How We Learn - The Brain's Neural Pathways
Biology
Educational video on How We Learn - The Brain's Neural Pathways
As for every single one of us, learning something new means rearranging the way her brain works. Our brain has an astonishing 100 billion neurons or brain cells all connected together. Learning is about creating and strengthening pathways through these neurons for impulses of electricity. But between each and every connection in our brains there's a tiny gap called a synapse. For any of us to learn something new, the electrical signal has to jump across this gap to continue its journey. The gap between the two brain cells is tiny, but that doesn't mean it's straightforward for a signal to get from one side to the other.
For us, it's like crossing a deep ravine. And getting from one side to the other should tell us something about the way we learn. The first time a signal crosses from one brain cell to the other demands the most effort, and it's the same when we cross our ravine. The first trip across is the hardest. Having crossed the ravine once, the journeys across get easier and easier. And a similar thing happens when we learn something. To start with, learning is difficult. But as the signal crosses the gap between the brain cells again and again, we establish a more solid pathway. Sorry about that. By the time we've made the crossing over and over again, it becomes effortless. We can do it whenever we like. We finally learn something.