IM seems to be impacting in the brain in a couple of different ways. One is that the neuronal tracts that fire in IM may be increasing in mylination, speeding up the signal. Another way is these tracks may be synchronizing together. Jernigan from the UC San Diego spoke at the TDLC All Hands meeting this past February (2009) about these two processes.
This is my general summary of her presentation. The brain, particularly, the grey matter (cell bodies), changes or matures as we age. Mylination of the white matter (cell axons) may play a significant role in the 'maturing' of the grey matter. Mylinating the fiber tracts (cell axons) is considered the significant piece to increase the speed of information transmission. Different neuronal tracts impact different behaviors and skill levels and these tracts develop differently in different children. That was a quick synopsis if you are interested. I particularly enjoyed the conversation following the presentation- below.
This is my general summary of her presentation. The brain, particularly, the grey matter (cell bodies), changes or matures as we age. Mylination of the white matter (cell axons) may play a significant role in the 'maturing' of the grey matter. Mylinating the fiber tracts (cell axons) is considered the significant piece to increase the speed of information transmission. Different neuronal tracts impact different behaviors and skill levels and these tracts develop differently in different children. That was a quick synopsis if you are interested. I particularly enjoyed the conversation following the presentation- below.
Bill Jenkins from Scientific Learning made this comment at the end: "(Though) the increase in the speed of conduction might be an important factor, one of the things that also likely will be very important is the coincidence or synchronicity of the input going into these centers. One of the things that I suspect is also happening is a greater coherence of the neural signals as you get mylination which could improve signal to noise issues and a variety of other impacts in terms of how those systems operate behaviorally". Jernigan responded, "I have this analogy in my head, the biological development of these fiber tracts allows them to 'sing with the choir.' It's not just speed per say but allowing these tracts to participate more in the singing."
These are absolutely the processes that I understand IM to be impacting in the brain, sychronizing the input and mylinating the tracts. Here's the link, you may need to navigate a bit on this site to find her speech.
Bill Jenkin's comment about improving signal to noise issues. Another way of saying that is this neuronal tract growth process/ and or the sychronizing of these signals is thought to be a calming factor for internal noise in one's brain. Said another way, It's the ability to be able to tune out what's not important in order to focus on what is important. One researcher found that IM signifcantly improved the signal to noise ratio for children with ADHD. His analogy was looking for a moth on a wall (good signal - typical brain) or looking for the same moth on a tree trunk (lots of noise interfers with the signal - the ADHD brain.) 15 sessions of IM makes the ADHD brain(with noise) function almost up to the typical brain level (calms the noise so you can see the signal). IM seems to calm the noise in the brain!
