From: mike@isgtec.com (Mike Sellers)
Newsgroups: sci.cognitive
Subject: Re: Neural connections, getting smarter, and TV
Date: 3 Sep 92 03:44:27 GMT
Organization: ISG Technologies Inc., Mississauga Ontario

In article <1992Sep1.094814.1@vax1.umkc.edu> tbeaudoin@vax1.umkc.edu writes:
> 	Please excuse my momentary instrusion on this erudite list,
> but i am a high school teacher looking for a tiny bit of help.  I am 
> interested in explaining to my students how using their brain can 
> actually help them use their brain better; that is, that learning can 
> actually increase the number of potential neuron interactions in the brain.

There is a large body of evidence relating to this in animals, and somewhat
less in humans (though the indirect animal evidence appears to generalize
well to us ).  For example, raising rats in an "enriched" environment will 
result in significantly heavier brains and thicker cortices over those of 
rats raised in normal or deprived environments.  

There is also a clear relationship between early experience and neural
degeneration: Use it or lose it.  This has been demonstrated even in very
specific (if barbaric) ways by restricting the field of view in young cats,
and examining the "withered" visual cortex after sacrificing them.  It is
not clear for how long this extreme neural plasticity continues, though 
in humans it lasts for at least eight years (the first two being the most
dramatic), and may well be a life-long process.

For sources I'd suggest hitting any book on neural development or developmental
psychobiology.  Kandel & Schwartz's _Principles of Neural Science_ provides a
solid introduction and shouldn't be too much for an IB class.  There are 
*many* other good books out there too -- oh, check out the September 1979
Scientific American; it has a good article on just this sort of thing.  

> I am also interested in the ways TV encourages neural connections that make
> it difficult to think critically.  

This will be difficult, if not impossible, to demonstrate.  Many TV shows
(and just as importantly, when we watch them) may well have an extinguishing
or interfering effect on prior learning, while others do not.  Many are
no doubt beneficial to overall learning.  I am not aware of any hypothesis
about a connection between TV and neural connections, however, nor can I
think of how a reasonable one might be constructed.  

Simply put, watching an engaging show on PBS ("The Nature of Things",
"Nova", "Connections", or even "Sherlock Holmes") might be conducsive
to critical thinking, while watching re-runs of Laverne & Shirley almost
certainly won't be -- especially if the student watches that instead of
doing their homework!  

> Thomas Beaudoin
> Lee's Summit High School
> International Baccalaureate Program
> Lee's Summit, MO

For what it's worth, I took several IB classes when I was in high
school in the Philippines, back in the late `70s: I received a 6 in
IB bio H, a 5 in English S, and a 5 in Philosophy S... I think there 
were more, but that's all I can remember (are the exams still graded 
worldwide on a 1-7 score?).  It's neat to see that the program is still 
going, and in Missouri of all places!

--
              Mike Sellers      User Interface Team Leader
           mike@isgtec.com      ISG Technologies, Toronto, Canada
              "Actum ne agas" -- Do not do what has been done.
                         Furare tantum ab Optimis