Merzenich Interview on Neuroplasticity and the Feldenkrais Method

I recently watched a very interesting interview with Michael Merzenich, a well known neuroscientist at the University of California. Merzenich has made some very large contributions to his field, particularly in the area of neural plasticity as it relates to the organization of the body. He is considered one of the leaders in the “Neuroplasticity Revolution”, and his work has been extensively discussed in the popular media, such as Norman Doidge’s excellent book called The Brain that Changes Itself. Merzenich has recently developed a program called Posit Science, which uses his research to help aging adults retain or regain mental sharpness. The topic of the interview is the parallels that Merzenich sees between his work and the Feldenkrais Method. Apparently Merzenich is a big Feldenkrais fan, and will be giving the keynote address at the annual Feldenkrais Method conference, which is titled "Embodying Neuroscience."

It's a short interview, but it's amazing how many interesting topics emerge concerning how we can help the brain change, particularly in regard to its ability to create coordinated and effective movement.

I have embedded the video below and then excerpted many of the most interesting quotes and interspersed my own comments. Enjoy.

http://youtu.be/rupZ-wlRdA0

Here are some of the quotes from the video that I found most interesting, accompanied by my own comments.

Comparing his approach to rehabilitation with the Feldenkrais Method:

My evolution of my own thinking about this is very consistent with how you think about these things. I have almost no conflicts.

On the connection between movement and neural processes:

The feelings and the thoughts about movement are inseparable from the movement itself.

On the importance of variability in recovering lost mental abilities:

It’s the difference between thinking about recovering movement or recovering anything by pounding on it in a stereotypic way. To think: "I have to get a person to move from here to here." The goal is far more interesting than that. It's more about using a body and using variety to get there in all sorts of natural exploratory ways.

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One of the lessons of this research is that stereotypy is the enemy. And that you really want to exercise the brain with a variety of movements, a variety of actions. A variety of challenges.

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It is better to try to move to a point in space in 100 different speeds in 100 different ways  … than to move 200 times in the same way to get to that point in space.

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We are trying increasingly to build this into all of our cognitive training exercises that we do. Because we know that that’s really what the brain wants - to be able to set up the conditions by which it can solve the task in almost any circumstance.

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When you get older it’s common that an older person will stereotype their movement. Let’s say they’re walking. They are actually less safe. Safety and walking has to do with the surprise…. The only way to deal with a surprise that can come in any direction is to walk with substantial variability. The same with thought. The same with your operations in general…. The more richer, the more varied the possibilities of your movement landscapes, the more powerful you are. And the more imaginative you are and the more fun you are having.

I see this “variability” theme emerging in other areas as well. For example, it appears that a healthier heart rate is one with greater variability as opposed to greater regularity. The same is true for brain waves. Metabolic “flexibility", or the ability to quickly shift back and forth between utilizing different energy substrates, is a marker for metabolic health. And play is a great way to learn.

Consider these ideas in the context of training your movement, for example your ability to lower your center of gravity to the ground. If you watch kids move from the floor to standing, you will see them select a different pathway almost very time. There is tremendous variety in how they go from A to B. But if you watch adults train in a gym, most will use one, or maybe two ways to lower their center of gravity - a squat and a lunge. This is the stereotyped movement that Merzenich says is indicative of reduced capacity. Squatting in the exact same way each time you go to the gym is probably not the best way to optimize your squatting, or anything else. (If you want to try a movement lesson that plays with variety in the squat pattern, click here.)

Merzenich also talks about the importance of attention and awareness in enabling changes to the brain:

We know from a rich variety of experiments… my phrase for it is the brain only changes when it matters to it. And "matters to it" means it has to be engaged in the task… what that reflects is that under the right conditions it is actually releasing the neural modulators the controls the brain's change. And of course it would not be so foolish and wasteful so as to permit change when it hasn’t determined that it’s going to matter, it’s going to benefit.

This is why we should choose to do movements that are novel, interesting, curious, exploratory and functionally relevant (Moseley calls this functional salience.) And why we should pay attention while doing them. In other words, don't just go through the movements, make sure they have some meaning, or the brain will properly ignore them.

So what did you think of the video? Are you moving in a way that will sharpen your movement mind? Or are you going through the motions in a stereotyped way? Let me know in the comments.