Does experience change the actual structure of the brain?

Author: Aysu Sultanli

Yes, experience does change the structure of the brain. As neuroscientists sometimes say, “Cells that fire together, wire together.” When a neuron in our brain gets new data, it gets fulfilled with energy and tries to pass it to the next neuron with the synaptic cleft. By passing the data through, all neurons become energised which causes wiring.

Alice Pierce Stevens mentions in the article “Learning rewires the brain” that the regions that allow people to pay attention become the most active as someone begins a new activity. But those attention regions become less active over time, as the person improves in that activity. Moreover, regions of the brain responsible for daydreaming and mind-wandering become more active as people improve in that activity.

The article explains that when starting a new activity, or learning something new we need more attention and are more focused. However, as we become better at a certain activity, we become less focused. This information is useful because it teaches us the basic structure of our brain and explains what goes behind the processes of learning.

Unless you live under a rock, you are probably familiar with Bill Gates. Bill Gates reads 50 books a year, and one book a week. This is because he is scared of his brain stopping from working. Do you think it’s a coincidence that he uses the process of learning so often and is one of the wealthiest people alive?

My theory is: If we all understand how learning and different experiences structure the brain, we can all become the next Bill Gates.

You probably have heard the saying, “ Everything depends on your mindset”.

So what if we can structure our brain with different experiences to achieve the life we want? What if that’s what Bill Gates did? Well, luckily, science can explain it all.

When we feel any type of emotion like sadness or happiness, it is all because of the neurons in our brain. Every experience excites a certain neuron in our brain and the ones that are inactive are simply removed. So if we frequently exert positive chemicals such as dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, or endorphin we are more likely to be happier in the long term since it excites the happy neuron in our brain and makes the sad neuron inactive.

As a matter of fact, everything we do changes the structure of the brain. Even when we recall certain old memories we strengthen the connection between our brain cells.

I think the word “experience” is a very generic term, so let’s break down these experiences. The experience of success , learning, falling in love, joy, or any experience in general leaves its mark on our brain even if the experience is something relatively minor.

For example, in this picture we can see 2 brain scans, one before students went for a walk and another one after they took a 20 minute walk. You would think something as insequential as walking wouldn’t impact our brain structure, but that isn’t true.

Experiences shape our brain because compared to other animals, we’re born with less developed brains, and they take longer to fully mature.

For instance, Squirrel monkeys, for example, reach their adult brain size when they’re just six months old. However the human brain fully develops at the age of 25 years. This is because unlike some animals, people’s brains mature and develop with experience which once again proves that experience changes and actually forms the structure of our brain.

Whilst learning our brain cells pass information to each other through the synaptic cleft. Our brain structure is very similar to the electrical circuit, except in the human brain nothing is constant and for circulation we need effort (not volts).

Some would think something as “useless” as school wouldn’t give us any knowledge we would not remember after 20 years and wouldn’t benefit us in any way. Even if we won’t remember the name of the soldiers in the Vietnam war, what we will still have with us is the experience and skill of learning. Our brains are trained to gain and pass information in school. In schools they also teach students to analyze and apply knowledge into different projects. These are all skills that must be developed before the age of 25, otherwise it would be hard to learn them after.

Just like we train our body everyday when exercising and walking , we also need to train our brain.

Citations: "Early Experience Shapes the Brain for Life - BrainFacts.org."

"Learning rewires the brain | Science News for Students." 2 Sept. 2014

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