This Wednesday, the next Academic Excellence lecture will take place at 4.30pm in the Library. Jamie W from Year 13 will be talking about neuroplasticity and he explains more here. Neuroplasticity is about the ability of the brain to reorganise its network throughout the entire life. Scientists in recent decades have been surprised by the fact that our brains are highly dynamic. In the other words, the connections between every single brain cell (neuron) can potentially be rewired. Imagine that there are 86 billion neurons in a human brain and each of them is linked to seven thousand other neurons, how many different pathways could possibly form?

This behaviour makes everyone’s brain unique. Neuroplasticity could bring some exceptional advantages to you because the structural changes that your brain makes highly depend on your personal experience. For example, new neural pathways develop as you learn to play a piano. But sometimes, this capability may not be as perfect as you might expect. My lecture on Wednesday will show you what neuroplasticity actually is and how beneficial (or bad) it could be.

Jamie W, Year 13