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In Your Classroom: "Mixed Feelings"
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The plasticity of the brain never ceases to amaze me, and this program underscores the ability of the brain to fill in missing functions. In a biology class we have numerous opportunities to emphasize this capability when we cover the brain and nervous system.
To introduce a study of senses, try this interactive site from the BBC: Science and Nature-Human Body and Mind-Body-Senses Challenge. This site consists of a series of challenges to one's perception of sound, sight, and taste, and provides a good starting point for a discussion of the nature of perception.
One of my all-time favorite sources of activities for brain function, including the senses, is Neuroscience Laboratory and Classroom Activities, published by the Society for Neuroscience and the National Association of Biology Teachers. This set contains complete background information for teachers and students, a complete list of materials and suppliers, as well as a time frame for doing each activity. These activities are inexpensive and actively engage students. Furthermore, each activity asks students to design further experiments and carry them out to extend their understanding.
Some sample activities:
"Hearing in the Dark"--students explore how information acquired and interpreted by hearing, specifically as it involves the ear and brainstem. Easy to do for the amount of information gained from the activity.
"'Rewiring' the Brain"--in this activity students toss beanbags at a target while wearing goggles that skew visual perception to one side. This activity provides an excellent demonstration of the plasticity of the brain.
"Olfactory Fatigue and Memory"--students use different, easily obtainable aromatic oils in this activity, and then design experiments to look at other factors involved in olfactory fatigue and memory
"Is Seeing Believing?" An examination of "contrast effects" and afterimages as they relate to the structure and function of the eye.
The complete set is available as a free download from the NABT site.
To pair with the activities, "Seeing, Hearing, and Smelling the World," published by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, gives basic information about the senses and the experimental background for our knowledge of how the senses work. It includes the following chapters, which enhance the activities in the Neuroscience book:
"It's All in the Brain"
"Breaking the Code of Color"
"How We See Things That Move"
"The Quivering Bundles That Let Us Hear"
"Locating a Mouse By Its Sound"
"The Mystery of Smell"
"A Secret Sense in the Human Nose?"
"New Imaging Techniques That Show the Brain at Work"
"Progress Continues"
It is available as a download.
For general information about senses, various videos exist. For example NOVA has a series "Mystery of the Senses." This site gives the links to individual shows on touch, hearing, vision, smell, taste, and includes links to classroom activities and viewing strategies.
Finally, in advanced classes, students could explore the work of Linda Buck and Richard Axel, who received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2004 for their work on the genetics of the olfactory system. A report of this work is available and provides an overview of their work, its relation to the olfactory epithelium, and the methods used in their research.
These are my favorite sources dealing with the senses. There seems to be a wealth of material available. Let me hear about other good activities and sites that involve the study of the senses and the plasticity of the brain.
Additional WIRED Science Video Segments
Don't forget to check out our Video Section for other segments from WIRED Science that you can use in your classroom.
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December 19, 2007 6:07 PM
Kathy Telzrow
I saw only a part of the show on Wednesday 12/19/2007. I am afflicted with poor balance, have suffered from a stroke of the optic nerve and Guillian-Barre Syndrome. Can you provide a phone contact, e-mail for further information on treatment for balance issues?
December 19, 2007 7:41 PM
Faye Fender
If this can work for blind people and people with balance disorders, CAN it be modified for those who suffer with CHRONIC PAIN so that they would be able to do without prescription painkillers after getting their brains re-wired?
I would prefer this to brainwashing and/or hypnosis and/or accupuncture!
Thank you for your time...
December 20, 2007 10:57 PM
Crissy M
I am also afflicted with poor balance do to my meniers disease. Can you provide me with a phone contact,e-mail for further information on treatment for balance issues?
Thank you
December 24, 2007 9:47 AM
Sharon Radford
First, let me emphasize that I am not a clinician, and thus can provide only general answers to your questions. I did, however, do a little investigating into the issue of balance, and the Mayo clinic does deal with this issue. I am including two web sites for the Mayo clinic, one for balance disorders specifically, and one that is more general. If they cannot answer your questions directly, they may be able to direct you to someone in your area. The websites are:
http://www.mayoclinic.org/balance/
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-treatments/alphalist-g.html
Chronic pain is a tough one. I have had good luck with self-hypnosis, taught by a psychologist, in dealing with severe stress issue when I had small children, a full-time job outside the home, an ailing parent and a husband who had to travel extensively in his job. The advantage to self-hypnosis, once you are taught how to do it, is that you can use it anytime you have twenty uninterrupted minutes. The other references I found that may be able to direct you further are the following:
National Institute of Neurological diseases and stroke
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/chronic_pain/chronic_pain.htm
Food and Drug administration
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2004/204_pain.html
Good luck to all of you. I hope this helps.
April 21, 2008 11:49 AM
Mary Roden
I have a balance disorder loosely described as spino-cerebellar ataxia. Is it possible I cold be helped by the research in brain plasticity?
May 31, 2008 9:54 PM
Jeff Klenk
Her vestibular sense was damaged and some part(s) of the brain was still trying to use that sense. Therapy seems mostly to have disabled the sense (She wasn't using her tongue while riding her bike after all).
I suspect the learned coincidence of tongue sense by the higher vestibular center was able to feedforward to the site, including nonsensical scrambled data when not using the therapy. This ultimately would differ from the complete lack of data from the damaged vestibular sensor.
See Ramachadran's talk to support my conclusions here.
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/184
I wonder if the blind man experienced any notion of "blind sight" (where you cannot 'consciously' experience the object in view, but can "intuit" it's there). Either way, it seems the tongue would lack the accuity of the eye.
What did he experience when eating food???
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