that the connection probably wasn't made ever. Since the neurons couldn't make the connections in the brain, the brain would not be able to recall the information. If the neurons made the connection, it still is possible to "forget" it, but I would think that it could easily be recalls with prompts, which would then make more connections and make the original one stronger. For example, there have been times in classes where I have heard a fact once, or maybe two time, and when asked later about it, I couldn't remember. After being given prompts, or clues, I have been able to come to the answer. Since I learned it again with more information, it was easier for me to remember it at a later time.
ReplyDeleteI had a similar question. Just from what we have read and discussed in class I would guess that the connection is just not strong enough to be myelinated. Or it may just not be important enough to be remembered or stored. I think that even when we think we forget things, we are still able to remember them if we think about it enough. I know that there are times when I forgot things but was able to remember them after sep thought and concentration. I'm not sure if this is what you are talking about, or just the inability to remember at all. For instance I can't remember my first vacation as a child. I think that my brain was not developed then as it is not and that my connections were not strong enough at such an early age to create a significant myelin ate coating.
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