The Jordan Harbinger Show 474: David Eagleman | The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain
Feb 25, 2021
David Eagleman, a Stanford neuroscientist and author of 'Livewired,' discusses the brain's incredible adaptability. He explains how our sensory landscape can reorganize itself and even create new senses through technology. Eagleman delves into the competitive collaboration within neurons and the impact of neglect on child development. He reveals how virtual reality can alter perception and explores the fascinating world of savants and their extraordinary abilities, highlighting the future possibilities for assistive technologies in enhancing perception.
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The Dynamic Brain
- The brain is constantly changing, with 86 billion neurons and 10,000 connections each.
- These connections are constantly changing strength, unplugging, and replugging, like little animals.
Neural Darwinism
- Neurons compete in a Darwinian way, similar to how trees compete for sunlight in a forest.
- This competition shapes the brain's structure and function, with unused neurons undergoing apoptosis.
Language Shaping the Brain
- Japanese babies lose the ability to distinguish between R and L sounds by six months old because the distinction isn't important in Japanese.
- This illustrates how the brain prunes connections based on environmental input.
