In the spirit of "Taking my Friday motivation and running with it", I just completed a series of lectures on my online Early Child Development course on Coursera, including a fascinating write-up by Dr Hensch, a Harvard Professor, way back in 2016, in SA magazine and lo-and-behold, my dormant volcano of creativity started bubbling at the surface ready for a huge expulsion (forgive the poor metaphors). What really instigated me was his portrayal of neuronal plasticity (newly ground-breaking at the time), which has since then grown to become, dare I say, a household term. Captivating as it may sound, I hadn't fully understood its nuances until I read Dr Hensch's articulate deep dive. So I took to Gemini to create an impromptu cover image, channeling some of my inspiration from him, and sat down to write this post !
Let my start by explaining the image so you can get some context (all the AI prompt engineering tips have led me to seriously consider this at every point of communication). When you think of how a child learns a new skill, it is amazing how quickly and easily they get adept and begin to master it. Let's take language for example. Children living in multilingual households master 2, maybe even 3 languages, each one quicker than the next. I have a very vivid memory of a young girl, in her father's arms on a train journey, saying a vehement "nahi" (meaning "no" in Hindi) to something he whispered in her ear. I assumed that he was probably reasoning with her to go to bed early, but the fiery little one seemed determined to watch the trees go by from the train's door. Maybe the ease with which she weilded those foreign-sounding words, was what astonished me. Everyone takes learning one's mother tongue while growing up for granted. It is in fact one of the finest examples of development, or neurological functional maturation. The scaffold exists in every human by way of your genetic code, but the richness and diversity of what it's populated by is in the hands of the individual herself/himself, or if you're a kid, then by the external inputs that you get. I remember thinking for the first time that day about how easily your parents' language becomes yours. If I was born in another part of the world, I'd just as easily be speaking an entirely different language. I don't need to prove to any of you how children are better at learning something they've set their minds to, when compared to their fully grown counterparts. Another instance I recall now was watching several tiny tots in my swimming class, race past me in the very first week, while here was I, a fully grown adult, having a hard time getting my recalcitrant body to get accustomed to floating in the water. The outperformance was not merely due to their advantageous size but by learning and perfecting the skillset needed to do so.
Children can learn at super-speed, and the plasticity of connections in their brains is what facilitates them in doing so. This is the first part of the cover image, that I've tried to portray. The older neuron, looks on longingly at the younger one, who is in his "critical period" where connections rapidly form, moulded by environmental inputs and get strengthened, ultimately staying lifelong. The stronger those connections are, the longer they last. Now it's not as easy for a 30 year old, because his/her "critical window" is closed and the brain just isn't in a mood to learn as efficiently. When Dr Hensch spoke about reclaiming this period using chemical changes to the brain, specifically one involving injecting an enzyme deep into the brain, it sounded like the stuff of fiction (particularly invoking an image of Frankenstein's monster in my mind's eye, for some reason). Later, he went on to reason that because the latter might turn some heads (pun intended), they focused their attention towards using already existing drugs which could theoretically do the trick, and restart those critical periods, and turns out they're testing their hypothesis on mice. This could potentially mean that we middle-aged, life-worn folks could become as good at learning as we once were during childhood. While most people in the world are trying to achieve this very same thing in principle : a higher functioning version of themselves ; they seem to also be forgetting that we've already passed through that phase, i.e. childhood. Notwithstanding this, all of us naturally assumed that it wasn't possible to tap into that goldmine once more. What was gone, was gone forever. The power of the infant brain, however, is now back in the tabloids, thanks to neuroscientists. Cut to the second part of the image : where the forlorn neuron, who is faced with the Holy Grail of his existence, ponders being able to transform to his younger self, kind of like Matthew Perry in 17 again, for want of a better reference.
Now, younger or not, it doesn't automatically follow that using drugs to enhance neuroplasticity will make you the next Stephen Hawking. What it might do is probably catapult you to where you want to be getting in life (if you're determined to work for it) because you would be learning at a faster rate than what your present self can manage. Which brings me to end this rant with my current state of mind. Resilience, vendetta and wanting to prove myself. Just like everything has ups and downs, the bursts of energy and focus come and go, and I try to ride the wave for the longest time possible, hoping that the next crash isn't too steep. Consistency is key. These pivotal moments really do come with a price : the price of having time to yourself is being unable to enjoy it without guilt. The past days have helped me gain new insights into the process of learning and at the same time made me cringe at how ignorant I was just a few years ago, stubborn enough to think I didn't have to put in effort to try and learn as much as I can. So as a person struggling to learn, I can vouch for the fact that anything even remotely close to regaining the powers of my once-neuroplastic brain will be considered a veritable Holy Grail, and will be welcomed with open arms.
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