Book SummaryThe Brain That Changes Itself, by Norman Doidge

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of The Brain That Changes Itself

In The Brain That Changes Itself, Norman Doidge explains that the brain is plastic, meaning it can change its own structure and connections in response to stimuli. This contrasts with the long-held belief that the brain is hardwired from an early age.

Doidge explains how the brain’s plastic nature can be used to improve outcomes for people suffering from severe brain damage or congenital brain disorders by restoring cognitive, sensory, and motor functions that have been lost or impaired. His book conveys complex ideas in a way that a layperson can understand and illustrates...

The Brain That Changes Itself Summary What Is Neuroplasticity and How Does It Work?

Doidge defines neuroplasticity as the brain’s ability to grow and reorganize itself in response to stimuli. Your brain is your processing center, and your brain’s structure and processes can change based on external or internal triggers to improve your brain’s performance and efficiency.

(Shortform note: The phenomenon of neuroplasticity means that, despite what we previously thought, our intelligence and ability levels are determined more by our environment than by our genes. Evidence also suggests that teaching children they have the power to change their own brains helps them learn better—particularly at-risk students.)

How do these changes in your brain happen? Doidge explains that the brain is made up of neurons, or nerve cells, which send signals to each other to produce every one of the brain’s functions. Neurons are separated by tiny spaces called...

The Brain That Changes Itself Summary How Did the Concept of Neuroplasticity Develop?

Neuroplasticity wasn’t always considered valid in the field of neuroscience or related fields like psychology and biology. According to Doidge, the concept of the brain as plastic wasn’t taken seriously in the scientific community until around the 1960s. Instead, the brain was thought of as a machine with distinct parts designated for different functions. This was called localizationism and suggested the brain wasn’t capable of significant structural changes.

Neuroplasticity only became an accepted concept after many years of research provided the foundation for how the brain can change. In this section, we’ll examine localizationism and explore the evolution of our understanding of the brain, from mapping the areas of the brain with the functions they perform, to the critical period of neuroplasticity in infants, to the natural ways our brains change, and finally to how this information can be applied to modern treatments.

Harmful Worldviews Stemming From Localizationism

While some of the principles of localizationism—for example, that certain functions tended to be controlled by certain parts of the brain—were correct, the belief that localizationism was...

The Brain That Changes Itself Summary How Can Neuroplasticity Improve Our Lives?

Doidge says that neuroplasticity means we can change our brains to suit our needs. This has resulted in huge developments in neuroscience that have helped many people recover motor, sensory, and cognitive functions they had lost. Let’s look at some instances of such recovery.

Help for Stroke Patients

According to Doidge, Edward Taub used his research with monkeys to develop a treatment for regaining motor control called constraint-induced movement therapy, or CI therapy. If a patient loses the ability to use one of their arms—a common result of strokes—this therapy re-teaches them to use it by constraining their good hand. Being forced to use their affected hand in everyday activities causes the brain to rewire itself to make those movements possible and then easier.

(Shortform note: New technology is being developed that could complement or substitute for Taub’s CI therapy: Scientists have created a virtual reality interface that allows stroke patients to “practice” performing everyday activities....

The Brain That Changes Itself Summary Drawbacks of Neuroplasticity

Unfortunately, brain plasticity may have downsides, says Doidge. Because, as we’ve discussed, plasticity is competitive, when one area of the brain becomes unused, it’s likely to be taken over by other functions that are used regularly. This can make it difficult to break bad habits because using the pathways involved with those habits not only strengthens them, but also weakens the pathways that are not used by the bad habit.

(Shortform note: This pattern of engaging in a bad habit, strengthening that habit, and weakening good habits can create a harmful feedback loop: Any time a habit is triggered, you’re more likely to engage in that habit, which further reinforces the association of that habit with that same trigger. To break this loop and the bad habits it entails, experts recommend quitting bad habits cold turkey so you stop reinforcing them and then replacing them with good habits so those pathways get strengthened instead. If quitting cold turkey is too difficult or dangerous,...

Shortform Exercise: Train Your Brain

You can use your brain’s neuroplasticity to your advantage in creating new skills or building new knowledge. Apply the principles of incremental learning and massed practice to enhance your neural pathways and learn a new skill.

Identify a skill you want to develop or improve—playing an instrument or a sport, for example.