This is a summary of the article, "Learning as Biological Brain Change", by Robert Leamnson. It describes dramatic developments in the activity of the brain through the biological process as it relates to learning and remembering. Leamnson raises the idea of new developments in brain research and learning that is rapidly advancing our conceptualization of the human brain (2). According to the author, the brain is powerfully shaped by genetics, development and experience that actively shape the nature of our memory, and culture in which we live (3).
Leamnson states, "brain and behavior research both suggest that things we remember are reconstructed in the brain at the instant of remembering, and then reconstructed again at each subsequent remembering" (1). Memory is an essential element of learning. Learning physically changes the brain. There is no one area of the brain that is solely responsible for memory. Leamnson suggests, that memories are well distributed throughout the structure of the brain. Areas of the brain vary dramatically in their flexibility and their capability to create long-term memories (6). Leamnson goes onto refer to another author's study about the wiring of the brain. John Searle, proposed the idea that the blueprint of the brain's wiring does not exist, and the paths that signals take to generate a memory is not known (3). With new research developments a greater sense understanding of how the brain create and retrieve memories, how emotions effect rational and ethnical decision making, and how the brain is influenced by aging can be determined by the brain structure and function (2). Leamnson identifies this by stating, to remember one needs to reflect on new information and relate it to what is already known (4).
Leamnson explains, while brain connections are vulnerable to aging, neural networks have the potential to grow more sophisticated as we age, making the brain more responsive.
