• How You Learn
• Practice Makes Perfect

Practice Makes Perfect

When a synapse is repeatedly activated - as when we practice something or encounter something over and over - the activated synapse gets stronger. Activation "potentiates" the nerve impulse at that synapse, giving it a boost that increases the nerve signaling at that synapse. This sets off a cascade of events in the receiving neuron and sometimes in the sender as well.

The result is a series of localized changes in brain structure that are specific to the task or behavior that has initiated the neural firing. These local changes combine and coalesce to shape the functional organization of neural pathways across brain regions. In this way, learning fine-tunes both individual synapses and whole-brain circuits.

The bottom line: throughout our life, our brain's architecture is finely honed in accordance with our activities and our learning, which can make the brain more flexible and efficient. In short, learning enhances learning. Persistence pays off, so don't give up!

How does it work? Say you are reading a report or upgrading a computer program, or even passively taking in the faces in a meeting or recalling a memory.

That action activates a nerve cell, neuron, which then triggers an impulse (literally, a microjolt of electricity) from the body of the cell along a nerve fiber called an axon. Axons reach out, sometimes over relatively great distances, to make synapses with other neurons or with muscle or other tissue. At the synapse, the electrical impulse triggers the release of neurotransmitters, which act as messengers delivering a package of biochemical instructions that tell the next cell what to do.



These messages can be "inhibitory," signaling the neuron to stay silent, or "excitatory," turning on nerve cells and signaling them to relay the impulse to the next link in the circuit. The receiving cell then interprets and integrates these messages to determine its next move.

All of this happens in milliseconds, thousands of times over, whenever the brain is engaged in thinking or doing or merely being. It's happening as you read this page.