New Questions

This post is going to begin with a very short story that happened to me recently. I have a grandmother whom I see when I have time and she began to ask me questions about my thesis. Now I have talked to her about this before but as she is aging (like any normal 88ish year old) it is evident that her mind is beginning to deteriorate slightly. But upon answering her questions about my thesis (again) she made a remark that got me to thinking. During the conversation about how we learn and think she remarked that her learning/intelligence style actually changed with age. When she was younger she said that she had been a mostly visual learner but that as she aged she became a more auditory learner. This was very curious to me as her eyes are much better than her ears and I would have thought the reverse. Either way it led me to wonder about whether this is something that should perhaps make its way into my thesis project. It is certainly relevant that her learning style changed over time but is this relevant for everyone? If so, is it something I should be addressing in my final piece?

I have been doing a lot of reading lately about the brain and its incredible ability to adapt. It is a very new theory of how the brain works and how we might begin re-mapping. This phenomenon is called neuroplasticity.  This is a phrase that is slowly becoming more prominent in the world of neuroscience. It very basically means that with the right training we can re-map our brain to do (or not do) certain tasks or behaviors. Essentially with the proper training we can change how our brains work and not just in the formative years but even into our 70s or 80s. With the right training it can even train our brain to function like it did 10 or 25 years previous.*

I'm still exploring this avenue. It may make it into the final pieces and it may not, but in the mean-time I think it is best not to be limiting the influx of information. The determination of what will get included and what won't will come at a later date. I suspect that not everything will make it into the final thesis presentation because 8 months is not nearly enough time to fully explore this topic. It will earn a place in my personal work for years to come until I feel satisfied with the outcome. It may even eventually lead into some sort of Masters work or it may simply continue as an avenue of personal interest but I can firmly say that the final thesis presentation will not be the last of my work on visual intelligence.

*For more information check out The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Science From the Frontiers of Brain Science by Norman Doige M.D.