The Brain That Changes Itself by Norman Doidge

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The Brain That Changes Itself (2007)

By Norman Doidge

Page 12 of 16

What is remarkable about the cortex in the critical period is that it is so plastic that its structure can be changed just by exposing it to new stimuli. That sensitivity allows babies and very young children in the critical period of language development to pick up new sounds and words effortlessly, simply by hearing their parents speak; mere exposure causes their brain maps to wire in the changes. After the critical period older children and adults can, of course, learn languages, but they really have to work to pay attention. For Merzenich, the difference between critical-period plasticity and adult plasticity is that in the critical period the brain maps can be changed just by being exposed to the world because “the learning machinery is continuously on.”

It makes good biological sense for this “machinery” always to be on because babies can’t possibly know what will be important in life, so they pay attention to everything. Only a brain that is already somewhat organized can sort out what is worth paying attention to.

The next clue Merzenich needed in order to understand autism came from a line of research that was originated during the Second World War, in Fascist Italy, by a young Jewish woman, Rita Levi-Montalcini, while in hiding. Levi-Montalcini was born in Turin in 1909 and attended medical school there. In 1938, when Mussolini barred Jews from practicing medicine and doing scientific research, she fled to Brussels to continue her studies; when the Nazis threatened Belgium, she went back to Turin and built a ...

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