Brain plasticity-based strategies designed to help struggling ......Comparison Group (No Fast...

Dr.MichaelM.Merzenich

ProfessorEmeritus,UCSFCo-Founder,Scien=ficLearningCorpora=on

Director,BrainPlas=cityIns=tuteCSO,PositScienceCorpora=on

Neuroplas=city&Educa=on Vancouver Oct.23,2015

Brain plasticity-based strategies designed to help struggling children

Oursubject:Neuroplas=city-basedformsofhelpforthestrugglingchild

1.Brainplas,cityinchildhood.

2.Thefundamentally‘reversible’natureof brainplas,city-drivenchanges.

3.Whatcan‘gowrong’,inchilddevelopment.

4.“HarnessingtheGenie”,tohelp.

BRAINPLASTICITY:Thebasisofthebrain’screa=onofamodelofyourworld,andofthecontrolofyouropera=onswithinit.

Compe==vely,progressivelyrefiningfunc=onalorder.

Viacompe==veplas=cityprocesses,environmentalexperienceprogressivelyrefinesthebrain’srepresenta=onofsensoryinputsANDitsprocessingmachinery.

That“specializa=on”cruciallyenableshigher-orderbrainopera=ons.

Processesthatcontrolplas=city“mature”acrossthisearlychildhoodepoch.Withthatmatura=on,changesareONLYallowedforinputsandac=onsthatthebraindeterminestobe“good”forit.

Atanolderage,it’sallaboutpersonalunderthebrain’sowncontrol.

Reader

Non-reader

WHATischanging,exactly,asthebrainremodelsitselfinearlychildhood—indeed,throughoutlife—to

makethemostofitsuniqueexperiences?!ItsdetailedWIRING(synap=cconnec=ons)—ANDMANYOTHERphysicalaspectsofthebrain

Itsopera=onalcharacteris=csgoverningpercep=on,aeen=on,cogni=on,socialbehavior,etc.

Themachinerycontrollingchange,andcontrollingits(its‘owner’s’)ac=ons.

NotethatthesechangesarePHYSICAL.

Theproductofallthatchange?Aunique .

Old (or young, impaired) individuals were then sent to a ‘rehab center’ for brain training…..

vs

We began by comparing old animal and human brains with young adult brains…

de Villers-Sidani et al., PNAS 2010 Mishra, de Villers-Sidani et al., in review, 2014

vs

With simple forms of training in older (or younger, impaired) individuals ALL neurological abilities were substantially if not completely restored. Included on our list: 1.  Local and long-track myelination 2.  Excitatory & inhibitory response power & dynamics 3.  Local response coordination/correlation 4.  Cortical column sizes & boundaries 5.  Parvalbumin inhibitory neuron numbers, vigor, morphologies 6.  Inhibitory, excitatory, and modulatory receptor sub-types 7.  Temporal response dynamics 8.  Topographic order, precision 9.  Response selectivity (receptive field size; feature extraction) 10.BDNF expression, function 11.Cortical thickness and neuropil volume 12.Cortical process‘noise’ 13.Distractor suppression 14.Successive-signal adaptation, adaptation to backgrounds 15.Modulatory neurotransmitter nuclei, transporters (ACh; DA; NE; SE) 16.Correlated gamma- & theta-frequency responses 16. Among other indices – all recovered at every examined system level. de Villers-Sidani et al, 2010, PNAS 107:13900; Zhou et al, 2011, J Neurosci 31:5625;de Villers-Sidani & Merzenich,Prog Brain Res 191:119; Mishra, de Villers-Sidani et al,2014,Neuron; Lin, Zhou et al 2015 PNAS

Ananimalmodelexample:

Note:Weseeallthesamechangesdrivenbytraininginyounger-impaired(orinnormally-developing)brains;e.g.,seeZhou,Linetal,PNAS,2015.

Example 2: Reducing the power of background “distractors” AND recovering discriminative powers.

Ahumanexample:

(20-100yrolds).

(BrainHQ.com)

Similarresultsrecordedwithvisualtraining.

65-90yearolds,beforetraining

aVertraining

TrainingdatafromSmithGEetal.,JAmGeriatrSoc2009.

12

After Before Lower is better

After Before Higher is better

divided attention N=7781 multi-tasking N=3854 remembering faces N=3836 visual search N=3836

visual tracking N=7781 aural syllable ID N=2845 working memory N=3175 phoneme discrim N=2866

AGE (20-100, for each task)

perf

orm

ance

pe

rfor

man

ce

Divided attention N=7781

Multi-tasking N=3854

Remember Faces N=3858

Visual search N=4486

Visual tracking N=7761

Syllable ID N=2945

Working memory N=3175

Phoneme discrim N=2806

20 100 20 100 20 100 20 100

Actually,EVERYneurologicalabilityisimprovable, .

*(i.e., until AD or related neuropathology gains a strong foothold)

How do you turn an old or impaired brain into what appears to be a (physically and functionally) more capable (‘better’; ‘younger’) one?

Youtrainit.Notabene:Ofcourseneurologicalrejuvena=onwillonlybeachievedwithpar=cularformsoftraining.

How do you turn a brain in the prime of life into an old one?

Zhouetal,2011,JNeurosci31:5625 Keepupthenoise,andthecri,calperiodre-opens!

What’scanaddtothe“noise”inachild’sbrain?

4. MANYgene,cfaults 5.Environmentalchaos6.BBBcompromise 7.Epilepsy8.Depriva,on;abuse 9.Somemeds10.Environmentalpoisons 11.Infec,ons12.Manyformsofphysicalwounding13.etalia

for delivering programs on computers, pads, phones.

, individualized training tools.

, for rapid gains

, to recover key abilities to renormalize brains

, to achieve ‘rejuvenation’ at all system levels, in all domains, for many clinical indications

to define training outcomes, in every kid

, via ‘gold-standard’trials.

to enable therapist monitoring, supervision, via the Internet

Aprimarytarget:youngerhumanbeingswithan“issue”

Ourcurrent,predominanteduca,onalstrategiesprebymuchassurethatone(orboth)ofthesekidsarenotgoingtothriveatanolderageinoursociety.

13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3

• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

•

• •

•

•

• •

• • • • • •

• • • •

• • •

• •

• • • •

•

• • • • • • • • • • •

• •

• • • •

• • • • •

• • •

• •

•

•

•

• •

• •

• • •

•

• • • •

• •

•

• • • • • •

:TOLDLanguageAgeI:2&P:2combinedPre-toPost-TrainingChange(n=96)

Cases(orde

redbychron

ologicalage)

• = Chronological age of each child

LanguageAge(years)

110 105 100 95 90 85 80

BELOW AVERAGE AVERAGE

Quotient Value

Pre-Training

Post-Training

SPOKEN LANGUAGE

Listening

Speaking

Semantics

Syntax

Phonology

Median

TOLD Quotients (I:2 & P:2 combined) Pre- vs. Post-Training Scores

ReadingachievementandFastForWordinaTexasschooldistrict(Gates-MacGini,etest)

Reading

Gra

de

Eq

uiv

ale

nt

0.0

0.53.0

3.5

4.0

4.5

5.0

5.5

6.0

BeforeAfter8 - 12 Weeks AfterMean Grade Level

m04kil07xma/man=144Gates McG Total Reading Grade EquivAll 2002-03 Killeen, TX students

Participant Group(Fast ForWord)

Comparison Group(No Fast ForWord)

Readinggainsareenabledbylisteningtraining.

OvercomingADHD

AnexamplethatappliesFormanystrugglingchildren

16

24

32

40

Pre Mid Post Followup

ADH

D S

ympt

om S

ever

ity

ONTRAC' Control'

*

* *

FromStevensetal,BrainRes1205(2008_.

FromMishraetal,Neuron84(2014)

FromMishraetal.,(inreview);2015

Anotherkeyrelatedclassofstudy:GrowingSOCIALcogni=on.

There’s a clearer path forward, for helping children in need….

Forfurtherreading,references,help…

For further information: Michael.Merzenich@positscience.com

www.BrainHQ.comwww.scilearn.com

Considerthese10“rules”astheygoverntheacquisi,onofanyneurobehavioralabilitythatyou’vemastered.

1

Learning-driven changes are MASSIVE.

1.   Mitraisinthemood,tochange.

2.  Outcomescontrolherrateofchange.

5.   Changeisallaboutstrengtheningsynap@cconnec@ons(re-wiring).

4.Posi=velas=citygrowsteamwork=reliability.

5.   Changesareassocia=ve,andsupportsequencedac=on.

7.   Changesareini=allyprovisional.

8.   ‘Mental’learningplaysanimportantrole.

8.Memoryguideslearning.

9.Everylearningmomenthasbeena“noise(distractor)control”moment.

10.Learning-inducedchangescouldhavebeenNEGATIVE.