Neural Plasticity

[GutZ]

I am reading the book "The brain that changes itself"

 

Which is basically around the concept of Neural Plasticity. I was wondering the merits of this idea since I think the book was produced by a non-neurologist psychiatric guy.

 

Is the Brain really plastic (not made of, of course)?

[iNow]

Yes, nerves (in the brain and elsewhere) are very plastic. New synaptic connections grow all of the time, and unused areas continually get pruned. The wiki on neural plasticity is pretty good.

[GutZ]

sweet becuase I've read a few book thinking they were correctly only to find out the idea are dated and are not relevant.

[GDG]

Although not a neurologist, he is a psychiatrist: this requires the full MD degree -- not a small amount of training. I've read the book too, and find that it pretty accurately presents the current thinking in neuroscience.

[CharonY]

I have not read that book so I cannot really comment on it. But regarding psychiatrists: it depends on what topics are covered in the book. If he just gives examples regarding plasticity, then yes of course. It is common knowledge and an MD would surely know a significant amount about this, especially a psychiatrist actually. Depending on their specialization they tend to have quite a bit of neurobiology in their curriculum. More detailed up do date research regarding neuronal plasticity on the cellular level however often requires a psychiatrist with a deep specialization of the more biological field. That is a generalization, of course and just my two cents on the way to the coffee machine.

[GDG]

In this case, Dr. Doidge appears to have interviewed many (if not most) of the leading researchers (probably along with studying the literature) in obtaining the material for this book.