WEBVTT

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So how do we learn?

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And why does some of us learn things
more easily than others?

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So, as I just mentioned,
I'm Dr. Lara Boyd.

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I am a brain researcher here
at the University of British Columbia.

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These are the questions that fascinate me.

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(Cheers) (Applause)

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So brain research
is one of the great frontiers

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in the understanding of human physiology,

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and also in the consideration
of what makes us who we are.

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It's an amazing time
to be a brain researcher,

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and I would argue to you

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that I have the most interesting job
in the world.

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What we know about the brain
is changing at a breathtaking pace.

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And much of what we thought we knew
and understood about the brain

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turns out to be not true or incomplete.

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Some of these misconceptions
are more obvious than others.

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For example, we used to think

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that after childhood the brain did not,
really could not change.

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And it turns out that nothing
could be farther from the truth.

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Another misconception about the brain

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is that you only use parts of it
at any given time

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and it's silent when you do nothing.

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Well, this is also untrue.

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It turns out
that even when you're at a rest

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and thinking of nothing,
your brain is highly active.

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So it's been advances
in technology, such as MRI,

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that's allowed us to make these
and many other important discoveries.

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And perhaps the most exciting,

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the most interesting
and transformative of these discoveries

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is that, every time you learn
a new fact or skill,

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you change your brain.

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It's something we call neuroplasticity.

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So as little as 25 years ago,
we thought that after about puberty,

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the only changes that took place
in the brain were negative:

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the loss of brain cells with aging,

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the result of damage, like a stroke.

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And then, studies began
to show remarkable amounts

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of reorganization in the adult brain.

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And the ensuing research has shown us

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that all of our behaviors
change our brain.

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That these changes are not limited by age,

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it's a good news right?

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And in fact,
they are taking place all the time.

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And very importantly,

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brain reorganization helps
to support recovery

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after you damage your brain.

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The key to each of these changes
is neuroplasticity.

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So what does it look like?

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So your brain can change
in three very basic ways

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to support learning.

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And the first is chemical.

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So your brain actually functions
by transferring chemicals signals

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between brain cells,
what we call neurons,

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and this triggered a series
of actions and reactions.

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So to support learning,
your brain can increase the amount

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or the concentrations
of these chemical signaling

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that's taking place between neurons.

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Because this change can happen rapidly,

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this supports short-term memory

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or the short-term improvement
in the performance of a motor skill.

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The second way that the brain
can change to support learning

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is by altering its structure.

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So during learning, the brain can change
the connections between neurons.

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Here, the physical structure
of the brain is actually changing

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so this takes a bit more time.

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These type of changes are related
to long-term memory,

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the long-term improvement
in a motor skill.

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These processes interact,
and let me give you an example of how.

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We've all tried to learn
a new motor skill,

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maybe playing the piano,

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maybe learning to juggle.

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You've had the experience
of getting better and better

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within a single session of practice,

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and thinking "I have got it."

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And then, maybe you return the next day,

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and all those improvements
from the day before are lost.

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What happened?

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Well, in the short-term,
your brain was able to increase

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the chemical signaling
between your neurons.

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But for some reason, those changes
did not induce the structural changes

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that are necessary
to support long-term memory.

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Remember that
long-term memories take time.

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And what you see in the short term
does not reflect learning,

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It's these physical changes

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that are now going to support
long-term memories,

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and chemical changes
that support short-term memories.

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Structural changes also can lead
to integrated networks of brain regions

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that function together
to support learning.

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And they can also lead
to certain brain regions

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that are important
for very specific behaviors

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to change your structure or to enlarge.

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So here's some examples of that.

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People who read Braille

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have larger hand sensory areas
in their brain than those of us who don't.

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Your dominant hand motor region,
which is on the left side of your brain,

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if you are right-handed,
is larger than the other side.

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And research shows
the London taxi cab drivers

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who actually have to memorize a map
of London to get their taxi cab license,

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they have larger brain regions devoted
to spatial, or mapping memories.

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The last way that your brain
can change to support learning

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is by altering its function.

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As you use a brain region,

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It becomes more and more excitable
and easy to use again.

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And as your brain has these areas
that increase their excitability,

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the brain shifts
how and when they are activated.

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With learning, we see

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that whole networks of brain activity
are shifting and changing.

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So neuroplasticity is supported

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by chemical, by structural,
and by functional changes,

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and these are happening
across the whole brain.

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They can occur in isolation
from one or another,

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but most often,
they take place in concert.

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Together, they support learning.

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And they're taking place all the time.

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I just told you really
how awesomely neuroplastic your brain is.

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Why can't you learn anything
you choose to with ease?

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Why do our kids sometimes fail in school?

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Why as we age
do we tend to forget things?

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And why don't people fully recover
from brain damage?

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That is: what is it that limits
and facilitates neuroplasticity?

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And so this is what I study.

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I study specifically how it relates
to recovery from stroke.

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Recently, stroke dropped

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from being the third leading cause
of death in the United States

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to be the forth leading cause
of death.

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Great news, right?

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But actually, it turns out

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that the number of people
having a stroke has not declined.

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We are just better at keeping
people alive after a severe stroke.

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It turns out to be very difficult
to help the brain recover from stroke.

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And frankly,

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we have failed to develop
effective rehabilitation interventions.

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The net result of this
is that stroke is the leading cause

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of long-term disability
in adults in the world;

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individuals with stroke are younger

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and tending to live longer
with that disability,

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and research from my group actually shows

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that the health-related quality of life
of Canadians with stroke has declined.

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So clearly we need to be better

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at helping people recover from stroke.

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This is an enormous societal problem,

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and it's one that we are not solving.

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So what can be done?

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One thing is absolutely clear:

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the best driver of neuroplastic change
in your brain is your behavior.

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The problem is that the dose
of behavior, the dose of practice

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that's required to learn
new and relearn old motor skills,

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is very large.

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And how to effectively deliver
these large doses of practice

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is a very difficult problem;
It's also a very expensive problem.

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So the approach
that my research has taken

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is to develop therapies that prime
or that prepare the brain to learn.

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And these have included brain simulation,
exercise, and robotics.

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But through my research,
I've realized that a major limitation

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to the development of therapies
that speed recovery from stroke

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is that patterns of neuroplasticity
are highly variable from person to person.

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As a researcher,
variability used to drive me crazy.

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It makes it very difficult
to use the statistics

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to test your data and your ideas.

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And because of this,
medical intervention studies are

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specifically designed
to minimize variability.

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But in my research,
it's becoming really clear

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that the most important,
the most informative data we collect

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is showing this variability.

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So by studying the brain
after stroke, we've learned a lot,

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and I think these lessons
are very valuable in other areas.

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The first lesson is

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that the primary driver of change
in your brain is your behavior,

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so there is no neuroplasticity drug
you can take.

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Nothing is more effective than practice
at helping you learn,

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and the bottom line
is you have to do the work.

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And in fact, my research has shown

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increased difficulty, increased struggle
if you will, during practice,

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actually leads to both more learning,

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and greater structural change
in the brain.

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The problem here is that neuroplastcity
can work both ways.

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It can be positive,
you learn something new,

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and you refine a motor skill.

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And it also can be negative though,
you forgot something you once knew,

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you become addicted to drugs,

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maybe you have chronic pain.

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So your brain is tremendously plastic,

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and it's been shaped both structurally
and functionally by everything you do,

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but also by everything that you don't do.

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The second lesson
we've learned about the brain

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is that there is
no one-size-fits-all approach to learning.

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So there is no recipe for learning.

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Consider the popular belief
that it takes 10,000 hours of practice

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to learn and to master a new motor skill.

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I can assure you
it's not quite that simple.

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For some of us,

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it's going to take a lot more practice,
and for others it may take far less.

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So the shaping of our plastic brains
is far too unique

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for there to be any single intervention
that's going to work for all of us.

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This realization has forced us to consider
something call personalized medicine.

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This is the idea that to optimize outcomes

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each individual requires
their own intervention.

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And the idea actually comes
from cancer treatments.

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And here it turns out that genetics
are very important in matching

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certain types of chemotherapy
with specific forms of cancer.

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My research is showing that this
also applies to recovery from stroke.

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There're certain characteristics
of brain structure and function

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we called biomarkers.

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And these biomarkers
are proving to be very helpful

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and helping us to match

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specific therapies
with individual patients.

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The data from my lab suggests
it's a combination of biomarkers

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that best predicts neuroplastic change
and patterns of recovery after stroke.

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And that's not surprising, given
how complicated the human brain is.

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But I also think we can consider
this concept much more broadly.

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Given the unique structure
and function of each of our brains

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what we've learned about neuroplasticity
after stroke applies to everyone.

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Behaviors that you employ
in your everyday life are important.

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Each of them is changing your brain.

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And I believe we have to consider

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not just personalized medicine
but personalized learning.

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The uniqueness
of your brain will affect you

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both as a learner and also as a teacher.

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This idea helps us to understand

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why some children can thrive
in tradition education settings

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and others don't;

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why some of us can learn languages easily

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and yet, others can pick up
any sport and excel.

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So when you leave this room today,

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your brain will not be the same
as when you entered this morning.

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And I think that's pretty amazing.

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But each of you is going to have changed
your brain differently.

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Understanding these differences,

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these individual patterns,
this variability and change

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is going to enable
the next great advance in neuroscience;

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it's going to allow us to develop
new and more effective interventions,

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and allow for matches
between learners and teachers,

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and patients and interventions.

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And this does not just apply
the recovery from stroke,

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it applies to each of us, as a parent,
as a teacher, as a manager,

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and also because you are
at TEDx today, as a lifelong learner.

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Study how and what you learn best.

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Repeat those behaviors
that are healthy for your brain,

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and break those behaviors
and habits that are not.

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Practice.

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Learning is about doing the work
that your brain requires.

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So the best strategies
are going to vary between individuals.

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You know what, they're even going
to vary within individuals.

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So for you, learning music
may come very easily,

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but learning to snowboard, much harder.

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I hope that you leave today

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with a new appreciation
of how magnificent your brain is.

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You and your plastic brain are constantly
being shaped by the world around you.

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Understand that everything you do,

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everything you encounter, and everything
you experience is changing your brain.

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And that can be for better,
but it can also be for worse.

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So when you leave today,
go out and build the brain you want.

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Thank you very much.

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(Applause)