Neuroplasticity

"...It was discovered that if you stuck a pin in one area of a person's cortex and his finger twitched, if you then stuck a pin in the exact are of another person's motor cortex, his finger might not twitch but his lip would. This is proof that each person is not created equally. Your cortical maps are all different sizes depending on which part of your body you use the most and the least; the more developed parts have a larger corresponding brain regions. 

The man who discovered this was a real hero of neuroplasticity:  Michael Merzenich, a post-doctorate fellow at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. 

He found that if you're a pianist and you practice moving your fingers up and down scales, hour after hour, day and night, more neurons would grow in the motor cortex of the finger area of the brain and expand its typography. I used to have a piano teacher who slammed the lid down while I was playing if I made a mistake, which is probably why I confess to war crimes when I see a piano. if you were a flamenco dancer you'd have more real estate in your toe area of your brain. Someone who licked stamps for a living would obviously have a larger tongue terrain. Do you see where i'm going with this?

When you're building up clusters of neurons by habitually moving certain parts of the body, it's like building muscles when you pump iron. In both cases the movement gets easier and and more automatic because that area gets stronger."

-- Ruby Wax From Sane New World

Illustration by Serge Seidlitz