I know once we have pruned
something away we can relearn that information if we need to, but once information
is pruned is there no way we would ever be able to recall that information
without relearning it?
The brain
develops by first retaining all of the information that we have experienced and
as we get older we start to prune away some connections that we have made to
make room for new connections that are more important. Learning is the connections that we make in
recognition of the experiences that we have been a part of recently. There are many genetic problems that can stop
or have the brain develop in a different way which makes it harder for those
people to learn.
The
difference in the three pictures is that in the first picture it is a picture
of a new born baby and this baby has made a few connections, but not that many
because the baby has not been around long enough to make new connections. The second is a picture of a six year old
which is in the process of learning a lot and making many new connections
because they are having new experiences and do not prune away a lot of the
connections because they do not have many connections to replace them. The third is a picture of a seventeen year
old who does not have as many connections as the six year old because they have
pruned away a lot of the connections that they have not used in a couple of
years.
I liked that your post started with a question. That is a really interesting question and it made me want to know the answer as well. I would be interested to find out if it was ever possible to recall information after it has been pruned from the brain.
ReplyDeleteWell, I think your question has a reasonable response within it.... If the connection is physically GONE, then no, you couldn't remember it. Often, though, the synapse isn't entirely pruned. It might be a tiny tiny connection (because it's not really that you need to prune to make more space--space isn't a limiting factor) but just not myelinated, so it would be barely there unless you have some sort of cue that prompts you to make that specific connection.
ReplyDeleteWhy do you say that pruning connections is part of development? I'd probably say anything experience expectant (that we are programmed to do) could be considered development, but the actual changes that happen as a result of experience would be considered learning. So, the removal of connections, based on experience, could be considered a form of learning. It's a change that's based on experience.